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on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Alex Bryson (University College London); Lorenzo Corsini (University of Pisa); Irene Martelli (Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies) |
| Abstract: | Italy’s secondary school system has faced funding constraints for many years which limits availability of new permanent job slots for teachers. When permanent posts do arise they are allocated mostly on seniority while merit only plays a small role. Thus, the age distribution of teachers in schools reflects older teachers’ preferences which include the amenity of being close to urban centres. Using schools’ distance from main urban centres and population size in the school’s vicinity to instrument for non-random exposure of schools to older teachers, we show older teachers are detrimental to pupil attainment in secondary schools. The effect is large: a six-year increase in the average age of teachers (roughly similar to the increase that has occurred in the last 20 years) leads to a one standard deviation reduction in the mean graduation mark. The findings suggest there may be value in altering the way teachers are allocated to secondary schools in Italy. |
| Keywords: | pupil attainment; school performance; teacher allocation; teacher age; permanent contracts |
| JEL: | J41 J44 J45 J48 J62 M51 M55 |
| Date: | 2020–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:2012&r=all |
| By: | Cappelli, Federica; Guastella, Gianni; Pareglio, Stefano |
| Abstract: | This article examines the relationship between institutional fragmentation and the spatial extent of cities in Europe’s Functional Urban Areas. European Union planning regulations vary across member states, but in most cases, local authorities determine land use within the more general regulatory frameworks set by national or subnational authorities. More decentralised and fragmented settings may favour urban sprawl, allowing developers to avoid land-use restrictions in one municipality by moving to adjacent ones and providing incentives for municipalities to adopt less strict land-conversion regulations to attract households and workers. The empirical results fully support this hypothesis and unveil significant differences between small and large cities, the effect of governance fragmentation being a substantial factor in the latter case. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development |
| Date: | 2020–09–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:feemff:305212&r=all |
| By: | Elizabeth Ananat (Duke University); Shihe Fu (Xiamen University); Stephen L. Ross (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | Racial social isolation within workplaces may reduce firm productivity. We provide descriptive evidence that African-Americans feel socially isolated from whites. To test whether isolation affects productivity, we estimate models of Total Factor Productivity for manufacturing firms allowing the returns to concentrated economic activity and human capital to vary by the match between each establishment’s racial and ethnic composition and the composition of local area employment. Higher own-race representation increases the productivity return from employment density and concentrations of college educated workers. Looming demographic changes suggest that this drag on economic productivity may increase over time. |
| Keywords: | Agglomeration Economies; Firm Productivity; Human Capital Externalities; Information Networks; Racial and Ethnic Isolation |
| JEL: | J15 J24 L11 R12 R23 R32 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uct:uconnp:2020-15&r=all |
| By: | Ozkan Eren; Naci H. Mocan |
| Abstract: | Although there exists a large literature analyzing whether an individual’s peers have an impact on that individual’s own behavior and subsequent outcomes, there is paucity of research on whether peers influence a person’s decisions and judgments regarding a third party. We investigate whether consequential decisions made by judges are impacted by the gender composition of these judges’ peer group. We utilize the universe of decisions on juvenile defendants in each courthouse in Louisiana between 1998 and 2012. Leveraging random assignment of cases to judges, and variations in judge peer composition generated by elections, retirements, deaths and resignations, we show that an increase in the proportion of female peers in the courthouse causes a rise in individual judges’ propensity to incarcerate, and an increase in the assigned sentence length. This effect is fully driven by female judges. Further analysis suggests that this behavior is unlikely to be a reflection of an effort to conform to evolving norms of judicial stringency, measured by peers’ harshness in sentencing, but that it is due to the sheer exposure to female colleagues. |
| JEL: | D9 D91 J16 J71 K4 K41 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27713&r=all |
| By: | ITF |
| Abstract: | This report presents seven case studies of cities that are implementing data-driven road safety policies. It highlights relevant experiences aimed at reducing the number of traffic casualties and protecting vulnerable road users in cities. The case studies from Barcelona, Bogota, Buenos Aires, Fortaleza, London, New York and Rotterdam illustrate the diverse approaches to better understand road crashes and to prevent road traffic deaths and serious injuries. |
| Date: | 2020–09–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:itfaac:76-en&r=all |
| By: | Anna Folke Larsen (The Rockwool Foundation Intervention Unit); Afonso Saraiva Câmara Leme (School of Business and Economics, Universidade Nova de Lisboa); Marianne Simonsen (Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University) |
| Abstract: | Since 2014, the Danish Ministry of Education has conducted yearly national well-being surveys for children of all ages in public school. The ministry introduced the survey as a tool for schools to monitor well-being of their pupils, to make informed adjustments of their own related practices, and to inform education policy at the municipal level. This paper studies the characteristics of the social well-being segment of the survey. We document that low school social well-being correlates meaningfully with standard measures of disadvantage at the pupil and parental level, just as teacher characteristics and classroom composition are additional important predictors of well-being. We also show that school social well-being exhibits high degrees of persistence over time, regardless of whether or not we control for a wide range of background characteristics. We finally show that high school social well-being is positively associated with academic performance and negatively associated with absence from school, though estimates are not large in size. |
| Keywords: | Social well-being, Background characteristics, Academic performance, Absence |
| JEL: | I3 I21 |
| Date: | 2020–09–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aah:aarhec:2020-13&r=all |
| By: | Francesco Andreoli (Department of Economics (University of Verona)); Mauro Mussini (Department of Economics (University of Verona)); Vincenzo Prete (Department of Economics (University of Verona)) |
| Abstract: | The concentrated poverty index, i.e. the proportion of a metro area's poor population living in extreme-poverty neighborhoods, is widely adopted as a policy-relevant measure of urban poverty. We challenge this view and develop a family of new indices of urban poverty that, differently from concentrated poverty measures, i) capture aspects of the incidence and distribution of poverty across neighborhoods and ii) are grounded on empirical evidence that living in a high poverty neighborhood is detrimental for many dimensions of residents' well-being. We demonstrate that a parsimonious axiomatic model that incorporates these two aspects characterizes exactly one urban poverty index. We show that changes of this urban poverty index within the same city are additively decomposable into the contribution of demographic, convergence, re-ranking and spatial effects. We collect new evidence of heterogeneous patterns and trends of urban poverty across American metro areas over the last 35 years and use city characteristics to identify relevant drivers. |
| Keywords: | Concentrated poverty, axiomatic, decomposition, census, ACS, spatial |
| JEL: | C34 D31 H24 P25 |
| Date: | 2019–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ver:wpaper:08/2019&r=all |
| By: | Pinchbeck, Edward W. (University of Birmingham); Roth, Sefi (London School of Economics); Szumilo, Nikodem (University College London); Vanino, Enrico (University of Sheffield) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses the housing market to examine the costs of indoor air pollution. We focus on radon, an indoor air pollutant which is the largest source of exposure to natural ionising radiation and the leading cause of lung cancer after smoking. To overcome potential confounders, we exploit a natural experiment whereby a risk map update in England induces exogenous variation in published radon risk levels. Using a repeat-sales approach, we find a significant negative relationship between changes in published radon risk levels and residential property prices of affected properties. Interestingly, we do not find that the effect of increasing or decreasing radon risk is symmetric. We also show that the update of the risk map led higher socio-economic groups (SEGs) to move away from radon affected areas, attracting lower SEG residents via lower prices. Finally, we propose and utilise a new theoretical framework to account for preference based sorting which allows us to calculate that the average willingness to pay to avoid radon risk is $3,360. |
| Keywords: | indoor air pollution, risk information, house prices, radon, neighbourhood sorting |
| JEL: | R21 R28 Q53 H23 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13655&r=all |
| By: | Shirin A. Hashim; Thomas J. Kane; Thomas Kelley-Kemple; Mary E. Laski; Douglas O. Staiger |
| Abstract: | Since 1990, U.S. policymakers have worked to close gaps in academic achievement by income and race (e.g. with school finance reform and school accountability systems) even as rising income inequality and income-based residential segregation have threatened to widen them. Using estimates of the mean and variance in household income for sampled schools, we reconstruct the student-level relationship between achievement and household income in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) from 1990 to 2015. We find that achievement at all levels of parental income rose substantially in 4th and 8th grade. In contrast to Reardon (2011), we find that achievement gaps narrowed substantially in 4th grade reading and math and in 8th grade math, while the gaps remained stable in 8th grade reading. As a robustness check, we used the March Current Population survey to impute income for dependent children by race, mother’s education, urbanicity and state and then calculated mean achievement for those same groups in the NAEP. Again, we found gaps in achievement narrowing between groups with high and low predicted mean household incomes. Our results challenge the prevailing understanding that income-based achievement gaps have widened in the United States over the last 30 years. |
| JEL: | I21 I22 I24 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27714&r=all |
| By: | Cameron LAPOINT; UNAYAMA Takashi |
| Abstract: | This paper documents heterogeneity in consumption responses to a large stimulus tax rebate based on household exposure to a housing price cycle. Linking geocoded household expenditure and financial transactions data to local housing price indices in Japan, we estimate a U-shaped pattern in the marginal propensity to consume with respect to housing price growth. Recipients living in areas with the smallest housing price gains during the 1980s spent 44% of the 1994 rebate within three months of payment, compared to 23% among recipients in areas which experienced the largest housing price gains. While we find limited heterogeneity in marginal propensities to consume among households in less-affected areas, MPCs are higher for younger, renter households with no debt residing in more-affected areas. These findings are consistent with near-rational households for which the pricing shock was small relative to permanent income spending a larger fraction of the tax rebate. Our analysis suggests fiscal stimulus payments primarily induce spending among "winner" households who face minimal exposure to housing price cycles. |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:20067&r=all |
| By: | Holger Sieg; Chamna Yoon; Jipeng Zhang |
| Abstract: | Using newly available data, we document that internal migrants do not enjoy the same access to local public goods and services as city residents in China. We estimate a spatial overlapping generations model with heterogeneous households to quantify the impact of the Hukou system on urban fiscal policies and access to educational opportunities. We find that migrants provide large fiscal externalities to all major cities. We show the feasibility of alternative internal migration policies that offer the potential of decreasing the inequality within China while at the same time increasing the overall level of human capital in the economy. |
| JEL: | E6 H7 I25 J24 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27764&r=all |
| By: | Sarah Bardin; Liana Washburn; Elizabeth Gearan |
| Abstract: | This paper examined differences in the healthfulness of school food environments and the nutritional quality of school lunches by the school poverty level and racial/ethnic composition of students using data from the School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study. |
| Keywords: | school food environment, nutritional quality, Healthy Eating Index-2010, School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study, National School Lunch Program, disparities, race, free and reduced-price lunch |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:4b0e2563a3974cab85e0d6b7803e7d19&r=all |
| By: | Pablo Fajgelbaum (Princeton University and NBER); Amit Khandelwal (Columbia GSB and NBER); Wookun Kim (Southern Methodist University); Cristiano Mantovani (Universitat Pompeu Fabra); Edouard Schaal (CREI, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona GSE and CEPR) |
| Abstract: | We study optimal dynamic lockdowns against Covid-19 within a commuting network. Our framework integrates canonical spatial epidemiology and trade models, and is applied to cities with varying initial viral spread: Seoul, Daegu and NYC-Metro. Spatial lockdowns achieve substantially smaller income losses than uniform lockdowns, and are not easily approximated by simple centrality-based rules. In NYM and Daegu—with large initial shocks—the optimal lockdown restricts inflows to central districts before gradual relaxation, while in Seoul it imposes low temporal but large spatial variation. Actual commuting responses were too weak in central locations in Daegu and NYM, and too strong across Seoul. |
| JEL: | R38 R4 C6 |
| Date: | 2020–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smu:ecowpa:2010&r=all |
| By: | Frank Jotzo (Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University); Thomas Longden (Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University); Zeba Anjum (Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University) |
| Abstract: | To counteract the recession caused by the measures to contain the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, governments are implementing fiscal stimulus measures for economic recovery. In addition to keeping people in jobs and businesses afloat, public investment can improve productivity and economic growth prospects, resilience and quality of life for the long term. Importantly, it can also help achieve long-term low-carbon trajectories, especially where new stimulus spending goes to infrastructure projects. This paper takes stock of approaches for evaluating and choosing options for public investment in projects and programs that support economic recovery, are consistent with a low-carbon transition, and bring broader economic, environmental and social benefits. We develop a multi-criteria analysis framework and illustratively apply this to infrastructure projects and programs in Australia that have previously been designated as priorities. Promising categories for public stimulus include renewable energy supply including by fast-tracking renewable energy zones and transmission investment, some types of transport infrastructure projects, energy efficiency programs including retrofits of public housing and buildings, and land management projects including to restore ecosystems that were damaged in Australia’s bushfires. Investments like these hold promise to create jobs and local economic activity, while supporting lower-carbon outcomes and achieving other societal goals. Comprehensive evaluation of public investment options along a clear set of criteria can help improve decision making on public infrastructure investments, and transparency about public policy objectives may also inspire greater public confidence in how governments make funding decisions in COVID-19 recovery. |
| Date: | 2020–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:ccepwp:2005&r=all |
| By: | Nilsson, Helena (Institute of Retail Economics (Handelns Forskningsinstitut)) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the entry effects of a durable goods big box, IKEA, on incumbent firms in the retail, accommodation and restaurant sectors in Sweden. Using a difference-in-difference approach combined with matching, the effects of IKEA entry on the net turnover and employment of incumbent firms located at varying distances from the new IKEA store are examined. The results show that entry by IKEA increases the net turnover of retail firms near the entry site that sell complement goods, indicating that IKEA entry causes demand spillovers due to multipurpose shopping. IKEA entry also increases the net turnover of accommodation firms in the region, which indicates that the entrant has a positive effect on the attractivity of the area. The estimations reveal no effects on retail firms located in the affected city centers, which suggests that retail in central places may have a certain resilience to competition from out-of-town retail clusters. No robust effects on substitute goods retailers or restaurants are found. |
| Keywords: | IKEA; retail; hospitality; agglomeration economies; competition; difference-in-difference |
| JEL: | C33 D22 L81 L83 |
| Date: | 2020–08–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:hfiwps:0011&r=all |
| By: | Matthew E. Kahn; Weizeng Sun; Siqi Zheng |
| Abstract: | The surprise economic shutdown due to COVID-19 caused a sharp improvement in urban air quality in many previously heavily polluted Chinese cities. If clean air is a valued experience good, then this short-term reduction in pollution in spring 2020 could have persistent medium-term effects on reducing urban pollution levels as cities adopt new “blue sky” regulations to maintain recent pollution progress. We document that China’s cross-city Environmental Kuznets Curve shifts as a function of a city’s demand for clean air. We rank 144 cities in China based on their population’s baseline sensitivity to air pollution and with respect to their recent air pollution gains due to the COVID shutdown. The largest experience good effect should take place for cities featuring a high pollution sensitive population and where air quality has sharply improved during the pandemic. The residents of these cities have increased their online discussions focused on environmental protection, and local officials are incorporating “green” industrial subsidies into post-COVID stimulus policies. |
| JEL: | Q52 Q53 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27790&r=all |
| By: | Zang, Emma; West, Jessica S.; Kim, Nathan; Pao, Christina |
| Abstract: | Abstract Objective To examine regional variation in physical distancing trends over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to investigate inequalities within regions by race and socioeconomic status (SES). Methods Race and SES information from the American Community Survey were matched with location data from mobile device location pings at the Census block group level. We present trends in the proportion of residents staying at home by Census region, race, and SES from February-August, 2020. Results From March-August, the stay-at-home proportion was highest in the Northeast (0.23-0.31) and lowest in the South (0.22-0.28). Nationally, the stay-at-home proportion was higher in block groups with a higher percentage of Blacks, likely because Blacks disproportionately live in urban areas, where stay-at-home rates are higher. Physical distancing was higher among block groups that are wealthier, more educated, or contain the lowest proportion of frontline workers. Conclusions Disparities in physical distancing behaviors exist across U.S. regions, with a pronounced Southern and rural disadvantage. Results from this study can be used to guide planning and policy recommendations related to COVID-19 mitigation. |
| Date: | 2020–09–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:e6msz&r=all |
| By: | Yudai Higashi (Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Okayama University and Junior Research Fellow, Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration, Kobe University, Japan) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effect of industrial agglomeration on a non-working individual's decision to search for a job. The theory implies that agglomeration reduces search costs, enabling non-working individuals to search for jobs. The empirical analyses, using Japanese microdata, find that agglomeration raises the probability of searching for a job, supporting the theoretical prediction. Furthermore, this effect is significant only for females who are less educated, middle-aged and older, and married without children. Such groups tend to benefit from agglomeration because they have relatively higher potential search costs than do other groups. |
| Keywords: | Agglomeration; Local labor market; Labor force participation; Heterogenous individual |
| JEL: | J64 R11 R23 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kob:dpaper:dp2020-26&r=all |
| By: | Blimpo, Moussa P. (University of Oklahoma); Pugatch, Todd (Oregon State University) |
| Abstract: | We assess, via an experiment across 207 secondary schools, how a comprehensive teacher training program affects the delivery of a major entrepreneurship curriculum reform in Rwanda. The reform introduced interactive pedagogy and a focus on business skills in the country's required upper secondary entrepreneurship course. In addition to the government's standard training, a random sample of schools received intensive training organized by an NGO for two years. The training consisted of (i) six training sessions during school breaks, ii) exchange visits each term where teachers provided feedback to their peers, and (iii) outreach and support from NGO staff at least twice per year. The program increased teachers' use of active instruction, consistent with the reform's features. These effects on pedagogy did not translate into improvements in student academic outcomes or skills. Treated students increased their participation in businesses by 5 percentage points, or 17% of the control mean, with a commensurate decrease in wage employment, and no effect on overall income. These results suggest substitution between entrepreneurship and employment among students in treated schools. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship education, teacher training, secondary school, pedagogy, randomized control trials, Rwanda |
| JEL: | I25 I26 I28 J24 O12 O15 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13634&r=all |
| By: | Brian P. Gill; Ravi Goyal; John Hotchkiss |
| Abstract: | To help educators make more informed decisions about the best strategy for reopening schools in their community, Mathematica ran complex models of 108 different school situations, including urban, suburban, and rural settings. |
| Keywords: | COVID, COVID-19, remote learning |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:c23544a52e334f1abf8669c06020a3de&r=all |
| By: | Giovanni Peri; Derek Rury; Justin C. Wiltshire |
| Abstract: | We examine the economic impact of the large migration of Puerto Ricans to Orlando after Hurricane Maria. Using a synthetic control approach, we find that employment in Orlando increased, especially in construction and retail, and find positive aggregate labor market effects for non-Hispanic and less-educated workers. While we find that earnings for these workers decreased slightly in construction, this was balanced by earnings growth in retail and hospitality. These results are consistent with small negative impacts on earnings in sectors exposed to a labor supply shock, offset by positive effects in sectors impacted by an associated positive consumer demand shock. |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J21 J61 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27718&r=all |
| By: | Aldred, Rachel; Goodman, Anna |
| Abstract: | This paper reports on analysis of active travel interventions in Outer London. We find stronger impacts of effects (decreased car ownership and use, increased active travel) in intervention areas where Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) were introduced. Decreased car ownership and use is only found in such areas. Sample size for LTN areas is small and hence uncertainty about effect magnitude is large, but effect direction is consistent. This suggests that to reduce car use as well as increase active travel, LTNs are an important part of the intervention toolbox. |
| Date: | 2020–08–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:ebj89&r=all |
| By: | Scott A. Carson |
| Abstract: | Communities urbanize when the net benefits to urbanization exceed rural areas. Body mass, height, and weight are biological welfare measures that reflect the net difference between calories consumed and calories required for work and to withstand the physical environment. Across the United States, 19th century urban heights and weights were lower than their rural counterparts, while urban BMIs were higher. However, as the ratio of weight to height, higher urban BMIs reflect shorter urban statures, indicating there was a willingness-to-accept poorer cumulative urban health and net nutrition in exchange for urban economic opportunity. Over the late 19th and early 20th centuries, urban and rural BMIs, height, and weight were constant, and rural farmers had greater BMIs, taller statures, and heavier weights than urban farmers and workers in other occupations. |
| Keywords: | urbanization, stature variation, cumulative net nutrition, nativity, race |
| JEL: | C10 C40 D10 I10 N30 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8523&r=all |
| By: | Mitra Akhtari; Natalie Bau; Jean-William P. Laliberté |
| Abstract: | Racial affirmative action policies are widespread in college admissions. Yet, evidence on their effects before college is limited. Using four data sets, we study a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that reinstated affirmative action in three states. Using nationwide SAT data for difference-in-differences and synthetic control analyses, we separately identify the aggregate effects of affirmative action for whites and for underrepresented minorities. Using state-wide Texas administrative data, we measure the effect of affirmative action on racial gaps across the pre-treatment test score distribution. When affirmative action is re-instated, racial gaps in SAT scores, grades, attendance, and college applications fall. Average SAT scores for both whites and minorities increase, suggesting that reductions in racial gaps are driven by improvements in minorities' outcomes. Increases in pre-college human capital and college applications are concentrated in the top half of the test score distribution. |
| JEL: | I21 I24 J15 J24 J48 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27779&r=all |
| By: | Mori, Tomoya; Sakaguchi, Shosei |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we quantitatively characterize the mechanism of collaborative knowledge creation at the individual researcher level a la Berliant and Fujita(2008) by using Japanese patent data. The key driver for developing new ideas is found to be the exchange of differentiated knowledge among collaborators. To stay creative, inventors seek opportunities to shift their technological expertise to unexplored niches by utilizing the differentiated knowledge of new collaborators in addition to their own stock of knowledge. In particular, while collaborators' differentiated knowledge raises all the average cited count, average (technological) novelty and the quantity of patents for which an inventor contributes to the development, it has the largest impact on the average novelty among the three. |
| Keywords: | Knowledge creation, Collaboration, Differentiated knowledge, Technological novelty, Technological shift, Recombination, Patents, Network, Strategic interactions |
| JEL: | C33 C36 D83 D85 O31 R11 |
| Date: | 2018–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:102616&r=all |
| By: | Klaesson, Johan (Center for Entrepreneurship and Spatial Economics); Nilsson, Helena (Institute of Retail Economics (Handelns Forskningsinstitut)) |
| Abstract: | The empirical literature on the effects of external malls on incumbent stores is inconclusive, and quantitative research on this topic is limited. In an attempt to add to the literature, this study examines the effect of the entry of external retail malls on store survival. Using a full firm population panel dataset at the store level covering the period 2000-2014, we examine the effect of a change in the distance to an external retail mall on the probability of retail store exit. In doing this we explicitly model the economic geography. We measure the economic activity in the location where these stores are situated using a market potential measure to gauge the economic density. The main result of this study is that the effects differ depending on where the incumbent firm is located. The effects on firms located in low-density areas and those on firms located in high-density areas differ dramatically. In low-density areas we find complementary effects which means that the probability of incumbent store exit is lesser. In high-density areas the estimated effect is the opposite, the entry of a new external mall increases the probability of incumbent store exit. The strength of the effects is dependent on the distance between the incumbent firm and the newly established external mall. Additionally, the size of effects differs between different parts of the retail sector. Effects remain over a number of years after entry of external malls but become smaller over time. |
| Keywords: | external shopping malls; complements; retail; panel-data; firm-exit; market potential |
| JEL: | C33 D22 L81 P25 |
| Date: | 2020–08–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:hfiwps:0012&r=all |
| By: | Jessica Harper; Dean Hopper; Betsy Keating; Jessica Harding |
| Abstract: | The New Mexico Graduation Reality and Dual-role Skills (GRADS) program provides services for expectant and parenting students at high schools. |
| Keywords: | Expectant and parenting students, Graduation rates, Repeat birth, Repeat pregnancy, School-based supports, Teen parents, Young parents |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:9b8d0289aaca4cdc95e6002c8e69b0e4&r=all |
| By: | Davies, Benjamin (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research Trust); Maré, David C. (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research Trust) |
| Abstract: | We describe an unsupervised method for delineating functional labour market areas (LMAs) in national commuting networks. Our method uses the Louvain algorithm, which we extend to support top-down hierarchical LMA classification and estimable classification stabilities. We demonstrate our method using historical Census commuting data from New Zealand. |
| Keywords: | community detection, commuting, functional boundaries, labour market areas, networks |
| JEL: | J61 R12 R23 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13642&r=all |
| By: | Klepacka, Anna M.; Florkowski, Wojciech J.; Revoredo-Giha, Cesar |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Agribusiness, Demand and Price Analysis |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea20:304331&r=all |
| By: | Essi Eerola |
| Abstract: | The recent financial crisis and subsequent global recession have been followed by a wave of macroprudential measures in the housing market. At the same time, governments have a long tradition of conducting tax policies which encourage households to acquire owner-housing. These tax advantages may be at least partly responsible for the need to regulate borrowing. In terms of policy, the goal should be to identify instruments that reduce the negative effects of household leverage while minimizing the welfare costs to households. Therefore, it seems important to look into the joint effects of the tax system and credit regulation. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:econpb:_17&r=all |
| By: | Murray, Cameron (The University of Sydney) |
| Abstract: | What is the optimal rate of housing supply? We answer this question by creating a simple model of the optimal housing lot supply per period. The choice variable is how many lots to sell each period to maximise the value of the flow of economic returns over time. This model is informed by the optimal density result of the static equilibrium model but allows for demand to vary over time while accounting for own-supply effects on price growth. The resulting absorption rate equation has radically different parameter effects compared to the popular static housing density model. Constraints on density, for example, increase the optimal rate of supply by reducing the return to delaying development. Interest rates, land value tax rates, and demand growth, positively relate to the optimal rate of supply. The policy lessons are (1) that the influence of the price growth rate on supply limits the ability for market supply to reduce prices, and (2) that increasing the cost to delaying housing development is the primary way to increase the market rate of housing supply. |
| Date: | 2020–08–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:7n8rj&r=all |
| By: | Carmelo Rodríguez-Álvarez (Instituto Complutense de Análisis Económico. Universidad Complutense de Madrid); Antonio Romero Medina (Department of Economics. Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) |
| Abstract: | We consider a school choice problem where schools' priorities depend on transferable students' characteristics. A school choice algorithm selects for each profile of students' preferences over schools an assignment of students to schools and a final allocation of characteristics (an extended matching). We define the Student Exchange with Transferable Characteristics (SETC) class of algorithms. Each SETC always selects a constrained efficient extended matching. That is an extended matching that i) is stable according to the priorities generated by the final allocation of characteristics and ii) is not Pareto dominated by another stable extended matching. Every constrained efficient extended matching that Pareto improves upon a stable extended matching can be obtained via an algorithm in the SETC class. When students' characteristics are fully transferable, a specific algorithm in the SETC family is equivalent to the application of the Top Trade Cycle Algorithm starting from the Student Optimal Stable Matching. |
| Keywords: | School Choice; Transferable Characteristics; Priorities; Constrained Efficiency. |
| JEL: | C78 D61 D78 I20 |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucm:doicae:2004&r=all |
| By: | Benjamin Elsner (University College Dublin); Jeff Concannon (University College Dublin) |
| Abstract: | One of the fundamental questions in the social sciences is whether modern welfare states can be sustained as countries welcome more immigrants. On theoretical grounds, the relationship between immigration and support for redistribution is ambiguous. Immigration may increase ethnic diversity, which may reduce the support for redistribution. On the other hand, natives may demand more redistribution as an insurance against labour market risks brought by immigration. In this chapter, we review the theoretical and empirical literature on immigration and redistribution from across the social sciences. We focus on two themes, namely the effect of immigration on natives’ support for redistribution, and the effect on the actual setting of tax and spending policies. Recent empirical evidence suggests that immigration lowers the support for redistribution and leads to lower taxation and spending. However, the magnitude of these effects appears to be highly context-dependent. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Redistribution, Public Policy |
| JEL: | F22 H2 H4 |
| Date: | 2020–07–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucd:wpaper:202008&r=all |
| By: | Psacharopoulos, George (Georgetown University); Collis, Victoria (The EdTech Hub); Patrinos, Harry A. (World Bank); Vegas, Emiliana (Center for Universal Education, Brookings) |
| Abstract: | Social distancing requirements associated with COVID-19 have led to school closures. In April, 192 countries had closed all schools and universities, affecting more than 90 percent of the world's learners: over 1.5 billion children and young people. Closures are expected to reduce schooling and lead to future losses in earnings. Starting from the assumption that every additional year of schooling translates to 8 percent in future earnings, this paper estimates and confirms the loss in marginal future earnings on the basis of a four-month shutdown. We also estimated the losses by level of education. The findings show that the school closures reduce future earnings. It is also likely that students from low-income countries will be affected most, where the earning losses will be devastating. These estimates are conservative, assuming closures end after four months, with schools re-opening in the new academic year, and that school quality will not suffer. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, earnings, education |
| JEL: | I26 I20 J24 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13641&r=all |
| By: | Komleva, Valentina (Комлева, Валентина) (The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration); Belyaeva, Olga (Беляева, Ольга) (The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration); Golubchenko, Igor (Голубченко, Игорь) (The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration) |
| Abstract: | The paper identifies historically established political factors that have influenced the differentiation of regions and the latest political factors connected to new risks and threats for the sustainable development of regions. Methodological approaches to assessing regional disparities have been analyzed. The conclusion about the gap between theoretical research and decision-making practice with regard to policies to reduce inequality is explained. A comparative analysis of modern policy decisions to reduce regional inequality in Russia and Italy has been made. It was found that a number of decisions aimed at mitigating the effects of inequality and its reduction further increase the inequality of some groups of the population and some territories. |
| Keywords: | inequality, regional inequality, factors of inequality, criteria of inequality, regional policy, state policy, state regulation. |
| Date: | 2020–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:wpaper:062020&r=all |
| By: | Lundberg, Shelly (University of California, Santa Barbara) |
| Abstract: | Cross-country studies reveal two consistent gender gaps in education—underachievement in school by boys and low rates of participation in STEM studies by girls. Recent economics research has shown the importance of social influences on women's STEM avoidance, but male low achievement has been less-studied and tends to be attributed to behavior problems and deficient non-cognitive skills. I revisit the determinants of the gender gap in U.S. educational attainment with a relatively-advantaged sample of young men and women and find that school behavior and measured skills are not very important drivers of gender differences, particularly in the transition to college. Educational aspirations, on the other hand, are strongly predictive of educational gaps and the gender difference in aspirations cannot be explained, even with rich adolescent data that includes parental expectations and school achievement indicators. These results suggest that gender identity concerns may influence (and damage) the educational prospects of boys as well as girls through norms of masculinity that discourage academic achievement. |
| Keywords: | education, gender identity, school achievement, gender, aspirations, college graduation |
| JEL: | I20 J12 J16 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13630&r=all |
| By: | Charly Porcher; Hannah Rubinton; Clara Santamaría |
| Abstract: | Both large establishments and large cities are known to offer workers an earnings premium. In this paper, we show that these two premia are closely linked by documenting a new fact: when workers move to a large city, they also move to larger establishments. We then ask how much of the city- size earnings premium can be attributed to transitions to larger and better-paying establishments. Using administrative data from Spain, we find that 38 percent of the city-size earnings premium can be explained by establishment-size composition. Most of the gains from the transition to larger establishments realize in the short-term upon moving to the large city. Establishment size explains 29 percent of the short-term gains, but only 5 percent of the medium-term gains that accrue as workers gain experience in the large city. The small contribution to the medium-term gains is due to two facts: first, within large cities workers transition to large establishments only slightly faster than in smaller cities; second, the relationship between earnings and establishment size is weaker in large cities. |
| Keywords: | City-size wage premium; Establishment-size wage premium |
| JEL: | R12 |
| Date: | 2020–09–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedlwp:88708&r=all |
| By: | Pierre Azoulay; Benjamin Jones; J. Daniel Kim; Javier Miranda |
| Abstract: | Immigration can expand labor supply and create greater competition for native-born workers. But immigrants may also start new firms, expanding labor demand. This paper uses U.S. administrative data and other data resources to study the role of immigrants in entrepreneurship. We ask how often immigrants start companies, how many jobs these firms create, and how these firms compare with those founded by U.S.-born individuals. A simple model provides a measurement framework for addressing the dual roles of immigrants as founders and workers. The findings suggest that immigrants act more as "job creators" than "job takers" and that non-U.S. born founders play outsized roles in U.S. high-growth entrepreneurship. |
| JEL: | J15 L26 M13 O3 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27778&r=all |
| By: | Ottavia Brussino |
| Abstract: | Across OECD countries, there are various and diverse policy approaches in place to promote inclusive education systems for students with special education needs (SEN), understood as learning disabilities, physical impairments and disorders related to mental health. Analysing current policies in place across OECD countries and investigating advantages and disadvantages of diverse policy approaches for students with SEN is important when acknowledging non-negligible disparities in terms of enrolment, graduation, and employment outcomes for students with SEN across OECD countries. Overall, educational approaches to address students with SEN have historically shifted from placing students in special school settings to more mainstream education environments. However, differences still exist in the extent to which students are mainstreamed in schools with the rest of the students. Furthermore, education systems differ in the way they design and implement governance arrangements, resourcing systems, capacity-building, school-level interventions, and monitoring and evaluation of their policies in place to support students with SEN. Through a holistic approach, the following desk-based research adopts the analytical framework developed by the OECD’s Strength through Diversity project, Education for Inclusive Societies, to map policy approaches to include students with SEN in education systems and promote their well-being. The review also investigates how special education needs intersect with other forms of induced diversity in education systems and other emerging trends across countries to provide a more comprehensive analysis of the issues at stake. |
| Date: | 2020–09–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:227-en&r=all |
| By: | Hasan, Iftekhar; Manfredonia, Stefano; Noth, Felix |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the critical role of culture for economic recovery after natural disasters. Using Hurricane Katrina as our laboratory, we find a significant adverse treatment effect for plant-level productivity. However, local religious adherence and larger shares of ancestors with disaster experiences mutually mitigate this detrimental effect from the disaster. Religious adherence further dampens anxiety after Hurricane Katrina, which potentially spur economic recovery. We also detect this effect on the aggregate county level. More religious counties recover faster in terms of population, new establishments, and GDP. |
| Keywords: | natural disasters,plant-level productivity,religion,recovery |
| JEL: | E23 E32 Z12 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwhdps:162020&r=all |
| By: | Nicholas Bloom (Stanford University); Tarek A. Hassan (Boston University); Aakash Kalyani (Boston University); Josh Lerner (London Business School); Ahmed Tahoun (Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | We identify novel technologies using textual analysis of earnings conference calls, newspapers, announcements, and patents. Our approach enables us to document the rollout of 20 new technologies across firms and labor markets in the U.S. Four stylized facts emerge from our data. First, as technologies develop, the number of new positions related to them grows, but the average education requirements and wage levels of the positions drop. Second, as technologies develop, their employment impact diffuses across the country: initially, technologies are concentrated in local hubs, but over time, their adoption diffuses geographically. Third, despite this diffusion, the initial hubs retain a disproportionate share of employment in the technology, particularly at the high-skill end of the spectrum. Finally, technology hubs are more likely to arise in areas with universities and high skilled labor pools. |
| Keywords: | Technology, Geography, Employment, Innovation, R and D |
| JEL: | O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2020–06–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:thk:wpaper:inetwp126&r=all |
| By: | Christa N. Brunnschweiler (University of East Anglia); Samuel Kwabena Obeng (University of East Anglia) |
| Abstract: | We examine how local governments’ political alignment with central government affects subnational fiscal outcomes. In theory, alignment could be rewarded with more intergovernmental transfers, or swing voters in unaligned constituencies could be targeted instead. We analyze data from Ghana, which has a complex decentralized system: District Chief Executives (DCEs) are centrally-appointed local administrators loyal to the ruling party, while district MPs may belong to another party. A formula for transfer distribution aims to limit the influence of party politics. Using a new dataset for 1994-2014 and a regression discontinuity design, we find that despite this system, districts with aligned MP and DCE receive more transfers, have higher district expenditure, and more internally generated funds. Results are strongest for a subsample of constant districts over the period, suggesting that municipal fragmentation has weakened political alignment effects. We also show strong electoral cycle effects, and find a crowd-in effect for Ghanaian districts. |
| Keywords: | fiscal federalism, political alignment, flypaper effect, Ghana, regression discontinuity |
| JEL: | H7 D72 H87 O55 |
| Date: | 2020–08–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uea:ueaeco:2020-05&r=all |
| By: | CHOOCHAT PHUANGSOMJIT (Faculty of Education, Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University) |
| Abstract: | Ban Wang Takian School is a small primary school under Kanchanaburi Primary Education Service Area Office 1 in Thailand. It has 93 students and 5 teachers. It is a school with the problem of having not enough teachers for its classrooms, since it has eight classrooms from Kindergarten II (second year kindergarten) to Prathom Suksa VI (Grade 6) levels. Learning achievement of Prathom Suksa VI students in the 2016 academic year, based on the Ordinary National Educational Test (O-NET) results, of five learning areas before implementing the Educational Network Operating Management System (EdNet-OMS) was at the 41.67 percent of the full score. Later on, the school director initiated the implementation of the Educational Network Operating Management System (EdNet-OMS) that was connected with the Distance Learning Television (DLTV) system of the Distance Education via Satellite Foundation under the Royal Patronage in order to utilize the benefits from DLTV up to its full potential. Then the initiation was complemented by the development of teachers to equip them with the ability and skills for learning management via the information technology system, and the creating of the cooperation network involving the parents and local community. As a result, the O-NET result of Prathom Suksa VI students in the 2017 academic year was increased to be at the 46.71 percent of the full score. The EdNet-OMS system was composed of the following five operational steps: (1) the creation of awareness step; (2) the development of the Educational Network Operating Management System (EdNet-OMS) step; (3) the empowerment step; (4) the monitoring and follow-up of the operation step; and (5) the evaluation step. The most important factor that enabled the operation to achieve success was the factor of the administrator with innovation leadership. |
| Keywords: | Upgrading of learning achievement, Educational Network Operating Management System EdNet-OMS), Ban Wang Takian School |
| JEL: | I29 M15 D83 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:10612500&r=all |
| By: | Jose Luis Daniel (Texas A&M University-Kingsville); Ruth Chatelain-Jardon (Texas A&M University-Kingsville); Zhuofan Zhang (Texas A&M University-Kingsville) |
| Abstract: | While culture has been studied extensively at the national level, the concept needs further analysis at the regional level. The purpose of this research is to study subcultures in different states in the United States. Subculture is being measured using a scale of work and life values. Amazon Mechanical Turk is being used as a tool for collecting data, so far responses from 13 states have been obtained. The sample size covers employees from different industries, and it will be utilized and analyzed using factor analysis and analysis of variance. It is expected that there will be cultural differences in terms of work and life values in some of the sates. Moreover, it also expected that there will be clusters of states with similar work and life values. The findings could provide a guideline to human resource managers about workers' behaviors, remunerations, communication and motivation in different states in the US. Also, this study contributes to academia by expanding the study of subcultures in the US. The country is an interesting scenario because regions such as Illinois, California, New York, Texas, Boston, and Florida could present unique characteristics in terms of work and life values |
| Keywords: | Subcultures, values, regions |
| JEL: | M15 M16 Y90 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:10412481&r=all |
| By: | John Jerrim (University College London); Sam Sims (University College London) |
| Keywords: | : |
| Date: | 2020–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:2011&r=all |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | Teachers’ work is multifaceted and dynamic. They frequently encounter students with different needs, such as different ability levels and learning styles, and frequently need to give students feedback or interpersonal support. The COVID-19 pandemic has posed new challenges, as teachers have had to communicate with their students, facilitate learning processes and monitor students’ learning without being physically present. While teachers’ interactions with their students lie at the heart of the teaching and learning process, their relationships and interactions with their colleagues constitute a key professional dimension that has also been seriously affected by the pandemic. Collaboration with colleagues allows teachers to learn from each other’s expertise, share knowledge within their professional community and, ultimately, improve the instruction and support they can give to their students. |
| Date: | 2020–09–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaah:34-en&r=all |
| By: | Jesús Fernández-Villaverde; Mark Koyama; Youhong Lin; Tuan-Hwee Sng |
| Abstract: | Patterns of political unification and fragmentation have crucial implications for comparative economic development. Diamond (1997) famously argued that “fractured land” was responsible for China's tendency toward political unification and Europe's protracted political fragmentation. We build a dynamic model with granular geographical information in terms of topographical features and the location of productive agricultural land to quantitatively gauge the effects of “fractured land” on state formation in Eurasia. We find that either topography or productive land alone is sufficient to account for China's recurring political unification and Europe's persistent political fragmentation. The existence of a core region of high land productivity in Northern China plays a central role in our simulations. We discuss how our results map into observed historical outcomes and assess how robust our findings are. |
| JEL: | H56 N40 P48 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27774&r=all |
| By: | KOOLCHALEE CHONGCHAROEN (School of Educational Studies, Sukhothai Thammatirat Open University) |
| Abstract: | Today?s globalized world has the direct impact on groups of people with a variety of ethnic groups, genders, and talents and so on which is known as multiculturalism. The educational design is required to meet the needs for changing the educational environment in more holistic ways so as to reach the achievement of the equality of education. Many interesting findings have been derived from much of multicultural education research in Thailand, especially in educational management. Thai school leaders are required to have multicultural leadership and play the crucial roles with the aim to effectively respond to diversity and as a result the achievement of the equality of education for all groups of people in the Thai society. |
| Keywords: | Multicultural, Leadership, Roles, School leaders |
| JEL: | I29 M12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:10612502&r=all |
| By: | Seong Hee Kim; Byung-Yeon Kim |
| Abstract: | This study uses the German socio-economic panel data to investigate the effects of mass migration of East Germans on the generalized trust of West Germans who experienced the aftermath of the unification. Results suggest that West Germans¡¯ trust is negatively correlated with migration, but the persistent effect is only confined to participants in the labor markets at the time. The subsequent analysis finds that perceiving migrants as labor market competitors is a possible channel through which trust is negatively affected. |
| Keywords: | Trust; Migration; Germany; Unification; |
| JEL: | C10 C1 C15 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:snu:ioerwp:no139&r=all |
| By: | Shi, Longzhong; Chen, Xuan; Chen, Bo |
| Keywords: | Resource/Energy Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea20:304512&r=all |
| By: | Wang, Lingxiao; Zheng, Yuqing |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Marketing |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea20:304423&r=all |
| By: | Stephen Boyle (Department of Economics, University of Strathclyde); Kevin Connolly (Department of Economics, University of Strathclyde); Peter G McGregor (Department of Economics, University of Strathclyde); Mairi Spowage (Department of Economics, University of Strathclyde) |
| Abstract: | A key current objective of Scottish policymakers is to increase the availability of affordable and social housing, with an expectation that this will have both societal and economic impacts. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the potential economic impacts of meeting the projections of affordable housing needed in Scotland to combat homelessness. Typical economic impact assessments of social housing investment have focused exclusively on the effect of expenditures on demand, using input-output models (IO). However, recently some have argued that housing, like transport, should be treated as a type of infrastructure investment that is likely also to have potential supply side impacts – such as an increase in both labour supply and productivity. In this paper, we use both IO and Computable Generable Equilibrium (CGE) models to evaluate the economic impact of social housing investment, with a particular emphasis on the supply side impacts |
| Keywords: | Affordable housing, input-output, computable general equilibrium |
| JEL: | D58 E16 R13 R22 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:str:wpaper:2013&r=all |
| By: | Heleen Hofmeyr (Research on Socio-Economic Policy (ReSEP), Department of Economics, Stellenbosch University) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses South Africa’s pro-girl gap in Grade 4 reading and Grade 5 mathematics achievement. I make use of Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition analysis to decompose the observed gender gaps into their explained and unexplained components, separately by school socio-economic quintile. Contributing to a growing body of evidence internationally that pro-girl gaps in education may be due to girls having better-developed non-cognitive skills than boys, I find that South African girls display more of the traits and behaviours that are associated with school achievement than boys. Interestingly, the results of the decomposition analysis suggest that these factors explain a larger proportion of the pro-girl gap in Grade 4 reading than Grade 5 mathematics. The results further indicate that although part of South Africa’s pro-girl gap in PIRLS and TIMSS is attributable to a female advantage in grade completion in the early grades, there is still much about South Africa’s pro-girl advantage in education that remains unexplained. |
| Keywords: | gender, non-cognitive skills, literacy, numeracy |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I24 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers352&r=all |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | The COVID-19 crisis continues to impact education globally. According to UNESCO in mid-April 2020, 194 countries had closed schools nationwide, affecting almost 1.6 billion learners. By August 2020, there were still 105 country-wide closures affecting over a billion learners. Many educators have worked hard to sustain student learning and well-being. The form, intensity and success of those efforts vary across countries/economies, but digital technologies have emerged as a crucial prerequisite for success. Digital technologies offer the potential to provide new opportunities and alternative approaches for learning. They can shape what people learn, how they learn, where they learn and when they learn and, especially, the type of interactions between teachers and students. However, the COVID-19 crisis arose at a time when most education systems were unprepared to make the most of the potential of digital technologies. This PISA in Focus looks at how prepared schools and students were to be learning remotely. |
| Date: | 2020–09–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduddd:108-en&r=all |
| By: | Guo, Yuhe; Chen, Qihui |
| Keywords: | Labor and Human Capital, Research Methods/Statistical Methods, International Development |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea20:304307&r=all |
| By: | Leonie Koch; Martin Simmler |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the magnitude of local knowledge spillovers of public R&D in Germany and its determinants using patent application data. We identify three distinct transmission channels. First, firms file more patent applications when collaborating with (local) public institutions. Second, arms file more patent applications when citing a public patent. Third, local public R&D seems to increase the number of patent applications by local firms also via nonspecific knowledge spillovers. Using a fixed effect instrumental variable regression approach, we find evidence for substantial local spillovers and that these are driven by non-specific knowledge spillovers. |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:econwp:_42&r=all |
| By: | Cui, Guowei; Sarafidis, Vasilis; Yamagata, Takashi |
| Abstract: | The present paper develops a new Instrumental Variables (IV) estimator for spatial, dynamic panel data models with interactive effects under large N and T asymptotics. For this class of models, the only approaches available in the literature are based on quasi-maximum likelihood estimation. The approach put forward in this paper is appealing from both a theoretical and a practical point of view for a number of reasons. Firstly, the proposed IV estimator is linear in the parameters of interest and it is computationally inexpensive. Secondly, the IV estimator is free from asymptotic bias. In contrast, existing QML estimators suffer from incidental parameter bias, depending on the magnitude of unknown parameters. Thirdly, the IV estimator retains the attractive feature of Method of Moments estimation in that it can accommodate endogenous regressors, so long as external exogenous instruments are available. The IV estimator is consistent and asymptotically normal as both N,T tend to infinity, such that N/T converges to a bounded constant. The proposed methodology is employed to study the determinants of risk attitude of banking institutions. The results of our analysis provide evidence that the more risk-sensitive capital regulation that was introduced by the Dodd-Frank Act in 2011 has succeeded in influencing banks’ behaviour in a substantial manner. |
| Keywords: | Panel data, instrumental variables, state dependence, social interactions, common factors, large N and T asymptotics, bank risk behaviour; capital regulation. |
| JEL: | C33 C36 C38 G21 |
| Date: | 2020–08–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:102488&r=all |
| By: | Chen, Shuo (Fudan University, China); Xie, Bin (Jinan University) |
| Abstract: | The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 banned Chinese immigration and institutionalized discrimination against Chinese in U.S. society. This study examines the impact of institutional discrimination on the assimilation of Chinese by exploiting the passage of the Act and the state-level variation in the intensity of discrimination, measured by the voting outcomes of the Act and the number of anti-Chinese incidents. Our difference-in-differences estimates show that discrimination substantially slowed the occupational assimilation of Chinese in the Exclusion Era (1882–1943) and that Chinese in the U.S. reacted to discrimination by investing in human capital, improving English skills, and increasingly adopting Americanized names. The triple difference estimates show that these effects are significantly stronger in states with higher support rates of the Act or greater numbers of anti-Chinese incidents. These findings are not driven by the selection in migration and fertility. |
| Keywords: | the Chinese Exclusion Act, assimilation, human capital, name Americanization |
| JEL: | J15 N31 K37 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13647&r=all |
| By: | Abhay Aneja; Guo Xu |
| Abstract: | We link personnel records of the federal civil service to census data for 1907-1921 to study the segregation of the civil service by race under President Woodrow Wilson. Using a difference-in-differences design to compare the black-white wage gap around Wilson's presidential transition, we find that the introduction of employment segregation increased the black wage penalty by 7 percentage points. This gap increases over time and is driven by a reallocation of already-serving black civil servants to lower paid positions. Our results thus document significant costs borne by minorities during a unique episode of state-sanctioned discrimination. |
| JEL: | J15 J45 M5 N4 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27798&r=all |
| By: | Bergh, Andreas (Department of Economics, Lund); Erlingsson, Gissur Ó (Centre for Local Government Studies, Linköping University); Wittberg, Emanuel (Centre for Local Government Studies and the Institute for Analytical Sociology, Linköping University) |
| Abstract: | Across the globe, local governments have increasingly begun to rely on municipally owned corporations (MOCs) to provide public services, mounting to what scholars describe as a burgeoning corporatization in local government. Some studies have described this development as a rational response to financial stress and contemporary austerity challenges, and emphasise the cost-efficiency of MOCs (the optimistic view). However, several scholars have identified problems associated MOCs relating to weak steering and supervision, lack of accountability, and heightened corruption risks (the sceptical view). Hitherto, no studies have tested these diametrically opposing expectations on the effects MOCs in the one and same analysis. This paper addresses the competing views by studying on Sweden, a country with a dramatic growth in the number of MOCs since the 1970s. We examine the association between the number of MOCs, citizen satisfaction with local government, local tax rates and a survey-based corruption measure for all 290 Swedish municipalities. Ultimately questioning the ‘optimistic view’, the results indicate that municipalities that rely heavily on MOCs in service delivery have higher taxes, not more satisfied citizens, and are associated with higher corruption levels. |
| Keywords: | Municipally owned corporations; Corruption; Arms-length principle; Hybridorganizations; Quasi-privatization; New public management |
| JEL: | D73 H79 |
| Date: | 2020–09–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1353&r=all |