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on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Marianna Belloc; Paolo Naticchioni; Claudia Vittori |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we estimate the urban wage premia (UWP) in Italy, with its economy characterized by the interplay between collective bargaining and spatial heterogeneity in the cost of living. We implement a reduced-form regression analysis using both nominal and real (in temporal and spatial terms) wages. Our dataset for the 2005-2015 period includes, for workers’ characteristics, unique administrative data provided by Italian Social Security Institute and, for the local CPI computation, housing prices collected by Italian Revenue Agency. For employees covered by collective bargaining, we find a zero UWP in nominal terms and a negative and non-negligible UWP in real terms (-5%). To capture the role played by centralized wage settings, we also consider various groups of self-employed workers, who are not covered by national labour agreements, while living in the same locations and enjoying the same amenities as employees. We find that the UWP for self-employed workers are up to 25 times greater than for employees. Moreover, sorting proves more notable in the case of self-employed workers, i.e. the larger UWP provide the higher incentives for high-skilled individuals and better firms to locate in cities. Our findings are confirmed on extending the analysis along the wage distribution. |
| Keywords: | urban wage premium, cost of living, collective bargaining |
| JEL: | R12 R31 J31 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7253&r=ure |
| By: | Drivas, Kyriakos; Economidou, Claire; Karamanis, Dimitris; Sanders, Mark |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the drivers of highly skilled migrants across space as well as their impact on local innovation activity. We focus on patent inventors, a specific typology of skilled and innovative individuals who are deeply involved in the production of innovation and are important vehicle of knowledge circulation. Employing patent data to track their moves, we use a gravity model to examine whether geographic, technological and cultural proximities between countries and country level factors and policies shape the flows of these talented individuals. As a comparison, in the same framework, we also analyze the flows of non-inventor migrants. Our evidence shows that proximity matters for migration. Gravity emerges everywhere; in the mobility of inventor and non-inventor migrant workers; the former, however, are less geographically restricted. Similarity in technological production structure between countries is the main driver of inventor moves - especially for inventors from the most innovative countries, whereas cultural proximity matters more for non-inventor migrants. Attractive country features are the quality of institutions and job opportunities at the destination as well as trade linkages between origin and destination country. Finally, the knowledge and skills that move with the inventors have an important positive impact on local innovation production. |
| Keywords: | inventor mobility, patents, migration, gravity, proximity |
| JEL: | J61 O31 O33 O52 |
| Date: | 2018–09–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:88883&r=ure |
| By: | Ervi Liusman; Sotiris Tsolacos |
| Abstract: | The sharing economy, also known as collaborative consumption or peer economy, has grown rapidly thanks to technology innovation and supply-side flexibility. The growth of sharing platform of Airbnb, one of the pioneers of the share economy, allows suppliers to supply underutilized short-term accommodation. At the demand side, consumers eagerly welcome these services due to fee sharing benefit. Since its introduction in 2008, more than 50 million guests has utilized its service. Its growth in fact has brought disruption to the hotel industry, particularly those targeting budget customers and non-business travelers. In some cities, Airbnb not only interrupt hotel industry, but also upset its housing market. Some academics argue that Airbnb has triggered the upswing in the accommodation cost for local renters as some landlords has switched from providing long-term housing into short-term housing to non-residents tourists due to higher short-term rental rate they can offer. Others argue that local renters lease up long-term housing from landlord and turn it into short-term housing to generate profit. All these prompts an increase in housing rents. In this paper, we use Hong Kong as our case to empirically test whether Airbnb is responsible for higher housing rents. We hypothesize that the impact of Airbnb may not be of significance in Hong Kong the result of a small market for short-term rental as opposed to the market for long-term rental. There is an actual strong demand from local residents to occupy the space rather than lease it to non-residents tourists. We attempt to examine these hypotheses empirically. Two methodologies appear pertinent to study the likely impact of Airbnb on rental levels. Using time series data it is expected that a model containing fundamental determinants of rents would lose some of its capacity in explaining rent movements if Airbnb is a new significant driver of residential rents not accounted for. Hence such a fundamentals model will lose some of its explanatory power and make larger errors as Airbnb expands. The second approach is a hedonic framework in which rents are examined with reference to key housing characteristics and Airbnb rentals. The latter approach has major data requirements. This analysis provides the initial steps for a fuller treatment of the impact of Airbnb on residential rents in Hong Kong and makes direct contributions to the relevant international literature. |
| Keywords: | Airbnb; Housing rents; Sharing Economy; time-series analysis |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2018–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2018_238&r=ure |
| By: | Laura Gabrielli; Sergio Copiello; Pietro Bonifaci |
| Abstract: | The residential sector is a crucial segment in Italy, as it represents the most significant component of household wealth, and homeownership greatly prevails (around 73%) in comparison to other European countries. Moreover, the construction sector is an important contributor to domestic economy (about 10% of the GDP), but the last market cycle had a substantial impact on the construction business. The most significant downsizing concerned the constructions, as they have lost more than 10 percent of companies, almost 20 percent of employees and around 30 percent of the gross fixed capital formation. A weak economic prospect hit the property market, dramatically reduced the volume of transactions and bring the house prices down in most cities. This prolonged downturn of the market freeze the capital flow in most of part of the country, but different towns experienced different reactions to the global economic crisis.This paper aims at analysing the particular condition of the Italian residential market of the last 20 years, clustering the Italian cities into groups according to their behaviour and their characterization. The novelty of the approach proposed here lies in using not only market data and socio-economic covariates for the analysed cities, but also trends and dynamics shown by the adjoining and surrounding territorial units, according to the principles of spatial data analysis. Indeed, following the so-called first law of geography (Tobler, 1970), “everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things”. Therefore, we expect that the real estate market fundamentals in a city are affected, to a certain extent, by what happens in the neighbouring cities.The method has been implemented using the data of the last two market cycles (expansion: 1999 – 2006; recession: 2007 – 2016), employing a variety of demand-side and supply-side variables, such as the number of transactions, house stock, house prices, building permits, quality of life, index of sustainability. The analysis has been conducted considering data organised at NUTS 3 level (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics), namely, the Provinces. Custer analysis is then used to determine the composition of different submarkets and to characterise them, in order to understand their different conditions and to assess the weakness of the various submarkets during the expansion and the downturn of the market. |
| Keywords: | Cluster Analysis; Italian Real Estate Market; Residential sector; Spatial data analysis |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2018–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2018_147&r=ure |
| By: | Somwrita Sarkar; Hao Wu; David Levinson (TransportLab, School of Civil Engineering, University of Sydney) |
| Abstract: | Polycentricity is most commonly measured by location-based metrics (e.g. employment density or total number of workers, above a threshold, used to count the number of centres). While these metrics are good indicators of location ‘centricity’, the results are sensitive to threshold-choice. We consider here the alternate idea that a centre’s status depends on which other locations it is con- nected to in terms of trip inflows and outflows: this is inherently a network rather than a location idea. A set of flow and network-based centricity metrics for measuring metropolitan area poly- centricity using Journey-To-Work (JTW) data are presented: (a) trip-based, (b) density-based, and, (c) accessibility-based. Using these measures, polycentricity is computed and rank-centricity distributions are plotted to test whether these distributions follow Zipf-like or Chirstaller-like distributions. Further, a percolation theory framework is proposed for the full origin-destination (OD) matrix, where trip flows are used as a thresholding parameter to count the number of sub-centres. It is found that trip flows prove to be an effective measure to count and hierarchically organise metropolitan area sub-centres, and provide one way of dealing with the arbitrariness of defining a threshold on numbers of employed persons, employment density, or centricities to count sub-centres. These measures demonstrated on data from the Greater Sydney region show that the trip flow-based threshold and network centricities help to characterize polycentricity more robustly than the traditional number or density-based thresholds alone and provide unexpected insights into the connections between land use, transport, and urban structure. |
| Keywords: | Polycentricity, Journey-to-work, origin-destination flows, networks, accessibility, percolation |
| JEL: | R40 R12 R14 R23 R31 O18 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nex:wpaper:polycentricity&r=ure |
| By: | Anthony Yezer (George Washington University); William Larson (Federal Housing Finance Agency); Weihua Zhao (University of Louisville) |
| Abstract: | Past research has established positive empirical relation between city-level land use regulations and housing costs. One interpretation of these findings is that building restrictions raise the cost of producing housing. Alternatively, these price effects could reflect greater willingness to pay for quality urban design. Disentangling and identifying cost versus amenity factors empirically is an unresolved challenge. This paper presents an alternative to empirical tests, relying instead on the predictions of neoclassical urban theory. Simulations of an open city model demonstrate that theoretical predictions differ substantially from those obtained from empirical testing in two main ways. First, restrictions on land use and housing density influence the price level but not the elasticity of housing supply. Second, the effects of land use restrictions on average house prices are ambiguous and depend on the precise location of the planning restriction. Furthermore, the model generates direct estimates of effects on wages and demonstrates that transportation impediments are more consequential for housing prices than land use restrictions. This indicates a potentially fruitful path for future empirical work, and the possibility of omitted variable bias if transportation impediments are correlated with land use regulation. |
| Keywords: | monocentric city model, price gradient, zoning, standard urban model |
| JEL: | R30 R31 R38 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gwi:wpaper:2018-6&r=ure |
| By: | Joseph-Alexander Zeitler; Christian Ott; Sven Bienert |
| Abstract: | In contrast to its European neighbors, Germany’s rental housing market has a long tradition. 54.3 % of all Germans live in rental housing. According to surveys, property acquisitions for rental purposes are on the rise and high purchase prices boost European rental markets. Simultaneously, individuals increasingly value flexibility and tend to minimize terms of commitment, resulting in major changes for the real estate industry. As a consequence, property investors need to consider shortened lease terms and a higher probability of tenants moving out, resulting in longer amortization periods and increased capital expenditure. On the one hand, long leases create stable income flows and require less capital-intensive maintenance strategies, but are confronted with higher legal burdens to increase rents. This is especially relevant to properties where a high margin between market rent and contractual rent is observable. On the other hand, short lease terms enable instantaneous adjustment to equilibrium market rents once the tenant has moved out, but also lead to higher fluctuation and wear of the subject property and directly encompass substantial refurbishment, administration and reletting costs. Therefore, the ability of residential investment properties to generate adequate returns stands or falls with tenant behavior. This obviously creates the need for more and deeper research in this field of study. Thus, the paper at hand aims to contribute to the theory, practice and development trends of residential property leases. The authors analyze a steady panel dataset of 500 residential housing units throughout one of the most overheated metropolitan German areas, namely Munich, from 2007 to 2017. Consequently, the analysis covers periods of boom and bust, making findings extremely robust. Based on a desktop literature review and a Cox proportional hazard model, the authors provide a more in-depth explanation of influence factors for effectively observed lease terms in residential markets. The authors support the hypothesis that main drivers of lease duration are tenant and property attributes, effective rental price increases, geo-referenced location variables and macroeconomic indicators. Due to bounded availability of data, current research in this field is still limited, especially in Germany. Thus, the study at hand should provide deeper insights into the decision making process of tenants and its implications for investors in the German residential market |
| Keywords: | lease terms; likelihood of moving out; Residential markets; tenant behaviour; value oriented asset management |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2018–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2018_145&r=ure |
| By: | Matthew Ridley; Camille Terrier |
| Abstract: | The fiscal and educational consequences of charter expansion for non-charter students are central issues in the debate over charter schools. Do charter schools drain resources and high-achieving peers from non-charter schools? This paper answers these questions using an empirical strategy that exploits a 2011 reform that lifted caps on charter schools for underperforming districts in Massachusetts. We use complementary synthetic control instrumental variables (IV-SC) and differences-in-differences instrumental variables (IV-DiD) estimators. The results suggest greater charter attendance increases per-pupil expenditures in traditional public schools and induces them to shift expenditure from support services to instruction and salaries. At the same time, charter expansion has a small positive effect on non-charter students' achievement. |
| Keywords: | charter school, competition, fiscal spillover, achievement, synthetic control |
| JEL: | C10 C36 H23 H39 H75 I21 I22 I28 |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1577&r=ure |
| By: | Yang, Cynthia Fan |
| Abstract: | This paper considers panel data models with cross-sectional dependence arising from both spatial autocorrelation and unobserved common factors. It derives conditions for model identification and proposes estimation methods that employ cross-sectional averages as factor proxies, including the 2SLS, Best 2SLS, and GMM estimations. The proposed estimators are robust to unknown heteroskedasticity and serial correlation in the disturbances, unrequired to estimate the number of unknown factors, and computationally tractable. The paper establishes the asymptotic distributions of these estimators and compares their consistency and efficiency properties. Extensive Monte Carlo experiments lend support to the theoretical findings and demonstrate the satisfactory finite sample performance of the proposed estimators. The empirical section of the paper finds strong evidence of spatial dependence of real house price changes across 377 Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the US from 1975Q1 to 2014Q4. The results also reveal that population and income growth have significantly positive direct and spillover effects on house price changes. These findings are robust to different specifications of the spatial weights matrix constructed based on distance, migration flows, and pairwise correlations. |
| Keywords: | Cross-sectional dependence, Common factors, Spatial panel data models, Generalized method of moments, House prices |
| JEL: | C13 C23 R21 R31 |
| Date: | 2017–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:89032&r=ure |
| By: | Paul Greenhalgh; Kevin Muldoon-Smith; Adejimi Adebayo; Josephine Ellis |
| Abstract: | This novel research project draws upon the experience of a small number of experimental research projects in seeking to extend some of the frontiers to the spatial modelling of commercial real estate markets. In so doing, it explores new ways of capturing, integrating, representing, illustrating and modelling commercial real estate data with other spatial variables.There is tacit understanding of the relationship between the distribution of commercial properties, and spatial factors such as proximity to footfall, transport and other infrastructure. However, there has been surprisingly little research that has been able to illustrate these tangled market relationships using spatial analyses, underpinned by empirical quantitative data. This research project has developed a methodology to visualise the distribution of rateable value, used as a proxy for the attractiveness of commercial property, across a pilot study area, in this case, the City of York, in North Yorkshire, England.The project has experimented with the use of grid squares to analyse geo-spatial relations of commercial real estate variables (such as, rental value, stock, vacancy, availability) with other spatial variables (such as, infrastructural facilities, transportation nodes). The project has confirmed that grid squares are more effective at representing data that are unevenly distributed across urban space at city level, than other artificial delineations, such as area postcodes, political boundaries or streets. The grid square approach can be further enhanced using 3D extrusions which facilitate simultaneous representation of an additional data characteristic, for example total stock combined with average rental value by location. Finally, modelling was conducted using hexagonal rather than grid squares, which revealed that hexagonal tiles are potentially more accurate, due to the proximity of data to the centroid of the tile (effectively losing the corners) and more efficacious at representing linear spatial patterns of of commercial property market data due to hexagons having 50% more directions of alignment than square tiles. |
| Keywords: | business rates; Commercial; Rateable value; retail property; Spatial Analysis |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2018–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2018_61&r=ure |
| By: | Esteban M. Aucejo; Patrick Coate; Jane Cooley Fruehwirth; Sean Kelly; Zachary Mozenter |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how the effectiveness of teachers varies by classroom composition. We combine random assignment of teachers to classrooms with rich measures of teacher effectiveness based on a popular observational protocol, Framework for Teaching, to overcome key endogeneity concerns related to measurement and matching. We find that complementarities between classroom composition and teaching practice play a significant role in student achievement. We identify two main mechanisms that are driving this result: 1) negative interactions between challenging and/or student-centered practices and heterogeneity in classroom prior achievement, and 2) positive interactions between classroom management skills and average classroom prior achievement. Our findings illustrate the multidimensional nature of teacher effectiveness and have important implications for prescribing teaching practice and evaluating teachers. Simulations show that teacher rankings change substantially simply from within-school classroom reallocations, suggesting the need for caution when using popular teaching evaluation rubrics in high-stakes settings. |
| Keywords: | teacher, practices, peer effects, effectiveness |
| JEL: | I2 I20 I21 |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1574&r=ure |
| By: | Wasay Majid |
| Abstract: | NZ housing allowance is a dualist regime having a cash subsidy known as the Accommodation Supplement (AS) and a stock of social housing in the rental market. Apart from State housing tenants, it is not easy to identify if a potential tenant is receiving any (housing) subsidy. I show that NZ housing LR equilibrium data for the previous century tells a story of consistent fundamentals shaping the sector. I then point to the emergence of financialised residential capitalism which begins to appear in the data post 1990 reforms via a structural shift. I witness disequilibrium in the housing markets which is better explained by bank behaviour than fundamentals, possibly assisting commodification of housing in NZ. Bank behaviour towards credit lending for housing needs appears as a fundamental determinant for modelling to avoid omitted variable bias. This helps to better understand asset price (house) inflation which I call “affordability inflation”. Theory and data present robust indications how housing markets disrupt rental markets. Ripples into the NZ rental markets are also witnessed. My analysis leans towards an idea of (a sort of) ‘institutional transformation’ being set in place leading to a growing private rental sector, and NZ losing its traditional role of a home owning democracy. In effect, I show that ‘velocity of tenure shift’ is on the rise in NZ, with rapid mortgage-debt led accumulation tipping in favour of investment property instead of home ownership. Housing cash subsidy results in increased disposable / residual incomes. Although, this argument lends support to the tool but says nothing about its efficiency, which lies solely in its structural formation. The case for ‘landlord capture’ and ‘fiscal blowout’ are examined. Comparative analysis of the dual housing regime is deconstructed in its detail towards interesting revelations. In case of AS, the picture almost suggests a ceiling mechanism at work within the complex layers of the subsidy, in effect, comfortably managing any risk of a ‘fiscal blowout’ under the subsidy’s conditions at present. Alternatively, social housing results in ‘perfect landlord capture’ – when mkt rents increase, change in subsidy goes to the landlord (i.e. Crown). It is argued that rapid financialised residential capitalism and the resulting institutional shift require serious attention. I explain that NZ is an outlier in the typologies for the varieties of residential capitalism pioneered by Schwartz and Seabrooke (2008). On the policy front, I attempt to construct an ordinal index to measure the Gap in the Accommodation Supplement Promise (GASP) for use as a policy instrument for the government in future. The premise being the crucial importance of efficiently structured housing policy tools that are critical in an environment witnessing rapid residential capitalism with falling homeownership and an increasing reliance on a rental market. |
| Keywords: | Financialisation of real estate; Housing allowance; Rental markets; Residential capitalism |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2018–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2018_139&r=ure |
| By: | Jochen Hausler; Marcel Lang; Jessica Ruscheinsky |
| Abstract: | With the rapid growth of news, information and opinionated data available in digital form, accompanied by a swift progress of textual analysis techniques, the field of sentiment analysis became a hotspot in the area of natural language processing. Additionally, scientists can nowadays draw on increased computational power to study textual documents. These developments allowed real estate researchers to advance beyond traditional sentiment measures such as closed-end fund discounts and survey-based measures (see e.g., Lin et al. (2009) as well as Jin et al. (2014)) and facilitate the development of new sentiment proxies. As an example, Google search volume data was successfully used to forecast commercial real estate market developments (Dietzel et al. (2014)) and to predict market volatility (Braun (2016)) as well as housing market turning points (Dietzel (2016)). Using sentiment-dictionaries and content-analysis software, Walker (2014) examined the relationship of media coverage and the boom of the UK housing market. In similar fashion, Soo (2015) showed that local housing media sentiment is able to predict future house prices in US cities.However – in contrast to related research in finance – sentiment analysis in real estate still lacks behind. Real estate literature so far misses the application of more advanced machine learning techniques like supervised learning algorithms when trying to extract sentiment from news items. By facilitating a dataset of about 54,000 headlines from the S&P Global Market Intelligence database collected over a 12-year timespan (01/2005 – 12/2016), this paper examines the relationship between movements of both direct as well as indirect commercial real estate markets in the United States and media sentiment. It thereby aims to explore the performance and potential of a support vector machine as classification algorithm (see Cortes and Vapnik (1995). When mapping headlines into a high dimensional feature space, we can identify the polarity of individual news items and aggregate the results into three different sentiment measures. Controlling for other influence factors and sentiment indices, we show that these 'tone' measures indeed bear the potential to explain real estate market movements over time.To our knowledge, this paper is the first one explicitly exploring a support vector machine’s potential in extracting media sentiment not only for the United States but also for real estate markets in general. |
| Keywords: | Commercial Real Estate; Machine Learning; News-based sentiment analysis; Support vector networks; United States |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2018–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2018_153&r=ure |
| By: | Michael Fritsch (FSU Jena, School of Economics and Business Administration); Moritz Zöllner (FSU Jena, School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | The development of inventor networks is characterized by the addition of a significant number of new inventors, while a considerable number of incumbent inventors discontinue. We estimate the persistence of knowledge in regional inventor networks using alternative assumptions about knowledge transfer. Based on these estimates we analyze how the size and structure of a network may influence knowledge persistence over time. In a final step, we assess how persistent knowledge as well as the knowledge of new inventors effect the performance of regional innovation systems (RIS). The results suggest that the knowledge of new inventors is much more important for RIS performance than old knowledge that persists. |
| Keywords: | Innovation networks, knowledge, RandD cooperation, patents, persistence |
| JEL: | O3 R1 D2 D8 |
| Date: | 2018–09–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2018-016&r=ure |
| By: | François Des Rosiers; Dandé Bienvenu Tossou |
| Abstract: | In this research, we look at the impact that potential landslide hazard has on residential values in La Baie, an arrondissement of the City of Saguenay (formerly Chicoutimi), Quebec, Canada. La Baie was one of the neighbourhoods most affected by the Saguenay flood, the biggest overland flood in 20th-century Canadian history that hit the region on July 19 and 20, 1996. Following that natural disaster, municipal and provincial authorities worked together to improve resident security. More stringent land-use regulations were issued while landslide hazard maps were regularly updated and made public from 2004 onwards, with local authorities making sure that the information on potential landslide exposure was widely accessible to residents. In light of all these events, the question then arises as to whether, and to what extent, known potential exposure to landslide risk has affected the La Baie housing market, which includes some 8,100 housing units, 95% of which are principal residences. Experiencing a drop in one’s property value, being denied a mortgage loan or having to pay a higher insurance premium are all factors that could affect homebuyers’ perceptions and decisions. This study rests on applying hedonic price modelling on a representative sample of 1,078 single-family sales transacted in La Baie between 2009 (Q1) and 2016 (Q4). Out of these sales, 392 are located on land subject to various degrees of landslide hazard and therefore affected by building constraints over the protection buffer at either the top or the bottom of the slope, or both. On average, houses have a living area and lot area of 96 m2 and 839 m2, respectively, while their market value stands at 143,175 $ CAD. For affected properties, the average lot area subject to building constraints stands at 365 m2 for protection buffers and at 150 m2 for slopes. Findings suggest that potential exposure to landslide risk exerts a detrimental impact on values only where the area of the protection buffer and that of the slope exceeds 300 m2 and 320 m2, respectively. Beyond these thresholds, affected properties experience a value loss of roughly 6% when compared with unaffected ones. Finally, homebuyers seem to value house attributes that improve security of the premises: the height of a retaining wall yields a positive, and statistically significant,coefficient, with each additional meter raising house values by 1.4% to 1.7%. |
| Keywords: | Hedonics; landslide hazard; property prices; zoning regulations |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2018–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2018_92&r=ure |
| By: | Olayiwola Oladiran; Anupam Nanda; Stanimira Milcheva |
| Abstract: | Recent projections suggest that despite Brexit, immigration to the UK is expected to increase which may further change the UK housing market trends.A key housing market dynamic caused by net migration in Britain is the variation in housing tenure trends for natives and non-natives which further influences housing demand. Anecdotal evidence reveals that the proportion of homeowners is much higher for natives than for non-natives, suggesting that an increase in migration may lead to growth in the demand on the rental market at a higher rate than the sales market. Research further suggests that it may be worthy to analyse second-generation migrants as a separate cohort from first-generation migrants, and natives. However, there is an absence of empirical evidence in this regard in Britain. Classical models analyse housing tenure choices in the context of the lifecycle position of the family head. We however provide evidence that while the natural lifecycle largely influences the housing tenure choice of natives and second-generation migrants, the migration lifecycle may be a stronger predictor of housing tenure choices for first-generation migrants. Research further reveals that generational factors, life pathways of natives and non-natives, migration-related factors and factors relating to the destination countries (among other factors) may also be responsible for the variation in housing tenure. While similar studies in the UK also account for migration era, racial and ethnic variation in housing tenure, they do not differentiate between natives and non-natives. We therefore posit that the year of entry, as well as racial and ethnic variations, may be an insufficient basis of analysis, and there may be deeper underlying factors, particularly native/non-native dichotomy. Our results indicate that the migration lifecycle may be the key predictor of housing tenure choices for first-generation migrants. We also observe that the effects of the natural lifecycle, individual, demographic, household and socioeconomic factors vary for natives, first-generation and second-generation migrants. Our results further reveal that second-generation migrants in Britain appear to have distinct housing tenure patterns, different from natives and first-generation migrants; and natives and non-natives housing tenure patterns differ in London, compared to the general British population. |
| Keywords: | Housing demand; housing tenure; Lifecycle; Migration |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2018–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2018_166&r=ure |
| By: | Victor Ortego-Marti (Department of Economics, University of California Riverside); Miroslav Gabrovski (University of Hawaii at Manoa) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a model of the housing market with search and credit frictions. The interaction between the two frictions gives rise to a novel channel through which the financial sector affects prices and liquidity in the housing market. Furthermore, an interesting feature of the model is that both frictions combined lead to multiple equilibria. A numerical exercise suggests that credit shocks have a relatively larger impact on mortgage debt and liquidity than on prices. |
| Keywords: | Housing market; Credit Frictions; Search and Matching; Multiple Equilibria; Mort- gages |
| JEL: | E2 E32 R21 R31 |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucr:wpaper:201816&r=ure |
| By: | Emmanuel Martey |
| Abstract: | The right to adequate standard of living, which includes adequate housing is recognized internationally. Even though this right is central in the global legal system, many people across the globe are not adequately housed, the worst seen in the AfricaIn Ghana people desire their own private homes or have access to adequate housing, but the housing sector is plagued with numerous challenges, with the most crucial ones being security of tenure and the huge financial requirement. As evidenced by the huge housing deficit and the consequential growth of slums in the urban areas, it seems that Ghanaians do not enjoy adequate housing in good environments. Housing delivery has not kept pace with population growth and the quality continues to deteriorate. It is estimated that the housing deficit is in excess of one Million units with annual supply of one hundred thousand units required. However, the annual house delivery is estimated at about Forty Thousand units. The housing finance sector is still in the growing stage, as the mortgage market does not yet meet the breadth of the population who might afford a mortgage. In effect the formal financial institutions have supplied very little mortgages to households in Ghana. As a result, most developers have to finance their housing, with savings or non-mortgage credit, and mostly by incremental building.In view of the Challenges of the formal mortgage structures, a number of house financing systems are evolving in the country. These include Community Mortgage Systems, Corporate Bodies house ownership schemes, and Institutions/Companies Staff Housing Loan operations. Some of these schemes are available to workers, especially those in the formal sector. The Volta River Authority (VRA) a statutory agency established in 1961 that generates electricity in Ghana, having examined and found the formal mortgage system to be highly priced and unaffordable by its staff, resorted to developing a scheme, the Staff Housing Loan Scheme (SHLS), to help staff acquire their own house. The scheme has been in operation for about twenty (20) years and many staff have benefited from it. Given various criteria and the availability of enough funds to cater for the needs of all qualified staff, there is the need to appraise the scheme of operation of the SHLS to underscore its relevance, evaluate the guiding principles and operational policies, accentuate its challenges and make recommendations as to how to improve the scheme. This paper will eventually make suggestions for other corporate institutions to emulate. Discussions at the international forum will undoubtedly bring out best practices to bear. It is believed that if many Corporate bodies implement such improved schemes, housing delivery will expand. Information required for this research will be gathered from the VRA Housing Loan Secretariat, staff and staff groups within the Authority. Engagements will be held with other sister institutions which operate similar schemes. |
| Keywords: | Affordable Housing; Housing Finance Systems; Housing Loan Schemes; Informal Mortgages; Mortgage Financing |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2018–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2018_291&r=ure |
| By: | Catherine Kariuki; Nicky Nzioki |
| Abstract: | Urban areas especially cities are now home to slightly more than half of the world’s seven billion people. Current urbanization trends indicate that an additional three billion people will be living in urban areas by 2050, increasing the urban share of the world’s population to two-thirds. In the Kenyan situation according to available data from KNBS by 2050, about 50 per cent the population in Kenya will be living in the cities and by 2030, Nairobi will have about 6 million people. In 2010 the Constitution created 47 devolved County governments. This has greatly influenced urbanization within the counties. Urbanization in Kenya comes with its own problems. The current era of rapid urbanization has been marred with inadequacy of capacity and sometimes resources to match urban development needs. In many regions, urbanization is characterized by lack of adequate infrastructure, poor housing, inadequate plans, lack of effective legislations and financing mechanisms, etc., attributes that hinder shared urban prosperity. The Habitat III conference in October 2016 gave the UN-Habitat the responsibility to monitor and report on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda (NUA). This was to be in line with reporting the urban dimensions requirements for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Kenya fully participated at the above conference through a broad-based representation from the National government, country governments, the civil society, professionals and the academic community among others. As a result there was resolution by Kenya to implement the New Urban Agenda at all levels in collaboration with all the relevant stakeholders to achieve sustainable urban and human settlements development. The Universities in Kenya as stakeholders are now embarking on a strategy to enable them achieve the objectives of the new urban agenda. They also have a bigger role to play because the increasing demand for university education has led to the growth of urban areas in the counties which are now referred to as university towns. This paper will review various efforts undertaken by universities to implement the new urban agenda. In its recommendation the paper suggests an implementation framework that fits within the five principles identified by the New Urban Agenda. These principles include: the National Urban Policy, the Rules and Regulations, the Urban Planning and Design, Financing Urbanization and Local Implementation of NUA. These principles are in line with the SDGs on human settlements. The SDGs that is relevant is SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities. |
| Keywords: | Development; Framework; Sustainability; University; Urban |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2018–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2018_138&r=ure |
| By: | Hieke van der Kloet |
| Abstract: | The earthquakes after the natural gas extraction in the Groningen region of the Netherlands have a significant impact on the housing market and sustainability of the communities. Since the strongest earthquake around the community of Huizinge in August 2012, with an magnitude of 3.6 on the Richter scale, it became clear there is a relation between natural gas extraction and earthquakes. As a consequence houses in the region get damaged and after research it gets obvious housing prices decline and the region will become unattractive to potential buyers of houses, damaged or not. Therefore the Dutch Petroleum Company since April 29th 2014 offers a compensation for the loss of the housing price before and after the earthquake of Huizinge to property owners who want to sell their home. They only get the compensation after a sales deal and only if they agree with the proposed compensation. Since the compensation has been introduced, the number of participants of the regulation is lacking behind the actual sales of houses. Our study aims to contribute to the research on the consequences of earthquakes by natural gas mining on the real estate market in the northern part of the Netherlands, especially the Groningen region. First of all we want to declare why relatively a large part of the property owners (about 60% until 2015) don’t request for the compensation regulation. Our second question concerns the buyers of the (damaged) houses in the earthquake area. Why would they buy a home in a region full of risks? Who are these buyers? We use a mixed-method approach for data collection which leads to an analysis of a unique dataset on notarial deeds of house sales in the Groningen earthquake region according to The Land Registry of the Netherlands during the period 2013 until 2015 as well as discovering common patterns of interview results with residents and experts. First results show that the majority of the homebuyers originate from the local area in the Province of Groningen. Reasons why property sellers after the house sale don’t opt for the compensation regulation concerns the complexity of the regulation and the used valuation model.We conclude that the Groningen earthquake region still has its attractiveness for local residents and buyers. Otherwise the compensation regulation doesn’t reach enough property sellers in the nine municipalities of the Groningen earthquake region. Advise to the Dutch government should be to generously compensate the residents of the Groningen earthquake regions for the loss of value of their dwellings, damaged or not. This will help to improve the regional development and attractiveness of areas that are effected by earthquakes. |
| Keywords: | Compensation regulation; Groningen earthquake region; Homebuyers; Loss of value |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2018–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2018_43&r=ure |
| By: | Ling Hin Li; Sue Yurim Han; Alice Lee; Fan Wu |
| Abstract: | Real estate education is a multi-disciplinary subject that requires students to have an all-round training and knowledge in such core areas as economic and finance, urban planning and urbanization studies, public policy, law as well as construction technology. These subject areas are dynamic in the sense that they keep evolving with changes in socio-economic as well as technological variables in the society. In addition, while real estate development itself is a geographically fixed commodity which implies local knowledge and regulations dominate the outcome, real estate analysis can be a much more global issue when local developers and investors desire to make an oversea investment decision to diversify investment risk. In such case, the ability for students to understand the intertwined relationship between the general principles of real estate development as well as actual market structures in other places becomes imperative. This problem-based learning ability can be enhanced with a pedagogical approach that injects training in self-initiated research, skillful communication technique and the ability to understand and analyse different socio-economic environments. In this paper, we will illustrate how an online discussion platform for students helps create a visual collaborative learning environment that enhances the learning outcomes of real estate education in a studio-discussion format, which transcends the physical constraints of arranging face-to-face meetings among students from different but related programmes. More importantly, real estate education that can prepare students with a more inter-disciplinary and internationalized basis of knowledge will be able to attract good students who aim at increasing their competitiveness in the global job market. By using the discussion forum based on the interactive environment created by Realtimeboard.com, this paper shows that students from different disciplines and cities can carry out real-time discussions on issues pertaining to urban development without the need to physically meet. The outcomes of our experiment shows that online collaborative learning platform can serve to underpin the pedagogical outcomes of real estate education in a cost-effective manner that both students and teaching staff benefit. |
| Keywords: | collaborative learning environment; real estate education and technology; student-centered real estate education; Studio-based pedagogy |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2018–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2018_314&r=ure |
| By: | Nadav Ben Itzhak |
| Abstract: | This research investigates the effect of terrorism on housing rental prices. September 2015 was the beginning of a new large-scale terror wave in Israel, hitting Jerusalem more than any other major city. Considering this terror wave as an exogenous shock to the housing rental market in Jerusalem, this study analyzes its effect on rental prices compared to Tel-Aviv and within Jerusalem. Immediately after the beginning of the terror wave, rental prices in Jerusalem declined, compared to Tel-Aviv, reaching a 2%-3% decrease within a year. Within Jerusalem, the results indicate that proximity of an additional one kilometer to suspected origins of terror incidents, such as the Green Line and Damascus Gate, resulted in a 0.3%-0.4% decline in rental prices. |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boi:wpaper:2018.08&r=ure |
| By: | Boer Cui; Genevieve Boisjoly; Ahmed El-Geneidy,; David Levinson (TransportLab, School of Civil Engineering, University of Sydney) |
| Abstract: | Inequality in transport provision is an area of growing concern among transport professionals, as it results in low-income individuals travelling at lower speeds while covering smaller distances. Accessibility, the ease of reaching destinations, may hold the key in correcting these inequalities through providing a means to evaluate land use and transport interventions. This article examines the relationship between accessibility and commuting duration for low-income individuals, compared to the general population, in three major Canadian metropolitan regions, Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver using multilevel mixed effects statistical models for car and public transport commuters separately. Accessibility measures are generated for jobs and workers both at the origin (home) and the destination (place of work) to account for the impact of competing labor and firms. Our models show that the impacts of accessibility on commuting duration are present and stronger for low-income individuals than for the general population, and the differences in impact are more visible for public transport commuters. The results suggest that low-income individuals have more to gain (in terms of reduced commute time) from increased accessibility to low-income jobs at the origin and to workers at the destination. Similarly, they also have more to lose from increased accessibility to low-income workers at the origin and to low- income jobs at the destination, which are proxies for increased competition. Policies targeting improvements in accessibility to jobs, especially low-income ones, by car and public transport while managing the presence of competition can serve to bridge the inequality gap that exists in commuting behavior. |
| Keywords: | accessibility, journey-to-work, equity |
| JEL: | R40 R20 D63 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nex:wpaper:accessequityjourneytowork&r=ure |
| By: | Julian Seger; Andreas Pfnür |
| Abstract: | In the last decades US non-property companies have opened up increasingly to alternatives to real estate ownership and thus have reduced their holdings. European companies followed this trend in a more cautious way still showing generally higher ownership ratios. Incentives might become stronger in the future though, if owning real estate competes with new business requirements and thus harms firm performance. Despite the great number of articles analyzing the contribution of real estate ownership to non-property company’s performance, the business environment and especially external trends are rarely considered. Therefore, this paper addresses two main questions: Firstly, how real estate ownership affects organizational performance in general and secondly, whether the contribution of ownership changes considering future market trends. Using the example of German non-property companies, the article analyzes whether firms affected by structural change demonstrate a higher willingness to reduce corporate real estate (CRE) ownership holdings. The paper begins with a literature based elaboration of the term structural change followed by a comparison of international ownership holdings. In a next step the relationship between ownership and its impact on organizational performance considering influences of business environment is summarized in a theoretical framework. Hereafter, a multivariate cluster analysis is performed on a dataset taken from the study by Just and Pfnuer (2016). In a last step, the identified firm clusters are tested regarding their tendency to reduce ownership holdings. The article provides diverse explanations of why ownership could harm firm performance if market trends are considered. In accordance with these findings, the results of the multivariate analysis suggest that the higher firms are affected by structural change, the higher is their willingness to reduce ownership by sale-and-rent-back transactions.This article differs from existing literature in two ways. Instead of using balance sheet data, the analysis applied in this article is based on a dataset of surveyed CRE managers. Moreover, the paper takes a broader view on ownership and firm performance by including the business environment. First hints show that structural change and associated new business requirements change the relevance of CRE ownership. In order to avoid competitive disadvantages, especially European firms should scrutinize their high ownership ratios. |
| Keywords: | Cluster Analysis; Corporate real estate; Firm Performance; Ownership; Structural Change |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2018–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2018_184&r=ure |
| By: | Grillitsch, Markus (Lund University); Hansen, Teis (Lund University) |
| Abstract: | As response to environmental challenges such as global warming and the extinction of species sustainable regional development has become a key policy objective. Regions, however, vary in their preconditions for green industrial path development. Taking existing regional industrial specialization patterns as a starting point, this paper develops a new typology linking regional preconditions to various pathways for green industrial path development. This provides the foundation for identifying place-based policy implications for growing clean industries in different types of regions, grounded in the emerging perspective in innovation studies on policies for transformative change. The paper thereby helps to understand the pathways for greening the economy in different regional contexts and how such green pathways can be promoted through policy. |
| Keywords: | Green growth; regional development; cleantech; industrial path development; place-based policy; regional policy |
| JEL: | O30 O38 P48 Q50 Q58 R10 R58 |
| Date: | 2018–09–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2018_011&r=ure |
| By: | Jeffrey T. Denning; Richard Murphy; Felix Weinhardt |
| Abstract: | This paper considers a fundamental question about the school environment – what are the long run effects of a student’s ordinal rank in elementary school? Using administrative data from all public school students in Texas, we show that students with a higher third grade academic rank, conditional on ability and classroom effects, have higher subsequent test scores, are more likely to take AP classes, graduate high school, enroll in college, and ultimately have higher earnings 19 years later. Given these findings, the paper concludes by exploring the tradeoff between higher quality schools and higher rank. |
| Keywords: | Rank, education, subject choice |
| JEL: | I20 I23 I28 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1761&r=ure |
| By: | Melanie Zhang; Steven Devaney; Anupam Nanda |
| Abstract: | This study explores the strategic entry modes of overseas investors in commercial real estate market, specifically, whether if the market entry and partnering decisions of foreign investors get affected by the participation of peer investors. Existing literature in international business suggests investors tend to follow the choice of their peer group so that to acquire the local information through peer business network. As an alternative, aligning with partner benefits foreign investors on accessing local information via partner(s), also sharing the cost and risk; however, research from corporate finance and international investment addresses that one need to balance this benefit with partner’s potential hazard of opportunism. This study conducts multinomial logit model with commercial property transaction data in London, Manchester, Midland and Yorkshire from 2001 to 2015. Empirical results confirm the different choices among foreign and UK investors on submarkets, and show evidence that foreign investors incline to conduct investment independently instead of partnering with a UK investor when a larger group of peers that share similar socio-economic backgrounds had participated in previous 3 years; this supports the hypothesis that investors adjust their investment strategy ex ante when they anticipate the potential agency issue and moral hazard in partnership in foreign market where information access is limited. The effects, however, varies between London and non-London area in terms of submarket selection, where there is subtle result in non-London area reflecting pure foreign consortia may stay within fringe of cities while UK-foreign consortia incline to explore peripheral markets; on the other hand, UK-foreign consortia have broader market horizon in London sample and have higher probability on exploring the submarkets outside “core” (West End, City and Canary Wharf) area. This study provides insights on asset allocation and market entry strategies of commercial property investors by bridging international business theories with real estate investment. It also leads to a further discussion on the composition of investment group and its influence on the liquidity and market cycle of commercial real estate market. |
| Keywords: | Commercial Property; market entry; multinomial logit model; Peer effect; Strategic alliance |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2018–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2018_210&r=ure |
| By: | Ruxanda Berlinschi; Jan Fidrmuc |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a theory of migration decisions in which cultural traits play a role. Individuals are assumed to value comfort (high wages) and conformity (interactions with individuals who share similar world views). Regions are assumed to differ economically (average wages) and culturally (average world views and their diversity). The model shows that self-selection of inter-regional migrants on world views is non-monotonic if one region is more diverse than the other, and it weakens with economic gaps between regions. This nonmonoticity can lead to a dichotomy of outcomes: culturally diverse regions become even more diverse because of migration, while culturally homogeneous regions become even more homogeneous. Consequently, Tieboutian sorting (people moving to the region in which world views are closer to theirs) only holds when regions have similar wages and diversity of world views. |
| Keywords: | Migration; self-selection; culture; diversity |
| JEL: | A13 F22 J61 Z1 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:40518&r=ure |
| By: | Nick Chaloux; Genevieve Boisjoly; Emily Grise; Ahmed El-Geneidy,; David Levinson (TransportLab, School of Civil Engineering, University of Sydney) |
| Abstract: | Improving accessibility is a goal pursued by many metropolitan regions to address a variety of objectives. Accessibility, or the ease of reaching destinations, is traditionally measured using observed travel time and has of yet not accounted for user satisfaction with these travel times. As trip satisfaction is a major component of the underlying psychology of travel, we introduce satisfaction into accessibility measures and demonstrate its viability for future use. To do so, we generate a new satisfaction-based measure of accessibility where the impedance functions are determined from the travel time data of satisfying trips gathered from the 2017/2018 McGill Transport Survey. This satisfaction-based measure is used to calculate accessibility to jobs by four modes (public transport, car, walking, and cycling) in the Montreal metropolitan region, with the results then compared to a standard gravity-based measure of accessibility. We then offer a dissatisfaction index where we combine the ratio between satisfaction-based and gravity-based accessibility measures with mode share data. This index highlights areas with potentially high proportions of dissatisfied commuters and where interventions for each mode could have the highest impacts on the quality of life of a given mode commuter. Such analysis is then combined with a vulnerability index to show the value of this measure in setting priorities for vulnerable groups. The study demonstrates the importance of including satisfaction in accessibility measures and allows for a more nuanced interpretation of the ease of access by researchers, planners, and policy-makers. |
| Keywords: | Gravity-based accessibility, Commuting, Trip Satisfaction, Equity, Vulnerable |
| JEL: | R40 D91 J28 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nex:wpaper:somesatisfaction&r=ure |
| By: | Andres Gomez-Lievano (Center for International Development at Harvard University); Oscar Patterson-Lomba (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health) |
| Abstract: | Urban areas with larger and more connected populations offer an auspicious environment for contagion processes such as the spread of pathogens. Empirical evidence reveals a systematic increase in the rates of certain sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) with larger urban population size. However, the main drivers of these systemic infection patterns are still not well understood, and rampant urbanization rates worldwide makes it critical to advance our understanding on this front. Using confirmed-cases data for three STDs in US metropolitan areas, we investigate the scaling patterns of infectious disease incidence in urban areas. The most salient features of these patterns are that, on average, the incidence of infectious diseases that transmit with less ease– either because of a lower inherent transmissibility or due to a less suitable environment for transmission– scale more steeply with population size, are less predictable across time and more variable across cities of similar size. These features are explained, first, using a simple mathematical model of contagion, and then through the lens of a new theory of urban scaling. These frameworks help us reveal the links between the factors that determine the transmissibility of infectious diseases and the properties of their scaling patterns across cities. |
| Keywords: | cities, infectious diseases |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cid:wpfacu:94a&r=ure |
| By: | Poku-Agyemang, Kwadwo; Fannin, J. Matthew |
| Abstract: | This study sought to understand the disparities between non-core/micropolitan communities and metropolitan communities on life expectancy. The study also assessed the impact of individual behavioral choices and certain social variables and state and county level policies that affect the life expectancy in a county. A descriptive comparison analysis was employed to establish the differences in life expectancy across the various levels of the urban hierarchy in 1559 counties in the United States. An ordinary least squares model was used to tease out the relationship between specific individual choice factors -- smoking habits, obesity and exercise habits -- and several socio-economic variables on life expectancy. This study also estimated the effects of each correlate at the various levels of the urban hierarchy. The study concluded that the effects of both individual choice factors differed greatly across the various levels of rurality but less differences existed between the functional relationships of socioeconomic characteristics and life expectancy across the urban hierarchy. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Health Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–01–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea18:266617&r=ure |
| By: | Wilfred K. Anim-Odame; Precious Angelo Brenni; Damian Damianov; Dennis Philip |
| Abstract: | Household property tax default presents a considerable challenge to local governments aiming to provide public services at a sustainable level. The loss of revenue due to default is particularly acute in emerging markets and other communities with weak regulatory enforcement, and public policies aimed at reducing the incidence of property tax default have an important role to play in these communities. In this paper, we develop a dynamic framework of household property tax default in an environment with no regulatory enforcement and income-constrained households. Households pay their taxes as they benefit from the public goods provided, yet free-riding incentives and negative income shocks lead to property tax defaults as households aim to smooth consumption over time.We study the assumptions and the predictions of our theoretical framework empirically, using a large dataset of property tax payments of over 50,000 households in Ghana during the 2007-2016 time-period. The data allows us to differentiate among properties that are purely owner-occupied, purely tenant-occupied, and jointly occupied by owners and tenants. We find that, in support of our public good hypothesis, households positioned to benefit more from services rendered by public hospitals and suburban police stations are less likely to be in long-term default. Properties occupied by tenants are more likely to be in a long-term default compared to owner-occupied properties. Further, default rates increase after tax hikes yet the magnitude varies by occupancy types. In accordance with our theoretical prediction, the joint owner-tenant category comprises more income constrained households which, as we empirically observe, tend to be more often in short-term default. Thus, we find a statistically significant variation in property tax default rates among different home occupancy types. These empirical results conform to the predictions of our theoretical framework: in the absence of regulatory enforcement, property tax default is dependent on the household’s access to the public goods provided and its income constraints. The results bear useful insights for policy-making at the local level particularly in emerging markets where local governments struggle to guarantee continuity in the provision of public services. |
| Keywords: | Income Effect; Property Tax Default; Public Good Effect; Residential Occupancy |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2018–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2018_214&r=ure |
| By: | Kaia Kask; Ene Kolbre; Aivar Tomson; Ülleke Eerik |
| Abstract: | The changes in market price levels of residential real estate market may occur due to several reasons. Those reasons may have either positive or negative influence, causing either the rise or fall in the level of real estate market prices. Sometimes it may happen that the same real estate asset may be affected by several different factors at the same time, which normally, in ceteris paribus condition, have detrimental effect on the market price level, but bundled together, may cause a co-effect in a manner, where the overall influence on the direction of the level of real estate market price is difficult to identify.One of those hardly identifiable co-effects may occur, if to put together sharp changes in the real estate market conditions with the sharp and detrimental changes in the environmental conditions. Changes in real estate market conditions are measured mostly by the changes in macro- and microeconomic indices, such as changes in economic growth, inflation rate, general and bank loan interest rates and demographics, as well as certain specific physical and market features of the certain types of real estate assets. On the other hand, the possible detrimental environmental conditions might be evoked by different weather events, like heavy wind, causing a storm, hurricane, tornado, and tsunami, also snow, droughts, frosts, heavy rainfall, and lightning, but also by fire, flooding, earthquake, avalanches, tidal waves, and landslides. Usually, several of those mentioned environmental events occur also in a bundle, either at the same time or in a particular sequence in a certain time-frame. This study aims to explore both short- and long-term effects of one-time major flooding incident on residential real estate market prices in the city of Pärnu, in Estonia. The studied marine-coastal flooding event was induced by a heavy storm, caused by the hurricane called “Erwin/Gudrun” at the 9th of January, 2005. The authors offer their own holistic theoretical framework, elaborated further from Tobin and Newton (1986) theory, explaining the phenomenon of flooding on real estate market prices. In the empirical part, the authors seek for alternative solutions to mainstream quantitative methods in similar studies, like repeat sales and hedonic regression analysis, to find robust evidences for identifying the effect of flooding on residential real estate market prices in terms of a small sample analysis of flooded versus non-flooded area transactions data. |
| Keywords: | amenities; environmental hazard; flooding; market price; Residential Real Estate |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2018–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2018_51&r=ure |
| By: | Margarida Madaleno; Max Nathan; Henry Overman; Sevrin Waights |
| Abstract: | A growing wave of co-location programmes promises to boost growth for young firms. Despite great public and policy interest we have little idea whether such programmes are effective. This paper categorises accelerators and incubators within a larger family of 'co-location' interventions. We then develop a single framework to theorise workspace-level impacts. We summarise available evaluation evidence and sketch implications for regional economic policy. We find clear evidence programmes are effective overall. But we know little about how effects operate - or who benefits. Providers and policymakers should experiment further to establish optimal designs. |
| Keywords: | incubators, accelerators, entrepreneurship, clusters, cities, economic development |
| JEL: | L26 O32 R30 R58 |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1575&r=ure |
| By: | Mengying Cui; David Levinson (TransportLab, School of Civil Engineering, University of Sydney) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a link-based full cost model, which identifies the key cost components of travel, including both internal and external versions of cost, and gives a link-based cost estimate. The key cost components for travelers are categorized as time cost, emission cost, crash cost, user monetary cost, and infrastructure cost. Selecting the Minneapolis - St. Paul (Twin Cities) Metropolitan region as the study area, the estimates show that the average full cost of travel is $0.68/veh-km, in which the time and user monetary costs account for approximately 85% of the total. Except for the infrastructure cost, highways are more cost-effective than other surface roadways considering all the other cost components, as well as the internal and full costs. |
| Keywords: | full cost, internal costs, external costs, double counting |
| JEL: | R40 D62 H23 R20 Q50 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nex:wpaper:linkbasedfullcost&r=ure |
| By: | Hao Wu; David Levinson (TransportLab, School of Civil Engineering, University of Sydney) |
| Abstract: | This paper describes the connection between stop spacing and person-weighted accessibility for a transit route. Population distribution is assumed to be uniform along the line, but at each station, demand drops with distance from the station. The study reveals that neither short nor excessive stop spacings are efficient in providing accessibility. For the configuration of each transit route, an optimum stop spacing exists that maximizes accessibility. Parameters including transit vehicle acceleration, deceleration, top speed, dwell time, and pedestrian walking speed affect level of accessibility achiev- able, and differ in their effect on accessibility results. The findings provide an anchor of reference both for the planning of future transit systems, and for transit operators to make operational changes to system design parameters that improve accessibility in a cost-effective manner. The study technically justifies the "rule of thumb" in setting different stop spacings for metro, streetcars, and other different transit services. Different types of transit vary in their ability to provide accessibility, slower moving streetcar (tram) type urban rails are inherently disadvantaged in that respect. Thus the type of transit service to be built should be of particular concern, if the transit is to effectively serve its intended population. |
| Keywords: | accessibility, public transport, station location |
| JEL: | R42 C61 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nex:wpaper:optimalstopspacing&r=ure |
| By: | Valentina Paredes |
| Abstract: | In this paper we study the effect on the math gender gap from attending a singlesex classroom in a coeducational school versus a coeducational classroom in a coeducational school. In contrast to the previous literature that has studied the effect of single-sex schools, the advantage of using single-sex classrooms is that we can calculate gender gaps within schools, and therefore the results are not confounded with other school characteristics that may correlate with the gender composition. We find that single-sex classrooms reduce the math gender gap by more than half, with no effect on the language gender gap. The effect is consistent with an increase in the math achievement of female students with no decrease in the achievement of male students. Moreover, this effect is not driven by teacher characteristics, but it seems to be driven by the gender composition of the classroom itself. |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:udc:wpaper:wp470&r=ure |
| By: | Hironori Kato (University of Tokyo) |
| Abstract: | This paper describes Tokyo’s urban rail market, which has traditionally been privately funded and operated; and discusses policies aimed at better coordinating public transport services. Although the industry has delivered high quality infrastructure and services for most users, the existence of many different private operators and owners of tracks means that services and station facilities are not always well connected to one another. Individual private parties often lack sufficient incentives to invest in connectivity improvements, such as installing elevators in stations or implementing missing connections between lines, since these do not usually directly increase their profits. Three case studies explore different policy responses to the challenge of balancing competing wishes of private actors with the needs of travellers. In all cases the government has intervened through legislation and grants to try to stimulate connectivity investment and to do so in consultation with local communities. The recent government interventions into the Tokyo rail market represent a gradual evolution in market structure with the goal of better meeting social needs. |
| Date: | 2016–09–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:itfaab:2016/19-en&r=ure |
| By: | Karla Münzel; Laura Piscicelli; Wouter Boon; Koen Frenken |
| Abstract: | Carsharing is regarded to play an important part in the transition towards a more sustainable mobility system by changing how cars are used and transportation needs are met. Over the past decade, there has been considerable interest in understanding the characteristics and motives of car sharers. Yet, studies have been mostly limited to small surveys in single cities. What is more, past studies only covered traditional business-to-consumer (B2C) carsharing, ignoring the growing popularity of peer-to-peer carsharing. The key question we pose in this study is whether characteristics and motives differ between B2C and P2P carsharing users. We present survey results among 1,836 Dutch citizens regarding the adoption, intention to adopt and non-adoption of both B2C and P2P carsharing. We further look into the frequency of use and car purchase avoidance among carsharing users. Finally, we investigate car owners who supply their car on P2P platforms. We find that B2C and P2P carsharing adopters are very similar. The main difference between the two users groups holds that B2C users are more frequent users with higher income valuing the convenience of B2C carsharing. We conclude that as the convenience of P2P carsharing is likely to increase with automatic locks and higher supply, user experiences may converge and market segments will progressively overlap. |
| Keywords: | sharing economy; carsharing; business-to-consumer; peer-to-peer; innovation adoption; two-sided platform |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uis:wpaper:1801&r=ure |
| By: | Francesco Fasani (Queen Mary University of London) |
| Abstract: | Do general amnesty programs lead to reductions in the crime rate among immigrants? We answer this question by exploiting cross-sectional and time variation in the number of immigrants legalized generated by the enactment of repeated amnesty programs between 1990 and 2005 in Italy. We address the potential endogeneity of the "legalization treatment" by instrumenting the actual number of legalized immigrants with alternative predicted measures based on past amnesty applications patterns and residential choices of documented and undocumented immigrants. We find that, in the year following an amnesty, regions in which a higher share of immigrants obtained legal status experienced a greater decline in non-EU immigrant crime rates, relative to other regions. The effect is statistically significant but relatively small and not persistent. In further results, we fail to find any evidence of substitution in the criminal market from other population groups - namely, EU immigrants and Italian citizens - and we observe a small and not persistent reduction in total offenses. |
| Keywords: | illegal migration, legalization, migration policy |
| JEL: | F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2018–09–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qmw:qmwecw:867&r=ure |
| By: | Cao, Xiang; Boyle, Kevin J.; Siriwardena, Shyamani D.; Holmes, Thomas P. |
| Keywords: | Environmental and Nonmarket Valuation, Resource and Environmental Policy Analysis, Demand and Price Analysis |
| Date: | 2018–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea18:274020&r=ure |
| By: | Wei Kong; Shawn Ni (Department of Economics, University of Missouri - Columbia); Michael Podgursky (Department of Economics, University of Missouri - Columbia); Weiwei Wu |
| Abstract: | We examine how pension rule changes affect teacher retirement by estimating a structural retirement model on a large cohort of late career Missouri public school teachers. In so doing we address several statistical challenges that arise in estimating dynamic retirement models. The resulting estimates produce good in and out-of-sample fit. Counter-factual simulations suggest that Missouri's 1990s pension enhancements led to earlier retirement by about 0.4 years on average for the 1994 cohort and by more than one year in a steady state. Enhancements increased steady state pension liabilities by 16 percent for senior teachers. |
| Keywords: | teachers' pensions, sample selection bias, expectation of policy rules |
| JEL: | I21 J26 J38 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:umc:wpaper:1814&r=ure |
| By: | Ali, Amjad; Zulfiqar, Kalsoom |
| Abstract: | Mostly, economists believe that due to non-existence of agglomeration economies, there are less chances of employment spatial distribution in an economy. Following the strands of previous literature about agglomeration special impacts, this study has uplifted the curtain from some interesting realities. This study has examined the association between unemployment and natural resources agglomeration in Pakistan from 1980 to 2016. For measuring natural resources agglomeration, an index has been constructed based on coal production, oil production, forest area and agricultural land as a percentage of total land area. The study utilized autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) method of co-integration. The results show that natural resources agglomeration, secondary school enrollment, foreign direct investment and inflation have a negative and significant impact on unemployment in Pakistan. The results reveal that population is putting a positive impact on unemployment in Pakistan. The study finds that natural resources agglomeration is an important factor for reducing unemployment in Pakistan. There are some other factors for agglomeration economies, i.e. Local economic policies, natural resources availability and amount of manpower for employment spatial distribution in Pakistan. So, efforts are needed to mega scale for exploration, proper usage and the functioning of natural resources in Pakistan. |
| Keywords: | unemployment, natural resources, inflation, foreign direct investment |
| JEL: | E24 N50 P24 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:89022&r=ure |
| By: | Sun, Tianyu; Chand, Satish; Sharpe, Keiran |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effect of demographic changes on land prices in urban China using an Overlapping Generation (OLG) model. The model suggests that the rapid rise in land prices could be explained by the rise in per capita income and demographic changes. This finding is validated by fitting the historical data of China. We then simulate land price dynamics for China from 2000 to 2100. The simulation indicates that the rate of rising in land prices is softening. From 2035 to 2055, the effect of demographic changes on urban land prices in China will be close to zero. After 2055, the effect will turn to negative until the end of this century; however, a meltdown is unlikely. |
| Keywords: | Aging Population; OLG Model; Urban Land Prices; Forecast |
| JEL: | E21 E31 J11 R21 R31 |
| Date: | 2018–06–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:89237&r=ure |
| By: | Boje-Kovacs, Bence; Greve, Jane; Weatherall, Cecilie Dohlmann |
| Abstract: | Mental health problems generate vast pecuniary and non-pecuniary costs for the individual, for relatives, and for society. Living in deprived neighborhoods has been shown to influence, among other things, labor market outcomes and crime. Therefore, we explore how living in a deprived neighborhood with different characteristics influences the mental health of the residents. We utilize a quasi-random allocation of applicants into different neighborhoods through the public social housing (PSH) office to estimate the effect on mental health of living in a deprived neighborhood. The applicants entitled to PSH are lower-income residents with both an urgent housing problem and social problems. Our results suggest that being exposed to a deprived neighborhood as an adult has a significant negative impact on mental health among vulnerable men. We find that besides the usual characteristics of a deprived neighborhood—i.e., high shares of people without employment and with low income—the share of people with mental health problems is an important characteristic of the neighborhood that has a negative impact on mental health among men. |
| Keywords: | Deprived neighborhood, mental health, prescription of psychiatric medication, quasi-random allocation, administrative registry panel data, intention-to-treat, treatment on the treated, neighborhood characteristics |
| JEL: | I12 I14 R23 |
| Date: | 2018–07–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:88929&r=ure |
| By: | Walker Hanlon (NYU Stern School of Business) |
| Abstract: | "This study provides new evidence on the impact of air pollution in London over the century from 1866-1965. To identify weeks with elevated pollution levels I use new data tracking the timing of London’s famous fog events, which trapped emissions in the city. These events are compared to detailed new weekly mortality data. My results show that acute pollution exposure due to fog events accounted for at least one out of every 200 deaths in London during this century. I provide evidence that the presence of infectious diseases of the respiratory system, such as measles and tuberculosis, increased the mortality effects of pollution. As a result, success in reducing the infectious diseases burden in London in the 20th century reduced the impact of pollution exposure and shifted the distribution of pollution effects across age groups." |
| JEL: | N00 |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehs:wpaper:18019&r=ure |
| By: | Matteo Gamalerio |
| Abstract: | Do electoral incentives affect immigration policies? I study this question in the setting of Italian municipalities making decisions about the reception of refugees. The localized control of the reception policy (SPRAR), combined with the exogenous timing of policy decisions and staggered elections, enables me to study the effect of electoral incentives on the reception of refugees. Although municipalities receive fiscal grants for hosting refugees, electoral incentives reduce the probability of opening a refugee centre by 24 per cent. The effect is driven by voters' misperception of immigrants and by extreme-right political preferences. The results explain why is difficult to reach an equal redistribution of refugees across and within countries. |
| Keywords: | migration, reception of refugees, electoral incentives, fiscal grants |
| JEL: | R23 J61 D72 C23 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7212&r=ure |
| By: | Michael Fritsch (FSU Jena) |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the empirical evidence concerning the regional emergence of innovative new businesses. It is argued that analyses using aggregate data that focus on the regional level and do not account for career patterns of innovative founders are of limited value in guiding policy that is aimed at fostering the emergence of innovative new businesses. Progress can be mainly expected from research that investigates the family backgrounds, education, and employment careers of potential founders. Moreover, it would be helpful to develop clearer empirical definitions of what constitutes an innovative new business, and the distinctions between different types of innovative businesses. |
| Keywords: | Innovative start-ups, universities, employment career |
| JEL: | L26 D22 O31 R12 R30 |
| Date: | 2018–09–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2018-015&r=ure |
| By: | Pablo David; Quishpe Sinailin |
| Abstract: | This research proposes the measurement of housing-induced poverty in Ecuador for the years 2006 and 2014, as a complement to the poverty measurement criteria used in Ecuador, by quantifying and analyzing the situation of households that fall into poverty due to the payment of housing, in addition to deepening and contributing to the existing academic debate on this issue. To this end, statistical databases have been prepared based on the Living Conditions Surveys, which served as a source of information for estimating the following indicators: housing stress, housing induces porverty, maximum accessibility index and accessibility.The questions that guided the research were: ¿Is it possible to talk about house-induced poverty in Ecuadorian households?, ¿What has its evolution been over time?, and ¿What are the characteristics of households that fall into housing-induced poverty?.The research uses Thalmann's Conditions of Affordability (2003), proposed in the peiper 'House poor' or 'simply poor', and the combined index of affordability proposed by Juárez (2015), in the research 'Housing, affordability and poverty'. Two approaches were used to answer the questions: accessibility ratio and residual income, which allow estimating the indicators of: housing stress, housing induce porverty, maximum affordability index and affordability.The results obtained show that: Housing stress, housing induce poverty, maximum affordability index, present evidence that it is possible to talk about of housing induced poverty in the Ecuadorian households. Housing-induced poverty has increased between the years 2006-2014.Housing stress, housing induce poverty, maximum affordability index agree that single-person households that rent an apartment in the urban area fall in a higher percentage into housing induced poverty. Housing stress and housing induces poverty, agree that a household that has a mestizo male as head of household, and classified as an adult household according to the life cycle, falls in a greater percentage into housing induced poverty.Maximum affordability index shows that a household that has a mestizo female as head of household, and classified as an adult household according to the life cycle, falls in a greater percentage into housing induced poverty. |
| Keywords: | Household Analysis; Housing Induce Poverty; Housing Stress; Poverty Analysis; Poverty Measurement |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2018–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2018_333&r=ure |
| By: | Tomàs Fernández-de-Sevilla (Free University of Brussels); Armando J Dalla Costa (Federal University of Paraná) |
| Abstract: | "The bulk of the automotive-industry in Brazil, country which is ranked in the top-ten of world cars producer since the mid-1960s, has been concentrated around the city of São Paulo. We aim to explain the formation and growth of the São Paulo auto-industry cluster. In doing so, four explanations are used: the presence of external economies (Marshall, 1890; Porter, 1990); the capabilities of large companies, which act as regional hubs (Chandler, 1990; Markusen, 1996; Lazonick, 2010); the adoption of active industrial policies (Amsden, 1989, 2001; Chang, 2002); and the institutional environment (Bagnasco, 1977; Brusco, 1982; Becattini, 1990; Porter, 1998)." |
| Keywords: | Industrial Districts and Clusters; Automotive Industry; External Economies; Large Companies; Active Industrial Policy; Institutions |
| JEL: | O14 O25 N66 N96 |
| Date: | 2017–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehs:wpaper:17014&r=ure |
| By: | Bantle, Melissa (Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg); Muijs, Matthias (University of Hohenheim) |
| Abstract: | Market delineation is a fundamental tool in modern antitrust analysis. However, the definition of re- levant markets can be very difficult in practice. This preliminary draft applies a new methodology combining a simple price correlation test with hierarchical clustering -a method known from machine learning- in order to analyze the competitive situation in the German retail gasoline market. Our analysis reveals two remarkable results: At first, there is a uniform pattern across stations of the same brand regarding their maximum daily prices which confirms the claim that prices are partly set centrally. But more importantly, price reactions are also influenced by regional or local market conditions as the price setting of gasoline stations is strongly affected by commuter routes. |
| Keywords: | market definition; gasoline market; price tests; competition; k-means clustering; hierarchical clustering |
| JEL: | D22 D40 D43 L10 |
| Date: | 2018–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:vhsuwp:2018_180&r=ure |
| By: | Scherpf, Erik; Weber, Bruce; Grobe, Deana; Edwards, Mark |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the relationship between local economic conditions in Oregon and spell lengths of USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Using different indicators of economic conditions and different definitions of local labor market areas, the report finds evidence that improved labor market conditions were associated with an increased probability that a SNAP recipient in Oregon ended a participation spell. When local labor markets are delineated as commuting zones—our preferred definition—our results suggest that a 10-percent increase in local employment raises the average recipient’s probability of program exit by nearly 7 percent. The report shows that—when labor market conditions are measured in a more localized way than is typically done—SNAP recipients are found to be more responsive to labor market conditions. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Production Economics |
| Date: | 2018–09–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersrr:277565&r=ure |
| By: | Lee, Han Bum; Greenlee, Andrew; McNamara, Paul E. |
| Keywords: | Rural/Community Development, Household and Labor Economics, Behavioral & Institutional Economics |
| Date: | 2018–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea18:274489&r=ure |
| By: | Benjamin Elsner; Ingo E. Isphording; Ulf Zölitz |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how a student's ordinal achievement rank affects performance and specialization choices in university. We exploit data from a setting where students are randomly assigned to teaching sections and find that students with a higher rank in their section achieve higher grades, become more likely to graduate, and are more likely to choose related follow-up courses and majors. These effects are stronger for men who, in contrast to women, respond to a higher rank with an increase in their study effort. Our results highlight that social comparisons with peers can have lasting effects on students' careers. |
| Keywords: | Rank, social comparisons, higher education, peer effects |
| JEL: | I21 J16 J31 |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zur:econwp:300&r=ure |
| By: | Clement Bert-Erboul (University of Campinas); Nicholas S. Vonortas (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Open software projects are usually portrayed by focusing on charismatic leaders, friendly communities, and meritocratic language. We dig under the surface of this stereotypical picture and analyse the social relationships of the people involved; specifically, whether they are related through personal proximity or they are distant social partners. We contribute to the literature on free/open source innovation in three ways. First, we highlight the continuum of roles played by individual leaders in the open source project, as brokers and/or initiators. Second, we delve deeper in the social networks of the Videolan software community to layout where and how leaders are organised in groups and play the role of brokers and initiators. We study leadership emergence over time by taking into account the context of activities. Finally, we produce a typology of three Videolan communities with specific social networks that evolved over time in terms of leaders and social structure |
| Keywords: | Open source, community, leadership, social network, proximity, computer software |
| JEL: | D90 L86 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:84sti2018&r=ure |
| By: | Peter Huber (WIFO); Klaus Nowotny (WIFO) |
| Abstract: | We use individual level data covering 30 mostly post-communist and developing countries which account for over a fifth of the worldwide immigrant stock to assess the impact of risk aversion on the willingness to migrate. Consistent with theories of individual level migration decisions, risk aversion has a statistically significant negative impact on both the willingness to migrate within countries as well as abroad. This applies to virtually all countries considered and is robust across various specifications, to alternative measures of risk aversion and to different measures of the willingness to migrate. Differences in the impact of risk aversion on the willingness to migrate are also positively correlated to measures of sending country risks and the missing variable bias of omitting risk aversion from migration regressions is substantial. |
| Keywords: | Migration intentions, Risk Aversion, Former Communist Countries |
| Date: | 2018–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2018:i:569&r=ure |
| By: | Xiong, Qizhou; Mavropoulos, Antonios |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we use the panel of the first two waves of the Household Finance and Consumption Survey by the European Central Bank to study housing demand of European households and evaluate potential housing market regulations in the post-crisis era. We provide a comprehensive account of the housing decisions of European households between 2010 and 2014, and structurally estimate the housing preference of a simple life-cycle housing choice model. We then evaluate the effect of a tighter LTV/LTI regulation via counter-factual simulations. We find that those regulations limit homeownership and wealth accumulation, reduces housing consumption but may be welfare improving for the young households. |
| Keywords: | housing consumption,macroprudential policies,LTV/LTI regulation |
| JEL: | D14 D31 D91 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwhdps:172018&r=ure |
| By: | Noel Johnson (George Mason University); Mark Koyama (George Mason University); Remi Jebwab (George Washington University) |
| Abstract: | "In this paper we study the Black Death persecutions (1347-1352) against Jews inorder to shed light on the factors determining when a minority group will face perse-cution. We develop a theoretical framework which predicts that negative shocks in-crease the likelihood that minorities are scapegoated and persecuted. By contrast, as theshocks become more severe, persecution probability may actually decrease if there areeconomic complementarities between the majority and minority groups. We compilecity-level data on Black Death mortality and Jewish persecution. At an aggregate levelwe find that scapegoating led to an increase in the baseline probability of a persecution.However, at the city-level, locations which experienced higher plague mortality rateswere less likely to engage in persecutions. Furthermore, persecutions were more likelyin cities with a history of antisemitism (consistent with scapegoating) and less likelyin cities where Jews played an important economic role (consistent with inter-groupcomplementarities)." |
| Keywords: | Ethnic Conflict; Religious Conflict; Minorities; Persecutions; Massacres;Libels; Black Death; Jewish Economic History; Middle Ages; Epidemics; Cities; Trade |
| JEL: | J15 D74 Z12 N33 N43 O1 R1 |
| Date: | 2017–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehs:wpaper:17012&r=ure |
| By: | Björkegren, Evelina (Uppsala University) |
| Abstract: | There are large differences in health across neighborhoods in Sweden. To try to answer if there is a causal link between neighborhood conditions in childhood and youth health, I apply two different empirical strategies. First, I use population wide data on families living in different areas in Sweden, and estimate the effects of childhood neighborhood on youth health using data on families that move across the country. Since the choice of moving and where to live is endogenous, I exploit the timing of moves and estimate the effect of siblings’ different exposure time to neighborhoods. The second approach utilizes a governmental policy that assigned refugees to their initial neighborhood in Sweden, potentially offering exogenous variation in neighborhoods and allowing me to study the effect of different neighborhoods on youth health. The findings from the two strategies together imply that there are significant neighborhoods effects on youth health, but that the effects are contemporaneous and there is no evidence of exposure time effects. |
| Keywords: | Health; Inequality; Neighborhoods; Childhood |
| JEL: | I14 J62 R00 |
| Date: | 2018–06–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2018_010&r=ure |
| By: | Hector Galindo Silva |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I empirically investigate how openness of political institutions to diverse representation can impact conflict-related violence. By exploiting plausibly exogenous variations in the number of councillors in Colombian municipalities, I develop two sets of results. First, regression discontinuity estimates show that larger municipal councils have a considerably greater number of political parties with at least one elected representative. I interpret this result as evidence that larger municipal councils are more open to political participation by more groups in society. The estimates also reveal that smaller parties are the main bene ciaries of this greater political openness. Second, regression discontinuity estimates show that political openness substantially decreases conflict-related violence, namely the killing of civilian non-combatants. By exploiting plausibly exogenous variations in local election results, I show that the lower level of political violence stems from greater participation by parties with close links to armed groups. Using data about the types of violence employed by these groups, the provision of local public goods, scal outcomes and coca cultivation, I argue that armed violence has decreased not because of power-sharing arrangements between the armed groups linked to the parties with more political representation, but rather because armed groups with less political power and visibility are deterred from initiating certain types of violence. |
| Keywords: | Political openness, violence and armed conflict, councils |
| JEL: | H72 D72 |
| Date: | 2018–09–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000416:016721&r=ure |
| By: | Anna Rosso (University of Milan and Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I use a unique individual-level pre-migration labour market dataset for Poland, which provides also emigrant final destination, to examine emigrant selection into two major destination countries, the United Kingdom and Germany. Specifically, within a simple theoretical framework, I compare pre-migration observable and unobservable characteristics of emigrants with those of non-emigrants in Poland and test for selection by estimating skill price differences between Poland and the destination based on detailed labour market data for all three countries. I contribute to the migrant selection literature by providing additional evidence on how migrants react to both labour market differences and different migration policies across countries. |
| Keywords: | International migration, selection, skill prices, EU enlargement, inequality |
| JEL: | F22 J61 O15 D33 |
| Date: | 2018–09–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csl:devewp:440&r=ure |
| By: | Javier Mejia (Division of Social Science) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the relationship between social networks and entrepreneurship by constructing a dynamic social network from archival records. The network corresponds to the elite of a society in transition to modernity, characterized by difficult geographical conditions, market failures, and weak state capacity, as in late 19th- and early 20th-century Antioquia (Colombia). With these data, I estimate how the decision to found industrial firms related to the position of individuals in the social network. I find that individuals more important bridging the network (i.e. with higher betweenness centrality) were more involved in industrial entrepreneurship. However, I do not find individuals with a denser network to be more involved in this type of activity. The rationale of these results is that industrial entrepreneurship was a highly-complex activity that required a wide variety of complementary resources. Networks operated as substitutes for markets in the acquisition of these resources. Thus, individuals with network positions that favored the combination of a broad set of resources had a comparative advantage in industrial entrepreneurship. I run several tests to prove this rationale. |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nad:wpaper:20180020&r=ure |
| By: | Emmanuel Duguet (TEPP - Travail, Emploi et Politiques Publiques - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); David Gray (University of Ottawa [Ottawa]); Yannick L'Horty (ERUDITE - Equipe de Recherche sur l’Utilisation des Données Individuelles en lien avec la Théorie Economique - UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée); Loïc Du Parquet (TEPP - Travail, Emploi et Politiques Publiques - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Pascale Petit (ERUDITE - Equipe de Recherche sur l’Utilisation des Données Individuelles en lien avec la Théorie Economique - UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée) |
| Date: | 2018–09–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01878480&r=ure |
| By: | Elisa Borowski; Alireza Ermagun; David Levinson (TransportLab, School of Civil Engineering, University of Sydney) |
| Abstract: | This study explores the relationship between transit-based job accessibility and minority races and ethnicities, low- and middle-income households, and carless households at the block group level for the 50 largest by population metropolitan regions in the United States. A log-linear regression model is used to identify inequities in transit-based job accessibility across the US using data collected from the American Community Survey, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Smart Location Database, and the Access Across America database. The intra-metropolitan analyses reveal that accessibility is unevenly distributed across block groups that have different densities of race and levels of income. The differences in accessibility are especially apparent where there are denser pockets with higher percentages of African Americans, Hispanics, low-income households, and zero-car households. The inter-metropolitan analyses show that accessibility is unevenly distributed across metropolitan regions across the US when considering various sociodemographic populations. Different metropolitan regions provide different levels of accessibility for all investigated sociodemographic categories, whether considering racial minorities, levels of income, or car ownership. The results may inform recommendations for equitable transport planning and policy-making. |
| Keywords: | Accessibility, Equity, Justice, Transit timetable, Disadvantage, Regression |
| JEL: | R40 D63 R20 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nex:wpaper:disparity&r=ure |
| By: | Qian, Wenrong; Guo, Xiaolin; Chen, Shuai |
| Keywords: | Household and Labor Economics, Research Methods/Econometrics/Stats, Behavioral & Institutional Economics |
| Date: | 2018–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea18:274164&r=ure |
| By: | Kwon, Ji-soo; Kim, So-Jin; Kim, Hyeon-woong; Yoo, Do-il |
| Keywords: | Environmental and Nonmarket Valuation, Food and Agricultural Marketing, Industrial Org./Supply Chain Management |
| Date: | 2018–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea18:274006&r=ure |
| By: | Aiello, Francesco; Bonanno, Graziella; Capristo, Luigi |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the literature on local government efficiency by meta-reviewing 360 observations retrieved from 54 papers published from 1993 to 2016. The meta-regression is based on a random effect model estimated with the 2-step Random Effects Maximum Likelihood (REML) technique proposed by Gallet and Doucouliagos (2014). Results indicate that the study design matters when estimating a frontier in local government. We find that studies focusing on technical efficiency provide higher efficiency scores than works evaluating cost efficiency. The same applies when using panel data instead of cross-section data. Interestingly, studies that use the Free Disposal Hull (FDH) approach yield, on average, higher efficiency scores than papers employing the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method, thereby suggesting that in this literature the convexity hypothesis of the production set is a matter. Finally, the efficiency of local government increases with the level of development of the analysed countries and is positively related to the national integrity of the legal system. The opposite holds when considering the corruption. |
| Keywords: | municipalities; local government; meta-analysis; efficiency; frontier models; convexity; institution |
| JEL: | C20 C82 C83 D24 H7 H70 L88 |
| Date: | 2018–06–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:88982&r=ure |
| By: | Ann-Christin Sreball |
| Abstract: | The real estate industry is closely linked to urban development since space is a major factor of urban competitiveness. On the other hand, a successful property development is dependent on suitable patterns of legal rights, which are specified by the municipality. While this interdependence has been widely discussed in literature (e.g. D´Arcy & Keogh 1999, Renigier-Bilozor et al. 2016), it seems rarely respected by municipalities and property developers in practice. Although there are recognizable efforts to synchronize the procedures and processes on both sides, stereotypical prejudices as well as partly divergent objectives seemingly impede a collaborative partnership between municipalities and property developers (Bone-Winkel & Gerstner 2005; Meyer & Pfnür 2015). The consequences of this contradiction are, for example, considerable delays and cost overruns of construction projects, while the causes continue to be a lack of communication and unwillingness to cooperate. It is often underestimated that cooperation is regarded as transgressing borders, and affects not only the objectives of both partners, but also their identities (Willinger 2013; Juch 2012). To achieve an adequate balance of interests, considerations regarding working methods, structures and self-concepts of each entity have to be aligned beforehand. Furthermore, the respective views of “project success” have to be discussed. Both stakeholder groups have a mutual interest in functioning urban structures. To show the potential of jointly maximizing mutual benefits, the action patterns of municipalities and property developers need to be investigated in more detail. Based on these findings, a common culture of cooperation can be developed. Accordingly, the demand for an increase in mutual trust as well as the reduction of information and competence asymmetries can be effectively pursued.This conference contribution will point out the need to see properties in a contextual view. Especially property developers tend to underestimate the need to see themselves as urban designers. It will also highlight the theoretical structure of cooperation and its inference for the design of partnership-based cooperation between municipalities and property developers. Furthermore, the research method of the Ph.D. project will be presented and put up for discussion. |
| Keywords: | Communication; information and competence asymmetries; partnership-based cooperation; Project Development; Urban Development |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2018–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2018_309&r=ure |
| By: | Bogdan Marola; Oana Simene |
| Abstract: | In addition to the progress made by official statistics in monitoring the evolutions in the housing markets, interest increased in commercial property price indicators (CPPIs). Interested parties are public institutions, policy makers, analysts, and market investors. However, more so than residential property prices indices, limited information is available on price changes of commercial buildings. Compared to house prices statistics, for commercial buildings additional problems typically arise such as a relatively small number of transactions and a greater variety of types of structures. Against this background and in the context of the G20 Data Gaps Initiative, Eurostat took the lead in coordinating the drafting of a statistical report called ‘Commercial property price indicators: sources, methods and issues’. The report has been published on the Eurostat website in December 2017.1The primary aim is to outline concepts, methods, data sources and key issues so as to better inform both compilers and users. The report makes a first attempt at setting out the wide range of challenges linked to the measurement of developments in commercial property markets. It provides a basis for further work in this new area of statistics.Work on developing CPPIs needs to take into account that heterogeneity among commercial properties exists not only at the individual asset level, but also at an aggregate level in populations of properties that are effectively traded in distinct asset market segments. To construct useful CPPIs it is crucial to recognise this type of aggregate level heterogeneity and market segmentation, because different price dynamics can prevail across different market segments. The statistical report published by Eurostat reviews different methods for compiling CPPIs. However, the fact that commercial property is much more heterogeneous and there are usually significantly fewer transactions can limit the practical choices of index construction methodology.Furthermore, access to relevant and good quality data is crucial for CPPIs compilation. In practice, the choice of methodologies are constrained by the lack of data, especially on transaction prices. The statistical report reviews also the advantages and disadvantages of different sources of information.1. see link:http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/pr oducts-statistical-reports/-/KS-FT-16-00 1?inheritRedirect=true&redirect=%2Feuros tat%2Fpublications%2Fstatistical-reports |
| Keywords: | Commercial Property; price indicator |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2018–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2018_39&r=ure |
| By: | Nobuo Akai (Professor, Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University); Tsuyoshi Goto (PhD.Student, Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University) |
| Abstract: | Mergers of local governments, commonly referred to as municipal mergers, have been implemented widely to internalize spillover effects. Many empirical studies point out that municipalities strategically increase their debt issuance before mergers, creating the `fiscal common pool problem', because of pooled budgets after mergers. However,this phenomenon has not yet been analyzed theoretically. Therefore, this paper examines the mechanism of increased debt issuance before municipal mergers. Our results show that three different effects influence intertemporal budget allocations of municipalities at the time of a merger and the existence of externalities may reduce the severity of the fiscal common pool problem. |
| Keywords: | Strategic intertemporal budget allocation, Merger, Spillover |
| JEL: | H72 H74 H81 |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osp:wpaper:18e011&r=ure |
| By: | Mathieu Bunel (LARJE - Laboratoire de Recherches Juridique et Economique - Université de la Nouvelle-Calédonie); Yannick L'Horty (ERUDITE - Equipe de Recherche sur l’Utilisation des Données Individuelles en lien avec la Théorie Economique - UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée); Loïc Du Parquet (TEPP - Travail, Emploi et Politiques Publiques - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Pascale Petit (ERUDITE - Equipe de Recherche sur l’Utilisation des Données Individuelles en lien avec la Théorie Economique - UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée) |
| Date: | 2018–09–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01878869&r=ure |
| By: | Morgane De Halleux; Antonio Estache; Tomas Serebrisky |
| Abstract: | The paper produces a new performance ranking of 27 cities in Latin American and the Caribbean based on a composite indicator of six broad policy dimensions reflecting the quality of city management. A correlation of the results with the information and communications technology (ICT) characterization of each city suggests that the fast growing digitalisation option are not yet influencing significantly urban management in the region. Whether this is due to technological constraints or to a lack of skills or political will is unclear. |
| Keywords: | Technology, cities, Latin America, Caribbean |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eca:wpaper:2013/277147&r=ure |
| By: | John J. Conlon (Harvard University); Laura Pilossoph (Federal Reserve Bank of New York); Matthew Wiswall (Arizona State University); Basit Zafar (Federal Reserve Bank of New York) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the role of information frictions in the US labor market using a new nationally representative panel dataset on individuals’ labor market expectations and real- izations. We find that expectations about future job offers are, on average, highly predictive of actual outcomes. Despite their predictive power, however, deviations of ex post realizations from ex ante expectations are often sizable. The panel aspect of the data allows us to study how individuals update their labor market expectations in response to such shocks. We find a strong response: an individual who receives a job offer one dollar above her expectation subsequently adjusts her expectations upward by $0.47. The updating patterns we document are, on the whole, inconsistent with Bayesian updating. We embed the empirical evidence on expectations and learning into a model of search on- and off- the job with learning, and show that it is far better able to fit the data on reservation wages relative to a model that assumes complete information. The estimated model indicates that workers would have lower employment transition responses to changes in the value of unemployment through higher unemployment benefits than in a complete information model, suggesting that assuming workers have complete information can bias estimates of the predictions of government interventions. We use the framework to gauge the welfare costs of information frictions which arise because individuals make uninformed job acceptance decisions and find that the costs due to information frictions are sizable, but are largely mitigated by the presence of learning. |
| Keywords: | expectations, learning, labor search, optimism |
| JEL: | D83 D84 J64 |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2018-068&r=ure |
| By: | Zhou, Haiwen |
| Abstract: | This paper studies a general equilibrium model of economic geography in which firms engage in oligopolistic competition. This framework is conducive to analytic results. With increasing returns, oligopolistic competition leads to inter-industry trade between regions rather than intra-industry trade. The choice of appropriate technology is a channel of concentration of industries. |
| Keywords: | Oligopolistic competition, economic geography, increasing returns to scale, choice of technology, inter-industry trade |
| JEL: | F12 F20 R10 |
| Date: | 2018–09–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:88919&r=ure |
| By: | Bogdan Marola; Peter Parlasca |
| Abstract: | Official Statistics on housing prices are a one of the relatively new segments of prices statistics, developed in the wake of the data gaps underlined by the last economic and financial crisis. Official European statistics need to abide to the highest standards of quality and harmonisation across countries. Eurostat and the National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) released the official harmonised HPIs in the beginning of 2013.Initially only indices on total housing price developments were published. However, users requested a breakdown into price developments for existing dwellings and for new ones. In parallel to further work on developing a methodological framework (with the Handbook on Residential Property Price Indices) and improvements of the data quality (starting from data sources for transactions, to data validation and index compilation) Eurostat worked with the NSIs on preparing the ground for this additional breakdown. Since autumn 2014 the split in new and existing dwellings has been made available both for annual and quarterly data. The quarterly data series start in 2005 and are disseminated with a timeliness of one quarter after the reference quarter.Today, HPI published by Eurostat are used for several policy purposes: for monetary policy assessments of price signals, for financial stability purposes as a soundness indicator and also to monitor macroeconomic imbalances: The deflated house price index (nominal HPI deflated by the index of private household consumption) is one of the fourteen MIP Scoreboard indicators used in the Alert Mechanism Reports.For complementing the information on price evolution and for supporting the analysis of housing markets, Eurostat started to work together with the NSIs to collect data on turnover. Furthermore, this was a request of the ECOFIN in order to further enrich the PEEIs (Principal European Economic Indicators). The publication of an index capturing the total value of transactions was launched in December 2015. The annual series are available for 18 EU Member States and going back to 2010. The publication of HPIs for EU countries going back often to 2000 together with the indices on turnover are a reliable source of data for better understanding the evolution of housing markets during the tumultuous period of the last decade and its implications for the present and future. |
| Keywords: | House price index; Official Statistics; turnover |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2018–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2018_38&r=ure |
| By: | Cici, Gjergji; Kempf, Alexander; Peitzmeier, Claudia |
| Abstract: | Firms' competitive advantages are unsustainable when competitors poach their employees away to learn about their organization processes. We document inter-firm knowledge spillovers through such personnel moves in the mutual fund industry. Almost two thirds of the competitive advantage of the originating fund family spills over to the recipient family. This effect intensifies when the switching manager has amassed more organizational knowledge at the originating family. Performance deterioration at the originating family suggests erosion of its competitive advantage, which intensifies when more money chases the newly-transferred knowledge at the recipient family. This implies wealth transfers across investors in respective families. |
| Keywords: | organization capital,knowledge spillovers,mutual funds,learning-by-hiring |
| JEL: | D86 G23 K12 K31 M5 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cfrwps:1804&r=ure |
| By: | Emmanuel Duguet (ERUDITE - Equipe de Recherche sur l’Utilisation des Données Individuelles en lien avec la Théorie Economique - UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée, TEPP - Travail, Emploi et Politiques Publiques - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Loic Du Parquet (GAINS - Groupe d'Analyse des Itinéraires et des Niveaux Salariaux - UM - Le Mans Université, TEPP - Travail, Emploi et Politiques Publiques - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Pascale Petit (ERUDITE - Equipe de Recherche sur l’Utilisation des Données Individuelles en lien avec la Théorie Economique - UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée, TEPP - Travail, Emploi et Politiques Publiques - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Date: | 2018–09–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01878917&r=ure |
| By: | Coria, Jessica (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Hennlock, Magnus (Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL),); Sterner, Thomas |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we analyze the effects of the interaction between national and local policies designed to reduce an environmental externality that causes environmental damages both nationally and locally. We formulate a theoretical model to develop hypotheses regarding the combined effects of such policies on the stringency of the local policies and on firms’ emissions reductions. To test our hypotheses, we use actual data for Sweden, where emissions of nitrogen oxides from combustion plants are subject to a heavy national tax and to individual emissions standards set by county authorities. Our analytical findings suggest that it is unlikely that local regulators will impose emissions standards stringent enough to achieve further reductions than those induced by the national tax. This is confirmed in our data, where most emissions reductions can be attributed to the national tax and the effects of the emissions standards are not significant. |
| Keywords: | environmental regulation; multi-governance; federalism; emission taxes; command-and-control; air pollution; N0x; Sweden |
| JEL: | D62 H23 H77 Q58 |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0742&r=ure |
| By: | Ma, Meilin; Saitone, Tina L.; Volpe, Richard J.; Sexton, Richard J.; Saksena, Michelle |
| Keywords: | Industrial Org./Supply Chain Management, Food and Agricultural Policy Analysis, Demand and Price Analysis |
| Date: | 2018–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea18:274205&r=ure |
| By: | Ram Singh (Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | The Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) have become a mainstay of plans of the Centre and the State governments towards infrastructure development. In this article, we discuss the various considerations behind the rampant use of PPPs for infrastructure services. Next, we empirically examine a widely held belief that PPPs are better than the traditional approach towards infrastructure in that they can deliver superior quality infrastructure at a faster rate and lower costs. Using a dataset of 313 national highways projects, we compare the performance of the PPP and the traditional government (non-PPP) road projects. We show that the project delays are relatively short for PPPs, but the cost overruns are significantly higher for PPP roads than for the government managed road projects. The available evidence suggests that the quality of PPP roads is superior to the government roads. However, the overall quality of road services under PPPs is deficient on several counts. |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cde:cdewps:290&r=ure |
| By: | Christopher M. Poe (Texas A&M University) |
| Abstract: | While there is increasing information on commercial motor vehicle (CMV) safety systems, truck automation, and truck platooning, there is less information on how roadway and infrastructure technology can improve truck safety, mobility, and efficiency using these technologies. Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), connected vehicle, and vehicle automation technologies are examined to identify safety and mobility applications that can leverage greater integration with infrastructure. Greater connectivity between commercial vehicles and the infrastructure has the potential to reduce crashes, increase productivity, and reduce fuel consumption and emissions. Connectivity holds an immediate opportunity to expand traditional ITS solutions for safety and mobility by creating more effective applications that integrate infrastructure data directly with CMVs. This paper serves to facilitate the discussion on how the infrastructure can play a role in the technological advancements being made in the freight and CMV industry. |
| Date: | 2017–08–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:itfaab:2017/13-en&r=ure |
| By: | Congressional Budget Office |
| Abstract: | In 2008, the federal government took control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) that help finance the majority of mortgages in the United States, by placing them into conservatorship. In this report, CBO analyzes an illustrative policy option that would allow each of the two GSEs to increase its capital by up to $50 billion over 10 years. Although that option would decrease the risk of disruptions to the mortgage market, it would increase the government’s exposure to the GSEs’ losses and thus would have a budgetary cost. |
| JEL: | R28 R31 |
| Date: | 2016–10–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbo:report:52089&r=ure |