|
on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Peter Christensen; Christopher Timmins |
| Abstract: | Housing discrimination is illegal. However, paired-tester audit experiments have revealed evidence of discrimination in the interactions between potential buyers and realtors, raising concern about whether certain groups are systematically excluded from the beneficial effects of healthy neighborhoods. Using data from HUD's most recent Housing Discrimination Study and micro-level data on key attributes of neighborhoods in 28 US cities, we find strong evidence of discrimination in the characteristics of neighborhoods towards which individuals are steered. Conditional upon the characteristics of the house suggested by the audit tester, minorities are significantly more likely to be steered towards neighborhoods with less economic opportunity and greater exposures to crime and local pollutants. We find that holding locational preferences or income constant, discriminatory steering alone may contribute substantially to the disproportionate number of minority house- holds found in high poverty neighborhoods in the United States. The steering effect is also large enough to fully explain the differential in proximity to Superfund sites among African American mothers. These results have important implications for studies of “neighborhood effects” and confirm an important mechanism underlying observed correlations between race and pollution in the environmental justice literature. Our results also suggest that the basic utility maximization assumptions underlying hedonic and residential sorting models may often be violated, resulting in an important distortion in the provision of local public goods. |
| JEL: | Q51 Q53 R31 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24826&r=ure |
| By: | Gibbons, Stephen; Scrutinio, Vincenzo; Telhaj, Shqiponja |
| Abstract: | Recent research has established that teachers matter for student achievements, albeit because of dimensions of ‘teacher quality’ that are largely unexplained. A less closely investigated issue is whether teacher turnover directly harms student academic achievement. In this paper, we examine whether teacher turnover affects academic achievement of 16 year old state secondary school students using a unique data set of linked students and teachers in England. Identification comes from either: a school fixed effects design which exploits year-on-year variation in turnover in different subject groups, within schools; or student fixed effect design that where the variation comes from the cross sectional variation in turnover in different subjects, in the same school, experienced by a student. Both methods give similar results, suggesting that a higher teacher entry rate reduces students’ test scores, albeit by small amounts. |
| Keywords: | teachers; turnover; student attainment; schools |
| JEL: | H4 I2 J24 |
| Date: | 2018–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:88681&r=ure |
| By: | Cohen, Jeffrey P. (University of Connecticut, School of Business); Coughlin, Cletus C. (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis); Crews, Jonas C. (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis) |
| Abstract: | We examine housing vacancy rates over time and space using Markov-switching models. Our theoretical analysis extends a standard search and matching model for housing by incorporating regime-switching behavior and interregional spillovers. Such an approach is strongly supported by our empirical results. Our estimations allow us to examine differences in vacancy rates as well as explore the possibility of asymmetries within and across housing markets, depending on the state/regime of a given housing market. Estimated vacancy rates, conditional on the vacancy regime, vary across regions in all models. Models allowing for interregional effects tend to perform better than models lacking this feature. These models track vacancies well. Noteworthy is their performance during the Great Recession/Financial Crisis. The importance and diversity of interregional effects are demonstrated, and vacancies in a specific Census region are affected by vacancies in other regions. Moreover, the sizes of these effects depend on the vacancy state of the specific region. |
| Keywords: | housing vacancy; Markov switching; search and matching; interregional spillovers |
| JEL: | C24 R11 R31 |
| Date: | 2018–05–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedlwp:2018-007&r=ure |
| By: | Harald Hau (University of Geneva, Swiss Finance Institute, Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), and CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)); Difei Ouyang (University of Geneva) |
| Abstract: | In geographically segmented credit markets, local real estate booms can divert capital away from manufacturing firms, create capital scarcity, increase local real interest rates, lower real wages, and cause underinvestment and relative decline in the industrial sector. Using exogenous variation in the administrative land supply across 172 Chinese cities, we show that the predicted variation in real estate prices does indeed cause substantially higher capital costs for manufactoring firms, reduce their bank lending, lower their capital intensity and labor productivity, weaken firms’ financial performance, and reduce their TFP growth by economically significant magnitudes. This evidence highlights macroeconomic stability concerns associated with real estate booms. |
| Keywords: | Factor price externalities, reverse Balassa-Samuelson-effect, firm growth |
| JEL: | D22 D24 R31 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chf:rpseri:rp1838&r=ure |
| By: | Harris Selod (The World Bank - The World Bank - The World Bank); Lara Tobin (PSE - Paris School of Economics, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | We propose a theory of urban land use with endogenous property rights that applies to cities in developing countries. Households compete for where to live in the city and choose the property rights they purchase from a land administration which collects fees in inequitable ways. The model generates predictions regarding the levels and spatial patterns of residential informality in the city. Simulations show that land policies that reduce the size of the informal sector may adversely impact households in the formal sector through induced land price increases. Empirical evidence from a sub-Saharan African city supports the model's assumptions and outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Land markets,Property rights,Tenure security,Multiple sales |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01703178&r=ure |
| By: | Hippolyte D'Albis (PSE - Paris School of Economics, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Ekrame Boubtane (CERDI - Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International - UdA - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Dramane Coulibaly (EconomiX - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This article examines the causal relations between immigration and the characteristics of the housing market in host regions. We constructed a unique database from administrative records and used it to assess annual migration flows into France's 22 administrative regions from 1990 to 2013. We then estimated various panel VAR models, taking into account GDP per capita and the unemployment rate as the main regional economic indicators. We find that immigration has no significant effect on property prices but that higher property prices significantly reduce immigration rates. We also find no significant relationship between immigration and social housing supply. |
| Keywords: | Immigration,Property Prices,Social Housing,Panel VAR |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01649540&r=ure |
| By: | Machin, Stephen; Sandi, Matteo |
| Abstract: | This paper studies whether pupil performance gains achieved by autonomous schools – specifically academy schools in England – can be attributed to the strategic exclusion of poorly performing pupils. In England there have been two phases of academy school introduction, the first in the 2000s being a school improvement programme for schools serving disadvantaged pupil populations, the second a mass academisation programme in the 2010s which by contrast enabled better performing schools to become academies. Overall, on average across both programmes, exclusion rates are higher in academy schools. When the two programmes are considered separately, the earlier programme featured a much higher increase in the incidence of permanent exclusion. However, a number of simulated counterfactual experiments based on the statistical estimates show that rather than being used as a strategic means of manipulation to boost measured school performance, the higher rate of exclusion is instead a feature of the rigorously enforced discipline procedures that the pre-2010 academies adopted. |
| Keywords: | academies; discipline; exclusion |
| JEL: | I2 I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2018–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:88678&r=ure |
| By: | Ferreira Sequeda, Maria (ROA, Maastricht University); Golsteyn, Bart H.H. (Maastricht University); Parra-Cely, Sergio (Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | We study the effects of grade retention on secondary school performance by considering a change in Colombia's educative legislation. In 2010, the rule that forced schools to retain up to a 5% of students was abolished. Exploiting variation in schools' retention rates in a difference-in-differences framework, we find that retained (marginally non-retained) students improve (decline) their performance on language but not on math test scores. We suggest the school's position in the retention distribution, and the proportion of inexperienced teachers in the classroom, can be the mechanisms by which the marginally decreasing returns of grade retention are determined. |
| Keywords: | retention, Colombia, difference-in-differences |
| JEL: | I20 I24 J24 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11604&r=ure |
| By: | Eiji Yamamura (Department of Economics, Seinan Gakuin University); Yoshiro Tsutsui (Faculty of Economics, Konan University); Shunsuke Managi (Urban Institute & School of Engineering, Kyushu University) |
| Abstract: | On the demand side, we test how early childhood education creates preferences for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) through teacher-student gender randommatching. Using originally collected individual-level data, we examine how female teachers in elementary school influence students f CSR stated preferences in their adulthood. In a quasi-natural experiment setting, our major findings are: (1) female teachers affect pupils f preferences for corporate responsibility later in life, (2) the effect of a female teacher is robust if she was a class teacher in first grade, (3) the effect of a female teacher is observed only for different-gender pupils but not for same-gender ones. These findings imply that the gender gap in adulthood is reduced by matching female teachers with male students in earlier years. We examine and support the female socialization hypothesis. |
| Keywords: | Gender difference, Female socialization, Teacher-Student Gender Matches, Corporate Social Responsibility, ESG. |
| JEL: | G32 G34 J16 M14 I21 H89 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osk:wpaper:1821&r=ure |
| By: | Maurer, Stephan E. |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effect of oil wealth on the provision of education in the early 20th century United States. Using information on the location and discovery of major oil fields, I find that oil wealth increased local revenue and education spending. The quality of white teachers increased, and oil-rich counties were more likely to participate in the Rosenwald school building program for blacks. In addition, student-teacher ratios for black school children declined substantially. However, I do not find increased school enrollment rates for either race. |
| Keywords: | oil; education; race; Rosenwald; local public finances; resource booms; teachers |
| JEL: | I2 N3 Q3 |
| Date: | 2018–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:88677&r=ure |
| By: | Pierre-Alexandre Balland; Cristian Jara-Figueroa; Sergio Petralia; Mathieu Steijn; David Rigby; César Hidalgo |
| Abstract: | Why do some economic activities agglomerate more than others? And, why does the agglomeration of some economic activities continue to increase despite recent developments in communication and transportation technologies? In this paper, we present evidence that complex economic activities concentrate more in large cities. We find this to be true for technologies, scientific publications, industries, and occupations. Using historical patent data, we show that the urban concentration of complex economic activities has been continuously increasing since 1850. These findings suggest that the increasing urban concentration of jobs and innovation might be a consequence of the growing complexity of the economy. |
| Keywords: | economic complexity, complexity, scaling, occupations, cities, agglomeration |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1829&r=ure |
| By: | Cristian Jara-Figueroa; Bogang Jun; Edward Glaeser; Cesar Hidalgo |
| Abstract: | How do regions acquire the knowledge they need to diversify their economic activities? How does the migration of workers among firms and industries contribute to the diffusion of that knowledge? Here we measure the industry, occupation, and location specific knowledge carried by workers from one establishment to the next using a dataset summarizing the individual work history for an entire country. We study pioneer firms?firms operating in an industry that was not present in a region?because the success of pioneers is the basic unit of regional economic diversification. We find that the growth and survival of pioneers increase significantly when their first hires are workers with experience in a related industry, and with work experience in the same location, but not with past experience in a related occupation. We compare these results with new firms that are not pioneers and find that industry specific knowledge is significantly more important for pioneer than non-pioneer firms. To address endogeneity we use Bartik instruments, which leverage national fluctuations in the demand for an activity as shocks for local labor supply. The instrumental variable estimates support the finding that industry related knowledge is a predictor of the survival and growth of pioneer firms. These findings expand our understanding of the micro-mechanisms underlying regional economic diversification events. |
| Keywords: | industry, occupation, knowledge, firm, survival |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1828&r=ure |
| By: | Tidiane Ly (GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - ENS Lyon - École normale supérieure - Lyon - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - UCBL - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 - Université de Lyon - UJM - Université Jean Monnet [Saint-Étienne] - Université de Lyon - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Sonia Paty (GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - ENS Lyon - École normale supérieure - Lyon - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - UCBL - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 - Université de Lyon - UJM - Université Jean Monnet [Saint-Étienne] - Université de Lyon - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of tax base mobility on local taxation. We first develop a theoretical model in order to examine the connection between local business property taxation and tax base mobility within a metropolitan area. We find that decreasing capital intensity in the tax base increases the business property tax rates unambiguously. We then test this result using a French reform, which changes the composition of the main local business tax base in 2010. Estimations using Difference-inDifferences show that the reduction in the mobility of the tax base indeed results in higher business property tax rates. Housing tax rates were not affected by the reform. |
| Keywords: | Local taxation,Tax base mobility,Tax competition,Difference-in-Differences |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01812611&r=ure |
| By: | Ewen Gallic (Univ Rennes, CNRS, CREM - UMR 6211, F-35000 Rennes, France); Vincent Malardé (Univ Rennes, CNRS, CREM - UMR 6211, F-35000 Rennes, France) |
| Abstract: | In many cities around the world short-term housing platforms have become an alternative in the eyes of tourists. These new players, led by Airbnb, are disrupting the market, raising concerns from the hotel industry and public authorities. Using data from hotels and Airbnb in Paris, this paper proposes a new methodology for measuring the competitive pressure exerted by Airbnb on the hotel industry. The results indicate that an increase in the number of Airbnb hosts close to a hotel leads the hotel to reduce its price. This effect is amplified on weekend evenings. |
| Keywords: | peer-to-peer platforms; hotel industry ; Airbnb; competition ; spatial statistics |
| JEL: | D40 L81 R31 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tut:cremwp:2018-07&r=ure |
| By: | Yingyao Hu (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Johns Hopkins University); Zhongjian Lin (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Emory University) |
| Abstract: | The interaction of economic agents is one of the most important elements in economic analyses. While most empirical studies investigate peer effects on objective final achievements, peer effects on subjective outcomes are inherently difficult to identify and estimate because these variables are prone to measurement errors. In particular, peer effects on students’ attitudes towards learning are believed to have a significant impact on their achievements, while we found the presence of misclassification errors in students’ self-reported attitudes. We develop a binary choice model with misclassification and social interactions and use a recently developed technique of measurement error models to correct misreporting errors for estimating the peer effects on attitude. Our estimates suggest that a significant proportion of students overreport their attitudes towards learning and that peer effects are not only significant, but also much larger than estimates ignoring the misreporting errors. Our method may be generalized to the identification and estimation of peer effects with imperfect data information. |
| Keywords: | Misclassification, Binary Choice, Peer Effects, Attitude Towards Learning, Silent Rivalry, Social Desirability |
| Date: | 2018–02–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:cemmap:12/18&r=ure |
| By: | Hotchkiss, Julie L. (Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta); Rupasingha, Anil (U.S. Department of Agriculture) |
| Abstract: | Consistent with predictions from the literature, we find that higher levels of in-migration dilute multiple dimensions of a community's level of social capital. The analysis employs a 2SLS methodology to account for potential endogeneity of migration. |
| Keywords: | social capital; migration; decennial census; social capital community benchmark survey; nonpublic data; simultaneous equations; endogeneity; factor analysis |
| JEL: | C36 C38 D71 R23 |
| Date: | 2018–07–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedawp:2018-05&r=ure |
| By: | IHARA Ryusuke |
| Abstract: | The productivity in cities is enhanced by the interaction between heterogeneous workers who are born and raised in various regions and countries. However, such benefit does not last forever because the composition of workers in cities becomes homogenized over generations. To evaluate the agglomeration economies and diseconomies of labor heterogeneity, this paper constructs a two-region non-overlapping generations model. Workers are assumed to be differentiated in terms of their birthplaces. Although they may migrate from their home regions to other regions to work as foreigners, they should incur an adjustment cost due to cultural differences. Assuming that the distribution of workers' births depends on their previous generation's residency choices, this study obtained the following results: (i) In the short run, residency choice leads workers to disperse across regions in each period. In the long run, however, the accumulation of residency choices over time makes birth distributions concentrated in a single region. Consequently, the composition of the workers becomes homogenized and they continue to reside in one region in a steady-state equilibrium. (ii) Social welfare is maximized by an even distribution of births involving a persistent circulation of heterogeneous labor. A comparison between the social optimum and the steady-state equilibrium indicates a dynamic inefficiency due to generational transition. (iii) When housing consumption is introduced as a dispersion force, social welfare can be maximized in a steady-state equilibrium with an equal distribution. (iv) Contrarily, even when another agglomeration economy is introduced on account of the quantity of labor, distribution of births in a steady-state equilibrium is still concentrated in comparison to the social optimum. |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:18038&r=ure |
| By: | Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés; Wilkie, Callum |
| Abstract: | Not all economically-disadvantaged – 'less developed' or 'lagging' – regions are the same. They are, however, often bundled together for the purposes of innovation policy design and implementation. This paper attempts to determine whether such bundling is warranted by conducting a regional level investigation for Canada, the United States, on the one hand, and Europe, on the other, to (a) identify the structural and socioeconomic factors that drive patenting in the less developed regions of North America and Europe, respectively; and (b) explore how these factors differ between the two contexts. The empirical analysis, estimated using a mixed-model approach, reveals that, while there are similarities between the drivers of innovation in North America's and Europe's lagging regions, a number of important differences between the two continents prevail. The analysis also indicates that the territorial processes of innovation in North America's and Europe's less developed regions are more similar to those of their more developed counterparts than to one another. |
| Keywords: | Canada; Europe; Innovation; lagging regions; patenting; R&D; United States |
| JEL: | O32 O33 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13048&r=ure |
| By: | César Hidalgo; Pierre-Alexandre Balland; Ron Boschma; Mercedes Delgado; Maryann Feldma; Koen Frenken; Edward Glaeser; Canfei He; Dieter F. Kogler; Andrea Morrison; Frank Neffke; David Rigby; Scott Stern; Siqi Zheng; Shengjun Zhu |
| Abstract: | The idea that skills, technology, and knowledge, are spatially concentrated, has a long academic tradition. Yet, only recently this hypothesis has been empirically formalized and corroborated at multiple spatial scales, for different economic activities, and for a diversity of institutional regimes. The new synthesis is an empirical principle describing the probability that a region enters - or exits - an economic activity as a function of the number of related activities pre- sent in that location. In this paper we summarize some of the recent empirical evidence that has generalized the principle of relatedness to a fact describing the entry and exit of products, industries, occupations, and technologies, at the national, regional, and metropolitan scales. We conclude by describing some of the policy implications and future avenues of research implied by this robust empirical principle. |
| Keywords: | economic complexity, relatedness, economic geography |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1830&r=ure |
| By: | Sara L. McGaughey; Pascalis Raimondos; Lisbeth La Cour |
| Abstract: | When searching for productivity spillovers from foreign firms, a firm is typically classified as foreign using a low threshold of direct foreign ownership. Instead, we advocate an ‘ultimate owner’ definition because (i) ultimate ownership includes indirect ownership links that are prevalent in our complex, interdependent world; and (ii) it confers control. Control brings greater willingness to transfer knowledge to foreign affiliates but, paradoxically, also greater potential for spillovers. Adopting this alternate definition of what is foreign turns out to be pivotal for identifying spillovers: while we find no horizontal productivity effects using the low threshold direct ownership definition, we find positive and significant effects under the ultimate-owner definition. Moreover, we find evidence that indirectly controlled foreign firms exert the most persistent horizontal spillovers to domestic firms. |
| Keywords: | foreign direct investment, direct vs. ultimate owner, indirect ownership links, control vs. influence, productivity spillovers |
| JEL: | F21 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7109&r=ure |
| By: | Christian A. L. Hilber; Olivier Schöni |
| Abstract: | We investigate how political backlash against wealthy investors in high-amenity places affects local residents. We exploit a quasi-natural experiment: the 'Swiss Second Home Initiative', which banned the construction of new second homes in desirable tourist locations. Consistent with our model, we find that the ban substantially lowered (increased) the price growth of primary (second) homes and increased the unemployment growth rate in the affected areas. Our findings suggest that the negative effect on local economies dominated the positive amenity-preservation effect. Constraining second home investments in locations where primary and second homes are not close substitutes may reinforce wealth inequality. |
| Keywords: | second homes, wealth inequality, land use regulation, housing policy, house prices, unemployment |
| JEL: | D63 G12 R11 R21 R31 R52 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1556&r=ure |
| By: | Asma Benhenda (University College London, Institute of Education) |
| Abstract: | I study the relationship between systematic and complementary screening and on-the-job teacher evaluations by their hierarchy, and teacher performance in secondary school. Using comprehensive French administrative data, I exploit within student across topics variations and I find that the classroom observation grade is the only evaluation grade significantly related to teacher performance. I then investigate whether the classroom observation has an impact on teacher performance and behaviour during the year of evaluation and in subsequent years. An event study shows that the classroom observation has no statistically significant impact on student achievement. I find that teachers are more absent during the months following the evaluation, suggesting that this evaluation provokes a temporary change in teacher behaviour. |
| JEL: | I2 J2 M51 |
| Date: | 2018–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:1806&r=ure |
| By: | Andrés Rodríguez-Pose; Callum Wilkie |
| Abstract: | Not all economically-disadvantaged ? 'less developed' or 'lagging' ? regions are the same. They are, however, often bundled together for the purposes of innovation policy design and implementation. This paper attempts to determine whether such bundling is warranted by conducting a regional level investigation for Canada, the United States, on the one hand, and Europe, on the other, to (a) identify the structural and socioeconomic factors that drive patenting in the less developed regions of North America and Europe, respectively; and (b) explore how these factors differ between the two contexts. The empirical analysis, estimated using a mixed- model approach, reveals that, while there are similarities between the drivers of innovation in North America?s and Europe?s lagging regions, a number of important differences between the two continents prevail. The analysis also indicates that the territorial processes of innovation in North America?s and Europe?s less developed regions are more similar to those of their more developed counterparts than to one another. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, lagging regions, R&D, patenting, Canada, Europe, United States |
| JEL: | R11 R12 O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1827&r=ure |
| By: | Arlan Brucal (London School of Economics); Michael J. Roberts (University of Hawai’i at MÄ noa) |
| Abstract: | Using a sample of 48 contiguous U.S. states for the period 1973-2013, we study how oil price shocks influence state-level economic growth. The analysis incorporates (1) a structural decomposition of the supply and demand factors that drive the real price of crude oil; (2) heterogeneity of states in terms of their production and consumption of oil and natural gas; and (3) economic spillovers across neighboring states. Oil price effects vary across states, depending on the underlying source of the price shock and a state’s average production of oil relative to its average consumption. Oil- exporting states are more vulnerable to unanticipated changes in oil prices, and the direct effect of oil price shocks can magnify or temper effects on neighboring states. Aggregated predictions from the state-level model also differ modestly from stand-alone aggregate model (Kilian , 2009 ). The aggregated state-level model implies that the recent (2005-2016) decline in U.S. dependence on foreign oil reduced aggregate sensitivity to exogenous supply shocks by more than a third. |
| Keywords: | Oil price shocks, economic spillovers, dynamics |
| JEL: | E32 Q43 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hai:wpaper:201807&r=ure |
| By: | Büchel, Konstantin; Kyburz, Stephan |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of railway access on population growth in 19th century Switzerland. Our analysis is based on geo-referenced railway network information and an inconsequential units IV approach. Gaining direct railway access increased annual population growth by 0.4 percentage points, while municipalities in close vicinity but no direct access (i.e. 2-10 km distance) experienced a growth slump of similar magnitude. We interpret these findings as evidence of highly localised displacement effects related to railway connections. |
| Keywords: | railway access; population growth; displacement effects |
| JEL: | N33 N73 O18 |
| Date: | 2018–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:88689&r=ure |
| By: | Marco Bertoni (Università di Padova); Roberto Nisticò (Università di Napoli Federico II and CSEF) |
| Abstract: | If relative rank within classes enhances student achievement, tracking will help low-ability students and may harm high achievers. Using data from a randomized experiment generating a wide range of support of group ability composition, we show that students with higher ordinal ability rank within groups have better academic outcomes. We use our flexible education production function and the ample support of the data to predict the effects of alternative grouping polices. When we unpack the mechanisms behind ability tracking, we show that rank and peer effects work in opposite directions in generating outcomes for low- and high-ability students. |
| Keywords: | ability tracking, rank concerns, peer effects. |
| JEL: | I21 I24 J24 |
| Date: | 2018–07–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sef:csefwp:506&r=ure |
| By: | Baltagi, Badi H. (Syracuse University); Fingleton, Bernard (University of Cambridge); Pirotte, Alain (University of Paris 2) |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on the estimation and predictive performance of several estimators for the time-space dynamic panel data model with Spatial Moving Average Random Effects (SMA-RE) structure of the disturbances. A dynamic spatial Generalized Moments (GM) estimator is proposed which combines the approaches proposed by Baltagi, Fingleton and Pirotte (2014) and Fingleton (2008). The main idea is to mix non-spatial and spatial instruments to obtain consistent estimates of the parameters. Then, a forecasting approach is proposed and a linear predictor is derived. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we compare the short-run and long-run effects and evaluate the predictive efficiencies of optimal and various suboptimal predictors using the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) criterion. Last, our approach is illustrated by an application in geographical economics which studies the employment levels across 255 NUTS regions of the EU over the period 2001–2012, with the last two years reserved for prediction. |
| Keywords: | panel data, spatial lag, error components, time-space, dynamic, OLS, within, GM, spatial autocorrelation, direct and indirect effects, moving average, prediction, simulations, rook contiguity, interregional trade |
| JEL: | C23 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11587&r=ure |
| By: | Dericks, Gerard; Koster, Hans R. A. |
| Abstract: | This paper exploits locally exogenous variation in the location of bombs dropped during the Blitz to quantify the effect of density restrictions on agglomeration economies in London: an elite global city. Employing microgeographic data on office rents and employment, this analysis points to effects for London several multiples larger than the existing literature which primarily derives its results from secondary cities. In particular, doubling employment density raises rents by 25%. Consequently if the Blitz had not taken place, the resulting loss in agglomeration economies to present day London would cause total annual office rent revenues to fall by $4:5 billion {equivalent to 1:2% of London's annual GDP. These results illuminate the substantial impact of land-use regulations in one of the world's largest and most productive cities. |
| Keywords: | regulatory costs; office rents; agglomeration economies; London Blitz bombings |
| JEL: | R14 R33 R38 |
| Date: | 2018–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:88694&r=ure |
| By: | María Laura Alzúa (CEDLAS-FCE-UNLP, CONICET.); Habiba Djebbari (Aix Marseille University (Aix Marseille School of Economics) EHESS & CNRS.); Amy J. Pickering (Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tufts University.) |
| Abstract: | Basic sanitation facilities are still lacking in large parts of the developing world, engendering serious environmental health risks. Interventions commonly deliver in-kind or cash subsidies to promote private toilet ownership. In this paper, we assess an intervention that provides information and behavioral incentives to encourage villagers in rural Mali to build and use basic latrines. Using an experimental research design and carefully measured indicators of use, we find a sizeable impact from this intervention: latrine ownership and use almost doubled in intervention villages, and open defecation was reduced by half. Our results partially attribute these effects to increased knowledge about cheap and locally available sanitation solutions. They are also associated with shifts in the social norm governing sanitation. Taken together, our findings, unlike previous evidence from other contexts, suggest that a progressive approach that starts with ending open defecation and targets whole communities at a time can help meet the new Sustainable Development Goal of ending open defecation. |
| JEL: | I12 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dls:wpaper:0228&r=ure |
| By: | Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina (San Diego State University); Bansak, Cynthia (St. Lawrence University); Pozo, Susan (Western Michigan University) |
| Abstract: | According to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the number of refugees worldwide rose to 21.3 million in 2015. Yet, resistance to the welcoming of refugees appears to have grown. The possibility that refugees may commit acts of terrorism or engage in criminal behavior has served as fuel for the Trump Administration’s position in 2017. Is there any basis for these fears? We exploit the variation in the geographic and temporal distribution of refugees across U.S. counties to ascertain if there is a link between refugee settlements and local crime rates or terrorist events in the United States. We fail to find any statistically significant evidence of such a connection. |
| Keywords: | refugees, crime, United States, terrorism |
| JEL: | F22 J61 J68 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11612&r=ure |
| By: | Kirchmaier, Thomas; Machin, Stephen; Sandi, Matteo; Witt, Robert |
| Abstract: | In many historical episodes, the extent of criminal activity has displayed booms and busts. One very clear example is the case of metal crime, where in the face of big increases in value driven by world commodity prices, the incidence of metal thefts in the UK (and elsewhere) rose very sharply in the 2000s. Early in the current decade, they fell sharply again. This paper studies the roles of prices, policing and policy in explaining these crime dynamics. The empirical analysis shows sizeable and significant metal crime-price elasticities, in line with the idea that changing economic returns do shape crime. However, the rapid upward and downward trends are not only due to price changes. Their temporal evolution is also explained by changes in policing and policy. On the former, a difference-indifferences approach is used to document an important role of policing as a consequence of an antimetal crime operation introduced in 2012. On the latter, the introduction of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 is exploited to study the impact of policy on the economic activity of scrap metal dealers in England and Wales. Results from our difference-in-differences specification suggest that the tougher regulatory system introduced by the policy hindered the economic activity of pre-existing dealers, reflecting the reduced market size for potential metal criminals to sell what they have stolen. |
| Keywords: | metal crime; metal prices; commodity prices |
| JEL: | K42 |
| Date: | 2018–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:88686&r=ure |
| By: | Cornelissen, Thomas; Dustmann, Christian; Raute, Anna; Schönberg, Uta |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we examine the heterogeneous treatment effects of a universal child care (preschool) program in Germany by exploiting the exogenous variation in attendance caused by a reform that led to a large staggered expansion across municipalities. Drawing on novel administrative data from the full population of compulsory school entry examinations, we find that children with lower (observed and unobserved) gains are more likely to select into child care than children with higher gains. This pattern of reverse selection on gains is driven by unobserved family background characteristics: children from disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to attend child care than children from advantaged backgrounds but have larger treatment effects because of their worse outcome when not enrolled in child care. |
| Keywords: | child development; marginal treatment effects; Universal child care |
| JEL: | I28 J13 J15 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13050&r=ure |
| By: | Andersson, Henrik (Department of Economics and Institute for Housing and Urban Research (IBF), Uppsala) |
| Abstract: | In this paper I estimate the causal effect of ethnic enclaves on the probability of self-employment. To account for neighborhood selection I make use of a refugee dispersal program. Results indicate that larger ethnic enclaves, measured as the share of self-employed coethnics in the municipality immigrants first arrive into, effects the probability of self-employment positively, while the share of all other coethnics has a negative effect. Results however also indicate that there is a long term economic penalty to being placed with a larger share of self-employed coethnics, an effect which is partly mediated through the choice of selfemployment. |
| Keywords: | Immigration; Self-employment; Sweden; Foreign born; Ethnic Enclaves; Coethnics |
| JEL: | C21 J15 M13 R23 |
| Date: | 2018–03–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uunewp:2018_007&r=ure |
| By: | Kho, Kevin (Michigan State University, Department of Economics); Lakdawala, Leah (Michigan State University, Department of Economics); Nakasone, Eduardo (Michigan State University and International Food Policy Research Institute) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the impacts of school-based internet access on pupil achievement in Peru, using a large panel of 5,903 public primary schools that gained internet connections during 2007-2014. We employ an event study approach and a trend break analysis that exploit variation in the timing of internet roll-out up to 5 years after installation. We find that internet access has a moderate, positive short-run impact on school-average standardized math scores, but importantly that this effect grows over time. We provide evidence that schools require time to adapt to internet access by hiring teachers with computer training and that this process is not immediate. These dynamics highlight the need for complementary investments to fully exploit new technological inputs and underscores the importance of using an extended evaluation window to allow the effects of school-based internet on learning to materialize. |
| Keywords: | Education; Internet; ICT; Schooling |
| JEL: | I25 O12 O15 O30 |
| Date: | 2018–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:msuecw:2018_003&r=ure |
| By: | Kohl, Sebastian |
| Abstract: | America's "infatuation with homeownership" has been identified as one cause of the latest financial crisis. Based on codings of 1,809 party manifestos in 19 OECD countries since 1945, this paper addresses the question of where the political ideal to democratize homeownership came from. While conservative parties have defended homeownership across countries and time, center-left parties have oscillated between a pro-homeownership and a pro-rental position. The former occurs in Anglo-Saxon, Northern and Southern European countries, while the latter prevails among German-speaking countries. Beyond partisan effects, once a country has a majority of homeowners and parties defending homeownership, larger parties are more likely to support it. The extent of center-left parties' support for homeownership is conditionally associated with higher homeownership rates, more encouraging mortgage regimes, and a bigger housing bubble burst after 2007. The ideational origins of the financialization of housing and private Keynesianism are, after all, not only conservative and market-liberal. |
| Keywords: | comparative politics,homeownership,political economy,Hauseigentum,politische Ökonomie,vergleichende Parteienforschung |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:mpifgd:186&r=ure |
| By: | Bergman, Peter (Columbia University) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the impact of a lottery-based desegregation program that allows minority students to transfer to seven school districts serving higher-income, predominantly-white families. While prior research has studied the impacts of such a program receiving students, this paper studies the effects on participating students. In the short run, students who receive an offer to transfer are more likely to be classified as requiring special education and their test scores increase in several subjects. In the medium run, college enrollment increases by 8 percentage points for these students. This is due to greater attendance at two-year colleges. There is no overall effect on the likelihood of voting. However, the offer to transfer significantly increases the likelihood of arrest. This is driven primarily by increases in arrests for non-violent offenses. Almost all of these effects - both the risks and the benefits - stem from impacts on male students. Male students have higher test scores, college enrollment rates, and are significantly more likely to vote, but they also experience nearly all of the effects on arrests. |
| Keywords: | desegregation, education, inequality |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I24 I28 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11602&r=ure |
| By: | Jesús Peiró-Palomino (Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain); Andrés J. Picazo-Tadeo (Department of Applied Economics II, University of Valencia, Spain) |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes a composite indicator of well-being for 168 European regions built with data from 10 well-being domains provided by the OECD Regional Well- being Dataset. Regions are then ranked according to their respective levels of well-being. Furthermore, the role of the quality of regional governments in explaining well-being dis- parities is assessed using data from the Quality of Government EU Regional Dataset. Results reveal notable well-being differences across European regions, especially between core and periphery ones, with the former enjoying higher well-being. In addition, government quali- ty is found to boost regional well-being, although uneven impacts are found for core and periphery regions. |
| Keywords: | Composite well-being indicators; European regions; government quality |
| JEL: | C14 C61 I31 H41 R50 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jau:wpaper:2018/06&r=ure |
| By: | Fuster, Andreas (Swiss National Bank); Plosser, Matthew (Federal Reserve Bank of New York); Vickery, James (Federal Reserve Bank of New York) |
| Abstract: | We study the effects of regulatory oversight by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on credit supply as well as bank risk-taking, growth, and operating costs. We use a difference-in-differences approach, making use of the fact that banks below a $10 billion size cutoff are exempt from CFPB supervision and enforcement activities. We find little evidence that CFPB oversight significantly reduces the overall volume of mortgage lending. However, we find some evidence of changes in the composition of lending—CFPB-supervised banks originated fewer loans to risky borrowers, offset by an increase in large “jumbo” mortgages. We find no clear evidence of substitution in lending between bank and nonbank subsidiaries, or effects on asset growth or bank noninterest expenses. |
| Keywords: | Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; credit; mortgage; regulation |
| JEL: | D18 G21 G28 |
| Date: | 2018–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fednsr:857&r=ure |
| By: | Ao, Chon-Kit; Chatterjee, Somdeep |
| Abstract: | We estimate the impacts of mandated political reservation for minorities on household credit access and borrowing behavior. To identify causal effects, we exploit the exogenous state-time variation in the allocation of constituencies (electoral districts) to the two reserved minority groups in Indian states. Using a household level panel data with observations before and after the redistricting, we find that the effect is concentrated on the disadvantaged population groups. Political reservation for Scheduled Tribes (STs) increases household probability of getting a loan by 3.7 percentage points, while political reservation for Scheduled Castes (SCs) has no effect on the likelihood of getting a loan. However, conditional on having a loan, reservation for SCs does lead to fewer but larger loans. We also find considerable changes in household borrowing composition. |
| Keywords: | Affirmative action,Political reservation,Credit access,Borrowing composition |
| JEL: | D78 J15 J78 O12 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:227&r=ure |
| By: | Mendez-Guerra, Carlos |
| Abstract: | Almost half of the population of Bolivia currently lives in the metropolitan regions of La Paz, Santa Cruz, and Cochabamba. Motivated by the potential for growth and development of these regions, this article documents the evolution of their human development differences over the 1992-2013 period. In particular, using the United Nations' human development index at the municipal level, this paper evaluates the process of regional convergence through the lens of three frameworks: beta, sigma, and distributional convergence. The overall result is an increasing tendency toward convergence that is driven by both slower forward mobility of the less developed regions and faster backward mobility of the more developed regions. The distributional convergence framework provides further insights and suggests that the formation and merging of multiple convergence clusters is a salient feature of inequality reduction. Furthermore, in the long-run, convergence appears to be characterized by the transformation of a trimodal distribution into a left–skewed unimodal distribution. The article concludes emphasizing that the cross-regional distribution of human development in Bolivia is quite sticky at its left tail and, as a result, the least developed regions are still relatively far from achieving complete convergence in the long run. |
| Keywords: | convergence, distribution dynamics, human development, Bolivia |
| JEL: | O10 O15 O47 O54 |
| Date: | 2018–06–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:87627&r=ure |
| By: | Stephen Machin; Sandra McNally; Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela |
| Abstract: | School students who narrowly fail to achieve a grade C in their GCSE English exam at age 16 pay a high price, according to research by Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela and colleagues. Their study concludes that young people are not getting the support they need if they fail to make the grade, even narrowly. |
| Keywords: | high stakes examinations, manipulation, English |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I24 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepcnp:534&r=ure |
| By: | Chandan Sharma (Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Management Lucknow, India); Vatcharin Sirimaneetham (Macroeconomic Policy and Financing for Development Division, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) |
| Abstract: | Public-private partnerships are generally defined as a contractual agreement between a public agency and a private entity on a long-term project aimed at providing a public service and infrastructure.1 Examples of public services delivered through PPP are prison services and public parks, while infrastructure can refer to both economic infrastructure, such as electricity and mobile phone networks, and social infrastructure, such as public schools and hospitals. In general, the private entity assumes a large part of the financial and operational risks in a project, while the income could be in the form of user fees of the public service or infrastructure provided. An example is a consortium of private companies that build, operate and maintain a toll road in exchange for toll charges. |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unt:pbmpdd:pb72&r=ure |
| By: | Maxime Raynaud (EDF R&D - EDF R&D - EDF - EDF); Dominique Osso (EDF R&D - EDF R&D - EDF - EDF); Frédéric Marteau (EDF R&D - EDF R&D - EDF - EDF); Stanislas Nösperger (EDF R&D - EDF R&D - EDF - EDF) |
| Abstract: | The recent European energy proposals for the revision of the Energy Efficiency and the Energy Performance of Buildings Directives emphasize the importance of driving investments into the renovation of building stocks and stimulating retrofitting demand. Moreover, the ambitious targets on Green House Gas' abatement and energy consumption reduction require refurbishments to a high level of performance. This high level of performance subsequently represents high cost for households. Thus, with the necessity to lead to ambitious renovations, the question about the cost-effectiveness of the relevant level of performance has to be tackled. Unfortunately, the absence of reliable data often makes it difficult to answer this key question. In this paper, we rely on two different regional energy efficiency programmes providing incentives for performing refurbishment with a great importance dedicated to thermal insulation and air tightness. Covering a sample of around 50 households per programme, data on energy consumption and the characteristics of individual dwellings were collected as well as on refurbishment costs. Comparisons between the two programmes and within each programme provide information on the economic relevance of ambitious targets (in terms of energy and carbon). Both programmes pursue similar objectives but the cost associated were different. The first programme presents an average retrofit cost of 290 €/m² compared to an average cost of 415 €/m² for the second one, but both programmes present a large margin of uncertainty. On average the energy savings were 63 kWh/m² (final energy) for the less costly programme compared to 88 kWh/m² for the second programme. Concerning the non-energy impacts, the households express satisfaction about comfort increase and green value of their refurbished real estate property. The findings underline the crucial importance of both financial incentives and extra benefits such as asset value to enhance the accessibility of deep retrofit potential. |
| Date: | 2018–06–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01826170&r=ure |
| By: | Lane, Joseph |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates innovation and knowledge in the North Staffordshire Potteries during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It evaluates new empirical evidence of formal and informal patterns of knowledge creation and dissemination in order to highlight tensions between forms of open knowledge sharing and the appropriation of returns to innovative activity. By presenting new patent data it shows that formal protection was not a widespread strategy in the industry. It uses patent specifications to determine what specific types of knowledge were, and could be, patented in the district, and by whom. A range of sources are used to demonstrate evidence of innovation and knowledge appropriation outside of the patent system. The paper identifies distinct types of knowledge in the industry and shows how differences in these led to a range of strategies being employed by potters, with the role of secrecy highlighted as a particularly prevalent and effective strategy. |
| Keywords: | Industrial Revolution; Intellectual Property; Patents; Innovation; Earthenware; Industrial District; Technology; Knowledge |
| JEL: | D83 L61 N63 N73 N91 O34 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:wpaper:89386&r=ure |
| By: | Claudia Noumedem Temgoua |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the role of Chinese and Indian highly skilled diaspora in the internationalization of knowledge networks, for a sample of OECD destination countries. We mainly focus on two types of knowledge networks: co-inventorship and co-authorship. We jointly exploit country-level data on highly skilled migration and information on co-authorship and co-inventorship from publication and patent data. Based on a gravity model regression analysis, we find that OECD country pairs hosting sizeable portions of the Indian or Chinese highly skilled diasporas tend to collaborate more on publications and patents, after controlling for other migration trends. When extending the analysis to other countries, we find similar results for Vietnam, Pakistan and Iran. |
| Keywords: | migration, highly skilled, publications, R&D cooperation, diffusion, patent |
| JEL: | C8 F22 J61 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2018-16&r=ure |
| By: | Danzer, Alexander M. (KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, IZA, CReAM, and CESifo); Feuerbaum, Carsten (KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt); Piopiunik, Marc (ifo Institute at the University of Munich and CESifo); Woessmann, Ludger (University of Munich, ifo Institute, IZA, and CESifo) |
| Abstract: | Does a high regional concentration of immigrants of the same ethnicity affect immigrant children’s acquisition of host-country language skills and educational attainment? We exploit the exogenous placement of guest workers from five ethnicities across German regions during the 1960s and 1970s in a model with region and ethnicity fixed effects. Our results indicate that exposure to a higher own-ethnic concentration impairs immigrant children’s host-country language proficiency and increases school dropout. A key mediating factor for this effect is parents’ lower speaking proficiency in the host-country language, whereas inter-ethnic contacts with natives and economic conditions do not play a role. |
| Keywords: | immigrant children ; ethnic concentration ; language ; education ; guest workers JEL Classification: J15 ; I20 ; R23 ; J61 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:380&r=ure |
| By: | Stéphane Gauthier (PSE - Paris School of Economics, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne); Fanny Henriet (PSE - Paris School of Economics, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Keywords: | Pigovian tax,targeting principle,local externality,pollution,commodity taxes |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-01826330&r=ure |
| By: | Kelly, Morgan (University College Dublin, CAGE and CEPR); Cormac ´O Grada (University College Dublin and CAGE) |
| Abstract: | Although urban growth historically depended on large inflows of migrants, little is known of the process of migration in the era before railways. Here we use detailed data for Paris on women arrested for prostitution in the 1760s, or registered as prostitutes in the 1830s and 1850s; and of men holding identity cards in the 1790s, to examine patterns of female and male migration. We supplement these with data on all women and men buried in 1833. Migration was highest from areas of high living standards, measured by literacy rates. Distance was a strong deterrent to female migration (reflecting limited employment opportunities) that falls with railways, whereas its considerably lower impact on men barely changes through the nineteenth century. |
| Keywords: | Migration, gravity, prostitution |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:378&r=ure |
| By: | Brunello, Giorgio (University of Padova); Crema, Angela (University of Padova); Rocco, Lorenzo (University of Padova) |
| Abstract: | Using Italian data on standardized test scores, we show that the substantial heterogeneity in how performance changes with the position of questions can alter the rank of individuals and classes as the length of the test increases. We examine whether decomposing test scores into initial performance and performance decline allows to separate the influence of cognitive and non-cognitive skills and find that our measure of cognitive skills – the math grade before the test – not only has a dominant influence on initial performance but also affects substantially performance decline. |
| Keywords: | low stake tests, position of questions, cognitive and non-cognitive skills, Italy |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11603&r=ure |
| By: | David Guerrero (IFSTTAR/AME/SPLOTT - Systèmes Productifs, Logistique, Organisation des Transports et Travail - IFSTTAR - Institut Français des Sciences et Technologies des Transports, de l'Aménagement et des Réseaux - Communauté Université Paris-Est) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the spatial distribution of freight flows between the French NUTS-3 regions and West European ports. It focuses on the impacts of the quality of inland and maritime connections on the scope of hinterlands. The results of a spatial interaction analysis reveal that the inland distance constraint is significantly lower when intermodal connections such as regular barge or rail services are available. A case study focused on East Asian trade confirmed that factors related to maritime connectivity, such as the frequency of services at ports and their ability to accommodate large vessels, also contribute to limit the distance impedance. However, these effects vary considerably depending on the value density of the cargo. |
| Keywords: | CONTAINERIZATION,SPATIAL INTERACTION MODEL,PORT,INTERMODALITE,ARRIERE PAYS,FLUX DE MARCHANDISES,CONTENEUR,TRANSPORT INTERMODAL |
| Date: | 2018–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01822851&r=ure |
| By: | Lu Han (Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto); Chandler Lutz (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School); Benjamin Sand (Department of Economics, York University); Derek Stacey (Department of Economics, Ryerson University) |
| Abstract: | We study the housing market implications of financial constraints by exploiting a regulatory change that withholds access to mortgage insurance when homes sell for $1 million or more, effectively increasing the downpayment requirement at the threshold. We motivate our listing and sales price analysis by advancing a model of competing auctions with constrained bidders. Using Toronto data, we find sharp excess bunching for homes listed but not sold at $1M, along with changes to bidding intensity around the $1M threshold. Everything considered, our analysis points to the importance of designing macroprudential policies that recognize the strategic responses of market participants. |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rye:wpaper:wp073&r=ure |
| By: | Adrien Montalbo (PSE - Paris School of Economics, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This article investigates the relation between industrial activities and the expansion of primary instruction in early nineteenth-century France. To do so, I use a newly constituted database on the location and characteristics of primary schools at the level of municipalities. This database is extracted from the Guizot Survey conducted in 1833, before the implementation of the first national law making the opening of a school mandatory in any municipality more than 500 inhabitants. By using mineral deposits as an instrument, I first show that the presence of industrial activities and the level of industrial production in a given municipality were positively influencing the presence of primary schools. Second, I show that this was due to an income effect thanks to which municipalities were capable of attracting teachers and of more frequently paying them on a regular basis. Other economic factors, as the agricultural resources of districts, and geographical or demographical factors as population dispersion were also important in explaining the location of primary schools. Finally, I show that this came at a price in terms of children enrolment in schools. The same economic factors were contributing to a diversion of children from schools, either because of a relative impoverishment of workers or because of an increased opportunity cost of schooling. |
| Keywords: | primary instruction,industrial activities,nineteenth-century France |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-01826346&r=ure |
| By: | Giuseppe Berlingieri; Sara Calligaris; Chiara Criscuolo |
| Abstract: | Ever since Moore (1911) a large empirical and theoretical literature has established the existence of a firm size-wage premium. At the same time, a second regularity in empirical work, linking size and productivity, has inspired a vast literature in multiple fields. However, the majority of the existing evidence is based on manufacturing data only. With manufacturing nowadays accounting for a very small share of the economy in many countries, whether productivity, size, and wages are closely linked, and how tight this link is across sectors, is still an open question. Using a unique dataset that collects micro-aggregated firm-level information on productivity, size, and wages for the entire economy in 17 countries over the 1994-2012 period, this paper unveils a much more subtle picture. First, while in the manufacturing sector both productivity and wages increase monotonically with firm size, the same is not true in the service sector. Second, a tight and positive link between wages and productivity is instead found in both manufacturing and services. The combination of these results suggests that, when looking at data for a much larger share of the economy, the ``size-wage premium' becomes more a "productivity-wage premium'". Unbundling the relationship between size, wages, and productivity has first-order policy implications for both workers and firms. |
| Keywords: | productivity, size-premium, wages |
| JEL: | E2 D2 J3 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1557&r=ure |
| By: | Kalena E. Cortes; Hans Fricke; Susanna Loeb; David S. Song |
| Abstract: | Text-message based parenting programs have proven successful in improving parental engagement and preschoolers’ literacy development. The tested programs have provided a combination of (a) general information about important literacy skills, (b) actionable advice (i.e., specific examples of such activities), and (c) encouragement. The regularity of the texts – each week throughout the school year – also provided nudges to focus parents’ attention on their children. This study seeks to identify mechanisms of the overall effect of such programs. It investigates whether the actionable advice alone drives previous study’s results and whether additional texts of actionable advice improve program effectiveness. The findings provide evidence that text messaging programs can supply too little or too much information. A single text per week is not as effective at improving parenting practices as a set of three texts that also include information and encouragement, but a set of five texts with additional actionable advice is also not as effective as the three-text approach. The results on children’s literacy development depend strongly on the child’s pre-intervention literacy skills. For children in the lowest quarter of the pre-treatment literacy assessments, only providing one example of an activity decreases literacy scores by 0.15 standard deviations relative to the original intervention. Literacy scores of children in higher quarters are marginally higher with only one tip per week. We find no positive effects of increasing to five texts per week. |
| JEL: | I21 I24 J18 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24827&r=ure |
| By: | Goering, John; Whitehead, Christine M. E. |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to compare the dynamics and initial impacts of austerity in the US and the UK (notably England) on affordable rental housing programs and housing support for low income tenants. The focus is upon budget retrenchment decisions made in the US and the UK from 2010 to 2016. The manner in which these cuts occurred, their volatility, and their effects are what drives this analysis. We seek to learn whether there have been fiscally comparable adjustments and volatility in budget decisions in the quite different contexts of the two countries and if so whether this can help us better understand the drivers and effects of change... |
| JEL: | N0 |
| Date: | 2017–06–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:75874&r=ure |
| By: | Giovanni Ferri (LUMSA University); Roshan Borsato (LUMSA University) |
| Abstract: | Climate change exacerbates desertification forcing millions of rural people to urbanize, especially in developing countries. Our quantitative analysis across African countries highlights migrants’ two typical sequential moves: i) people escape from villages to cities; ii) through cities’ enabling settings, some of them emigrate to developed countries. We find that: i) previous lower fresh water availability – our climate-related proxy – and drops in GDP’s agricultural share in Sub-Sahara seem to boost subsequent urbanization: ii) previously heightened urbanization subsequently inflates emigration rates. Thus, policies to combat land impoverishment/desertification would help both the environment and easing the stress that migration casts on societies’ balance. |
| Keywords: | Desertification, Climate change, Urbanization, International migration. |
| JEL: | F22 O15 O18 O55 Q54 R14 R23 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lsa:wpaper:wpc29&r=ure |
| By: | mustafa yavuz (Necmettin Erbakan University, Ahmet Kele?o?lu Education Faculty); mehtap özayd?n (National Education Ministry) |
| Abstract: | Pre-school education is an education program provided for children in the period of their best learning time. The most supportive people during this period are teachers for children. Identified and overcome the problems faced by teachers will improve the quality of the preschool education. The aim of this study is to determine the problems of the teachers working in pre-school education institution in the context of the management functions. The study samples include 20 teachers working in kindergartens as independent in the city center of I?d?r. The research design is based on qualitative research methods. Content analysis and data were analyzed with descriptive analysis technique. As a result, some problems in all of the sub-title of the management functions has been observed. The most common problems have been identified as supervision, helpful staff, office hours, school fees, school garden area and the number of students. |
| Keywords: | Pre-school education, management functions, teacher problems |
| JEL: | A21 A20 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:5407929&r=ure |
| By: | Nikola Kutin (LEMNA - Laboratoire d'économie et de management de Nantes Atlantique - IEMN-IAE Nantes - Institut d'Économie et de Management de Nantes - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises - Nantes - UN - Université de Nantes, National University of Management); Marie-Sabine Saget (LEMNA - Laboratoire d'économie et de management de Nantes Atlantique - IEMN-IAE Nantes - Institut d'Économie et de Management de Nantes - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises - Nantes - UN - Université de Nantes); Thomas Vallée (LEMNA - Laboratoire d'économie et de management de Nantes Atlantique - IEMN-IAE Nantes - Institut d'Économie et de Management de Nantes - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises - Nantes - UN - Université de Nantes) |
| Abstract: | This study aims to analyze port hierarchy between 153 container ports. For this purpose, a network analysis was conducted. Particular attention was paid to 68 ports from the ASEAN+31 community. We have created five director weighted networks at both port and country levels. Results reveal that the prevailing structure of the global maritime network is hub and spoke, and that the port rankings change according to different centrality measures. Regarding the intra-ASEAN+3 connectivity, ASEAN member states form a cluster of interconnected ports. A comparative analysis shows that both the Export and Maritime connectivity networks have similar patterns, which indicates that the containerized trade within ASEAN+3 has the same features as the intra-regional exports. |
| Keywords: | Network,ASEAN,Trade,Shipping,Connectivity,Centrality |
| Date: | 2018–07–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01828656&r=ure |
| By: | McVicar, Duncan (Queen's University Belfast); Park, Andrew (University of Ulster); McGuinness, Seamus (Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines employment and hours impacts of the 1999 introduction of the UK National Minimum Wage (NMW) and the 2016 introduction of the UK National Living Wage (NLW) in Northern Ireland (NI). NI is the only part of the UK with a land border where the NMW and NLW cover those working on one side of the border (NI) but not those working on the other side of the border (Republic of Ireland). This discontinuity in minimum wage coverage enables a research design that estimates the impacts of the NMW and NLW on employment and hours worked using difference-in-differences. We find a small decrease in the employment rate of 22-59/64 year olds in NI, of up to two percentage points, in the year following the introduction of the NMW, but no impact on hours worked. We find no evidence that the introduction of the NLW impacted either employment or hours worked in NI. |
| Keywords: | minimum wages, Northern Ireland, employment, hours |
| JEL: | E24 J31 J38 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11585&r=ure |
| By: | He Zhu (Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University) |
| Abstract: | This paper aim to clarify what motivate people to migrate from rural to urban area in China. The focus of most previous studies of migration are restricted to the wage gap between the origin and destination. However, this study uses the RUMiC (2008) data set that has individual characteristics of migrants and stayers, combined with China Statistical Yearbook data, to explore the decision making process on China’s rural to urban migration. This research provides empirical evidence that migration is a joint decision-making process characterized by the choices of migration and destination. The results also show that the living condition in hometowns pushes people to migrate. For example, the probability of moving decreases by 25% if the consumption of the rural area increases by 20% ( 10,000 RMB). |
| Keywords: | Internal migration mobility, Decision making, Industry, Nested logistic model |
| JEL: | J61 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osp:wpaper:18e010&r=ure |
| By: | Marie Albertine Djuikom; Guy Lacroix |
| Abstract: | Immigrants often experience difficulties integrating the local labor market. In Canada, the government of Quebec implemented a program back in 1996 that explicitly selected highly qualified workers (Bachelors', Masters' or PhD's). This paper investigates the extent to which the return to foreign-acquired human capital is different from the education acquired in Quebec. Specifically, we seek to estimate the benefits of post-migration education over foreign-education on the transitions between qualified and unqualified jobs and unemployment by means of a multiple-spells and multiple-states model. Our results indicate that immigrants originating from well-off countries have no need to further invest in domestic education. On the other hand, immigrants from poorer countries, despite being highly qualified, benefit greatly from such training in the long run as it eases their transitions into qualified and unqualified jobs and out of unemployment. Our results also indicate that selection into domestic education needs to be accounted for to avoid significant selection problems. |
| Keywords: | Post-migration schooling, foreign education, labour market histories, multiple-spells multiple-states models |
| JEL: | C31 C41 J15 J24 J64 J61 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:criacr:1803&r=ure |