|
on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Amine Ouazad; Romain Rancière |
| Abstract: | The price-amenity arbitrage is a cornerstone of spatial economics, as the response of land and house prices to shifts in the quality of local amenities and public goods is typically used to reveal households' willingness to pay for amenities. With informational, time, and cash constraints, households' ability to arbitrage across locations with different amenities (demographics, crime, education, housing) depends on their ability to compare locations and to finance the swap of houses. Arbitrageurs with deep pockets and better search and matching technology can take advantage of price dispersions and unexploited trade opportunities. We develop a disaggregated search and matching model of the housing market with endogenously bargained prices, identified on transaction-level data from the universe of deeds for 6,400+ neighborhoods of the Chicago metropolitan area, matched with school-level test scores and geocoded criminal offenses. Price-amenity gradients reflect preferences and the capitalization of trading opportunities, which are arbitraged away in the frictionless limit. Thus the time-variation in hedonic pricing coefficients partly reflects the time variation in search and credit frictions. Our model is able to explain that, between the peak of the housing boom and its trough, the sign of the price-amenity gradient flipped, due to the decline in trading opportunities in lower-amenity neighborhoods and due to the lower capitalization of trading opportunities in house prices. |
| JEL: | G12 G21 R21 R3 R31 |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25701&r=all |
| By: | David Albouy; Alex Chernoff; Chandler Lutz; Casey Warman |
| Abstract: | We examine local labor markets in the United States and Canada from 1990 to 2011 using comparable household and business data. Wage levels and inequality rise with city population in both countries, albeit less in Canada. Neither country saw wage levels converge despite contrasting migration patterns from/to high-wage areas. Local labor demand shifts raise nominal wages similarly, although in Canada they attract immigrant and highly skilled workers more, while raising housing costs less. Chinese import competition had a weaker negative impact on manufacturing employment in Canada. These results are consistent with Canada’s more redistributive transfer system and larger, moreeducated immigrant workforce. |
| Keywords: | Labour markets |
| JEL: | J21 J31 J61 R12 N32 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bca:bocawp:19-12&r=all |
| By: | Christian Duben (Hamburg University); Melanie Krause (Hamburg University) |
| Abstract: | We provide new insights on the city size distribution of countries around the world. Using geo-spatial data and a globally consistent city identification scheme, our data set contains 13,844 cities in 194 countries. City size is measured both in terms of population and night time lights proxying for local economic activity. We find that Zipf's law holds for many, but not all, countries in terms of population, while city size in terms of light is distributed more unequally. These deviations from Zipf's law are to a large extent driven by an undue concentration in the largest cities. They benefit from agglomeration effects which seem to work through scale rather than through density. Examining the cross-country heterogeneity in the city size distribution, our model selection approach suggests that historical factors play an important role, in line with the time of development hypothesis. |
| Keywords: | Cities, Zipf's Law, Urban Concentration, Geo-spatial Data. |
| JEL: | R11 R12 O18 C18 |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2019-488&r=all |
| By: | Damiaan Persyn (European Commission - JRC); Jorge Diaz-Lanchas (European Commission - JRC); Javier Barbero (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | Transport costs are a crucial element of any spatial economic model. Surprisingly, good transport cost estimates at a detailed spatial level for the EU are not readily available. In this paper we address this issue by estimating a novel dataset of road freight transport costs for goods for the EU regions at the NUTS 2 level. In the spirit of the generalized transport cost (GTC) concept, we calculate the composite cost related to distance and time for the optimal route of a representative truck. We consider routes between large random samples of centroids drawn from a 1kmx1km population density grid. These transport costs are averaged to obtain an origin-destination cost matrix (in euros) at the region-pair level. The sampling approach also allows calculating the average transport cost within the regions. We separately report the corresponding iceberg transport costs for each pair of European regions, since this is the form of input required by many economic models. We also consider the effect of changes in the components of the GTC in order to evaluate transport policies. We set up a transport policy tool to assess the impact of road-transport infrastructure investment in a region by considering upgrading roads to highways. We apply this tool to study transport infrastructure investment through the European Cohesion Policy program 2014-2020. |
| Keywords: | Rhomolo, Region, Growth, Generalized Transport Costs, Infrastructure, Cohesion Policy, OSM, EU. |
| JEL: | R11 R12 R40 R41 |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:termod:201904&r=all |
| By: | Ager, Philipp; Eriksson, Katherine; Hansen, Casper Worm; Lønstrup, Lars |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the long-run effects of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake on the spatial distribution of economic activity in the American West. Using variation in the potential damage intensity of the earthquake, we show that more severely affected cities experienced lower population increases relative to less affected cities until the late 20th century. This long-lasting effect is largely a result of individuals' high geographical mobility at that time. Less affected areas became more attractive migration destinations in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, which permanently changed the spatial distribution of economic activity in the American West. |
| Keywords: | American West; Economic Geography; Location of Economic Activity; migration; Natural Disasters |
| JEL: | N9 O15 O40 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13632&r=all |
| By: | Berliant, Marcus |
| Abstract: | We examine the fine microstructure of commuting in a game-theoretic setting with a continuum of commuters. Commuters' home and work locations can be heterogeneous. A commuter transport network is exogenous. Traffic speed is determined by link capacity and by local congestion at a time and place along a link, where local congestion at a time and place is endogenous. The model can be reinterpreted to apply to congestion on the internet. We find sufficient conditions for existence of equilibrium, that multiple equilibria are ubiquitous, and that the welfare properties of morning and evening commute equilibria differ on a tree. |
| Keywords: | Commuting; Internet traffic; Congestion externality; Efficient Nash equilibrium |
| JEL: | L86 R41 |
| Date: | 2019–03–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:92962&r=all |
| By: | Mohana Mondal (University of Waikato); Michael P. Cameron (University of Waikato); Jacques Poot (University of Waikato) |
| Abstract: | Auckland, the largest city of New Zealand, is one of the most diverse cities in the world, with more than 40 percent of its population born abroad, more than 200 ethnicities represented and 160 languages spoken. In this paper, we measure residential sorting of individuals in Auckland by their cultural (ethnicity) and economic (age, income, education, occupation) characteristics for the years 1991-2013. We use entropy-based measures of residential sorting as our preferred measure, and find that individuals exhibit the greatest residential sorting by ethnicity, compared with sorting by economic characteristics. We also observe that ethnic sorting declined between 1991 and 2013, for broad ethnic groups, but that sorting within the broad ethnic groups has increased. At the broad occupational groups level, sorting has also declined between 1991 and 2013, but the contribution to sorting of within-broad-group occupations has increased. We also observe that the semi-rural fringes of the city are less diverse than the central urban area. |
| Keywords: | residential sorting; cultural sorting; economic sorting; segregation; entropy measures; cultural diversity; economic diversity |
| JEL: | J15 R21 R23 |
| Date: | 2019–04–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wai:econwp:19/03&r=all |
| By: | José Cobián Álvarez; Budy P. Resosudarmo |
| Abstract: | Although many megacities in developing countries experience floods that affect a large number of people, relatively few empirical studies have evaluated the costs involved. This paper estimates such costs by conducting a hedonic price analysis of the impacts of floods on the housing market in Jakarta. A robust regression technique on a simple linear transformation model, and a maximum likelihood estimation technique on the spatial lag version of the simple linear transformation model are utilized to estimate the correlation between the level of the 2007 floods and monthly housing rental prices in Jakarta, Indonesia. This paper concludes that in developing countries’ megacities the total cost of floods is not as considerable as the total estimated cost of making the city of Jakarta floodfree |
| Keywords: | Environmental economics, hedonic price analysis, spatial analysis, flood. |
| JEL: | Q51 Q54 R32 O21 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pas:papers:2018-05&r=all |
| By: | H. Spencer Banzhaf; Kyle Mangum |
| Abstract: | This paper shows that the capitalization of local amenities is effectively priced into land via a two-part pricing formula: a “ticket” price paid regardless of the amount of housing service consumed and a “slope” price paid per unit of services. We first show theoretically how tickets arise as an extensive margin price when there are binding constraints on the number of households admitted to a neighborhood. We use a large national dataset of housing transactions, property characteristics, and neighborhood attributes to measure the extent to which local amenities are capitalized in ticket prices vis-a-vis slopes. We find that in most U.S. cities, the majority of neighborhood variation in pricing occurs via tickets, although the importance of tickets rises sharply in the stringency of land development regulations, as predicted by theory. We discuss implications of two-part pricing for efficiency and equity in neighborhood sorting equilibria and for empirical estimates of willingness to pay for non marketed amenities, which generally assume proportional pricing only. |
| JEL: | D45 H41 H73 Q51 R31 R52 |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25699&r=all |
| By: | Weicheng Lian |
| Abstract: | This paper separates the roles of demand for housing services and belief about future house prices in a house price cycle, by utilizing a feature of user-cost-of-housing that it is sensitive to demand for housing services only. Optimality conditions of producing housing services determine user-cost-of-housing and the elasticity of substitution between land and structures in producing housing services. I find that the impact of demand for housing services on house prices is amplified by a small elasticity of substitution, and demand explained four fifths of the U.S. house price boom in the 2000s. |
| Date: | 2019–03–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:19/63&r=all |
| By: | Itzhak Ben-David; Pascal Towbin; Sebastian Weber |
| Abstract: | We assess the role of price expectations in forming the U.S. housing boom in the mid-2000s by studying the dynamics of vacant properties. When agents anticipate price increases, they amass excess capacity. Thus, housing vacancy discriminates between price movements related to shocks to demand for housing services (low vacancy) and expectation shocks (high vacancy). We implement this idea using a structural vector autoregression with sign restrictions. In the aggregate, expectation shocks are the most important factor explaining the boom, immediately followed by mortgage rate shocks. In the cross-section, expectation shocks are the major factor explaining price movements in the Sand States, which experienced unprecedented booms. |
| JEL: | E32 G12 R31 |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25702&r=all |
| By: | Engelbert Stockhammer; Christina Wolf |
| Abstract: | Housing has played an essential part in the global financial crisis 2007-08 and the Euro crisis. Large parts of bank lending go to mortgages. Housing wealth is the largest part of wealth for most households and is, at the same time, more dispersed than other forms of wealth. House prices exhibit pronounced fluctuations that are closely linked to credit growth. Housing thus plays a crucial role in the macroeconomy, which has become even more pronounced under neoliberalism. We scrutinise different theoretical approaches to housing. Despite its theoretical shortcomings mainstream economics has pioneered empirical research on wealth effects in consumption and recently documented the role of house prices in financial cycles. Post-Keynesian theory emphasises endogenous money creation, cycles in asset prices and debt, and have formalised the notion of a debt-driven demand regime. Comparative Political Economy research has recently developed the concept of the varieties of residential capitalism, which has different structures of house ownership and housing finance at the core of political coalitions. Marxist political economy has long established the intrinsic link between ownership of land and economic rent and notes that homeownership can act as force of working class fragmentation. Wealth surveys can be used to trace the extent of conflicting interests in a class-relational approach. |
| Keywords: | housing, household debt, finance, real estate prices, class analysis |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pke:wpaper:pkwp1908&r=all |
| By: | Wu, Jian-Xin; He, Ling-Yun; Zhang, ZhongXiang |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the long-run relationship between income and urban air pollution using a joint distribution dynamics approach. This approach enables to estimate the transition process and long-run distribution and to examine the mechanisms behind the evolution process. The approach is applied to a unique panel data of CO2, SO2 and PM2.5 (particulate matter smaller than 2.5μm) for 286 Chinese cities over the period 2002-2014. Strong persistence in the transition dynamics suggests that this convergence process may require a long time. The distribution dynamics analyses indicate that multiple equilibria are the major characteristics in the long-run relationship between income and urban air pollution in China, which implies that inter-regional technology spillover may be an important way to accelerate convergence. Our results further support the existence of poverty-environmental trap in PM2.5 concentrations. Thus, new environmental models are expected to be developed to explain this new stylized fact. The findings provide strong support for taking more aggressive measures that consider income and urban environment simultaneously to reduce poverty and air pollutions together in the Chinese cities. |
| Keywords: | Research Methods/ Statistical Methods |
| Date: | 2019–03–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:feemth:285027&r=all |
| By: | José García-Montalvo; Amedeo Piolatto; Josep Raya |
| Abstract: | We model the behaviour of a buyer trying to evade the real estate transfer tax. We identify over-appraisal as a key, easily-observable element that is inversely related with tax evasion. We conclude that the tax authority could focus auditing efforts on low-appraisal transactions. We include `behavioural' components (shame and stigma) allowing to introduce buyers' (education) and societal (social capital) characteristics that explain individual and idiosyncratic variations. Our empirical analysis confirms the predictions using a unique database, where we directly observe: real payment, value declared to the authority, appraisal, buyers' educational level and local levels of corruption and trust. |
| Keywords: | transfer tax, Tax evasion, second-hand housing market, overappraisal, Loan-To-Value, corruption, social capital, stigma, shame, education |
| JEL: | G21 H26 R21 |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1080&r=all |
| By: | Aaron Gottlieb (University of Illinois At Chicago); Robert Wilson (University of Illinois At Chicago) |
| Abstract: | In response to changes in policing practices, scholarship has increasingly begun to explore whether police contact has negative implications for youth. A small subset of scholarship has examined the implications of police contact for educational outcomes. This research has generally focused on serious police contact (arrest, court involvement, and incarceration) and has found that police contact is associated with worse educational outcomes. In this paper, we build on this research in three ways: 1) By differentiating between arrests and stops that do not result in arrest; 2) By examining the implications of vicarious police contact; and 3) By examining the pathways through which experiencing arrest, experiencing a police stop without an arrest, and vicariously experiencing police contact may impact educational achievement. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, we find that arrest, police contact that does not result in arrest, and vicarious police contact are all associated with reductions in educational achievement. We also find that these associations are mediated at least in part by the impact of police contact on teen delinquency, teen attitudes towards teachers, and teen mental health. |
| JEL: | K42 I21 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:crcwel:wp19-02-ff&r=all |
| By: | Michael Bruneforth; Claire Shewbridge (OECD); Rien Rouw (OECD) |
| Abstract: | Prepared for a CERI (Centre for Educational Research and Innovation) Strategic Education Governance Learning Seminar, this working paper analyses an ongoing reform in Austria to change the traditional sector-specific “supervision” of different school types to a system of quality management of all schools in the region and to introduce a new external school evaluation body. The paper identifies four pertinent areas for lasting success of the reform: a new focus on quality management and monitoring; a restructuring of existing sector-specific school supervision bodies; creating a shared vision of quality and educational goals; and ensuring reliable and useful knowledge. Employing a complexity perspective to governance, the paper highlights that long-term sustainability of the reform requires a compelling narrative clarifying how school supervision supports education improvement and how supervision fits into wider education policy. The analysis further underlines the principle of co-creation in developing quality frameworks and establishing the methodology for the new external school evaluation body; and also for school leaders and school supervisors to drive the development of their new professional identities. Finally, to provide useful knowledge for schools and the system, the new external evaluation body should focus on the improvement of teaching and learning. |
| Date: | 2019–04–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:200-en&r=all |
| By: | Carlianne Patrick (The Center for State and Local Finance, Georgia State University, USA) |
| Abstract: | The designation of historic districts is a popular policy tool for promoting the preservation of neighborhoods and culturally significant areas as well as for economic development. Designation of a specific geographic area as a historic district may take place at the federal level through the National Register of Historic Places, the state level, or the local level. This report separately analyzes the effects on property values of being in a historic district that becomes listed on the National Register and being in one that is designated as a local historic district. Using detailed data on district boundaries and parcel-level transactions data from 1990-2015 for Fulton and DeKalb counties, this research documents the change in property values by type of historic district. The estimates suggest single-family residential property values increased by 13-14 percent in historic districts after becoming listed on the National Register and by approximately 7 percent in historic districts after being designated as a local historic district.The estimated effects in this report suggest fears of negative property value effects associated with local historic designation or listing on the National Register are unwarranted. |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ays:cslfwp:cslf1902&r=all |
| By: | Esteban Aucejo; Teresa Romano; Eric S. Taylor |
| Abstract: | Performance evaluation may change employee effort and decisions in unintended ways, for example, in multitask jobs where the evaluation measure captures only a subset of (differentially weights) the job tasks. We show evidence of this multitask distortion in schools, with teachers allocating effort across students (tasks). Teachers are evaluated based on student test scores; students who fail the test are retested 2-3 weeks later; and only the higher of the two scores is used in the teachers' evaluations. This retesting feature creates a sharp difference in the returns to teacher effort directed at failing versus passing students, even though both barely failing and barely passing students have arguably equal educational claim on (returns to) teacher effort. Using RD methods, we show that students who barely fail the end of school-year 𝑡 math test, and are then retested, score higher one year later (𝑡+1) compared to those who barely pass. This difference in scores occurs during the four years of the retest policy, but not in the years before or after. We find no evidence that the results arise from retesting per se, or from changes in students' own behavior alone. The results suggest teachers give more effort to some students (tasks) simply because of the evaluation system incentives. |
| JEL: | I2 M5 |
| Date: | 2019–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1612&r=all |
| By: | Lucas, David; Boudreaux, Christopher |
| Abstract: | Regulation is commonly viewed as a hindrance to entrepreneurship, but heterogeneity in the effects of regulation is rarely explored. We focus on regional variation in the effects of national-level regulations by developing a theory of hierarchical institutional interdependence. Using the political science theory of market-preserving federalism, we argue that regional economic freedom attenuates the negative influence of national regulation on net job creation. Using U.S. data, we find that regulation destroys jobs on net, but regional economic freedom moderates this effect. In regions with average economic freedom, a one percent increase in regulation results in 14 fewer jobs created on net. However, a standard deviation increase in economic freedom attenuates this relationship by four fewer jobs. Interestingly, this moderation accrues strictly to older firms; regulation usually harms young firm job creation, and economic freedom does not attenuate this relationship. |
| Keywords: | Regulation; entrepreneurship; job creation; economic freedom; market-preserving federalism |
| JEL: | L26 L51 P48 R10 |
| Date: | 2018–12–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:92593&r=all |
| By: | Izryadnova, Olga (Изряднова, Ольга) (The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration); Makarova, Olga (Макарова, Ольга) (The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration) |
| Abstract: | The paper analyzes the relationship between the level of economic development and the characteristics of the quality of life, taking into account regional characteristics of the formation of the social sphere of regions. |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:wpaper:031949&r=all |
| By: | Anna Adamecz-Völgyi (University College London and Budapest Institute for Policy Analysis); Ã gota Scharle (Budapest Institute for Policy Analysis) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effects of an increase in the compulsory school-leaving (CSL) age on the teenage fertility of Roma women, a disadvantaged ethnic minority in Hungary. We use a regression discontinuity design (RDD) identification strategy and show that raising the CSL age from 16 to 18 decreased the probability of teenage motherhood among Roma women by 6.8 percentage points and delayed early motherhood by two years. We contribute to the literature by exploiting a database that covers live births, miscarriages, abortions, and still births, and contains information on the time of conception precise to the week to separate the incapacitation and human capital effects of education on fertility. We find that higher CSL age decreases the probability of getting pregnant during the school year but not during summer and Christmas breaks, which suggests that the estimated effects are generated mostly through the incapacitation channel. |
| Keywords: | education; compulsory school leaving age; teenage fertility; disadvantaged ethnic minorities; regression discontinuity design |
| JEL: | J13 C21 |
| Date: | 2019–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:1901&r=all |
| By: | Luca, Davide; Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés |
| Abstract: | A growing amount of research explores how the allocation of regional development monies follows electoral reasons. Yet, the existing literature on distributive politics provides different and contrasting expectations on which geographical areas will be targeted. We focus on proportional representation (PR) systems. While in such settings governments have incentives to target core districts and punish foes', we suggest that when incumbents attempt to build a state-party image they may broaden the territorial allocation of benefits and even target opposition out-groups. We exploit data on Turkey's public transport investment for the period 2003-2014 and in-depth interviews to provide results in support of our hypothesis. |
| Keywords: | distributive politics; politics of development; Public investment; Transport Infrastructure; Turkey |
| JEL: | D72 H70 O18 O43 |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13621&r=all |
| By: | José Garcia Montalvo; Amedeo Piolatto; Josep M. Raya |
| Abstract: | We model the behaviour of a buyer trying to evade the real estate transfer tax. We identify over-appraisal as a key, easily-observable element that is inversely related with tax evasion. We conclude that the tax authority could focus auditing e orts on low-appraisal transactions. We include `behavioural'components (shame and stigma) allowing to introduce buyers'(education) and societal (social capital) characteristics that explain individual and idiosyncratic variations.Our empirical analysis con rms the predictions using a unique database, where we directly observe: real payment, value declared to the authority,appraisal, buyers' educational level and local levels of corruption and trust. |
| Keywords: | transfer tax, tax evasion, second-hand housing market, overappraisal, Loan-To-Value, corruption, social capital, stigma, shame, education |
| JEL: | G21 H26 R21 |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1645&r=all |
| By: | Aganbegyan, Abel (Аганбегян, Абел) (The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration); Kleeva, Lyudmila (Клеева, Людмила) (The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration); Krotova, Nadezhda (Кротова, Надежда) (The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration) |
| Abstract: | The paper examines the possibilities of accelerated socio-economic development of Russia on the basis of the preferential development of industries with the multiplicative effect of economic growth locomotives. These industries include: the automotive industry, housing, mass construction of highways and high-speed railways, as well as the branches of the knowledge economy: research and development, education, information and communication technologies, health care and related biotechnology. The paper discusses the possibilities of enhancing economic growth in the country due to the accelerated development of these industries, with particular importance given to their ability to cause a multiplicative effect, significantly increasing their real contribution to the economy compared to the cost of their development. |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:wpaper:031953&r=all |
| By: | Richefort, Lionel |
| Abstract: | This paper explores a voluntary contribution game in the presence of warm-glow effects. There are many public goods and each public good benefits a different group of players. The structure of the game induces a bipartite network structure, where players are listed on one side and the public good groups they form are listed on the other side. The main result of the paper shows the existence and uniqueness of a Nash equilibrium. The unique Nash equilibrium is also shown to be locally asymptotically stable. Then the paper provides some comparative statics analysis regarding pure redistribution, taxation and subsidies. It appears that small redistributions of wealth may sometimes be neutral, but generally, the effects of redistributive policies depend on how public good groups are related in the contribution network structure. |
| Keywords: | Research Methods/ Statistical Methods |
| Date: | 2017–07–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:feemth:259480&r=all |
| By: | John Deke; Lisa Dragoset; Karen Bogen; Brian Gill |
| Abstract: | As part of No Child Left Behind, parents of low-income students in low-performing schools are offered Supplemental Educational Services (SES) for their children. These academic supports, such as extra tutoring or group sessions, take place outside the regular school day. |
| Keywords: | Student Achievement , Charter Schools , Educational Services , Education |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:da83a3d554814107b7f9e66c58dd9c55&r=all |
| By: | Silvia Calò (Central Bank of Ireland); Mariarosaria Comunale (Bank of Lithuania & ECB) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we analyse the price competitiveness of the Italian regions by computing the Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER) for each region, deflated by CPI and vis-à-vis the main partner countries. We use them to look for the medium-term determinants, finding significant heterogeneities in the role of government consumption and investment expenditure. Government consumption has an extremely negative effect on competitiveness in North-Eastern Italy, Southern Italy and Lazio. Investment plays a negative role especially in the North-West, while it can be positive for competitiveness in Lazio and Southern Italy. We also find that the transfer theory does not necessarily hold and it even behaves in the opposite direction in case of North-Eastern Italy and Lazio. Lastly, we show that an increase in the regional price competitiveness influences regional growth positively only in the long run and spillovers may play a role. |
| Keywords: | Italian regions, government consumption, government investment, Real Effective Exchange Rate, growth. |
| JEL: | E62 F31 F41 R11 |
| Date: | 2019–03–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rtv:ceisrp:456&r=all |
| By: | David Abrams (University of Pennsylvania (Penn)); Roberto Galbiati (Département d'économie); Emeric Henry (Département d'économie); Arnaud Philippe |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we show that sentencing norms vary widely even across geographically close units. By examining North Carolina’s unique judicial rotation system, we show that judges arriving in a new court gradually converge to local sentencing norms. We document factors that facilitate this convergence and show that sentencing norms are predicted by preferences of the local constituents. We build on these empirical results to analyze theoretically the delegation trade-off faced by a social planner: the judge can learn the local norm, but only at the cost of potential capture. |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/4jcok93a4m9d1qtc3vnp4bdefk&r=all |
| By: | Fitzenberger, Bernd; Hillerich-Sigg, Annette; Sprietsma, Maresa |
| Abstract: | Career guidance assists students with the school-to-work transition. Based on a survey in secondary schools in Germany, we analyze career guidance activities and how these affect career plans. The take-up of career guidance depends upon the school track attended and upon the school and class room context, while personal characteristics are hardly relevant. The effects of counseling depend upon the counselor. Counseling by the employment agency reduces plans for educational upgrading and increases the probability of applying for an apprenticeship, while the effects of school counselors work in the opposite direction for lower track students. |
| Keywords: | educational aspirations,career guidance,counseling,career planning,school-to-work transition,secondary school |
| JEL: | J24 I28 I21 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:19009&r=all |
| By: | Marco, Jorge; Goetz, Renan |
| Abstract: | This study revisits the problem of the tragedy of the commons. Extracting agents participate in an evolutionary game in a complex social network and are subject to social pressure if they do not comply with the social norms. Social pressure depends on the dynamics of the resource, the network and the population of compliers. We analyze the influence the network structure has on the agents’ behavior and determine the economic value of the intangible good - social pressure. For a socially optimal management of the resource, an initially high share of compliers is necessary but is not sufficient. The analysis shows the extent to which the remaining level of the resource, the share of compliers and the size, density and local cohesiveness of the network contribute to overcoming the tragedy of the commons. The study suggests that the origin of the problem – shortsighted behavior - is also the starting point for a solution in the form of a one-time payment. A numerical analysis of a social network comprising 7500 agents and a realistic topological structure is performed using empirical data from the western La Mancha aquifer in Spain. |
| Keywords: | Research Methods/ Statistical Methods |
| Date: | 2017–07–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:feemth:259486&r=all |
| By: | Benjamin Eden (Vanderbilt University) |
| Abstract: | I use a model of rational bubbles to discuss the effects of government loans and its real interest policy on the possibility of cycles. Cycles occur when the government is willing to lend to the young generation. Cycles do not occur if the government does not lend and the interest rate is sufficiently high. The level of interest required to discourage cycles (in the no lending case) is high when the rate of technological change in the non-housing sector is high relative to the rate of technological change in the housing sector. |
| Keywords: | Housing-cycles, Interest Rate, Bubbles, Government loans |
| JEL: | E3 E6 |
| Date: | 2019–03–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:van:wpaper:vuecon-sub-19-00002&r=all |
| By: | Michal Andrle |
| Abstract: | In this paper we provide tools for assessing the house prices and housing valuation. We develop two approaches: (i) borrowing capacity approach, and (ii) intrinsic value approach. The borrowing capacity of households, together with their down payment, implies how much housing they can attain. In the intrinsic value approach, property value is viewed as a discounted present value of adjusted net rental income. Our approach does not involve a complex econometric model and only widely available data are used. The proposed indicators can guide households, financial markets and macroprudential authorities in their understanding of house prices development. To illustrate the concepts, we analyze the housing prices in the Czech Republic and assess the degree of market over-and undervaluation. |
| Date: | 2019–03–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:19/59&r=all |
| By: | Juswanto, Wawan (Asian Development Bank Institute); Kelkar, Vedanti (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | More than half of the world’s megacities are in Asia and the Pacific, and they constitute hubs of knowledge, culture, commerce, and industry. Parallel to the rapid growth of Asian economies, intense infrastructure investments are necessary to cater to the needs of the growing urban populations. Building quality and resilient infrastructure in developing Asia will require financial investments of approximately $1.7 trillion annually until 2030 to withstand the shocks of climate change (ADB 2017). Especially in the Pacific island countries (PICs) where regional interconnectivity and integration remains a challenge with rapid urbanization, providing sustainable infrastructure is key to ensuring the livelihood, economy, and climate adaptation of the region and necessary to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. |
| Keywords: | urbanization; sustainable infrastructure; informal dwellers; housing |
| Date: | 2019–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbipb:2019&r=all |
| By: | Sabrin A. Beg; Adrienne M. Lucas; Waqas Halim; Umar Saif |
| Abstract: | Using an RCT in middle schools in Pakistan, we test the effect of a government-implemented in-class technology and brief teacher training intervention on student achievement in grade level mathematics and science. After only 4 months of exposure, student achievement increased by 0.2-0.3 standard deviations on math and science tests, 52 to 120 percent more than the control group, and students were more likely to pass the provincially standardized high stakes exams. Increased efforts by both students and teachers indicate a complementarity between technology and other inputs in education production. At a scale of 100 schools, this program is extremely cost-effective. |
| JEL: | C93 I21 I25 I28 O15 |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25704&r=all |
| By: | De Groote, Olivier |
| Abstract: | I estimate a dynamic model of educational decisions that allows for observed and unobserved differences in initial ability. Each year students choose their level of effort by deciding over the academic level of their study program and the likelihood of end-of-year performance. Good performance is costly, but necessary to continue in the program. This replaces traditional approaches, which assume performance follows an exogenous law of motion. I use the model to investigate high school tracking policies and obtain the following results: (1) encouraging underperforming students to switch to less academic programs substantially reduces grade retention and dropout, (2) the resulting decrease in the number of college graduates is small and insignicant, and (3) a model that assumes performance is exogenous ignores a change in unobserved study effort, leading to large biases and falsely concluding there would be an important negative impact on graduation rates in higher education. |
| Keywords: | high school curriculum; early tracking; dynamic discrete choice; CCP estimation |
| JEL: | C61 I28 |
| Date: | 2019–03–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:122897&r=all |
| By: | Jochmans, K., Weidner, M.; Weidner, M. |
| Abstract: | This paper considers inference on fixed effects in a linear regression model estimated from network data. An important special case of our setup is the two-way regression model. This is a workhorse technique in the analysis of matched data sets, such as employer-employee or student-teacher panel data. We formalize how the structure of the network affects the accuracy with which the fixed effects can be estimated. This allows us to derive sufficient conditions on the network for consistent estimation and asymptotically-valid inference to be possible. Estimation of moments is also considered. We allow for general networks and our setup covers both the dense and sparse case. We provide numerical results for the estimation of teacher value-added models and regressions with occupational dummies. |
| Keywords: | connectivity, fixed effects, graph, Laplacian, limited mobility, teacher value-added, two-way regression model |
| JEL: | C23 |
| Date: | 2019–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:1938&r=all |
| By: | Binder, Martin; Blankenberg, Ann-Kathrin; Welsch, Heinz |
| Abstract: | Pro-environmental behavior depends on the behavior of others. For a UK panel data set, we find that individuals' pro-environmental behavior increases in the behavior of peers in their region. This happens the more so, the greener the self-image of an individual. Diversity of regional green behavior plays a further role, with fractionalization negatively related to pro-environmental behavior and polarization positively so: peer pressure exerts a less strong influence when behaviors are diverse, and a stronger influence when behaviors are very polarized. |
| Keywords: | pro-environmental behavior,peer influence,prevalence,fractionalization,polarization,UKHLS |
| JEL: | Q53 Q56 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cegedp:367&r=all |
| By: | Allison Dwyer Emory (Rutgers University) |
| Abstract: | Criminal records contribute to worse employment outcomes, an association with serious implications for the collateral consequences of criminal justice involvement for families. To address these employment challenges, many states have adopted policies to regulate the use of criminal records during the hiring and licensing processes. Recent studies have questioned whether such policies exacerbate statistical discrimination. Using panel data from the Fragile Families study merged with longitudinal data on state-level policies protecting the employment of individuals with records, this study investigates the association between protective state policies and the employment of fathers both with and without criminal records. Findings indicate that state policies regulating the use of records are negatively associated with the employment of fathers with records. Consistent with statistical discrimination, this negative association is particularly strong for black fathers both with and without criminal records. Instead of mitigating inequality, these policies appear to exacerbate the mark of criminal records. |
| JEL: | K42 |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:crcwel:wp19-04-ff&r=all |
| By: | H. Spencer Banzhaf (The Center for State and Local Finance, Georgia State University, USA); Ryan Mickey (Maryville College, USA); Carlianne Patrick (The Center for State and Local Finance, Georgia State University, USA); Per Johnson (The Center for State and Local Finance, Georgia State University, USA) |
| Abstract: | Many local jurisdictions offer property tax exemptions or similar concessions to older citizens, especially from the school portion of the tax bill. Such exemptions can be controversial. This report is a step toward informing (but surely not settling!) such debates in Georgia. First, we apprise readers of a new resource, the Georgia Property Tax Database, housed at Georgia State University’s Fiscal Research Center. Second, we describe the patterns of the data, documenting the kinds of jurisdictions offering age-targeted exemptions and the steady increase in their prevalence and coverage over time. Third, we show how these data can be used to estimate the fiscal impacts of such exemptions on local budgets using static scoring. Fourth, we show how the data can be used to estimate the effect of these exemptions on the migratory and location decisions of older households. Finally, we include an age-based homestead exemption estimate calculator in the appendix. |
| Date: | 2019–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ays:cslfwp:cslf1904&r=all |
| By: | Matteo Gomellini; Cormac Ó Gráda |
| Abstract: | Emigrants from Italy and Ireland contributed disproportionately to the Age of Mass Migration. That their departure improved the living standards of those they left behind is hardly in doubt. Nevertheless, a voluminous literature on the selectivity of migrant flows— both from sending and receiving country perspectives—has given rise to claims that migration generates both ‘brain drains’ and ‘brain gains’. On the one hand, positive or negative selection among emigrants may affect the level of human capital in sending countries. On the other hand, the prospect of emigration and return migration may both spur investment in schooling in source countries. This essay describes the history of emigration from Italy and Ireland during the Age of Mass Migration from these perspectives. |
| Keywords: | Migration; Brain Drain; Brain Gain; Human Capital; Italy; Ireland |
| JEL: | F22 J61 N33 O15 |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucn:wpaper:10197/9681&r=all |
| By: | Bonin, Holger (IZA); Isphording, Ingo E. (IZA); Krause-Pilatus, Annabelle (IZA); Lichter, Andreas (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf); Pestel, Nico (IZA); Rinne, Ulf (IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effects of the introduction of Germany's statutory minimum wage in 2015 on employment and unemployment on the level of regional labor markets. Using variation in the regional exposure to the new wage floor, we employ a difference-in-differences approach that compares the evolution of employment and unemployment between regions with varying minimum wage bites. Overall, we find no statistically significant effect of the introduction of the German minimum wage on regular employment subject to social insurance, but a statistically significant negative effect on marginal employment. The reduction is not accompanied by a proportional increase in unemployment. |
| Keywords: | minimum wage, employment, unemployment, labor market regions, Germany |
| JEL: | J21 J31 J38 |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izapps:pp145&r=all |
| By: | Perera, Marcelo (CINVE, and Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Administración, Universidad de la República de Uruguay); Aboal, Diego (Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Administración, Universidad de la República de Uruguay, and Universidad ORT Uruguay) |
| Abstract: | Since 2013, the Uruguayan educational system has been using an online adaptive learning tool for mathematics: The Mathematics Adaptive Platform (PAM for its Spanish acronym). PAM's content has been adapted to the national curriculum and it is a tool that - based on an analysis of students' experiences - offers personalised feedback according to each student's skill level. The use of PAM has been spreading throughout the education system. By 2016, approximately half of all students in 3rd through 6th grades of primary education had used the platform. The purpose of this study is to identify the effect of the use of PAM on the test score gain in mathematics based on longitudinal data from a sample of students in primary education. The results show a positive effect of 0.2 standard deviations on mathematics test scores. Results also show that the impact of PAM increases as the socioeconomic status of students decreases. There is no heterogeneous impact by gender. This is the first evidence at a country-wide level of the impact of a pedagogical tool of this type. |
| Keywords: | Evaluation of Computer Assisted Learning systems, Mathematics, Uruguay |
| JEL: | I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2019–03–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2019007&r=all |
| By: | Radchenko, Daria (Радченко, Дарья) (The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration); Ponomarev, Yuriy (Пономарев, Юрий) (The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration) |
| Abstract: | In accordance with the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation, the Russian economy is faced with the task of getting into the top five largest economies in the world. One of the main ways to solve this problem can be to increase the aggregate factor productivity, including through the development of transport infrastructure as a supporting framework for the Russian economy. This leads to the need to update the existing strategic and program documents that determine the development of the Russian transport system in the direction of increasing the contribution to the TFP through the connectivity of the territories, increasing the mobility of labor resources and safe acceleration of the transportation of goods. Therefore, a correct assessment of the degree of formation of the transport infrastructure at the regional level, the positive effects that arise in the area of its development, and the impact of its development on the aggregate factor productivity, which the research conducted by the RANEPA is dedicated to, is an important task. |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:wpaper:031945&r=all |
| By: | Brian Beach; W. Walker Hanlon |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ste:nystbu:18-22&r=all |
| By: | Fitjar, Rune Dahl; Haus-Reve, Silje; Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés |
| Abstract: | Product innovation is widely thought to benefit from collaboration with both scientific and supply-chain partners. The combination of exploration and exploitation capacity, and of scientific and experience-based knowledge, are expected to yield multiplicative effects. However, the assumption that scientific and supply-chain collaboration are complementary and reinforce firm-level innovation has not been examined empirically. This paper tests this assumption on an unbalanced panel sample of 8337 firm observations in Norway, covering the period 2006â??2010. The results of the econometric analysis go against the orthodoxy. They show that Norwegian firms do not benefit from doing "more of all" on their road to innovation. While individually both scientific and supply-chain collaboration improve the chances of firm-level innovation, there is a significant negative interaction between them. This implies that scientific and supply-chain collaboration, in contrast to what has been often highlighted, are substitutes rather than complements. The results are robust to the introduction of different controls and hold for all tested innovation outcomes: product innovation, new-to-market product innovation, and share of turnover from new products. |
| Keywords: | firms; Innovation; Interaction; Norway; scientific and supply-chain collaboration |
| JEL: | O31 O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13622&r=all |
| By: | Page, Lionel; Sarkar, Dipanwita; Silva-Goncalves, Juliana |
| Abstract: | We investigate the long lasting effects on behaviour of relative age at school. We conduct an online incentivised survey with a sample of 1007 adults, who were born at most two months before or after the school entry cut-off date in four Australian states. We fi nd those who were among the oldest in the classroom throughout their school years display higher self-confi dence, are more willing to enter in some form of competition, declare taking more risk in a range of domains in their life and are more trusting of other people, compared to those who were among the youngest. |
| Keywords: | Relative age; education; behavioural traits |
| Date: | 2019–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:syd:wpaper:2019-06&r=all |
| By: | W. Walker Hanlon |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ste:nystbu:18-21&r=all |
| By: | Dai, Li (School of Economics and Trade, Hunan University); Zhou, Peng (Cardiff Business School) |
| Abstract: | In public policy planning and budgeting, the health issues and homeless issues tend to be in-terrelated and reinforced by each other, but this mutual causality is usually ignored in the ex-isting literature. This paper provides an unbiased estimate of a structural equation model taking endogeneity into account. A questionnaire is designed based on the health-related quality of life (EQ-5D) framework and is given to 322 homeless individuals. Evidence shows that, with-out timely support, the homeless state and health state will fast deteriorate and reinforce each other. It is therefore arguable to broaden the definition of statutory homelessness, and the "pre-ventative approach" can save, rather than increase, the public resources spent on the homeless. |
| Keywords: | Socio-Economic Policy; Health Needs; Homeless; Structural Equation Model |
| Date: | 2019–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdf:wpaper:2019/12&r=all |
| By: | Gorman, Emma; Harmon, Colm; Mendolia, Silvia; Staneva, Anita; Walker, Ian |
| Abstract: | We use rich data on a cohort of English adolescents to analyse the long-term effects of experiencing bullying victimisation in junior high school. The data contain selfreports of five types of bullying and their frequency, for three waves of the data, when the pupils were aged 13 to 16 years. Using a variety of estimation strategies - least squares, matching, inverse probability weighting, and instrumental variables - we assess the effects of bullying victimisation on short- and long-term outcomes, including educational achievements, earnings, and mental ill-health at age 25 years. We handle potential measurement error in the child self-reports of bullying type and frequency by instrumenting with corresponding parental cross-reports. Using a detailed longitudinal survey linked to administrative data, we control for many of the determinants of bullying victimisation and child outcomes identified in previous literature, paired with comprehensive sensitivity analyses to assess the potential role of unobserved variables. The pattern of results strongly suggests that there are important long run effects on victims - stronger than correlation analysis would otherwise suggest. In particular, we find that both type of bullying and its intensity matters for long run outcomes. |
| Keywords: | bullying; victimization; long term outcomes |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:syd:wpaper:2019-05&r=all |