|
on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Carlos Garriga; Aaron Hedlund; Yang Tang; Ping Wang |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a dynamic competitive spatial equilibrium framework to evaluate the contribution of rural-urban migration induced by structural transformation to the behavior of Chinese housing markets. In the model, technological progress drives workers facing heterogeneous mobility costs to migrate from the rural agricultural sector to the higher paying urban manufacturing sector. Upon arrival to the city, workers purchase housing using long-term mortgages. Quantitatively, the model fits cross-sectional house price behavior across a representative sample of Chinese cities between 2003 and 2015. The model is then used to evaluate how changes to city migration policies and land supply regulations affect the speed of urbanization and house price appreciation. The analysis indicates that making migration policy more egalitarian or land policy more uniform would promote urbanization but also would contribute to larger house price dispersion. |
| JEL: | O11 R21 R23 R31 |
| Date: | 2020–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28013&r=all |
| By: | Melanie Krause; André Seidel |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the impact of building land limitations on within-city variation in urban density and its components crowding, residential coverage, and building height. We utilise geographical obstacles like steep inclines or water bodies as exogenous source of building land limitations within parts of cities. We combine novel high resolution (10m x 10m) geo-spatial data on geography, building height and footprints with Norwegian register data. Our unit of observation are neighborhoods with an average size of 0.3 sqkm. The data indicates a high heterogeneity among the components of urban density for similar total density levels. Our main finding is that local building land limitations increase local urban density and all of its components, with the effect being particularly strong for building heights. Hence, we find support for policies that use building land restrictions to alter urban density within parts of cities. Moreover, we show that geography is another important source of inner-city heterogeneity in urban density, in addition to distance to the city center. |
| Keywords: | urban density, building heights, geography, neighborhoods, inner-city differences |
| JEL: | R23 R31 R21 C80 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8660&r=all |
| By: | J. Scott Davis (Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas); Kevin X. D. Huang (Vanderbilt University); Ayse Sapci (Utah State University) |
| Abstract: | Changes in housing demand can affect firm investment through the collateral channel, where the change in residential real estate prices is associated with a change in commercial real estate prices, affecting firm collateral and thus firm investment. We argue that this channel is weaker when residential and commercial real estate are poor substitutes. Using cross-state heterogeneity in the strength of zoning regulations as a proxy for heterogeneity in the substitutability of residential and commercial real estate, we first show with firm level data that the strength of local zoning regulations has a negative effect on the estimated increase in firm investment following an increase in local residential real estate prices. We then construct a DSGE model where land has both residential and commercial uses and with it to match the observed correlation between residential and commercial real estate prices. We find the average elasticity of substitution between commercial and residential real estate in the U.S. to be around 0.35, but in states with strong zoning restrictions it can be as low as 0.16 and in states with weak zoning restrictions it can be as high as 0.66. Simulations of the model show how differences in substitutability affect the transmission of a housing demand shock. |
| Keywords: | Commercial real estate; residential real estate; housing demand shock; zoning |
| JEL: | R1 E3 |
| Date: | 2020–11–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:van:wpaper:vuecon-sub-20-00004&r=all |
| By: | Theresa Kuchler; Johannes Stroebel |
| Abstract: | We review an empirical literature that studies the role of social interactions in driving economic and financial decision making. We first summarize recent work that documents an important role of social interactions in explaining household decisions in housing and mortgage markets. This evidence shows, for example, that there are large peer effects in mortgage refinancing decisions and that individuals’ beliefs about the attractiveness of housing market investments are affected by the recent house price experiences of their friends. We also summarize the evidence that social interactions affect the stock market investments of both retail and professional investors as well as household financial decisions such as retirement savings, borrowing, and default. Along the way, we describe a number of easily accessible recent data sets for the study of social interactions in finance, including the “Social Connectedness Index,” which measures the frequency of Facebook friendship links across geographic regions. We conclude by outlining several promising directions for further research at the intersection of household finance and “social finance.” |
| Keywords: | social networks, peer effects, financial decision making, social dynamics, belief contagion |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8658&r=all |
| By: | Cristina Bernini; Alessandro Tampieri |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether urbanization plays a role in determining the importance of each happiness domain on overall happiness. The analysis focuses on Italy. We exploit a multilevel model to consider regional heterogeneity in happiness’s determinants. We first verify whether a direct effect of urbanization exists on each specific components of happiness, as well as on overall happiness. Consistent with the findings in the literature, happiness decreases with urbanization. In the analysis of mediating role, we find that the importance of satisfaction with economic conditions and family explains more overall happiness in urban areas. On the contrary, satisfaction with health, friendships and environment gain more weight in rural areas. |
| Keywords: | subjective well-being, happiness function, urbanization, regions, multilevel models |
| JEL: | I31 R10 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2020_16.rdf&r=all |
| By: | Douglas Sutherland |
| Abstract: | The U.S. population is becoming increasingly urban and has gradually shifted to the south and west. Policy restrictions have played a role in preventing dynamic areas expanding, and when they do expand it can be through low-density housing sprawl. Land use restrictions and a sluggish housing supply as well as difficulties in making timely and co-ordinated supply of infrastructure have hindered workers benefiting from new opportunities including through moving. Policies can address these issues by targeting housing affordability, help families move and invest in infrastructure to improve accessibility and connectivity. |
| JEL: | J61 J68 R12 R14 R31 R52 R53 |
| Date: | 2020–11–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1628-en&r=all |
| By: | Ruiqi Li; Lingyun Lu; Weiwei Gu; Shaodong Ma; Gang Xu; H. Eugene Stanley |
| Abstract: | Cities are centers for the integration of capital and incubators of invention, and attracting venture capital (VC) is of great importance for cities to advance in innovative technology and business models towards a sustainable and prosperous future. Yet we still lack a quantitative understanding of the relationship between urban characteristics and VC activities. In this paper, we find a clear nonlinear scaling relationship between VC activities and the urban population of Chinese cities. In such nonlinear systems, the widely applied linear per capita indicators would be either biased to larger cities or smaller cities depends on whether it is superlinear or sublinear, while the residual of cities relative to the prediction of scaling law is a more objective and scale-invariant metric. %(i.e., independent of the city size). Such a metric can distinguish the effects of local dynamics and scaled growth induced by the change of population size. The spatiotemporal evolution of such metrics on VC activities reveals three distinct groups of cities, two of which stand out with increasing and decreasing trends, respectively. And the taxonomy results together with spatial analysis also signify different development modes between large urban agglomeration regions. Besides, we notice the evolution of scaling exponents on VC activities are of much larger fluctuations than on socioeconomic output of cities, and a conceptual model that focuses on the growth dynamics of different sized cities can well explain it, which we assume would be general to other scenarios. |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2011.06287&r=all |
| By: | Frijters, Paul; Islam, Asad; Pakrashi, Debayan |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of random dormitory assignment in a tertiary level educational institution in India on students’ subsequent academic achievements. We examine the importance of interactions between the characteristics of the student and his peers for educational outcomes, including non-linear peer-effects and the importance of different socio-economic and geographical backgrounds. We find that peer ability effects are around one-third the size of the effects of one's own ability, and students from non-urban and non-English backgrounds do particularly better when assigned to higher-ability peers. We find that all groups of ability students gain from being matched to high-ability peers, but that this gain is highest for students who are themselves of higher-ability. Our results suggest peer effects are stronger in the first year in dorm. In terms of mechanisms, we find no evidence for effects of peers via mental health, life satisfaction, or risk attitudes. We observe that a roommate's study times is highly correlated with a student's own study times, but we see only a weak positive association between study habits and grades. |
| Keywords: | Ability; Education; Peer effects; Social class |
| JEL: | C90 I23 |
| Date: | 2019–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:100870&r=all |
| By: | Aldieri, Luigi (University of Salerno); Grafström, Jonas (The Ratio Institute); Paolo Vinci, Concetto (University of Salerno) |
| Abstract: | The empirical evidence concerning the job-creation impact of wind power technology through knowledge spillovers is yet poor. Our objective is to contribute to the literature and bridge this gap. Specifically, our analysis explores to what extent investments in innovation activities of one firm affect the neighbouring firms’ generation of knowledge spillovers in the same sector (intra-industry) or to different sectors (inter-industry) and how this complex knowledge diffusion process impacts the employment dynamics. The econometric analysis relies on a sector-based panel dataset for the USA, Europe, and Japan between 2002 and 2017. The empirical findings suggest that there were negative employment spillovers from the same technology sector (Marshallian externalities) while the spillovers from more diversified activity (Jacobian externalities) have a positive impact on job-creation. The findings have relevant policy implications for governments who are developing an industrial strategy for wind power technology. |
| Keywords: | Employment; knowledge spillovers; patents; renewable energy; wind power |
| JEL: | J21 O33 Q20 Q40 Q42 |
| Date: | 2020–11–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0340&r=all |
| By: | Mindl, Felix |
| Abstract: | This article investigates the effect of short-term rental platforms on the housing market, using the explosive growth of Airbnb experienced in Berlin as a case study. To identify a causal effect, I exploit the structure of Airbnb in Berlin and combine a hedonic housing model with a Triple Difference-in-Difference approach. The analysis of six hundred thousand apartments shows that rapid growth of professional Airbnb listings has lead to a three percent increase in asking rents in city districts with high Airbnb concentration. |
| Keywords: | Sharing economy,peer-to-peer markets,housing markets,Airbnb |
| JEL: | R31 L86 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc20:224613&r=all |
| By: | Vasques Filho, Demival |
| Abstract: | I propose a theory of social structure that challenges the widely accepted role of preferential attachment and triadic closure as primary mechanisms of network formation. For this, I build upon Feld's concept of social circles, Breiger’s concept of the duality of actors and groups, and Hinde’s concept of interactions and relationships. The theory emphasizes that ties between actors arise and evolve according to social circles and social situations in which they participate, a notion straightforwardly modeled through two-mode and projected networks. Using recent results aided by analyses of empirical and artificial networks, I argue that structural properties such as tie strength, heterogeneity of popularity and strength among actors, clustering, community formation, and segregation emerge from homophily, jointly with overlap and social activity—mechanisms introduced in this study. The mechanisms form the two-mode network, and these structural properties naturally arise in the one-mode projection. The results show that social circle and social situation size distributions modulate network structures by interweaving with social activity distributions, and that overlap increases segregation from a network viewpoint. This theory’s implications are broad, affecting several social processes ranging from social cohesion, tolerance, and child development to the spread of infectious diseases. |
| Date: | 2020–11–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:5cyuq&r=all |
| By: | Visagie JUSTIN; Turok IVAN; Scheba ANDREAS |
| Abstract: | More could be done to improve the chances of upward mobility for tenants of social housing in South Africa. The social housing policy makes no mention of upward mobility for tenants, even though this is implicit within the objectives of reducing socio-economic and spatial inequalities. We evaluate evidence of tenant-level outcomes from a sample of 1,636 households living in 10 social housing projects in Johannesburg, Tshwane, eThekwini and Cape Town. The findings present a very mixed picture of the impact of social housing on such outcomes, including racial integration and upward income mobility. Failure to demonstrate household success risks jeopardising the credibility of the programme. A clear recommendation for policymakers is to update the national monitoring and evaluation framework to include regular collection of socio-economic information on tenants in order to assess the extent to which their circumstances improve over time. |
| Keywords: | Afrique du Sud |
| JEL: | Q |
| Date: | 2020–11–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:avg:wpaper:en11791&r=all |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | Throughout the world, teachers and schools are responding to one of the greatest disruptions to education systems in living memory. Routines and practices they have followed for decades have been changed, overhauled or suppressed to reduce the risk of contagion for students, teachers and parents, while ensuring continuity of teaching and learning. This puts the role and importance of teachers in the spotlight, while adding new demands and pressures to an already delicate job. When the COVID-19 crisis struck, teachers in many education systems had to teach in a new context of online contact and uncertainty over the reopening of schools. When schools opened again, they did so amidst varying safety measures and the constant threat of school closures. All this is likely to have substantially affected teachers’ job satisfaction and stress. |
| Date: | 2020–11–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaah:36-en&r=all |
| By: | Minoru Osawa; Takashi Akamatsu; Yosuke Kogure |
| Abstract: | We consider a model of urban spatial structure proposed by Harris and Wilson (Environment and Planning A, 1978). The model consists of fast dynamics, which represent spatial interactions between locations by the entropy-maximizing principle, and slow dynamics, which represent the evolution of the spatial distribution of local factors that facilitate such spatial interactions. One known limitation of the Harris and Wilson model is that it can have multiple locally stable equilibria, leading to a dependence of predictions on the initial state. To overcome this, we employ equilibrium refinement by stochastic stability. We build on the fact that the model is a large-population potential game and that stochastically stable states in a potential game correspond to global potential maximizers. Unlike local stability under deterministic dynamics, the stochastic stability approach allows a unique and unambiguous prediction for urban spatial configurations. We show that, in the most likely spatial configuration, the number of retail agglomerations decreases either when shopping costs for consumers decrease or when the strength of agglomerative effects increases. |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2011.06778&r=all |
| By: | Jiang, Shiyu |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the difference in task supplies and economic status between natives and two generations of immigrants. I estimate differences in task supply and earnings between natives and immigrants in 1970 and 2015, which are the beginning and end of the fifth (and current) wave of immigration to Canada. Furthermore, using a three-fold Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition, I link the average weekly wage of workers to their task productivity, and try to find the effects of the returns to tasks as well as different task supplies on the average wage gap between natives and immigrants. Finally, I use ordered probit and logit models to demonstrate and measure the significant effects of immigrant status on an employee’s labor market segment. 1 |
| Keywords: | immigration generations, wage difference decomposition, task specialization |
| JEL: | J1 J24 J3 |
| Date: | 2020–11–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:103990&r=all |
| By: | Haddad, Eduardo (Departamento de Economia, Universidade de São Paulo); Araújo, Inácio (Departamento de Economia, Universidade de São Paulo); Sijelmassi-Idrissi, Zineb; Ihezagire, Chanelle; El-Bouazzaoui, Youness |
| Abstract: | In spite of the overall decrease in poverty in Morocco in the recent past, the pace of change did not affect regions equally. Poorer provinces faced slower reductions, increasing the relative gap in poverty indicators. In this paper, we explore the results of a multidimensional poverty indicator produced by the High Commission for Planning (HCP), the Moroccan official statistical agency, for the period 2004-2014. The Multidimensional Poverty Index (IPM) allows investigating the spatial aspects of different dimensions of poverty in the country. We find a clear spatial process underlying the distribution of the IPM. Moreover, the analysis undertaken at the province level suggests a persistent poverty hot spot in the northeast part of the country associated with poor infrastructure. Other poverty areas are more heavily associated with low quality of public services, particularly education and health. We provide a typology of geographically targeted sectoral policies, showing that there is no single recipe for all regions, since structural features matter. |
| Keywords: | Spatial analysis; Multidimensional poverty; Policy targeting; Morocco |
| JEL: | R10 |
| Date: | 2020–11–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:nereus:2020_014&r=all |
| By: | Adams, Muriel |
| Abstract: | This project was completed as a National Center for Sustainable Transportation graduate student research project at the University of Vermont. The work builds on the prior work of Dr. Brian H. Y. Lee and the National Center for Sustainable Transportation graduate student Sean Neely who focused on travel behavior between non-metropolitan areas and large metropolitan centers, because of its impacts on quality of life, multimodal planning, and rural economies. This project studies travel from home locations in northern New England (Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts, excluding the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy Metropolitan Statistical Area), going to Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. Data were collected in The Intercity Travel, Information, and Technology Survey Questionnaire conducted by Resource Systems Group (RSG Inc.) for the University of Vermont’s Transportation Research Center (UVM TRC) and the New England Transportation Institute (NETI), with funding from the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) NCST in May 2014. A total of 2560 valid survey responses were collected using a paid panel purchased by the consultant. In his Master’s thesis, Neely developed generic mode choice models for these intercity trips but lacked the mode-specific travel times and access measures for more advanced mode choice models. The goal of this current project was to perform more advanced spatial data re-tabulation to generate new mode-specific predictor variables, especially measures of air access using Federal Aviation Administration datasets. The internet access measures were also refined and alternative measures of a zip code location’s ruralness were generated. Zip code home location was used for generation of on-road travel times and distances to destination as well as an Amtrak station access measure. In addition to the data development, some specific research questions were pursued with the data: 1) How many trips per year do rural residents take in the Northeast United States to major metropolitan areas? And 2) What socio-economic, location, and accessibility variables are associated with rural trip generation to metropolitan areas? View the NCST Project Webpage |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences |
| Date: | 2020–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsdav:qt0x44w631&r=all |
| By: | Arsen, Celia |
| Abstract: | This thesis examines the relationship between gender-based occupational segregation and gender-based residential patterns. Specifically, it finds that that Irish-born immigrants were more likely to be employed in highly gender-segregated occupations than their German-born counterparts. This had a spatial impact on the residential patterns of Irish-born men and women. Because Irish-born immigrants tended to work in highly gender-segregated occupations that were located in different parts of the city, Irish-born men and women disproportionately lived in different areas. The paper discusses some of the historical and contextual factors that explain why Irish-born women were more likely than German-born women to go into highly gender-segregated occupations. Lastly, it shows how this relationship between occupational segregation and geography impacted the economic life cycles of these immigrant women. In particular, it identifies the rate at which women left the workforce after getting married or having children. |
| Date: | 2020–11–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:s4jvz&r=all |
| By: | Gene Amromin; Neil Bhutta; Benjamin J. Keys |
| Abstract: | We assess the complicated reality of monetary policy transmission through mortgage markets by synthesizing the existing literature on the role of refinancing in policy implementation. After briefly reviewing mortgage market institutions in the U.S. and documenting refinance activity over time, we summarize the links between refinancing and consumption, and describe the frictions impeding the refinancing channel. The paper draws heavily on research emerging from the experience of the financial crisis of 2008-09, as it highlights a combination of market, institutional, and policy-making factors that dulled the transmission mechanism. We conclude with a discussion of potential mortgage market innovations, and the applicability of lessons learned to the ongoing stresses induced by the COVID-19 pandemic. |
| JEL: | D12 D14 E50 G21 R31 |
| Date: | 2020–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28039&r=all |
| By: | Kevin Kelly; Lauren Forrow |
| Abstract: | We examined school accountability systems in two states and identified two features that, when combined, make middle schools more likely than other schools to be identified for TSI because of the performance of their students with disabilities. |
| Keywords: | rel, ma, mid-atlantic, infographic, schools, improvement, small sample sizes, poor, school performance |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:16c6d794d9034e2db884b77cad919d73&r=all |
| By: | Bernhard Christopher Dannemann (University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper applies recent spatial regression techniques in peer effects estimation to a sample of33coun-tries in the IAE’s TIMSS 2015 study in order to quantify the gender achievement gap in eighth grademathematics. Based on an education production function setting and controlling for the mediating influ-ences of student-, parent-, teacher-, and school-level factors, a significant, but small gender achievementgap amounting to10%of a country-level standard deviation is confirmed in the standard linear model.I model endogenous and exogenous peer effects based on the workhorse linear-in-means model as well ason homophily-based dyadic relations between students, both with controls for group unobservables. Theresults show that the effect size increases to12-14%, depending on the underlying socio-matrix. How-ever, the partitioned impacts suggest even larger effects when considering spillovers within the classroom.These could amount to as much as38%of a standard deviation, depending on the underlying dyadic peerweights, with the linear-in-means model possibly overstating the magnitude of classroom externalities. |
| Keywords: | Gender Gap, Education Production Function, Human Capital, Peer Effects |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:old:dpaper:433&r=all |
| By: | Claes Bäckman (Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University, and Knut Wiksell Center for Financial Studies, Lund University); Peter van Santen (Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Groningen) |
| Abstract: | We study how amortization payments affect household borrowing exploiting notches in the Swedish amortization requirement. We argue that amortization payments are costly for borrowers under a number of scenarios, and that they therefore affect credit demand. We provide causal evidence that a percentage point increase in amortization payments reduce LTV ratios by 2-3 percentage points, implying a sizable amortization elasticity of mortgage demand. Borrowers who seek to avoid making payments generally have higher debt, higher income and higher debt-to-income ratios. On the aggregate level, credit growth falls sharply after the introduction of the amortization requirement. |
| Keywords: | Amortization requirements, Macroprudential policy, Household debt |
| JEL: | G21 E21 E6 |
| Date: | 2020–11–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aah:aarhec:2020-16&r=all |
| By: | Cem Özgüzel (PSE - Paris School of Economics, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides the first direct evidence on how the geographical mobility of immigrants cushions natives during a labor demand shock. Spain was one of the hardest-hit economies during the Great Recession. Faced with a drop in the local labor demand, immigrant workers moved within Spain or left the country, generating significant decreases in local labor supply. Focusing on this episode, I use microdata from municipal registers and longitudinal Spanish administrative data to study the effects of outflow of the immigrant population from provinces on the wages and employment of the natives. I build a shift-share instrument based on the past settlements of the immigrant population across Spain to instrument outflows and argue for a causal relationship. I find that outflow of immigrants slowed down the decline in employment and wage of natives, especially of those with higher substitutability with immigrants. Moreover, I find that increased transitions from unemployment and inactivity to employment drive the positive employment effects, while wage effects are limited to those who were already employed. These findings reveal that the higher geographical mobility of immigrants cushions the natives during a demand shock. |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-03000365&r=all |
| By: | Michael J. Böhm (University of Bonn); Khalil Esmkhani (University of British Columbia); Giovanni Gallipoli (Vancouver School of Economics, UBC) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents new evidence on worker-firm complementarities. We combine matched employer-employee data with direct measures of workers' cognitive and noncognitive skills, and propose an empirical approach that separately identifies the firm-level return for each attribute. We find that similar skills command different returns across employers and that workers' sorting into firms depends on returns to both attributes. We derive theoretical restrictions that characterize many-to-one matching in employer-employee data, linking within-firm skill dispersion to between-firm differences in average skills. Estimates support these restrictions. Firm heterogeneity in skill returns raises both the average level and dispersion of earnings. |
| Keywords: | firm heterogeneity, skill returns, sorting, wages, Inequality |
| JEL: | D30 J23 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2020-082&r=all |
| By: | Pauline GIVORD (INSEE-CREST-LIEPP) |
| Abstract: | This study provides new empirical evidences of birthday effects over a range of educational and socio-emotional outcomes. It relies on data from the recent cycles of the Program for International School Assessment (PISA), for 6 European countries. The age at entry has a significant and sizeable impact on cognitive outcomes as measured in PISA for 15-year-old students. The magnitude of the birthday effects on no cognitive dimensions varies, but overall the results suggest that those students who enter school relatively young have a more negative relationships at school with their teachers and peers. These students have also lower intrinsic motivation and self-esteem, and have less more ambitious educational expectation than their peers who entered school older. |
| Keywords: | Birthday effects, PISA, Instrumental Variables, socio-emotional outcomes. |
| Date: | 2020–11–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crs:wpaper:2020-27&r=all |
| By: | Rickman, Dan; Wang, Hongbo |
| Abstract: | Studies of the economics of state fiscal incentives for the motion picture and television industry lack consistency in methodology. A key inconsistency is the use of differing levels of industry aggregation. This study unpacks aggregate sector multipliers for 48 states and shows how use of aggregated measures for the motion picture and television industry can lead to inaccurate input-output multipliers and empirical estimates of the role of incentives in the location of the industry. In practice, regional input-output models need to be modified to reflect the economic differences across activities in the aggregate sector, particularly for states that contain little of the targeted activity. A case study shows that a practical alternative is to use aggregate multipliers from similar states with large concentrations of the industry. |
| Keywords: | state film incenetives; input-output multipliers, economic development |
| JEL: | H25 H71 R12 R58 |
| Date: | 2020–10–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:104052&r=all |
| By: | Michel Beine |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I propose to isolate the role of age as a self-selection factor of international migration. The role of age is estimated on intended emigration rather than on observed outcomes of migration, using individual measures of intended emigration drawn from a large-scale survey conducted by Gallup. I find evidence that age has a monotonic negative effect on desired emigration for the working-age population. The estimations point to a very robust effect, suggesting that an additional year of age decreases the probability of intended emigration by about 0.5%. This effect is steady over different periods of time and for most types of countries of origin. The results contrast with previous evidence obtained on observed outcomes of migration, suggesting that out-selection factors interact with age and shape the demographic profile of migrants. |
| Keywords: | age, international migration, intended emigration, logit, large-scale survey |
| JEL: | F22 C25 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8688&r=all |
| By: | Albrecht, Sabina; Ghidoni, Riccardo (Tilburg University, Center For Economic Research); Cettolin, Elena (Tilburg University, Center For Economic Research); Suetens, Sigrid (Tilburg University, Center For Economic Research) |
| Keywords: | prejudice; ethnic diversity; attitudes to immigrants; discrimination; intergroup contact; refugee crisis; individual-level fixed-effects regressions; lab-in-the-field experiment |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tiu:tiucen:bdd5091e-5b0a-4e82-b374-6f143517f9df&r=all |
| By: | Masato Ikeda (Graduate School of Economics, The University of Tokyo); Shintaro Yamaguchi (Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the effects of school closure on students' study time and the number of messages sent from teachers to students using an online learning service. We find that both study time and message numbers increased significantly from the beginning of the school closure but they returned to pre-COVID-19 levels when the state of emergency ended in late May 2020. In addition, we find that students with prior access to the online learning service at home and students at higher-quality schools increased their study time more than other students. However, we find no gender differences in these outcomes. |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tky:fseres:2020cf1157&r=all |
| By: | Cristelli, Gabriele; Lissoni, Francesco |
| Abstract: | We study the innovation effects of the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons (AFMP), signed by Switzerland and the EU in 1999. Using geocoded patent data, complemented by matched inventor-immigrant-census records, we identify a large number of cross-border inventors (CBIs), commuters from neighbouring countries working in Swiss R&D labs. We show that, during the AFMP implementation phase, the influx of CBIs increased differentially across regions at different driving distances from the border. That caused a 24% increase in patents, mostly due to large and medium patent holders (as opposed to very large ones) and to inventor teams mixing CBIs and natives. The latter were not displaced and increased their productivity, thanks to complementarity between their knowledge assets and those of CBIs. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Innovation, Patents, Inventors, Free Movement of Persons |
| JEL: | F22 J61 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:104120&r=all |
| By: | HELMS, VERONICA E.; COLEMAN-JENSEN, ALISHA; GRAY, REGINA; BRUCKER, DEBRA L. |
| Abstract: | The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides housing rental assistance to more than 4.5 million low-income households. Using health survey data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) linked to Federal housing administrative data, household food insecurity was assessed among adults receiving housing assistance at the time of their NHIS interview during 2011 and 2012 (n=2,089). Food-insecure households had difficulty at times providing adequate food for all their members due to limited resources. Among NHIS adult respondents receiving HUD assistance, 37.2 percent reported household food insecurity (including low and very low food security), while 19.1 percent experienced very low food security, the more severe range of food insecurity characterized by disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake. Analyses revealed that adults in the Housing Choice Voucher program were significantly more likely to report household food insecurity than adults in other HUD programs (Public Housing and Multifamily Housing), net of other characteristics. Although housing assistance programs are designed to free financial resources associated with housing cost burden, household food insecurity is still prominent among low-income, HUD-assisted adults. |
| Keywords: | Food Security and Poverty |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uerser:307395&r=all |
| By: | Fergus Cumming; Paul Hubert (Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how the transmission of monetary policy to the real economy depends on the distribution of household debt. Using an original loan-level dataset covering the universe of UK mortgages, we assess the effect of monetary shocks on aggregate consumption by exploiting time variation in a measure of the proportion of households close to their borrowing constraint. We find that monetary policy is most potent when there is a large share of constrained households. In contrast, we find noevidence that the average level of borrowing relative-to-income of the household sector affects the transmission of monetary policy. |
| Keywords: | Heterogeneity; Distribution; Mortgage debt; State-dependence |
| JEL: | E21 E52 E58 |
| Date: | 2019–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/5buvtkmlk091prrdje4a0tbkla&r=all |
| By: | Alrababa'h, Ala'; Masterson, Daniel (University of California, Santa Barbara); Casalis, Marine; Hangartner, Dominik; Weinstein, Jeremy |
| Abstract: | Despite the importance of understanding how refugee crises end, little is known about when and why refugees return home. We study the drivers of refugees’ decision-making using original observational and experimental data from a representative sample of 3,003 Syrian refugees in Lebanon. We find that conditions in a refugee’s home country are the primary drivers of return intentions. Refugees’ decisions are influenced primarily by safety and security in their place of origin, their economic prospects, the availability of public services, and their personal networks. Confidence in information is also important, as several drivers of return only impact intentions among people who have high confidence in their information. By contrast, the conditions in refugee–hosting countries––so-called “push” factors––play a much smaller role. Even in the face of hostility and poor living conditions, refugees are unlikely to return unless the situation at home improves significantly. |
| Date: | 2020–11–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:7t2wd&r=all |
| By: | Martin Johnsen; Oliver Brandt; Sergio Garrido; Francisco C. Pereira |
| Abstract: | The impacts of new real estate developments are strongly associated to its population distribution (types and compositions of households, incomes, social demographics) conditioned on aspects such as dwelling typology, price, location, and floor level. This paper presents a Machine Learning based method to model the population distribution of upcoming developments of new buildings within larger neighborhood/condo settings. We use a real data set from Ecopark Township, a real estate development project in Hanoi, Vietnam, where we study two machine learning algorithms from the deep generative models literature to create a population of synthetic agents: Conditional Variational Auto-Encoder (CVAE) and Conditional Generative Adversarial Networks (CGAN). A large experimental study was performed, showing that the CVAE outperforms both the empirical distribution, a non-trivial baseline model, and the CGAN in estimating the population distribution of new real estate development projects. |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2011.06851&r=all |
| By: | Kauhanen, Antti; Maczulskij, Terhi; Riukula, Krista |
| Abstract: | Abstract There has been a strong tendency towards decentralization of collective bargaining in European countries. This means that wage negotiations have moved closer to the individual enterprise. Centralized collective bargaining systems have traditionally been seen to reduce wage inequality, which has attracted the attention to the effects of decentralization on both the level of wages and wage dispersion. European studies show the decentralization leads to higher wage increases. This is an unambiguous finding in the literature. However, the results on wage dispersion are much more varied and no clear results emerge. In Finland, the decentralization of collective bargaining has taken place through so-called local pots. These are wage increases that can be allocated locally. The results of a new Finnish study show that wage increases have been higher when the contract has included local pots. The local pots have increased the dispersion of wage increases for white-collar employees and reduced it for blue-collars. This difference in the outcomes is likely due to different preferences concerning wage dispersion and local bargaining between these two employee groups. |
| Keywords: | Decentralization, Collective agreements, Wage bargaining, Wage increase, Wage dispersion |
| JEL: | J31 J51 J52 |
| Date: | 2020–11–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:briefs:92&r=all |
| By: | Umut Akovali (Koc University); Kamil Yilmaz (Koc University) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the state-level differences in government and community responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to different growth trajectories of Covid-19 cases and their connectedness across the U.S. states. Our regression analysis shows that higher growth trajectories are observed in the states that implemented the lax government and community response to the pandemic. Moving to the analysis of spillovers/connectedness of Covid-19 cases across the states, we apply the Diebold-Yilmaz connectedness methodology to the growth rates of Covid-19 cases. Using the total directional connectedness measures, we find that the states with lax government and community response generated connectedness of Covid-19 cases to others. These findings are also supported by the secondary regression analysis of pairwise connectedness measures over time. Finally, the travel intensity between the pairs of states, indirectly measured by the data on smartphone location exposure, contributes significantly to the pairwise directional connectedness of Covid-19 across the states. |
| Keywords: | Covid-19, Coronavirus, Spillovers, Connectedness, Government policy stringency, Community mobility, Travel Intensity. |
| JEL: | I10 I18 |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koc:wpaper:2019&r=all |
| By: | Brigitte Roth Tran; Daniel J. Wilson |
| Abstract: | We use county panel data to study the dynamic responses of local economies after natural disasters in the U.S. Specifically, we estimate disaster impulse response functions for personal income per capita and a broad range of other economic outcomes, using a panel version of the local projections estimator. In contrast to some recent cross-country studies, we find that disasters increase total and per capita personal income over the longer-run (as of 8 years out). The effect is driven initially largely by a temporary employment boost and in the longer run by an increase in average weekly wages. We then assess the heterogeneity of disaster impacts across several dimensions. We find that the longer-run increase in income per capita rises with disaster severity, as measured by monetary damages. Hurricanes, tornados, and fires yield longer run increases in income, while floods do not. The longer run increase in income tends to rise with recent disaster experience and is absent for counties with no recent experience. Finally, a spatial spillover analysis suggests that, while over the short- to medium-run, the regional and local impacts of disasters on personal income are similar, over the longer run the net regional effect may be negative, in contrast to the positive local effect. |
| Keywords: | climate change; Regional economics |
| Date: | 2020–11–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfwp:89052&r=all |
| By: | Duncan, Merriene M. |
| Keywords: | Public Economics |
| Date: | 2020–10–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:cantrf:305904&r=all |
| By: | Scandura, Alessandra; Bolzani, Daniela (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the importance of the network of collaborations with other firms, research institutions, and business associations as key drivers of innovation, providing a comparison between immigrant-owned firms and non-immigrant-owned firms. We hypothesise that the network of collaboration is more important for innovative activities of immigrant entrepreneurs than for natives, due to their migrant condition, and that immigrant entrepreneurs’ acculturation to the host country culture moderates the influence of such network. We test our hypotheses on a unique matched-pair sample of immigrant and native domestic entrepreneurs active in high-tech mainstream (non-ethnic) markets. Our results show that universities and research institutions along with business associations are more important for immigrant-owned companies; we further show that immigrant entrepreneurs’ acculturation to the host country culture acts as a substitute for interactions with business associations. These findings are highly relevant for the academic and policy discourses on the link between immigrant entrepreneurship and innovation in developed countries. |
| Date: | 2020–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:202021&r=all |
| By: | Andres Rodriguez-Pose; Roberto Ganau; Kristina Maslauskaite; Monica Brezzi; |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the relationship between credit constraints − proxied by the investment-to-cash flow sensitivity – and firm-level economic performance − defined in terms of labor productivity – during the period 2009-2016, using a sample of 22,380 manufacturing firms from 11 European countries. It also assesses how regional institutional quality affects productivity at the level of the firm both directly and indirectly. The empirical results highlight that credit rationing is rife and represents a serious barrier for improvements in firm-level productivity and that this effect is far greater for micro and small than for larger firms. Moreover, high-quality regional institutions foster productivity and help mitigate the negative credit constraints-labor productivity relationship that limits the economic performance of European firms. Dealing with the European productivity conundrum thus requires greater attention to existing credit constraints for micro and small firms, although in many areas of Europe access to credit will become more effective if institutional quality is improved. |
| Keywords: | Credit Constraints; Labor Productivity; Manufacturing Firms; Regional Institutions; Cross-Country Analysis; Europe |
| JEL: | C23 D24 G32 H41 R12 |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2053&r=all |
| By: | Renaud Le Goix (UP - Université de Paris, GC (UMR_8504) - Géographie-cités - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UP - Université de Paris, IUF - Institut Universitaire de France - M.E.N.E.S.R. - Ministère de l'Education nationale, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche); Laure Casanova Enault (ESPACE - Études des Structures, des Processus d’Adaptation et des Changements de l’Espace - UNS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (... - 2019) - COMUE UCA - COMUE Université Côte d'Azur (2015 - 2019) - AU - Avignon Université - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, AU - Avignon Université); Loïc Bonneval (CMW - Centre Max Weber - ENS Lyon - École normale supérieure - Lyon - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - UJM - Université Jean Monnet [Saint-Étienne] - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2); Thibault Le Corre (GC (UMR_8504) - Géographie-cités - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UP - Université de Paris); Eliza Benites-Gambirazio (University of Arizona, UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2, CMW - Centre Max Weber - ENS Lyon - École normale supérieure - Lyon - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - UJM - Université Jean Monnet [Saint-Étienne] - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Guilhem Boulay (ESPACE - Études des Structures, des Processus d’Adaptation et des Changements de l’Espace - UNS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (... - 2019) - COMUE UCA - COMUE Université Côte d'Azur (2015 - 2019) - AU - Avignon Université - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, AU - Avignon Université); William Kutz (CAM - University of Cambridge [UK]); Natacha Aveline-Dubach (GC (UMR_8504) - Géographie-cités - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UP - Université de Paris); Julien Migozzi (ENS Lyon - École normale supérieure - Lyon, PACTE - Pacte, Laboratoire de sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UGA [2020-....] - Université Grenoble Alpes [2020-....] - IEPG - Sciences Po Grenoble - Institut d'études politiques de Grenoble - UGA [2020-....] - Université Grenoble Alpes [2020-....]); Ronan Ysebaert (RIATE - Réseau interdisciplinaire pour l’aménagement et la cohésion des territoires de l’Europe et de ses voisinages - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - CGET - Commissariat Général à l'égalité des territoires - UP - Université de Paris, UP - Université de Paris) |
| Abstract: | This paper advances a research agenda on how asset-based welfare policies, residential market volatility, stratified accumulation and vulnerability impinge upon the geography of inequality in property markets. Since the mid-1990s, housing prices have increased faster than the income of buyers, becoming a driver of social polarisation and household vulnerability. Few studies have however explicitly linked socio-spatial inequality to asset capitalisation, instability and vulnerability in residential housing markets. We employ an empirically-grounded investigation of the factors driving and reinforcing these dynamics, what we conceptualise as a feedback loop mediating particular housing finance regimes. Drawing on three French cities (Paris, Lyon, and Avignon) our study develops a comparative framework to interpret the relational effects of price, equity and homeowner vulnerability on the production of inequality across different geographical scales. Our approach puts into conversation debates concerning housing markets, social inequality, and ordinary financialisation in the period since the Global Financial Crisis. |
| Abstract: | Cet article développe un agenda de recherche portant sur la la géographie des inégalités sur les marchés immobiliers, influencée par les politiques de protection sociale fondées sur les actifs, la volatilité du marché résidentiel, les logiques d'accumulation socialement et spatialement stratifiées, et la vulnérabilité induite des ménages. Depuis le milieu des années 1990, les prix des logements ont augmenté plus rapidement que les revenus des acheteurs, devenant un facteur de polarisation sociale et de vulnérabilité des ménages devant l'accès au logement. Peu d'études ont cependant explicitement établi un lien entre l'inégalité socio-spatiale et la capitalisation des actifs d'une part, l'instabilité et la vulnérabilité des marchés immobiliers résidentiels d'autre part. Partant d'un étude empirique des facteurs qui entraînent et renforcent ces dynamiques, notre cadre conceptuel est celui d'une boucle de rétroaction entre des régimes particuliers de financement du logement. En s'appuyant sur trois villes françaises (Paris, Lyon et Avignon), notre étude développe un cadre comparatif pour interpréter les effets du prix, de la valeur nette et de la vulnérabilité des propriétaires sur la production d'inégalités à différentes échelles géographiques. Notre approche met en débat les analyses du marchés du logement, l'inégalité sociale et la financiarisation ordinaire dans la période qui a suivi la crise financière mondiale. |
| Keywords: | housing inequality,housing markets,asset capitalization: assez-based welfare,housing finance,price inflation,property markets,homeownership,Housing,inequalities,ownership,financialisation,wealth,France |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-02916066&r=all |
| By: | Chakraborty, Debapriya; Bunch, David S.; Lee, Jae Hyun; Tal, Gil |
| Abstract: | Government agencies, utilities, automakers, and charging network companies are increasingly investing in charging infrastructure to encourage the adoption of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs), which include both battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). Public infrastructure is particularly important for those without access to home charging and for vehicles with driving range limitations. However, it is difficult to quantify the optimal number and location of public chargers needed for a growing number of PEVs. Finding the answer will depend on a mix of behavioral and economic factors that drive charging demand. Much is at stake. Too little infrastructure could cause congestion at the chargers and inhibit the adoption and use of PEVs, while developing more infrastructure than is needed would create unnecessary costs. For example, Level 2 public chargers can cost up to 15 times more than Level 2 at-home chargers. Researchers at UC Davis analyzed the choice of charging infrastructure of more than 3,000 PEV commuters who had access to home, work, and public locations to understand the importance of various factors driving demand for charging infrastructure at the three locations. Key factors include the cost of charging, driver characteristics, accessibility of charging infrastructure, and vehicle characteristics. |
| Keywords: | Engineering |
| Date: | 2020–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsdav:qt7xq3s2br&r=all |
| By: | Per Arild Garnåsjordet (Statistics Norway); Margrete Steinnes; Zofie Cimburova; Megan Nowell; David N. Barton; Iulie Aslaksen (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | The article enhances the knowledge base for assessment of urban ecosystem services, within UN System of Environmental-Economic Accounting Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EEA), which is based on spatial extent accounts (area of ecosystems) and biophysical condition accounts (ecological state of ecosystems). Case studies from the Oslo region are explored, combining land use/land cover maps from Statistics Norway with satellite data. The approach suggests that especially in an urban context, extent and condition accounts are not separate approaches as suggested by SEEA EEA but should be integrated for ecosystem accounting. Moreover, the basic spatial unit should not be fixed, as suggested by SEEA EEA, but should reflect that modelling of different ecosystem services, as basis for trade-offs in urban planning, requires different spatial units to capture urban green elements. |
| Keywords: | Experimental ecosystem accounting; ecosystem services; urban ecosystems; spatial analysis; land use maps; land cover maps |
| JEL: | Q34 Q56 Q57 Q58 |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:941&r=all |
| By: | Francesco Aiello (Dipartimento di Economia, Statistica e Finanza "Giovanni Anania" - DESF, Università della Calabria); Paola Cardamone (Dipartimento di Economia, Statistica e Finanza "Giovanni Anania" - DESF, Università della Calabria); Lidia Mannarino (Dipartimento di Economia, Statistica e Finanza "Giovanni Anania" - DESF, Università della Calabria); Valeria Pupo (Dipartimento di Economia, Statistica e Finanza "Giovanni Anania" - DESF, Università della Calabria) |
| Abstract: | Using a large sample of Italian small–medium-sized firms, this note analyses the effects of formal inter-firm cooperation on the performance of family firms (FFs). The study is based on the network contract (“Contratto di rete”) implemented in Italy in 2009. The results show that networks have a positive effect on FFs, while no conclusive evidence is found for non-family firms. Additionally, the advantages for southern FFs and for small firms are considerable. |
| Keywords: | family firms, formal business networks, performance |
| JEL: | G34 L24 L25 |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:clb:wpaper:202007&r=all |