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on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Edward Kung |
| Abstract: | In this chapter, I discuss innovation and entrepreneurship in residential real estate and construction (housing). Based on R&D spending and patent statistics, housing does not appear to be a very innovative sector. But in the last two decades, there has been a significant increase in the amount of investment going to real estate technology companies. I discuss the companies and technologies which have drawn the most attention from investors. I then review the literature on two major innovation trends in housing: the growth of the internet as a tool for housing search, and the development of home-sharing platforms which allow homeowners to use their homes as short-term rentals. These innovations have likely increased the efficiency of housing markets, leading to higher quality matches between buyers and sellers, and more efficient utilization of space. However, the effects are hard to measure due to the difficulty of separating quality changes from price changes. In comparison to residential real estate, there appears to have been less recent innovation in residential construction. In many areas, residential construction is artificially constrained by local land use policies, and estimates from the literature suggest that relaxing these constraints could increase economic growth significantly. Finally, I discuss anti-competitive practices in real estate which may hinder entrepreneurship and the adoption of new innovations, and I discuss how innovation and entrepreneurship in other sectors may affect the housing market. |
| JEL: | O30 R31 |
| Date: | 2020–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26886&r=all |
| By: | Ana Moreno Monroy; Jared Gars; Tadashi Matsumoto; Jonathan Crook; Rudiger Ahrend; Abel Schumann |
| Abstract: | In a context marked by rapid urbanisation, growing housing demand and the worsening impacts of climate change, national governments play a vital role in delivering environmentally sustainable cities with adequate and affordable housing. This paper reviews national housing policy instruments from around the world, analysing their impacts on compact urban development and housing affordability. First, the paper proposes a framework to better understand the housing market in cities by outlining drivers of housing supply and demand as well as the constitution of the housing market and its segments: homeowners and renters, single- and multi-family homes, market and below-market price segments. Next, the paper analyses a range of policy options available to national governments, which are summarised and evaluated according to their impacts on compactness and affordability. Last, the paper provides short-, medium- and long-term policy recommendations to align national housing policies with the goal of delivering more sustainable and inclusive cities. The paper is one of the first attempts to consider the intersection of physical urban form and housing affordability from a national policy perspective. |
| Keywords: | affordable housing, compact urban development, housing market, housing policy, urban form, urban policy |
| JEL: | H50 O18 Q56 R21 R31 R38 R52 |
| Date: | 2020–04–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:govaab:2020/03-en&r=all |
| By: | Erbiao, DAI |
| Abstract: | With rapid economic growth and dramatic progress in the market–oriented reform on housing systems since the 1ate 1980s, the housing conditions in urban China have improved significantly. On the other hand, it is widely believed that the introduction of market mechanisms has led to the rise of housing inequality among urban households.Based on panel data of the NBS survey (2004-2007), this paper measures housing inequality among urban households in 162 cities, and examines the determinants of individual household’s housing conditions in China. We find that in the period investigated, there exists a rising trend in housing inequality among urban households.However, the rise of inequality is not simply the result of the market–oriented reform.Our panel analysis demonstrates that although the income factors such as “Household Total Income” have dominant effects on the probability of owning a market-price (i.e., high price) house, the probability of owning a low-price house or renting a public house provided by the government is still significantly affected by some non-income factors, including the employment sectors of household members, and their Hukou (registered residence status). As a whole, both income/market and non-income/institution factors have effects on the probability of having a resident-owned house as well as on the house size. More interestingly, compared to Peking and Shanghai, the two most developed cities in China, the household housing conditions of the rest 160 cities included in the survey receive stronger influence from the old housing allocation system and Hukou system. It means that in the mid-2000s the rising housing inequality in urban China should be the result of a combined influence from ongoing market–oriented reforms and the persisting impact of some traditional systems. |
| Keywords: | Housing condition, inequality, urban China, determinants, panel data, D6, R31 |
| Date: | 2020–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agi:wpaper:00000172&r=all |
| By: | Junxue Jia (Renmin University of China); Yongzheng Liu (Renmin University of China); Jorge Martinez-Vazquez (International Center for Public Policy, Georgia State University, USA); Kewei Zhang (Boston University, USA) |
| Abstract: | Based on a Chinese city-level panel dataset, this paper examines the effects of vertical fiscal imbalances (VFI) on local fiscal indiscipline in a partial fiscal decentralization setting. We find that higher VFI induces a form of fiscal indiscipline: a reduction of tax collection effort by local governments. In addition, by exploiting the unique Chinese fiscal institution of “extra-budgetary” revenues, we show that in this case higher VFI does not alter local governments’ tax collection efforts. Even though local governments also possess full taxing power for “extra-budgetary” revenues, these revenues do not contribute to the determination of central fiscal transfers to local governments, thus creating very different incentives for local governments’ response to VFI. Our results shed light on the working mechanism of VFI and provide significant implications for improving the design of fiscal decentralization policy in China and elsewhere. |
| Date: | 2020–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ays:ispwps:paper2006&r=all |
| By: | Sam Sims (Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities, UCL Institute of Education, University College London) |
| Abstract: | School absence occurs when a pupil does not attend school when it would usually be open. In England, the average pupil missed 8.4 of the 195 scheduled days in the 2018/19 academic year. However, this masks wide variation in the number of days missed, with 10.9% of pupils absent for more than 10 days (DfE, 2020). Absences happen for two broad reasons. 1. Pupils can fail to turn up to school on a day that the school is open. They may be ill, truanting or natural obstacles such as flooding may prevent them from attending. 2. The school may be experiencing an unscheduled closure due to a teaching strike, extreme weather or a disease epidemic (such as COVID-19). Pupils absent from school tend to miss out on new learning and may also forget previously learned material. This briefing note summarises the empirical evidence on the strength of the relationship between school absence and pupil achievement. |
| Keywords: | Pupil absence, School closures, Pupil achievement. |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I24 |
| Date: | 2020–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucl:cepeob:1&r=all |
| By: | Heleen Hofmeyr (Department of Economics, Stellenbosch University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether school characteristics moderate the association between grit and reading achievement in a sample of Grade 6 learners in high-poverty contexts. The analysis makes use of data from 2,383 learners distributed across 60 township and rural schools in three provinces of South Africa. Indicators of school functionality are used to split the sample of schools into three groups (low, medium, and high functionality) and separate models of reading achievement are estimated for each group. The econometric analysis points to evidence of variation in the association between grit and reading achievement by school functionality, with a stronger association estimated for learners in more functional schools. The major contributions of this paper are as follows: Firstly, this paper is one of only a handful of studies that estimate the relationship between grit and academic achievement in a middle- income country, and the first to estimate this relationship among primary school learners in an African context. Second, the results provide empirical evidence in support of the hypothesis that school characteristics interact with non-cognitive skills to produce learning outcomes, a relationship that has received scant attention in the literature to date. |
| Keywords: | Socio-emotional skills, grit, perseverance, school poverty |
| JEL: | I20 I24 I29 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers341&r=all |
| By: | Cohn, Ricardo Meilman |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effect of a policy-induced increase in public school competition on private school enrollment and budget outcomes. I exploit a natural experiment created by the introduction of an open enrollment policy that expanded public school choice opportunities and increased competitive pressure on private schools. Using a new data set constructed from mandatory nonprofit information returns and school enrollment records, I find that an increase in public school competition reduces private school enrollment. Secular and Catholic school enrollment is most responsive to increased public school choice, whereas other Christian and other faith schools experience no reduction in enrollment. The negative enrollment effects are concentrated among high school age students. I find no evidence that private schools respond to this increased public school choice by adjusting their revenue and spending choices |
| Keywords: | school choice,school competition,open enrollment,private schools |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:clefwp:23&r=all |
| By: | Konstantin Büchel; Martina Jakob; Christoph Kühnhanss; Daniel Steffen; Aymo Brunetti |
| Abstract: | This study provides novel evidence on the relative effectiveness of computer-assisted learning (CAL) software and traditional teaching. Based on a randomized controlled trial in Salvadoran primary schools, we evaluate three interventions that aim to improve learning outcomes in mathematics: (i) teacher-led classes, (ii) CAL classes monitored by a technical supervisor, and (iii) CAL classes instructed by a teacher. As all three interventions involve the same amount of additional mathematics lessons, we can directly compare the productivity of the three teaching methods. CAL lessons lead to larger improvements in students' mathematics skills than traditional teacher-centered classes. In addition, teachers add little to the effectiveness of learning software. Overall, our results highlight the value of CAL approaches in an environment with poorly qualified teachers. |
| Keywords: | computer-assisted learning, productivity in education, primary education, teacher content knowledge |
| JEL: | C93 I21 J24 O15 |
| Date: | 2020–04–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bss:wpaper:36&r=all |
| By: | Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham; Kelly Shue |
| Abstract: | Housing wealth represents the dominant form of savings for American households. Using detailed data on housing transactions across the United States since 1991, we find that single men earn 1.5 percentage points higher unlevered returns per year on housing relative to single women. The gender gap grows significantly larger after accounting for mortgage borrowing: men earn 7.9 percentage points higher levered returns per year relative to women. Approximately 45% of the gap in housing returns can be explained by gender differences in the location and timing of transactions. The remaining gap arises primarily from gender differences in execution prices: data on repeat sales reveal that women buy the same property for approximately 2% more and sell for 2% less. Women experience worse execution prices because of differences in the choice of initial list price and negotiated discount relative to the list price. Gender differences in upgrade and maintenance rates, and preferences for housing characteristics and listing agents appear to be less important factors. Overall, the gender gap in housing returns is economically large and can explain 30% of the gender gap in wealth accumulation at retirement. |
| JEL: | D14 D31 J16 R2 |
| Date: | 2020–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26914&r=all |
| By: | Alex J. Bowers (Columbia University) |
| Abstract: | Are teachers and principals aligned in their perceptions of the core components of the theory of Leadership for Learning across countries, or are there subgroups of schools in which there is misalignment? The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which a congruency-typology model of leadership for learning is distributed across countries/economies using the TALIS 2018 dataset through examining the interaction of significantly different subgroups of teacher and principal responders through using multilevel latent class analysis (LCA) with a cross-level interaction. I analyse data from lower secondary schools of n=152 635 teachers in 9 079 schools and their principals across 47 countries/economies. Currently in the research literature on school leadership, leadership for learning has emerged as a framework to bring together managerial, transformational, distributed, and instructional leadership. Yet little is known about leadership for learning across national contexts. This study 1) maps the TALIS 2018 survey items to the current literature and surveys for leadership for learning, 2) then details the methods and analysis framework to examine if there are multiple significantly different types of teachers, principals, and schools from a leadership for learning theory framework. The final model 3) identifies a three-group teacher typology and a three-group principal typology, linking these types to school context, covariates, as well as teacher and principal training and experience. Results relate directly to the intersection of research, policy, and practice for training and capacity of school leaders across 47 countries/economies globally. |
| Date: | 2020–04–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:219-en&r=all |
| By: | Brützel, Christoph |
| Abstract: | The article compares regional airport infrastructures in Germany to those of other European countries and analyzes recent developments and situation of traffic at German regional airports. Type of services are segregated into hub feeder services, connections to European cities relevant for business travel and private travel destinations. It shows that, compared to other large European countries the landscape of regional airports in Germany is less dense and that traffic there is mostly restricted to hub feeders, major leisure destinations and other destinations for private air travel. |
| Keywords: | Aviation,Airlines,Regional Airports,Regional Air Traffic Market,Point-to-Point Air Traffic,German Air Traffic Market |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iubhtl:12020&r=all |
| By: | Dávid Krisztián Nagy |
| Abstract: | I study how geography shaped city formation and aggregate development in the United States prior to the Civil War. To guide my analysis, I first present a conjecture that cities' farm hinterlands fostered both city development and aggregate growth: the hinterland hypothesis. The hinterland hypothesis has rich implications on how various elements of U.S. geography -railroads, changes in U.S. political borders, increasing U.S. population, and international trade - affected city formation and U.S. growth. To quantitatively evaluate the hinterland hypothesis and its implications, I assemble a novel historical dataset on population, trading routes and agricultural productivity at a high spatial resolution, and combine it with a dynamic quantitative model of economic geography. I find evidence for the hinterland hypothesis by showing that the model can quantitatively replicate the key patterns of U.S. urbanization and city formation. Finally, I conduct a series of counterfactuals in the model to quantify the effect of geography on cities and growth, guided by the implications of the hinterland hypothesis. Results indicate that railroads were responsible for 8.2% of urban population in 1860 and for 27% of real GDP growth between 1830 and 1860. The effect of international trade was similar in magnitude, while population growth slowed down urbanization and GDP growth. The effect of political border changes was small during the period. |
| Keywords: | quantitative economic geography, economic growth and development, city formation, transport infrastructure |
| JEL: | O14 O18 O51 R12 R13 |
| Date: | 2020–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1172&r=all |
| By: | Kirill S. Glavatskiy; Mikhail Prokopenko; Adrian Carro; Paul Ormerod; Michael Harre |
| Abstract: | Urban housing markets, along with markets of other assets, universally exhibit periods of strong price increases followed by sharp corrections. The mechanisms generating such non-linearities are not yet well understood. We develop an agent-based model populated by a large number of heterogeneous households. The agents' behavior is compatible with economic rationality, with the trend-following behavior found to be essential in replicating market dynamics. The model is calibrated using several large and distributed datasets of the Greater Sydney region (demographic, economic and financial) across three specific and diverse periods since 2006. The model is not only capable of explaining price dynamics during these periods, but also reproduces the novel behavior actually observed immediately prior to the market peak in 2017, namely a sharp increase in the variability of prices. This novel behavior is related to a combination of trend-following aptitude of the household agents (rational herding) and their propensity to borrow. |
| Date: | 2020–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2004.07571&r=all |
| By: | Mai Seki; Eiji Yamada |
| Abstract: | Abstract The Delhi Metro is one of the leading examples of a recent urban mass transit infrastructure project in a developing country where women have traditionally suffered from constrained mobility. In this paper, we analyze the effects of the Delhi Metro on the work participation rate of women and men, using a three-period (1991, 2001, and 2011) panel data of townshiplevel zones within the city of Delhi. While the data has limitations in understanding the characteristics of individual residents in detail, we employ a difference-in-differences estimation controlling for a location fixed-effect, with a parallel trend test. The results suggest that the proximity to the Delhi Metro stations significantly increases the female work participation rate (WPR), whereas its effect on the male WPR is ambiguous with the potential to have an opposite sign. While there are number of potential mechanisms that can deliver this result, we develop a theoretical urban commuting model and argue that a larger reduction in the commuting cost for females (by offering a safer commuting mode of transportation, for example) can generate the quantified patterns of the effects on the WPR. Overall, our results relate to the literature on the quantification of the contribution of urban transport infrastructure towards inclusive growth and poverty reduction. |
| Keywords: | India, gender gap, equilibrium commuting model |
| Date: | 2020–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jic:wpaper:207&r=all |
| By: | Zhenyu Gao; Michael Sockin; Wei Xiong |
| Abstract: | We develop a model to analyze information aggregation and learning in housing markets. In the presence of pervasive informational frictions, housing prices serve as important signals to households and capital producers about the economic strength of a neighborhood. Our model provides a novel mechanism for amplification through learning in which noise from the housing market can propagate to the local economy, distorting not only migration into the neighborhood, but also the supply of capital and labor. We provide consistent evidence of our model implications for housing price volatility and new construction using data from the recent U.S. housing cycle. |
| JEL: | E22 E44 G1 R3 R31 |
| Date: | 2020–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26907&r=all |
| By: | Dascher, Kristof |
| Abstract: | This paper identifies (unobservable) centrists and decentrists. Centrists support, whereas decentrists oppose, taxing carbon. The paper divides into two parts. Its theory derives estimators of centrists and decentrists; its empirical part provides estimates for U.S. metros and takes them to the 2008 and 2016 U.S. presidential elections. The paper finds that Donald Trump's shift away from the consensus on global warming has gained him 280,000 votes he else would not have enjoyed, in cities where decentrists were strong. The paper concludes that sprawling (compact) cities are less (more) likely to embrace carbon taxation, and provides a new rationale for globally advocating compact urban planning. |
| Keywords: | Compact City, Global Warming, Carbon Taxation, 2016 US Presidential Election |
| JEL: | D72 Q54 R52 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:99290&r=all |
| By: | Vivo-Delgado, Gerard; Castro-Toledo, Francisco Javier |
| Abstract: | The scientific literature on crime prevention in urban contexts is very vast, nevertheless it is still limited in the Smart Cities context. With the aim of assessing how this phenomenon has been studied to date from an evidence-based approach, a quantitative systematic review has been conducted on the basis of gathering information from the most recent scientific literature (2014-2019) on strategies for improving urban safety in smart city scenarios. Specifically, it was systematised according to different variables such as research designs, results of the implementation of measures to improve urban safety, crimes assessed, fields of application of the measures and problems associated with the use of these measures. As a result, the majority of the studies examined are of a cross-sectional, non-experimental nature. Also, most results are descriptive and the preventive measures evaluated have positive effects. Similarly, most of the applications are connected with civil, preventive and police settings. Finally, this paper analyses the importance of following up on this emerging line of research. |
| Date: | 2020–04–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:7jwtc&r=all |
| By: | Sophie Larribeau (Univ Rennes, CNRS, CREM - UMR 6211, F-35000 Rennes, France); Matthieu Leprince (Universite de Bretagne Occidentale, AMURE); Touria Jaaidane (Universite de Lille, LEM (UMR 9221) and CRED, Universite Paris 2) |
| Abstract: | In many countries, municipalities are central employers in their local labor market. Studies of the determinants of municipal labor demand are however scarce. Exploiting an original panel dataset of municipalities of more than 1,000 inhabitants in France over the 2002- 2008 period, we first show that usual factors such as wages, grants, median income and tax capacity explain the labor demand. Second, we show that inter-municipal cooperation (hereafter IMC) is also a key factor: we find a positive impact of inter-municipal employment level on municipal employment (IMC direct effect). Third we find that IMC leads mayors to increase municipal employment when unemployment is higher (IMC indirect effect). Moreover, Right-wing mayors tend to reduce municipal employment when unemployment is higher (partisan effect). Finally, controlling for the magnitude of the inter-municipal employment, it turns out that the IMC indirect effect holds only for municipalities in large employment cooperation bodies and that the partisan effect dominates the IMC indirect effect for Right-wing municipalities. |
| Keywords: | Municipal labor demand ; Inter-municipal cooperation ; Median voter model ; Instrumental variables ; Panel data |
| JEL: | H70 J45 C23 |
| Date: | 2020–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tut:cremwp:2020-01&r=all |
| By: | Aymo Brunetti; Konstantin Buechel; Martina Jakob; Ben Jann; Christoph Kuehnhanss; Daniel Steffen |
| Abstract: | Education is one of the key resources in the fight against poverty. While substantial progress has been made in terms of school enrollment, evidence suggests that educational quality is still alarmingly low in many developing countries. Various explanations have been suggested, but one very obvious factor in the educational production function has received surprisingly little attention: the content knowledge of teachers. For this study, we administered an exam-type assessment to a representative sample of 224 primary school teachers in Morazan, El Salvador. The average teacher scored 47% correct answers on 50 questions covering the offcial math curriculum for second to sixth graders. Overall, our results point to an even more worrying situation than suggested by previous findings based on indirect measures of content-related teacher skills in several African countries. |
| Keywords: | teacher content knowledge, quality of education, primary education, El Salvador |
| JEL: | I21 I25 J24 O15 |
| Date: | 2020–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ube:dpvwib:dp2005&r=all |
| By: | Essafi Yasmine (DRM-Finance - DRM - Dauphine Recherches en Management - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL); Nasreddine Aya; Simon Arnaud |
| Abstract: | Given the importance of the residential property sector, we propose to study direct housing as an asset class within the optimal multi-asset portfolio. In this study, we consider the performances of direct housing within the metropolis Grand Paris between 1996 and 2017. We test the inflation hedging property of direct housing as well as its diversification benefits. We also define the optimal weight of this particular asset class when held together with stocks and bonds. Our finds bring several contributions to the French residential market within a portfolio management context. First, directly-held housing investment should bring diversification benefits to the mixed-asset portfolio. Second, residential asset is confirmed to be a hedge against inflation and particularly against its unexpected component. Third, using hierarchical clustering technique, we divided the "Grand Paris" into five homogenous groups of communes and give the optimal weight of each of the 150 communes and each group of communes into the tangency portfolio. Weights stability through time is checked through moving windows. We also compare our finding when considering listed real estate with direct housings. |
| Keywords: | Direct housing,"Grand Paris" metropolis,inflation hedge,diversification,Sharpe maximizing portfolio allocation |
| Date: | 2020–04–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-02537087&r=all |
| By: | Wheeler, Andrew Palmer (University of Texas at Dallas); Reuter, Sydney |
| Abstract: | In this work we evaluate the predictive capability of identifying long term, micro place hot spots in Dallas, Texas. We create hot spots using a hierarchical clustering algorithm, using law enforcement cost of crime estimates as weights. Relative to the much larger current hot spot areas defined by the Dallas Police Department, our identified hot spots are much smaller (under 3 square miles), and capture crime harm at a higher density per the Predictive Accuracy Index statistic. We also show that the hierarchical clustering algorithm captures a wide array of hot spot types; some one or two addresses, some street segments, and others an agglomeration of larger areas. This suggests identifying hot spots based on a specific unit of aggregation (e.g. addresses, street segments), may be less efficient than using a hierarchical clustering technique in practice. Code and data to reproduce the analysis can be downloaded from https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kcask6pinaaaz 4v/AAC4CXk6NzUweyld2n4OznzWa?dl=0 |
| Date: | 2020–03–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:nmq8r&r=all |
| By: | Omoshoro-Jones, Oyeyinka Sunday; Bonga-Bonga, Lumengo |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effects of intraregional spillovers propagated by Nigeria and South Africa on real economic activities and interest rates movement in three African regional blocs (i.e., ECOWAS, SADC and CEMAC) employing the factor augmented VAR (FAVAR) modelling approach over the period 1980Q2–2015Q1. Moreover, a counterfactual analysis, based on the same modelling approach, is conducted to assess what would happen to the real activities and monetary policy indicators of the three regional blocs in the absence of real and monetary shocks from the two countries. The paper finds that while the influence of Nigeria is limited to ECOWAS, South Africa plays an influential role on the real sectors and financial systems of all the regional blocs, albeit with short-lived impacts on ECOWAS and CEMAC. Moreover, the results of the counterfactual analysis show that real and financial activities in the SADC regions are highly influenced by South Africa. Our result suggests that countries with proper coordination of macroeconomic and monetary policies as well as organised financial market should be the sources of contagion and spillover, mostly at regional level. |
| Keywords: | FAVAR, growth shocks, intra-regional spillovers, monetary policy |
| JEL: | C55 E52 F42 F44 |
| Date: | 2020–04–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:99514&r=all |
| By: | ADACHI Daisuke; FUKAI Taiyo; KAWAGUCHI Daiji; SAITO Yukiko |
| Abstract: | We construct Commuting Zones (CZs) in Japan using the commuting patterns observed in the quinquennial Population Census between 1980 and 2015. CZs are geographical units which are created by integration of municipalities. Municipalities are not good geographical units to capture labor market because many workers commute to different municipalities, while prefectures include more than one labor market. CZs are created so that they are not over-integrated and the ratio of commuting within the same unit is high. In particular, we employ a hierarchical agglomerative clustering method popularized by Tolbert and Sizer (1996), which is used for delineating the standard CZs in the US. For example, from 2366 municipalities in the year 2005, we delineate 331 CZs that are mutually exclusive and completely exhaustive. We show the effectiveness of CZs in extracting heterogeneities of economic variables in analyzing labor markets. CZs functions well for implementing a large variety of geographical analysis. |
| Date: | 2020–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:20021&r=all |
| By: | Gianluca Orefice; Giovanni Peri |
| Abstract: | The process of matching between firms and workers is an important mechanism in determining the distribution of wages. In a labor market characterised by large dispersion of workers’ productivity and worker-firm complementarity, high quality firms have strong incentives to screen for the quality of workers. This process will increase the positive quality association of firm-worker matches known as positive assortative matching (PAM). Immigration in a local labor market, by increasing the variance of workers abilities, may drive stronger PAM between firms and workers. Using French matched employer-employee (DADS) data over the period 1995-2005 we document that positive supply-driven changes of immigrant workers in a district increased the strength of PAM. We then show that this association is consistent with causality, is quantitatively significant, and is associated with higher average productivity and firm profits, but also with higher wage dispersion. We also show that the increased degree of positive assortative matching is mainly reached by high-productive firms “losing” lower quality workers and “attracting” higher quality workers. |
| Keywords: | matching, workers, firms, immigration, productivity |
| JEL: | F16 J20 J61 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8174&r=all |
| By: | Michele Loberto; Andrea Luciani; Marco Pangallo |
| Abstract: | Traditional data sources for the analysis of housing markets show several limitations, that recently started to be overcome using data coming from housing sales advertisements (ads) websites. In this paper, using a large dataset of ads in Italy, we provide the first comprehensive analysis of the problems and potential of these data. The main problem is that multiple ads ("duplicates") can correspond to the same housing unit. We show that this issue is mainly caused by sellers' attempt to increase visibility of their listings. Duplicates lead to misrepresentation of the volume and composition of housing supply, but this bias can be corrected by identifying duplicates with machine learning tools. We then focus on the potential of these data. We show that the timeliness, granularity, and online nature of these data allow monitoring of housing demand, supply and liquidity, and that the (asking) prices posted on the website can be more informative than transaction prices. |
| Date: | 2020–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2004.02706&r=all |
| By: | Jia Chen; Yongcheol Shin; Chaowen Zheng |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we develop a unifying econometric framework for the analysis of heterogeneous panel data models that can account for both spatial dependence and unobserved common factors. To tackle the challenging issues of endogeneity caused by both the spatial lagged term and the correlation between regressors and factors, we propose to approximate common factors by cross-section averages of independent variables only, and deal with the spatial endogeneity via the instrumental variables. We develop the individual estimators as well as the Mean Group and the Pooled estimators, and establish their consistency and asymptotic normality. Monte Carlo simulations confirm that the finite sample performance of our proposed estimators are quite satisfactory. We demonstrate the usefulness of our approach with an application to a gravity model of bilateral trade flows for 91 pairs of 14 European Union (EU) countries, and find that the trade flows between the UK and EU members would fall substantially following a hard Brexit. |
| Keywords: | Cross Section Dependence, Heterogeneous Spatial Panel Data Model, Factor Model, Instrumental Variable Analysis |
| JEL: | C13 C15 C23 |
| Date: | 2020–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yor:yorken:20/03&r=all |
| By: | Raúl A. Ponce-Rodríguez (Department of Economics, Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez); Charles R. Hankla (Department of Political Science, Georgia State University); Jorge Martinez-Vazquez (International Center for Public Policy, Department of Economics, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University); Eunice Heredia-Ortiz (Development Alternatives Inc., DAI) |
| Abstract: | We explore how party structures can condition the benefits of decentralization in modern democracies. In particular, we study the interaction of two political institutions: democratic (de)centralization (whether a country has fiscally autonomous and elected local governments) and party (non)integration (whether power over local party leaders flows upwards through party institutions, which we model using control over candidate selection). We incorporate these institutions into our strong decentralization theorem, which expands on Oates (1972) to examine when the decentralized provision of public services will dominate centralized provision even in the presence of inter-jurisdictional spillovers. Our findings suggest that, when externalities are present, democratic decentralization will be beneficial only when parties are integrated. In countries with non-integrated parties, we find that the participation rules of primaries have implications for the expected gains from democratic decentralization. Under blanket primaries, Oates’ conventional decentralization theorem holds but our strong decentralization theorem does not. By contrast, when primaries are closed, not even Oates’ conventional decentralization theorem holds. |
| Date: | 2020–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ays:ispwps:paper2005&r=all |
| By: | Devictor,Xavier; Do,Quy-Toan; Levchenko,Andrei A. |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the spatial distribution of refugees over 1987-2017 and establishes several stylized facts about refugees today compared with past decades. (i) Refugees today travel longer distances. (ii) Refugees today are less likely to seek protection in a neighboring country. (iii) Refugees today are less geographically concentrated. And (iv) refugees today are more likely to reside in a high-income OECD country. The findings bring new evidence to the debate on refugee burden-sharing. |
| Date: | 2020–04–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9206&r=all |
| By: | Marcelo Caffera; Felipe Vásquez; Daniel Rodríguez; Leonidas Carrasco-Letelier; José Ignacio Hernández; Mariela Buonomo |
| Abstract: | We estimate the implicit market price of soil erosion, fitting a spatio-temporal hedonic price model using quarterly data of 3,563 agricultural farms traded in Uruguay between 2000 and 2014. A unique feature of our estimation is that we allow for possible spatial spillovers. We find evidence of a negative and statistically significant association between erosion and land values. A 1% increase in own topsoil loss due to own erosion is associated with a decrease of 0.22% in the per-hectare price of agricultural land (p-value: 0.013, 95% CI: -0.0039, -0.0005). This is equivalent to a decrease of 7.7 USD in the average price per hectare and USD 1,040 in the price of the average farm (134 hectares). This value increases to USD 1,277 when we add the average cross marginal effect of erosion in nearby farms. Our estimates are sensitive to our measure of erosion and our specification of the spatio-temporal weighting matrix. We also find evidence consistent with our hypothesis that farms entering a governmental erosion control plan sent a valuable signal to the market regarding soil management. An indicator of whether the farm has at least one parcel under the government erosion control plans is associated with a 29% increase in the farm´s per-hectare price (p-value: 0.000, 95% CI: 16.26%, 41.53%) higher than those with no parcel under these plans. The average total marginal effect (own plus cross effects) of the erosion control plans is 35.37% (p-value: 0.000, 95% CI: 20.33%, 50.40%). |
| Keywords: | spatial spillovers, spatio-temporal hedonic model, soil erosion, farmland values,Uruguay |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mnt:wpaper:1909&r=all |
| By: | Michel Beine; Luisito Bertinelli; Rana Comertpay; Anastasia Litina; Jean-Francois Maystadt |
| Abstract: | Based on geolocalized mobile phone calls data, we study the mobility of refugees in Turkey. We employ a gravity model to estimate the determinants of refugee movements across 26 regions in 2017. To benchmark our findings, we estimate the same model for the mobility of individuals with a non-refugee status. Beyond the standard determinants such as the levels of income at origin, at destination and distances across regions, we find that networks, provision of humanitarian aid and asylum grants are important determinants of refugee mobility. Our paper deepens our understanding on how forcibly displaced people may respond to economic, social and political factors in their location decision. |
| Keywords: | Refugee Mobility, Gravity Model of Migration, Forced Displacement, Mobile Phone Data, News Media, Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood |
| JEL: | J6 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lan:wpaper:293574571&r=all |
| By: | Khandker Nurul Habib; Ph. D.; PEng |
| Abstract: | The paper presents an empirical investigation of telecommuting frequency choices by post-secondary students in Toronto. It uses a dataset collected through a large-scale travel survey conducted on post-secondary students of four major universities in Toronto and it employs multiple alternative econometric modelling techniques for the empirical investigation. Results contribute on two fronts. Firstly, it presents empirical investigations of factors affecting telecommuting frequency choices of post-secondary students that are rare in literature. Secondly, it identifies better a performing econometric modelling technique for modelling telecommuting frequency choices. Empirical investigation clearly reveals that telecommuting for school related activities is prevalent among post-secondary students in Toronto. Around 80 percent of 0.18 million of the post-secondary students of the region, who make roughly 36,000 trips per day, also telecommute at least once a week. Considering that large numbers of students need to spend a long time travelling from home to campus with around 33 percent spending more than two hours a day on travelling, telecommuting has potential to enhance their quality of life. Empirical investigations reveal that car ownership and living farther from the campus have similar positive effects on the choice of higher frequency of telecommuting. Students who use a bicycle for regular travel are least likely to telecommute, compared to those using transit or a private car. |
| Date: | 2020–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2004.04683&r=all |
| By: | John Gibson (University of Waikato); Geua Boe-Gibson (University of Waikato) |
| Abstract: | The DMSP night lights data used in economics are old and not very accurate. Newer VIIRS night lights data have 60 percent higher predictive power for state-level GDP in the United States. Predictive accuracy is far higher in the cross section than for time series changes, either annually or quarterly. Night lights predict more weakly for agriculture than for manufacturing and other industries. These three facts suggest a need for caution in using night lights data, which may be unsuitable for many economics research purposes in many places. |
| Keywords: | DMSP; GDP; night lights; VIIRS; United States |
| JEL: | E23 R12 |
| Date: | 2020–03–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wai:econwp:20/03&r=all |
| By: | Rodriguez Castelan,Carlos; Cadena,Kiyomi E.; Moreno Herrera,Laura Liliana |
| Abstract: | A rigorous understanding of the developmental effect of fiscal transfers to subnational governments remains an important policy research issue globally. This paper exploits a novel dataset of 20 years of municipal poverty maps and local public finances to study the effects on local welfare of a large fiscal transfer fund earmarked for social investment in more than 2,000 Mexican municipalities. Results show a positive but modest effect on the average household income, and positive effects on seven nonmonetary welfare measures. In contrast, these funds have no significant impact on extreme and moderate monetary poverty. These results provide important lessons for policy on the effects of earmarked funds to reduce territorial poverty and inequality in terms of incentives to design formulas to distribute earmarked fiscal resources to subnational governments. |
| Date: | 2020–04–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9209&r=all |
| By: | Fritsch, Michael; Obschonka, Martin; Wahl, Fabian; Wyrwich, Michael |
| Abstract: | We investigate whether the Roman presence in the southern part of Germany nearly 2,000 years ago had a deep imprinting effect with long run consequences on a broad spectrum of measures ranging from present-day personality profiles to a number of socioeconomic outcomes and why. Today's populations living in the former Roman part of Germany score indeed higher on certain personality traits, have higher life and health satisfaction, longer life expectancy, generate more inventions and behave in a more entrepreneurial way. These findings help explain that regions under Roman rule have higher present-day levels of economic development in terms of GDP per capita. The effects hold when controlling for other potential historical influences. When addressing potential channels of a long term effect of Roman rule the data indicates that the Roman road network plays an important role as a mechanism in the imprinting that is still perceptible today. |
| Keywords: | Romans,personality traits,culture,well-being,regional performance,Limes |
| JEL: | N9 O1 I31 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hohdps:052020&r=all |
| By: | Andreas Ferrara; Price V. Fishback |
| Abstract: | Are the costs of discrimination mainly borne by the targeted group or by society? This paper examines both individual and aggregate costs of ethnic discrimination. Studying Germans living in the U.S. during World War I, an event that abruptly downgraded their previously high social standing, we propose a novel measure of local anti-German sentiment based on war casualties. We show that Germans disproportionally fled counties with high casualty rates and that those counties saw more anti-German slurs reported in newspapers. German movers had worse occupational outcomes after the war but also the discriminating communities paid a substantial cost. Counties with larger outflows of Germans, who pre-war tended to be well-trained manufacturing workers, saw a drop in average annual manufacturing wages of 1-7% which persisted until 1940. Thus, for discriminating communities, a few years of intense anti-German sentiment were reflected in worse economic outcomes that lasted for more than a decade. |
| JEL: | J15 J61 J71 N32 N42 |
| Date: | 2020–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26936&r=all |
| By: | Bardt, Hubertus; Dullien, Sebastian; Hüther, Michael; Rietzler, Katja |
| Abstract: | Public investment has been badly neglected in Germany over the past two decades, with the result that the public capital stock no longer meets the standards of a modern economy and is inadequate for the challenges that will be posed by demographic change and Germany's international decarbonisation commitments. In total, the areas of education, transport, communication networks and decarbonisation will require at least an additional €450 billion of public investment or public investment subsidies over the next 10 years, equivalent to approximately €45 billion a year. While this amount is manageable in overall economic terms, it is unrealistic to suggest that the required investment can be financed entirely through the reallocation of existing funds within the budget. Consequently, the German Constitution's debt rules should be supplemented by a Golden Rule allowing for borrowing equivalent to the value of the net investment. The leeway offered by mechanisms such as off-budget entities should be utilised until such a rule has been implemented. A sustained reduction in local government debt will also be important in view of the key role played by the municipalities in public investment, especially in transport infrastructure. |
| JEL: | H54 H60 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwkpps:62020&r=all |
| By: | Laura Zieger (Department of Social Science, UCL Institute of Education, University College London); John Jerrim (Department of Social Science, UCL Institute of Education, University College London); Jake Anders (Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities, UCL Institute of Education, University College London); Nikki Shure (Department of Social Science, UCL Institute of Education, University College London) |
| Abstract: | The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international large-scale assessment which examines the educational achievement of 15-year-old students across the world. It has long become one of the key studies for evidence-based education policymaking across the globe. As result, PISA results and the methodology that they are based on should be robust, open and transparent. Yet, PISA receives significant criticism for its scaling model and the opaqueness in communicating it. One particular point of concern is the so-called "conditioning model", where background variables are used in the derivation of student achievement scores. The aim of this paper is to investigate this part of the scaling model and the impact it has upon the final scores. This includes varying the background variables of the conditioning model systematically and analysing the impact that this has on multiple measures. Our key finding is that the exact specification of the conditioning model matters and has substantial impact on average scores in some of the minor PISA domains (namely reading). It also has a major impact upon cross-national comparisons of educational inequality. |
| Keywords: | PISA, conditioning model, research transparency, scaling model, cross-national comparison, educational performance, educational inequality, test scores |
| JEL: | C10 C18 C55 I20 I21 I24 |
| Date: | 2020–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucl:cepeow:20-09&r=all |
| By: | Małgorzata Rutkowska; Adam Sulich |
| Abstract: | This article is devoted to the analysis of innovativeness of green sector enterprises. Based on the literature review, the essence of green economy was pointed out and the green sector in Poland was analyzed. Further on, innovation and its importance for the green sector are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Green management; Regional development |
| JEL: | Q01 R11 |
| Date: | 2019–08–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ahh:wpaper:worms1904&r=all |
| By: | Hanming Fang; Long Wang; Yang Yang |
| Abstract: | We quantify the causal impact of human mobility restrictions, particularly the lockdown of the city of Wuhan on January 23, 2020, on the containment and delay of the spread of the Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV). We employ a set of difference-in-differences (DID) estimations to disentangle the lockdown effect on human mobility reductions from other confounding effects including panic effect, virus effect, and the Spring Festival effect. We find that the lockdown of Wuhan reduced inflow into Wuhan by 76.64%, outflows from Wuhan by 56.35%, and within-Wuhan movements by 54.15%. We also estimate the dynamic effects of up to 22 lagged population inflows from Wuhan and other Hubei cities, the epicenter of the 2019-nCoV outbreak, on the destination cities' new infection cases. We find, using simulations with these estimates, that the lockdown of the city of Wuhan on January 23, 2020 contributed significantly to reducing the total infection cases outside of Wuhan, even with the social distancing measures later imposed by other cities. We find that the COVID-19 cases would be 64.81% higher in the 347 Chinese cities outside Hubei province, and 52.64% higher in the 16 non-Wuhan cities inside Hubei, in the counterfactual world in which the city of Wuhan were not locked down from January 23, 2020. We also find that there were substantial undocumented infection cases in the early days of the 2019-nCoV outbreak in Wuhan and other cities of Hubei province, but over time, the gap between the officially reported cases and our estimated “actual” cases narrows significantly. We also find evidence that enhanced social distancing policies in the 63 Chinese cities outside Hubei province are effective in reducing the impact of population inflows from the epicenter cities in Hubei province on the spread of 2019-nCoV virus in the destination cities elsewhere. |
| JEL: | I10 I18 |
| Date: | 2020–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26906&r=all |
| By: | Gianmarco Daniele; Tommaso Giommoni |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we study how policies limiting the spending capacity of local governments may lead to a reduction in corruption. We exploit the extension of one such policy, the Domestic Stability Pact (DSP), to Italian municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants that occurred in 2013. Using a ‘local Difference-in-Differences’ approach, we show that the extension of the DSP led to a substantial decrease in recorded corruption rates. This effect emerges only in areas in which the DSP put a binding cap on municipal capital expenditures, in line with the hypothesis that investments and procurement are naturally prone to corruptive phenomena. We also show that i) the reduction in corruption is linked to accountability incentives; ii) and it is not just a mechanical consequence of the decrease in investments, by pointing out evidence of an improvement in the corruption-proofness of public spending. We then estimate the impact of the extension of the DSP on local welfare, finding a null effect. Overall, our findings suggest that budget constrains might induce local governments to curb expenditures in a way that dampens their exposure to corruption without depressing local welfare. |
| Keywords: | corruption, austerity, fiscal rules, European funds, local public finance, public procurement |
| JEL: | D72 D73 H62 H72 K34 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:baf:cbafwp:cbafwp19131&r=all |
| By: | Monika Banaszewska (Poznan University of Economics and Business); Ivo Bischoff (University of Kassel); Aneta Kaczynska (Poznan University of Economics and Business); Eva Wolfschuetz (University of Kassel) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at testing whether inter-municipal cooperation (IMC) in policies to promote local business development has a positive impact on local economic performance. We apply two-way fixed effects as well as marginal structural models to a panel data set covering 1,849 Polish municipalities between 2007 and 2014. We use the unemployment rate and the rate of population growth as a proxy for local economic performance. Our results show a systematic effect of IMC on local economic performance. However, the results are contradictory. While IMC causes higher rates of population growth, they also cause higher rates of unemployment. |
| Keywords: | Inter-municipal cooperation, local business development, population decline, marginal structural models, Poland |
| JEL: | D72 H77 H80 O10 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mar:magkse:202006&r=all |
| By: | Rodriguez Castelan,Carlos; Lopez-Calva,Luis-Felipe; Barriga Cabanillas,Oscar Eduardo |
| Abstract: | Although market concentration is one of the main impediments to productivity growth globally, data constraints have limited its analysis to developed countries or cross-country studies based on definitions of market concentration across nations and industries. This paper takes advantage of a database that is unusual by developing-country standards by means of leveraging the richness of five rounds of the Mexican Manufacturing Census between 1994 and 2014. The data allow estimation of the effects of local industry concentration on productivity. The main results show that a decline by 10 points in the Herfindahl-Hirschman index (on a 0-100 scale), a measure of market concentration, explains an increase by 1 percent in the total factor productivity of revenue. Local industry concentration also has heterogeneous effects on productivity across industries, while its impact on productivity varies by level of exposure to international markets. The results here show that the effect of greater exposure to trade offsets and, in most cases, reverses the negative effects of local concentration on productivity. These results are robust to specifications based on the estimation of firm productivity using the panels of establishment data from the 2009 and 2014 rounds of the economic census, to controlling for a proxy of markups, and to the use of alternate indicators of local industry concentration. |
| Date: | 2020–04–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9210&r=all |
| By: | Chen, Simiao; Jin, Zhangfeng; Prettner, Klaus |
| Abstract: | We examine whether and how retirement affects migration decisions in China. Using a regression discontinuity (RD) design approach combined with a nationally representative sample of 228,855 adults aged between 40 and 75, we find that retirement increases the probability of migration by 12.9 percentage points. Approximately 38% of the total migration effects can be attributed to inter-temporal substitution (delayed migration). Retirement-induced migrants are lower-educated and have restricted access to social security. Household-level migration decisions can reconcile different migration responses across gender. Retirees migrate for risk sharing and family protection mechnisms, reducing market production of their families in the receiving households. |
| Keywords: | Retirement,Migration decision,Regression discontinuity design |
| JEL: | J14 J26 J61 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hohdps:032020&r=all |
| By: | Jonathan I. Dingel; Brent Neiman |
| Abstract: | Evaluating the economic impact of "social distancing"' measures taken to arrest the spread of COVID-19 raises a fundamental question about the modern economy: How many jobs can be performed at home? We classify the feasibility of working at home for all occupations and merge this classification with occupational employment counts for the United States. Our classification implies that 34 percent of U.S. jobs can plausibly be performed at home. |
| JEL: | D24 J22 J61 O30 R12 R32 |
| Date: | 2020–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26948&r=all |
| By: | Nadia Fiorino; Nicola Pontarollo; Roberto Ricciuti |
| Abstract: | US voters have been moving apart in the last twenty years. This paper analyzes how their voting participation has partitioned by looking at US counties in the 2012 Presidential elections. To tackle this question, we propose a methodology that jointly addresses spatial autocorrelation of the dependent variable and splits the sample according to the non-linearity in the covariates. We find that in different groups of US counties, obtained through a spatial lag regression tree procedure, some variables have different statistical significance (or lack of it), and sometimes different signs. This heterogeneity – which is a manifestation of the complexity of the political behavior - is obfuscated by traditional methods that extrapolate a single average relationship between the variables. |
| Keywords: | turnout, spatial dependence, heterogeneity |
| JEL: | D72 C14 C21 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8167&r=all |
| By: | TANAKA Mari; NARITA Yusuke; MORIGUCHI Chiaki |
| Abstract: | We study the impacts of changing school admissions systems in higher education. To do so, we take advantage of the world's first known implementation of nationally centralized admissions and its subsequent reversals in early twentieth-century Japan. This centralization was designed to make admissions more meritocratic, but we find that meritocracy came at the cost of threatening equal regional access to higher education and career advancement. Specifically, in the short run, the meritocratic centralization led students to make more inter-regional and risk-taking applications. As high ability students were located disproportionately in urban areas, however, increased regional mobility caused urban applicants to supplant rural applicants from higher education. Moreover, these impacts were persistent: four decades later, compared to the decentralized system, the centralized system continued to increase the number of urban-born elites (e.g., top income earners) relative to rural-born ones. |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:20002&r=all |
| By: | Piva, Mariacristina (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Piacenza); Tani, Massimiliano (UNSW Canberra, and IZA, Bonn); Vivarelli, Marco (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano, and IZA, Bonn) |
| Abstract: | This paper builds on and considerably extends Piva, Tani and Vivarelli (2018), confirming the key role of Business Visits as a productivity enhancing channel of technology transfer. Our analysis is based on a unique database on business visits sourced from the U.S. National Business Travel Association, merged with OECD and World Bank data and resulting in an unbalanced panel covering 33 sectors and 14 countries over the period 1998-2013 (3,574 longitudinal observations). We find evidence that BVs contribute to fostering labour productivity in a significant way. While this is consistent with what found by the previous (scant) empirical literature on the subject, we also find that short-term mobility exhibits decreasing returns, being more crucial in those sectors characterized by less mobility and by lower productivity performances. |
| Keywords: | Business visits, Labour mobility, Knowledge diffusion, R&D, Productivity |
| JEL: | J61 O33 |
| Date: | 2020–03–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2020011&r=all |