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on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Mariana Laverde (Yale University) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the limits of school choice policies in the presence of residential segregation. Using data from the Boston Public Schools choice system, I show that white prekindergarteners are assigned to higher-achieving schools than minority students, and that cross-race school achievement gaps under choice are no lower than would be generated by a neighborhood assignment rule. To understand why choicebased assignments do not reduce gaps in school achievement, I use data on applicants’ rank-order choices to estimate preferences over schools, and consider a series of counterfactual assignments. I find that half of the gap in school achievement between white and Black or Hispanic students is explained by minorities’ longer travel distance to high-performing schools. Differences in demand parameters explain a smaller fraction of the gap, while algorithm rules have no effect. |
| Keywords: | Boston Public Schools, residential segregation, school achievement, achievement gaps |
| JEL: | I21 J15 J61 |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2022-002&r= |
| By: | Stephen L. Ross (University of Connecticut); Yuan Wang (FreddieMac) |
| Abstract: | We use HMDA rate spread loans to identify lenders involved in riskier lending prior to the foreclosure crisis. We develop a shift-share measure of changes in high rate spread share lender representation in housing submarkets across origination years. While half the cross-sectional correlation between foreclosure and high rate spread lender share is explained by borrower observables, we find robust and stable estimates of the within housing submarket relationship between foreclosure and predicted changes in market share. Estimates are not explained by local housing price variation, rather evidence suggests servicer behavior in response to rising local foreclosure rates as a mechanism. |
| Keywords: | rate spread loans, subprime lending, local housing markets, home purchase mortgages, house price declines, loan servicers |
| JEL: | D14 G01 G21 R21 R23 |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2022-001&r= |
| By: | Ricardo Barranco (European Commission – JRC B3); Chris Jacobs-Crisioni (European Commission – JRC B3); Sjoerdje van Heerden (European Commission – JRC B3) |
| Abstract: | This report shows the results of fine-grained data analyses of residential property transactions and private rental supply in the municipality of Amsterdam. The analyses follow from a collaboration between the Joint Research Centre’s (JRCs) LUISA team, and the City of Amsterdam. The study provides insight in the spatial dynamics of Amsterdam’s housing market, uncovering the driving factors behind the city’s spiraling-up house prices, providing empirical support to a further development of an inclusive and accessible housing market for all. The analyses indicate that closer proximity to the city centre, older buildings, and companies as buyers, are the main determinants behind higher prices. Another main finding is that looking at asking prices, Amsterdam's middle income households would need to spend a higher share of their incomes on long-term rents, in comparison to middle class income households at country level. Furthermore, for Amsterdam's middle incomes, asking prices reflect private rents that would be well above the EU housing cost overburden rate. This suggests that middle income households looking for alternative rental housing are less likely to find affordable housing in the city, and more likely to move out. Depending on data availability, similar analyses can be made for other cities and urban areas, enabling comparison and providing additional case studies, shedding more light on housing market dynamics and affordability across the EU. |
| Keywords: | house prices, Amsterdam, rental market, housing market, housing affordability |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc125425&r= |
| By: | Mariana Laverde (Boston College) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the limits of school choice policies in the presence of residential segregation. Using data from the Boston Public Schools choice system, I show that white prekindergarteners are assigned to higher-achieving schools than minority students, and that cross-race school achievement gaps under choice are no lower than would be generated by a neighborhood assignment rule. To understand why choice-based assignments do not reduce gaps in school achievement, I use data on applicants’ rank-order choices to estimate preferences over schools, and consider a series of counterfactual assignments. I find that half of the gap in school achievement between white and Black or Hispanic students is explained by minorities’ longer travel distance to high-performing schools. Differences in demand parameters explain a smaller fraction of the gap, while algorithm rules have no effect. |
| Keywords: | school choice, discrimination, segregation |
| JEL: | I21 I24 D47 |
| Date: | 2022–01–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boc:bocoec:1046&r= |
| By: | Melanie Krause (Department of Economics, University of Hamburg); Sebastian Kripfganz (Department of Economics, University of Exeter) |
| Abstract: | The growth trajectory of a region is known to be influenced by the economic circumstances of other regions in its proximity. While proximity is often understood in a geographic sense, we consider commuting as a channel for cross-regional economic dependencies. Commuters, who spend a substantial portion of their income in a different place from where they earn it, connect peripheral regions to economic centers. In contrast to geographic measures, commuter flows are inherently asymmetric and heterogeneous, as are the economic dependencies among regions. We estimate a time-space dynamic panel model with German county-level data, and demonstrate a considerable variation in the distribution of shock responses which is hidden by the traditional focus on average marginal effects. In counterfactual experiments, the local spatial multipliers differ substantially depending on the nature of the shock or policy intervention and the assumed network structure, with implications for the growth convergence process. |
| Keywords: | regional convergence, commuting, spatial weight matrix, shock propagation, time-space dynamic panel data model |
| JEL: | R12 C23 J61 O18 |
| Date: | 2022–01–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:exe:wpaper:2201&r= |
| By: | Feng, Shuaizhang; Kim, Jun Hyung; Yang, Zhe |
| Abstract: | Despite extensive literature on peer effects, the role of peers on personality skill development remains poorly understood. We fill this gap by investigating the effects of having disadvantaged primary school peers, generated by random classroom assignment and parental migration for employment. We find that having disadvantaged peers significantly lowers conscientiousness, agreeableness, emotional stability, and social skill. The implied effects of a 10-15 percentage point change in the classroom proportion of disadvantaged peers are comparable to the effects of popular early childhood interventions. Furthermore, we find suggestive evidence that these effects are driven by the peers' personality skills. |
| Keywords: | peer effect,noncognitive skill,left-behind children,human capital,Big-5 |
| JEL: | I21 D62 O15 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1004&r= |
| By: | Lars J. Kirkebøen (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | Several recent studies find that interventions in schools can have important lasting consequences for students, and that schools differ in their contribution to students' learning. However, there is less research investigating how these differences between schools influence longer-term outcomes, especially outside the US. In this paper I study school value-added (VA) in Norwegian compulsory school, where between-school differences are smaller than in the US. I find that VA indicators are able to predict in-school performance without bias. Furthermore, VA is strongly related to long-term outcomes, and differences between schools in VA correspond to meaningful differences in long-term outcomes. For example, a one standard deviation higher VA correspond to 1.5 percent higher earnings around age 32. Three quasi-experiments using variation from student mobility and changes in neighborhood school assignments indicate that the differences captured by the VA indicators do indeed reflect differences in school quality, rather than unobserved student characteristics. Analysis of teacher grades and exam scores suggest that the former is heavily influenced by relative grading, and that the effect of exam score VA on long-term outcomes reflects the effects of skills acquired in school. In addition to shedding lights on the differences in and mechanisms of school quality, the findings help connect learning outcomes with later labor market outcomes, e.g. for cost-benefit analysis of interventions in schools. |
| Keywords: | School quality; value-added; VAM; earnings |
| JEL: | J24 I2 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:970&r= |
| By: | Owen Thompson |
| Abstract: | Racial segregation can occur across educational programs or classrooms within a given school, and there has been particular concern that gifted & talented programs may reduce integration within schools. This paper evaluates the contribution of gifted & talented education to racial segregation using data on the presence and racial composition of gifted & talented programs at virtually all US elementary schools over a span of nine school years. I first show that, consistent with widespread perceptions, gifted & talented programs do disproportionately enroll white and Asian students while Black, Hispanic and Native American students are underrepresented. However, I also show that accounting for the within-school racial sorting caused by these programs has little or no effect on standard measures of overall racial segregation. This is primarily because gifted & talented programs are a small share of total enrollments and do enroll non-negligible numbers of under-represented minority students. I also estimate changes in race-specific enrollments after schools initiate or discontinue gifted & talented programs, and find no significant enrollment changes after programs are eliminated or initiated. I conclude that gifted & talented education is a quantitatively small contributor to racial segregation in US elementary schools. |
| JEL: | I24 J15 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29546&r= |
| By: | Andrea Ferloni (Institute of Geography and Sustainability (IGD), University of Lausanne- UNIL) |
| Abstract: | The transition to Electric Vehicles (EVs) is a coevolutionary process involving at least three sectors—EV, battery, and smart grid—in replacing combustion cars. This paper contributes to research on the geography of transitions by linking increased relatedness between technologies over time with their co-location, exploring the spatial emergence of transition industries and the role of local economic systems in enabling it. Patent citations are used to construct three main paths from 1920 to 2020 that permit to geolocate key inventions and to elaborate on the role of cities in supporting knowledge exchanges and recombinations. The case study suggests that a coevolutionary perspective can contribute to understanding the geography of transitions in three ways: by showing how new technology configurations imply varying power relations between industrial fields, by elaborating on the capacity of urban regions to adapt to these, and by illustrating the role of actors and networks in this process. |
| Keywords: | Coevolution, Electric Vehicle, Geography of transitions, Large Urban Regions, Patent networks, Main path analysis |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aoe:wpaper:2110&r= |
| By: | Tom Ahn (Graduate School Defense Management, Naval Postgraduate School.); Esteban Aucejo (Department of Economics, Arizona State University); Jonathan James (Department of Economics, California Polytechnic State University) |
| Abstract: | We examine matching effects in worker productivity within the educational context by introducing a novel estimator for teacher value-added models that is more robust than previous estimators and is well-suited for multi-dimensional problems. Using this new framework, we show that teacher effectiveness is highly dependent on interaction effects between teachers and the individual characteristics of their students. For example, the difference in value-added between well and poorly-matched students for the median teacher is on the order of 0.1σ test score units. Moreover, matching effects are particularly salient for low-achieving students. The difference in teacher value-added between an effective and ineffective teacher in language arts for low-achieving students is twice as large as the di erence for high-achieving students. We also show that teacher rankings based on value-added are sensitive to classroom assignment due to match effects. To overcome this problem we propose an approach to rank teachers based on expected utility. |
| Keywords: | value-added, teacher, productivity, matching, multivariate shrinkage |
| JEL: | I21 I24 J21 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpl:wpaper:2106&r= |
| By: | Kurmann, André (Drexel University); Lalé, Etienne (Université du Québec à Montréal) |
| Abstract: | We match cell phone data to administrative school records and combine it with information on school learning modes to study effective in-person learning (EIPL) in the U.S. during the pandemic. We find large differences in EIPL for the 2020-21 school year. Public schools averaged less EIPL than private schools. Schools in more affluent localities and schools with a larger share of non-white students provided lower EIPL. Higher school spending and federal emergency funding is associated with lower EIPL. These results are explained in large part by regional differences, reflecting political preferences, vaccination rates, teacher unionization rates, and local labor conditions. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19; School closures and reopenings; Effective in-person learning; Inequality |
| JEL: | E24 I24 |
| Date: | 2021–12–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:drxlwp:2021_018&r= |
| By: | Ismail, Mohammad (Department of Real Estate and Construction Management, Royal Institute of Technology); Warsame, Abukar (Department of Real Estate and Construction Management, Royal Institute of Technology); Wilhelmsson, Mats (Department of Real Estate and Construction Management, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | Who owns the city, and why is it important to know? The city constantly makes decisions that affect municipal residents regarding municipal services, land use, and financing. The cost is often linked directly to the municipal residents, but the benefits of some decisions directly affect the property owners and only indirectly affect the municipal residents. On the other hand, the property owners can be residents in the city or the country, but they can also be foreign property owners. Therefore, the distribution of costs will differ from the distribution of benefits. The study aims to investigate and analyse real estate owners in some focus areas in Stockholm municipality in terms of nationality, patterns of real estate usage, area of properties, and the nature of ownership. We determined the concentration of real estate owners by nationality in the different focus areas by Using Getis-Ord statistics Gi* measuring the concentration of Swedish and non-Swedish real estate owners. |
| Keywords: | Distributional cost-benefit analysis; property owners; landowners |
| JEL: | D61 R14 R52 |
| Date: | 2022–01–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:kthrec:2022_001&r= |
| By: | Nicola Bianchi; Michela Giorcelli; Enrica Maria Martino |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how fiscal decentralization affects local services. It explores a 1993 reform that increased the fiscal autonomy of Italian municipalities by replacing government transfers with revenues from a local property tax. Our identifica- tion leverages cross-municipal variation in the degree of decentralization that stems from differences in the average age of buildings caused by bombings during WWII. Decentralization reduced local spending but expanded municipal services, such as nursery schools. These effects are larger in areas with greater political competition. The paper also investigates how the reform affected labor markets. Decentralization increased female labor supply—probably through expanded availability of nursery schools—thereby reducing the gender gap in employment. |
| JEL: | H71 H75 I21 J20 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29538&r= |
| By: | Egle Jakucionyte (Bank of Lithuania, Vilnius University); Swapnil Singh (Bank of Lithuania, Kaunas University of Technology) |
| Abstract: | Subprime lending is concentrated among minorities and in minority neighborhoods. However, the literature has little evidence for what led to the rise of subprime lending in minority neighborhoods. We use the endorsement of FICO credit scores in mortgage underwriting by the Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) in 1995 to answer this question. The use of credit scores led to the sorting of prime and subprime lenders across minority and non-minority neighborhoods. In minority neighborhoods prime lenders were substituted by subprime lenders and, as a result, the share of subprime lending in minority neighborhoods increased by 5 percentage points. Prime lenders with a stronger relationship with the GSEs reduced their lending in minority neighborhoods more. The level of securitization by the GSEs in minority neighborhoods also decreased. |
| Keywords: | Mortgages, Subprime lenders, GSEs, Securitization, Minorities |
| JEL: | G21 G28 J15 R23 |
| Date: | 2021–11–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lie:wpaper:94&r= |
| By: | James Alm (Tulane University); Weizheng Lai (University of Maryland); Xun Li (Wuhan University) |
| Abstract: | In China’s regulated housing markets, a married couple may choose strategically to divorce in order to purchase more houses and/or purchase with more favorable financial conditions. Our study examines the propensity of strategic divorce induced by housing market regulations in China. To overcome the difficulty of using conventional divorce data to disentangle a “true” divorce and a strategic (or a “fake”) divorce, we design an identification strategy using data on internet searches for divorce- and marriage-related keywords in 32 Chinese major cities from 2009 through 2016. Our difference-in-differences estimates provide robust evidence that housing market regulations significantly increase the propensity of strategic divorce. Our results also show that the increase in the propensity of strategic divorce is weaker in the cities with higher male-female ratios and with stronger Confucian ideologies. These findings point to the role that housing market regulations play in distorting a family’s choices, as well as to the importance for policymakers to consider unintended impacts of regulations. |
| Keywords: | Housing market regulations; Strategic divorce; Baidu Index |
| JEL: | D78 J12 J18 L50 R21 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tul:wpaper:2119&r= |
| By: | Barde, Sylvain (University of Kent); Klein, Alexander (University of Kent) |
| Abstract: | This paper constructs general road transport costs in the United States between 1955 and 2010 combining stock measures of transportation network with fuel consumption, driving speed, fuel prices, and labour costs. This results in a novel data set of 3105×3105 county-pairs for seven benchmark years. Using a county-level counterfactual analysis, we precisely quantify the reduction of the transport cost generated by Interstate Highway System. We document an inverted U-shape pattern for road transport costs, peaking in 1980, explained by initially increasing labor costs, followed by cost reductions due to trucking industry deregulation and the completion of the IHS. |
| Keywords: | Transport costs, Interstate Highway System, Road Network, Dijkstra’s algorithm JEL Classification: N72, N92, O18, R41 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:597&r= |
| By: | Haelermans, Carla (ROA / Education and transition to work, RS: GSBE Studio Europa Maastricht, RS: GSBE Theme Learning and Work); Jacobs, Madelon (ROA / Education and transition to work, RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research); van Vugt, Lynn (ROA / Health, skills and inequality, RS: GSBE Theme Learning and Work); Aarts, Bas (RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research, ROA / Human capital in the region); Abbink, Henry (RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research, ROA / Labour market and training); Smeets, Chayenne; van der Velden, Rolf (ROA / Education and transition to work, RS: GSBE Theme Learning and Work); van Wetten, Sanne (RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research, ROA / Education and transition to work) |
| Abstract: | After more than a year of COVID-19 crisis and the school closures that followed all around the world, the concerns about lower learning growth and exacerbated inequalities are larger than ever. In this paper, we use unique data to analyse how one full year of COVID-19 crisis in Dutch primary education has affected learning growth and pre-existing inequalities. We draw on a dataset that includes around 330,000 Dutch primary school students from about 1,600 schools, with standardized test scores for reading, spelling and mathematics, as well as rich (family) background information of the students. The results show a lower learning growth over a full year for all three domains, varying from 0.06 standard deviations for spelling to 0.12 for maths and 0.17 standard deviations for reading. Furthermore, we find that the lower learning growth is (much) larger for vulnerable students with a low socioeconomic background. This implies that pre-existing inequalities between students from different backgrounds have increased. These results are quite alarming and suggest that distance learning could not compensate for classroom teaching, although it prevented some damage that would have occurred if students had not enjoyed any formal education at all. |
| JEL: | I24 I20 I21 C90 |
| Date: | 2021–12–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umagsb:2021021&r= |
| By: | Rebecca Diamond; Enrico Moretti |
| Abstract: | Income differences across US cities are well documented, but little is known about the level of standard of living in each city—defined as the amount of market-based consumption that residents are able to afford. In this paper we provide estimates of the standard of living by commuting zone for households in a given income or education group, and we study how they relate to local cost of living. Using a novel dataset, we observe debit and credit card transactions, check and ACH payments, and cash withdrawals of 5% of US households in 2014 and use it to measure mean consumption expenditures by commuting zone and income group. To measure local prices, we build income-specific consumer price indices by commuting zone. We uncover vast geographical differences in material standard of living for a given income level. Low-income residents in the most affordable commuting zone enjoy a level of consumption that is 74% higher than that of low-income residents in the most expensive commuting zone. We then endogenize income and estimate the standard of living that low-skill and high-skill households can expect in each US commuting zone, accounting for geographical variation in both costs of living and expected income. We find that for college graduates, there is essentially no relationship between consumption and cost of living, suggesting that college graduates living in cities with high costs of living—including the most expensive coastal cities—enjoy a standard of living on average similar to college graduates with the same observable characteristics living in cities with low cost of living—including the least expensive Rust Belt cities. By contrast, we find a significant negative relationship between consumption and cost of living for high school graduates and high school drop-outs, indicating that expensive cities offer a lower standard of living than more affordable cities. The differences are quantitatively large: High school drop-outs moving from the most to the least affordable commuting zone would experience a 26.9% decline in consumption. |
| JEL: | F1 J00 R00 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29533&r= |
| By: | Burgi, Constantin (University College Dublin, School of Economics); Gorgulu, Nisan (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School) |
| Abstract: | We look at the spatial angle of economic growth. Specifically, we assess whether areas where people live closer together experience faster growth. Traditional measures like population density or urbanization are not optimal, as they are affected by large uninhabited areas or capped, respectively. We thus introduce a new measure Spatial Population Concentration (SPC) that captures how many people live on average within a given radius of every person within a geographic area. This measure allows for a more accurate measurement of the population concentration than traditional measures, as it does not share some of their short comings. Next, we show for U.S. counties that areas with a high spatial population concentration experience faster growth. We find that counties with a low value of SPC measure in 1990 experienced substantially lower GDP growth over the next 25 years. |
| Keywords: | spatial population concentration; endogeneous growth; spillover; the United States |
| JEL: | O47 O51 R12 |
| Date: | 2021–11–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cbsnow:2021_017&r= |
| By: | Haelermans, Carla (ROA / Education and transition to work, RS: GSBE Studio Europa Maastricht, RS: GSBE Theme Learning and Work); Korthals, Roxanne; Jacobs, Madelon (ROA / Education and transition to work, RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research); de Leeuw, Suzanne (RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research, ROA / Education and transition to work); Vermeulen, Stan (ROA / Education and transition to work, RS: GSBE Theme Learning and Work); van Vugt, Lynn (ROA / Health, skills and inequality, RS: GSBE Theme Learning and Work); Aarts, Bas (RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research, ROA / Human capital in the region); Breuer, Tijana (ROA / Labour market and training, RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research); van der Velden, Rolf (ROA / Education and transition to work, RS: GSBE Theme Learning and Work); van Wetten, Sanne (RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research, ROA / Education and transition to work); de Wolf, Inge (ROA / Labour market and training, RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research) |
| Abstract: | The COVID-19-pandemic forced many countries to close schools abruptly in the spring of 2020. These school closures and the subsequent period of distance learning has led to concerns about increasing inequality in education, as children from lower-educated and poorer families have less access to (additional) resources at home. This study analyzes differences in declines in learning gains in primary education in the Netherlands for reading, spelling and math, using rich data on standardized test scores and register data on student and parental background for almost 300,000 unique students. The results show large inequalities in the learning loss based on parental education and parental income, on top of already existing inequalities. The results call for a national focus on interventions specifically targeting vulnerable students. |
| JEL: | I24 I20 I21 C90 |
| Date: | 2021–12–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umagsb:2021022&r= |
| By: | Lacava, Chiara |
| Abstract: | I measure the effects of workers' mobility across regions of different productivity through the lens of a search and matching model with heterogeneous workers and firms estimated with administrative data. In an application to Italy, I find that reallocation of workers to the most productive region boosts productivity at the country level but amplifies differentials across regions. Employment rates decline as migrants foster job competition, and inequality between workers doubles in less productive areas since displacement is particularly severe for low-skill workers. Migration does affect mismatch: mobility favors co-location of agents with similar productivity but within-region rank correlation declines in the most productive region. I show that worker-firm complementarities in production account for 33% of the productivity gains. Place-based programs directed to firms, like incentives for hiring unemployed or creating high productivity jobs, raise employment rates and reduce the gaps in productivity across regions. In contrast, subsidies to attract high-skill workers in the South have limited effects. |
| Keywords: | cross-regional mobility,mismatch,search-matching,sorting,productivity differentials |
| JEL: | J61 J64 R13 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:icirwp:4421&r= |
| By: | Sonia Paty (Université de Lyon, Université Lumière Lyon 2, GATE Lyon Saint-Etienne, UMR 5824, 93 Chemin des Mouilles 69131 Ecully FRANCE); Morgan Ubeda (Sciences Po LIEPP, GATE Lyon Saint-Etienne UMR 5824) |
| Abstract: | Inter-municipal communities are supposed to provide local public services more efficiently by exploiting economies of scale and reducing spillover effects among cooperating municipalities. In a diff-in-diff setting that exploits the staggered adoption of cooperation in France, we explore the impact of inter-municipal cooperation on both local public spending and revenues. We first find a sizable increase in local public spending which was not driven by wage bill expansion. Second, by using the decomposition of spending by function, we show that this increase was driven by urbanism policies. Third, we show that a quarter of this effect can be explained by the transfer of two policies: public transit and garbage collection. Overall, we conclude that scale economies, if existent, were clearly dominated by a ”zoo” effect, i.e. the provision of new public services in small and former isolated municipalities. |
| Keywords: | Inter-municipal cooperation, local public spending |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:2121&r= |
| By: | David P. Glancy; Robert J. Kurtzman; Lara Loewenstein; Joseph B. Nichols |
| Abstract: | We study the role that recourse plays in the commercial real estate loan contracts of the largest U.S. banks. We find that recourse is valued by lenders and is treated as a substitute for conventional equity. At origination, recourse loans have rate spreads that are at least 20 basis points lower and loan-to-value ratios that are around 3 percentage points higher than non-recourse loans. Dynamically, recourse affects loan modification negotiations by providing additional bargaining power to the lender. Recourse loans were half as likely to receive accommodation during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the modifications that did occur entailed a relatively smaller reduction in payments. |
| Keywords: | Commercial real estate; Recourse; LTV |
| JEL: | G21 G22 G23 R33 |
| Date: | 2021–12–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2021-79&r= |
| By: | Fuchs-Schündeln, Nicola; Krueger, Dirk; Kurmann, André; Lalé, Etienne; Ludwig, Alexander; Popova, Irina |
| Abstract: | Using a structural life-cycle model and data on school visits from Safegraph and school closures from Burbio, we quantify the heterogeneous impact of school closures during the Corona crisis on children affected at different ages and coming from households with different parental characteristics. Our data suggests that secondary schools were closed for in-person learning for longer periods than elementary schools (implying that younger children experienced less school closures than older children), and that private schools experienced shorter closures than public schools, and schools in poorer U.S. counties experienced shorter school closures. We then extend the structural life cycle model of private and public schooling investments studied in Fuchs-Schündeln, Krueger, Ludwig, and Popova (2021) to include the choice of parents whether to send their children to private schools, empirically discipline it with data on parental investments from the PSID, and then feed into the model the school closure measures from our empirical analysis to quantify the long-run consequences of the Covid-19 school closures on the cohorts of children currently in school. Future earnings- and welfare losses are largest for children that started public secondary schools at the onset of the Covid-19 crisis. Comparing children from the topto children from the bottom quartile of the income distribution, welfare losses are ca. 0.8 percentage points larger for the poorer children if school closures were unrelated to income. Accounting for the longer school closures in richer counties reduces this gap by about 1/3. A policy intervention that extends schools by 3 months (6 weeks in the next two summers) generates significant welfare gains for the children and raises future tax revenues approximately sufficient to pay for the cost of this schooling expansion. |
| Keywords: | Covid-19,school closures,inequality,intergenerational persistence |
| JEL: | D15 D31 E24 I24 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:icirwp:4121&r= |
| By: | Roberto Bonfatti; Giovanni Facchini; Alexander Tarasov; Gian Luca Tedeschi; Cecilia Testa |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the role played by politics in shaping the Italian railway network, and its impact on long-run growth patterns. Examining a large state-planned railway expansion that took place during the second half of the 19th century in a recently unified country, we first study how both national and local political processes shaped the planned railway construction. Exploiting close elections, we show that a state-funded railway line is more likely to be planned for construction where the local representative is aligned with the government. Furthermore, the actual path followed by the railways was shaped by local pork-barreling, with towns supporting winning candidates more likely to see a railway crossing their territory. Finally, we explore the long-run effects of the network expansion on economic development. Employing population and economic censuses for the entire 20th century, we show that politics at a critical junction played a key role in explaning the long-run evolution of local economies. |
| Keywords: | Infractural Development, Political Economy |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:not:notgep:2021-06&r= |
| By: | A. Tidu; S. Usai; F. Guy |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to assess the extent of agglomeration processes across industries and along time within a regional economic system by means of a distance-based measure. Specifically, we compute Marcon & Puech's (2017) M for every industry in Sardinia in 2007 and 2012. This computation allows us to to assess the underlying patterns of agglomeration or dispersion throughout the Great Recession, through a study that is not limited to manufacturing activities but also covers service industries and other sectors. At the same time, this is the first tentative operationalization of M for an entire region, thanks to an approximation of plant addresses with the centroids of the municipalities where they are located. Such an approximation is aimed to reduce the computational intensity that has prevented M from being actually used for the study of the entire economic activity of areas larger than individual neighborhoods or cities. Preliminary evidence seems encouraging and suggests future developments in this direction. |
| Keywords: | sardinia;agglomeration;spatial methods;economic geography;distance-based measures |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cns:cnscwp:202110&r= |
| By: | Loïc Bonneval (Univ Lyon, Université Lumière Lyon 2, Centre Max Weber UMR 5283, F-69007 Lyon, France); Florence Goffette-Nagot (Univ Lyon, CNRS, GATE UMR 5824, F-69130 Ecully, France); Zhejin Zhao (Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China) |
| Abstract: | This paper reexamines the debated issue of the effects of rent control policy on the rental market. We investigate the impact on rents of three different forms of rent regulation in Lyon over a 78-years period. We use an original historical dataset which allows us to track regulation changes, rent paid and tenant moves for a long-run panel of flats. Using a difference-in-differences method, we estimate the impact of regulation on rents depending on the type of rent control over different economic periods. Our results show that the impact of rent control deepened over time. Starting with a 11% reduction in rents between 1914 and 1929, it reached a decrease by 47% in the regulated rental market in the 1949-1968 period. We do not find any increase in rents in the unregulated segment of the rental market, which could be a result of a reduction in housing investment in the long run. |
| Keywords: | Rent control; Housing policy; Difference-in-differences |
| JEL: | R38 N93 N94 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:2119&r= |
| By: | Sarah Cordes (Temple University); Samantha Trajkovski (Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University, 426 Eggers Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244); Christopher Rick (Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University, 426 Eggers Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244); Meryle Weinstein (New York University); Amy Ellen Schwartz (Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University, 426 Eggers Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244) |
| Abstract: | This article explores how researchers can use pupil transportation data to explore key questions about the role of transportation in educational access and equity, such as how students get to school and the effect of transportation on student outcomes. We first describe different sources of transportation data that are available to researchers, provide a brief review of relevant literature, and discuss potential sources of measurement error in pupil transportation data. Next, we use administrative data from New York City to illustrate how pupil transportation data can be used to understand transportation eligibility and assignment as well as to describe the characteristics of students’ commutes to school. For example, we find that not all students assigned for free transportation take it up. Specifically, although 47 percent of K-12 students in 2017 were eligible for pupil transportation based on distance with another 9 percent of students receiving exceptions, only 45 percent of students were assigned to a full-fare MetroCard, general education bus, or special education bus. Further, we find the average commute to school for walkers and bus riders is quite similar—around 30 minutes—although there is wide variation as some students experience very short or very long commutes. We end with a discussion of the importance of the institutional context when conducting research using pupil transportation data and best practices when using administrative data. |
| Keywords: | Education, Pupil Transportation, School Bus, Commuting |
| JEL: | I20 I24 I29 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:max:cprwps:243&r= |
| By: | Losacker, Sebastian (University Hannover); Hansmeier, Hendrik (Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI); Horbach, Jens (University of Applied Sciences Augsburg); Liefner, Ingo (University Hannover) |
| Abstract: | Environmental innovations make an important contribution to solving ecological and climate crises. Although these crises are global phenomena, the regional dimension plays a crucial role, as regions both provide the conditions for the development of environmental innovations and promote widespread use and diffusion. Against this background, this article has two objectives. Firstly, we critically review the state of research on regional determinants of environmental innovation. Secondly, based on these results, we develop an agenda for further research in regional studies that will help to better understand the geography of environmental innovation and to come up with useful region-specific policy recommendations. |
| Keywords: | environmental innovation; geography of innovation; sustainability transitions; regional development; geography of transitions |
| JEL: | O31 O33 Q55 R11 |
| Date: | 2021–12–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2021_015&r= |
| By: | Andreas Exner; Carla Weinzierl; Livia Cepoiu; Stephanie Arzberger; Clive L. Spash |
| Abstract: | Edible cities enable the public to harvest produce on public land, supported by public governance arrangements between city administrations and civil society. The main goal of such initiatives is to transform food systems. The project investigated edible cities by comparing cases in Austria, Germany and France. Impacts of edible city initiatives were assessed by expert interviews. The project aimed to generate policy knowledge on the process, outcomes, and good practices of edible city initiatives, which are potentially relevant for the Vienna Smart City strategy and its possible further development towards smart food and public spaces. Edible city initiatives that are jointly driven by the municipality and civil society actors are most promising with regard to citizen engagement, collective empowerment, and the transformation of urban food systems. To this end, all actors involved have to develop a shared vision of edible city, and implement it cautiously, though consistently and in a committed, participatory, and transparent way. This report outlines concrete policy recommendations for successfully transforming Vienna into an edible city. |
| Keywords: | governance arrangement, gardening, civil society, urban development |
| JEL: | Q18 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwsre:sre-disc-2021_09&r= |
| By: | Massimiliano Ferraresi (European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Ispra, Italy); Leonzio Rizzo (University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy and IEB, Barcelona, Spain.); Riccardo Secomandi (University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.) |
| Abstract: | It is widely recognized that politicians deliberately allocate goods and services just prior to the election, and road investments are arguably among the most visible infrastructure to influence voters. Using a comprehensive dataset on Italian municipalities over the period 2010-2015, we test whether investments in roads and transport services are affected by political manipulations close to elections using as independent variables the year-in-term dummies. We exploit the staggered time of local election to show, indeed, that investment spending on road and transport in the year before election is 30% higher than in the electoral year. Further analyses suggest that our results are more marked (i) in cities guided by a mayor who can run for re-election and (ii) in municipalities with a lower share of educated voters. We isolated the portion of the (exogenous) correlation between the probability of observing an accident and the amount of expenditure on road services that is induced by the political cycle by using the year-in-the-term dummies as instruments. We did not detect any relationship between the increase of investments in road services induced by the political cycle and the local need for road safety, as the probability of having an accident in local roads remained unchanged. Taken together, these findings suggest that politicians manipulate the budget only for re-electoral purposes. Therefore, it is needed a rule, binding visible expenditures, such as those on road services, of the year before the election, or allowing visible expenditures not to exceed those of the previous year within the mandate of the mayor. Such rules would let avoid or at least reduce the estimated inefficient spending by properly programming investment according to real needs and not to electoral convenience. |
| JEL: | D72 H12 H77 Z18 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipu:wpaper:107&r= |
| By: | Ferrara, Andreas (University of Pittsburgh); Testa, Patrick A. (Tulane University); Zhou, Liyang (University of Pittsburgh) |
| Abstract: | A common problem in applied research involves harmonizing geographic units across time or different levels of aggregation. One approach is to use “crosswalks†that associate factors located within some “origin†unit to different “reference†units based on relative areas. We develop an alternative approach based on relative population, accounting for heterogeneities in urbanization within counties. We construct population-based crosswalks for 1790 through 2020, mapping county-level data across U.S. Censuses as well as from counties to congressional districts. Using official Census data for congressional districts, we show that population-based weights outperform area-based ones in terms of similarity to official data |
| Keywords: | boundary harmonization; geographic crosswalks; spatial population distribution JEL Classification: R12, C18, C59 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:588&r= |
| By: | Hornung, Erik (University of Cologne); Schwerdt, Guido (University of Konstanz); Strazzeri, Maurizio (University of Bern) |
| Abstract: | We investigate how the intensity of Ramadan affects educational outcomes by exploiting spatio-temporal variation in annual fasting hours. Longer fasting hours are related to increases in student performance in a panel of TIMMS test scores (1995–2019) across Muslim countries but not other countries. Results are confirmed in a panel of PISA test scores (2003–2018) allowing within country-wave comparisons of Muslim to non-Muslim students across Europe. We provide evidence consistent with the hypothesis that a demanding Ramadan during adolescence affects educational performance by facilitating formation of social capital and social identity via increased religious participation and shared experiences among students. |
| Keywords: | Education, Religion, Religious Participation, Ramadan, Social Identity, Social Capital, PISA, TIMMS JEL Classification: I21, Z12, J24, O15 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:590&r= |
| By: | Pål Boug; Håvard Hungnes (Statistics Norway); Takamitsu Kurita |
| Abstract: | The recent boom in house prices in many countries during the Covid-19 pandemic and the possibility of household financial distress are of concern among some central banks. We revisit the empirical modelling of house prices and household debt with a policy-oriented perspective using Norwegian data over the last four decades within the cointegrated VAR model. Our findings suggest, in line with previous work, a long-run mutually reinforcing relationship between these financial magnitudes, and thus the potential for the build-up of financial instabilities and spillover effects to the real economy. Applying a control analysis, we find that both house prices and debt are controllable magnitudes to some pre-specified target levels through the mortgage interest rate, which enables the central bank to reduce large fluctuations and bubble tendencies in the housing market. The present control analysis thus provides some useful policy implications from empirically relevant representations of two important financial factors entering the decision process of the policy maker. |
| Keywords: | House prices; household debt; econometric modelling; cointegrated VAR; policy control analysis; simulation |
| JEL: | C32 C53 E52 R21 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:967&r= |
| By: | Jaison R. Abel; Jason Bram; Richard Deitz; Jonathan Hastings |
| Abstract: | Today we are launching a Regional Employment web interactive that gives users a convenient place to measure and analyze employment trends in the Federal Reserve’s Second District. The interactive features the New York Fed’s early benchmarked regional employment data, which anticipate revisions that are made to official preliminary data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics at a later date, and so tend to track employment trends more closely than initial monthly releases. The new interactive illustrates employment trends for more than twenty geographies in the region, including states and metropolitan areas, from the year 2000 to the latest available month. |
| Keywords: | Second District; regional employment; early benchmark |
| JEL: | R10 E24 |
| Date: | 2021–12–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fednls:93498&r= |
| By: | Nakamura, Ryota; Albanese, Andrea; Coombes, Emma; Suhrcke, Marc |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the impact of economic incentives on travel-related physical activity, leveraging the London Congestion Charge's disincentivising of sedentary travel modes via increasing the cost of private car use within Central London. The scheme imposes charges on most types of cars entering, exiting and operating within the Central London area, while individuals living inside the charging zone are eligible for a 90% reduction in congestion charges. Geographical location information provides the full-digit postcode data necessary to precisely identify the eligibility for the discount of participants in the London Travel Demand Survey for the period 2005-2011. Using a boundary regression-discontinuity design reveals a statistically significant but small impact on active commuting (i.e. cycling and walking) around the border of the charging zone. The effect is larger for lower-income households and car owners. The findings are robust against multiple specifications and validation tests. |
| Keywords: | economic incentive,health behaviour,London Congestion Charge,geographical information system,regression-discontinuity |
| JEL: | D04 I12 R48 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1006&r= |
| By: | de Barros, Andreas; Fajardo-Gonzalez, Johanna; Glewwe, Paul; Sankar, Ashwini |
| Abstract: | In a cluster-randomized trial, two treatment arms promoted activity-based instruction by providing teaching materials and teacher training. One of these arms also promoted community engagement through community-led student contests. A third arm remained untreated. After 13 months, the version without contests improved teaching quality and learning among girls. Both versions improved student attitudes towards math. Yet, the addition of contests—which are intended to put pressure on teachers to increase their students’ performance—worsened instructional quality (especially classroom culture), and we can rule out that the contests added even small improvements in learning. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:umaesp:316747&r= |
| By: | Beerli, Andreas; Indergand, Ronald; Kunz, Johannes S. |
| Abstract: | An important goal of immigration policy is to facilitate the entry of foreignborn workers whose skills are in short supply in national labor markets. In recent decades, information and communication technology [ICT] has fueled the demand for highly educated workers at the expense of lower educated groups. Exploiting the fact that different regions in Switzerland have been differentially exposed to ICT due to their pre-ICT industrial composition, we present evidence suggesting that more exposed regions experienced stronger ICT adoption, accompanied by considerably stronger growth in relative employment and wage-premia for college-educated workers. Following this change in the landscape of relative economic opportunities, we find robust evidence that these regions experienced a much stronger in ux of highly educated immigrants in absolute terms as well as relative to lower educated groups. Our results suggest that immigrants' location decisions respond strongly to these long-run, technology-driven changes in their economic opportunities. |
| Keywords: | immigrant sorting,international migration,skill-biased technical change,information and communication technology,skill supply |
| JEL: | F22 J61 J24 J31 J23 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:998&r= |
| By: | Coad, Alex; Srhoj, Stjepan |
| Abstract: | The Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (EE) approach makes specific predictions regarding how EE inputs are converted into high-growth firms (HGFs) as an output. A simulation model draws out our hypothesis of regional persistence in HGF shares. Based on intuitions that EEs are persistent, we investigate whether regional HGF shares are persistent, using census data for 2 European countries taken separately (Croatia for 2004-2019, and Slovenia for 2008-2014). Overall, there is no clear persistence in regional HGF shares - regions with large HGF shares in one period are not necessarily likely to have large HGF shares in the following period. This is a puzzle for EE theory. In fact, there seems to be more persistence in industry-level HGF shares than for regional HGF shares. We formulate a ‘broken clock’ critique - just as a broken clock is correct twice a day, EE recommendations may sometimes be correct, but are fundamentally flawed as long as time-changing outcomes (HGF shares) are predicted using time-invariant variables (such as local universities, institutions and infrastructure). |
| Keywords: | High-Growth Firms, Persistence, Regional Persistence; Entrepreneurial Ecosystems; Clusters; Sectoral Systems of Innovation |
| JEL: | L52 L78 M21 O38 |
| Date: | 2021–12–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:110991&r= |
| By: | Hans Bonesrønning; Henning Finseraas; Ines Hardoy; Jon Marius Vaag Iversen; Ole Henning Nyhus; Vibeke Opheim; Kari Vea Salvanes; Astrid Marie Jorde Sandsør; Pål Schøne |
| Abstract: | We report results from a large-scale, pre-registered randomized field experiment in 159 Norwegian schools over four years. The intervention includes students aged 7-9 and consists of pulling students from their regular mathematics classes into small, homogenous groups for mathematics instruction for 3 to 4 hours per week, for two periods of 4-6 weeks per school year. All students, not only struggling students, are pulled out. We find that students in treatment schools increased their performance in mathematics by .16 standard deviations at the end of the school year and by .06 standard deviations in national tests 1-2 years later, with no differential effect by pre-ability level or gender. Our study is particularly relevant for policy-makers seeking to use additional teaching resources to target a heterogeneous student population efficiently. |
| Keywords: | education economics, small group instruction, tutoring, tracking, class size, field experiment, intervention, randomized controlled trial, teacher-student ratio, mathematics instruction |
| JEL: | C93 H52 I21 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9443&r= |
| By: | Grönqvist, Erik (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); Öckert, Björn (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); Rosenqvist, Olof (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy) |
| Abstract: | Students in East-Asian countries consistently score in the top in international assessments. One possible explanation for this success is their use of ‘Lesson study’ to enhance teaching practices, but evidence on its effectiveness is still scant. We evaluate a national teacher development pro-gram in Sweden – the ‘Boost for Mathematics’ – containing core elements of Lesson study, in-cluding weekly peer group meetings with an external tutor for an entire academic year. Exploiting the gradual roll-out of the program across compulsory schools, we find that it improves teaching practices and boosts students’ mathematics performance. The positive effect on student performance persists also long after the intervention has ended. In addition, we show that the program passes a cost-benefit test. The educational strategies of Asian countries can, thus, be successfully modified and adapted to Western contexts by national policy. |
| Keywords: | Teacher development; Student performance; Mathematics; Lesson study |
| JEL: | I21 I28 J45 |
| Date: | 2021–12–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2021_022&r= |
| By: | Daniela, Antonescu |
| Abstract: | Under the conditions of frequent changes, of some edifying transformations and perpetual challenges, urban policy undergoes changes/adjustments/updates over certain time intervals. These changes generate increasingly more complex requirements that impose drafting a flexible multidisciplinary framework able to support the future development of a territory. In full debate-process, the new urban policy of Romania promotes sustainability, resilience and inclusive growth, on the background of a critical period under the dominance of the SARS-CoV2 pandemic. This new policy brings around the discussion table experts from relevant fields: decision factors, urbanists, economists, architects, citizens, civic initiative groups, etc. The national urban policy must address all categories of urban areas (defined as a city area considered as the inner city plus built-up environs, irrespective of local body administrative boundaries), being fundamental in implementing the goals set by the New EU Urban Agenda, approved in the framework of the Habitat III conference of the United Nations (2016) and the new provisions of the New Leipzig Charter (2020). Urban policy must ensure a single planning framework that would support the implementation of the programs and projects financed from European and national funds, preparing thus the financial exercise 2021-2027. Considering the above mentioned, the present paper aims to review the important and strategic elements of the future urban policy from Romania and its role in promoting and supporting balanced territorial development under the conditions of the SARS-CoV2 pandemic crisis which is far from over. |
| Keywords: | urban policy, regional development, territorial resilience, social cohesion, COVID-19 crisis. |
| JEL: | R12 R20 R23 R30 R38 R5 R51 R58 |
| Date: | 2021–11–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:111262&r= |
| By: | Elsby, Michael W. L. (University of Edinburgh); Smith, Jennifer C. (University of Warwick, CAGE, Migration Advisory Committee); Wadsworth, Jonathan (Royal Holloway University of London, Centre for Economic Performance at the LSE, CReAM at UCL and IZA Bonn) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the role of population flows on labour market dynamics across immigrant and native-born populations in the United Kingdom. Population flows are large, and cyclical, driven first by the maturation of baby boom cohorts in the 1980s, and latterly by immigration in the 2000s. New measures of labour market flows by migrant status uncover both the flow origins of disparities in the levels and cyclicalities of immigrant and native labour market outcomes, as well as their more recent convergence. A novel dynamic accounting framework reveals that population flows have played a nontrivial role in the volatility of labour markets among both the UK-born and, especially, immigrants. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, worker flows, labour market dynamics JEL Classification: E24, J6 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:593&r= |
| By: | Schaffner, Julie; Glewwe, Paul; Sharma, Uttam |
| Abstract: | Using a randomized control trial embedded within a mixed-methods evaluation, we find that an at-scale government teacher training program, of a common but seldom-evaluated form, has little or no impact on student learning. We then document five challenges that the policy’s design failed to address, related to: oversight of training sessions, school-level difficulties in releasing teachers for training (lack of substitute teachers), deficits in teachers’ subject knowledge, deficits in teachers’ post-training accountability and support, and students’ needs for differentiated instruction. We discuss implications for the literatures on teacher training program design and on good governance for public service provision. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Public Economics, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:umaesp:316663&r= |
| By: | Basteck, Christian; Mantovani, Marco |
| Abstract: | In school choice problems, the widely used manipulable Immediate Acceptance mechanism (IA) disadvantages unsophisticated applicants, but may ex-ante Pareto dominate any strategy-proof alternative. In these cases, it may be preferable to aid applicants within IA, rather than to abandon it. In a laboratory experiment, we first document a substantial gap in strategy choices and outcomes between subjects of higher and lower cognitive ability under IA. We then test whether disclosing information on past applications levels the playing field. The treatment is effective in partially reducing the gap between applicants of above- and below-median cognitive ability and in curbing ability segregation across schools, but may leave the least able applicants further behind. |
| Keywords: | laboratory experiment,school choice,immediate acceptance,strategy-proofness,cognitive ability,mechanism design |
| JEL: | C78 C91 D82 I24 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:wzbmbh:spii2021203&r= |
| By: | Åslund, Olof (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); Bratu, Cristina (Aalto University); Lombardi, Stefano (VATT Institute for Economic Research); Thoresson, Anna (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy) |
| Abstract: | We study the role of firm productivity in explaining earnings disparities between immigrants and natives using population-wide matched employer-employee data from Sweden. We find substantial earnings returns to working in firms with higher persistent productivity, with greater gains for immigrants from non-Western countries. Moreover, the pass-through of within-firm productivity variation to earnings is stronger for immigrants in low-productive, immigrant-dense firms. But immigrant workers are underrepresented in high-productive firms and less likely to move up the productivity distribution. Thus, sorting into less productive firms decreases earnings in poor-performing immigrant groups that would gain the most from working in high-productive firms. |
| Keywords: | Firm productivity; Immigrant-native earnings gaps; Wage inequality |
| JEL: | J15 J31 J62 |
| Date: | 2021–12–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2021_018&r= |
| By: | Gabriella Conti (University College London); Stavros Poupakis (University College London); Peter Ekamper (Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute); Govert Bijwaard (Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute); L. H. Lumey (Columbia University Medical Center) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates impacts, mechanisms and selection effects of prenatal exposure to multiple shocks, by exploiting the unique natural experiment of the Dutch Hunger Winter. At the end of World War II, a famine occurred abruptly in the Western Netherlands (November 1944 - May 1945), pushing the previously and subsequently well-nourished Dutch population to the brink of starvation. We link high-quality military recruits data with objective health measurements for the cohorts born in the years surrounding WWII with newly digitised historical records on calories and nutrient composition of the war rations, daily temperature, and warfare deaths. Using difference-in-differences and triple differences research designs, we show that the cohorts exposed to the Dutch Hunger Winter since early gestation have a higher Body Mass Index and an increased probability of being overweight at age 18, and that this effect is partly accounted for by warfare exposure and a reduction in energy-adjusted protein intake. Moreover, we account for selective mortality using a copula-based approach and newly-digitised data on survival rates, and find evidence of both selection and scarring effects. These results emphasise the complexity of the mechanisms at play in studying the consequences of early conditions. |
| Keywords: | fetal origins hypothesis, famine, prenatal exposure |
| JEL: | I10 J13 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2021-056&r= |
| By: | Štěpán Mikula (Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Administration, Masaryk University); Josef Montag (Department of Economics, Faculty of Law, Charles University) |
| Abstract: | This paper tests for discriminatory treatment of the Roma minority by public officials in the Czech Republic. Our focus is on public servants at local job centers whose job is to advise unemployed individuals and process applications for unemployment benefit. Our experimental design facilitates testing for the presence of each of two key (but intertwined) drivers of discrimination: ethnic animus and socioeconomic status prejudice. We find substantial evidence for the presence of discrimination based on both of these sources. Since Roma tend to have lower socioeconomic status, the two sources of discrimination compound for them. |
| Keywords: | Discrimination, Roma, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, public services, social security, field experiment. |
| JEL: | J15 D73 H55 |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mub:wpaper:2022-01&r= |
| By: | Fumarco, Luca; Vandromme, Alessandro; Halewyck, Levi; Moens, Eline; Baert, Stijn |
| Abstract: | We are the first to estimate the impact of relative age (i.e., the difference in classmates' ages) on both speed and quality of individuals' transition from education to the labour market. Moreover, we are the first to explore whether and how this impact passes through characteristics of students' educational career. We use rich data pertaining to schooling and to labour market outcomes one year after graduation to conduct instrumental variables analyses. We find that a one-year increase in relative age increases the likelihood of (i) being employed then by 3.5 percentage points, (ii) having a permanent contract by 5.1 percentage points, and (iii) having full-time employment by 6.5 percentage points. These relative age effects are partly mediated by intermediate outcomes such as having had a schooling delay at the age of sixteen or taking on student jobs. The final mediator is particularly notable as no earlier studies examined relative age effects on student employment.We are the first to estimate the impact of relative age (i.e., the difference in classmates' ages) on both speed and quality of individuals' transition from education to the labour market. Moreover, we are the first to explore whether and how this impact passes through characteristics of students' educational career. We use rich data pertaining to schooling and to labour market outcomes one year after graduation to conduct instrumental variables analyses. We find that a one-year increase in relative age increases the likelihood of (i) being employed then by 3.5 percentage points, (ii) having a permanent contract by 5.1 percentage points, and (iii) having full-time employment by 6.5 percentage points. These relative age effects are partly mediated by intermediate outcomes such as having had a schooling delay at the age of sixteen or taking on student jobs. The final mediator is particularly notable as no earlier studies examined relative age effects on student employment. |
| Keywords: | relative age,school starting age,labour market transition |
| JEL: | I21 J23 J24 J6 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1010&r= |
| By: | Barbosa, Daniel AC (PUC-Rio, Brazil); Fetzer, Thiemo (University of Warwick); Soto, Caterina (London School of Economics); Souza, Pedro CL (Queen Mary University) |
| Abstract: | We provide experimental evidence that monitoring of the police activity through body-worn cameras reduces use-of-force, handcuffs and arrests, and enhances criminal reporting. Stronger treatment effects occur on events classified ex-ante of low seriousness. Monitoring effects are moderated by officer rank, which is consistent with a career concern motive by junior officers. Overall, results show that the use of body-worn cameras de-escalates conflicts. |
| Keywords: | police citizen interaction, use-of-force, technology, field experiment JEL Classification: C93, D73, D74 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:581&r= |
| By: | Martin Popp |
| Abstract: | Economists increasingly refer to monopsony power to reconcile the absence of negative employment effects of minimum wages with theory. However, systematic evidence for the monopsony argument is scarce. In this paper, I perform a comprehensive test of monopsony theory by using labor market concentration as a proxy for monopsony power. Labor market concentration turns out substantial in Germany. Absent wage floors, a 10 percent increase in labor market concentration makes firms reduce wages by 0.5 percent and employment by 1.6 percent, reflecting monopsonistic exploitation. In line with perfect competition, sectoral minimum wages lead to negative employment effects in slightly concentrated labor markets. This effect weakens with increasing concentration and, ultimately, becomes positive in highly concentrated or monopsonistic markets. Overall, the results lend empirical support to the monopsony argument, implying that conventional minimum wage effects on employment conceal heterogeneity across market forms. |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2111.13692&r= |
| By: | Marta Silva (Banco de Portugal); Jose Garcia-Louzao (Bank of Lithuania) |
| Abstract: | The use of social contacts in the labor market is widespread. This paper investigates the impact of personal connections on hiring probabilities and re-employment outcomes of displaced workers in Portugal. We rely on rich matched employer-employee data to define personal connections that arise from interactions at the workplace. Our empirical strategy exploits firm closures to select workers who are exogenously forced to search for a new job and leverages variation across displaced workers with direct connections to prospective employers. The hiring analysis indicates that displaced workers with a direct link to a firm through a former coworker are roughly three times more likely to be hired compared to workers displaced from the same closing event who lack such a tie. However, we find that the effect varies according to the type of connection as well as firms’ similarity. Finally, we show that successful displaced workers with a connection in the hiring firm have higher entry-level wages and enjoy greater job security although these advantages disappear over time. |
| Keywords: | Job Displacement, Coworker Networks, Re-Employment |
| JEL: | J23 J63 L14 |
| Date: | 2021–11–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lie:wpaper:95&r= |
| By: | Martin Halla; Christopher Kah (Department of Economic Theory, Policy and History, University of Innsbruck); Rupert Sausgruber |
| Abstract: | To test for ethnic discrimination in access to outpatient health care services, we carry out an email-correspondence study in Germany. We approach 3,224 physician offices in the 79 largest cities in Germany with fictitious appointment requests and randomized patients’ characteristics. We find that patients’ ethnicity, as signaled by distinct Turkish versus German names, does not affect whether they receive an appointment or wait time. In contrast, patients with private insurance are 31 percent more likely to receive an appointment. Holding a private insurance also increases the likelihood of receiving a response and reduces the wait time. This suggests that physicians use leeway to prioritize privately insured patients to enhance their earnings, but they do not discriminate persons of Turkish origin based on taste. Still, their behavior creates means-based barriers for economically disadvantaged groups |
| Keywords: | Discrimination, immigrants, ethnicity, health care markets, health insurance, inequality, correspondence experiment, field experiment |
| JEL: | I11 J15 I14 I18 H51 C93 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jku:econwp:2021-15&r= |
| By: | Raouf Boucekkine (ESC Rennes School of Business); Giorgio Fabbri (GAEL - Laboratoire d'Economie Appliquée de Grenoble - Grenoble INP - Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes); Salvatore Federico (Universita degli studi di Genova); Fausto Gozzi (LUISS - Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli [Roma]) |
| Abstract: | We construct a spatiotemporal frame for the study of spatial economic and ecological patterns generated by transboundary pollution. Space is continuous and polluting emissions originate in the intensity of use of the production input. Pollution flows across locations following a diffusion process. The objective functional of the economy is to set the optimal production policy over time and space to maximize welfare from consumption, taking into account a negative local pollution externality and the diffusive nature of pollution. Our framework allows for space and time dependent preferences and productivity, and does not restrict diffusion speed to be space-independent. Accordingly, we develop a methodology to investigate the environmental and economic implications of spatiotemporal heterogeneity. We propose a method for an analytical characterization of the optimal paths. An application to technological spillovers is proposed for illustration. We focus on the determination of the optimal short-term spatiotemporal dynamics induced by the resulting non-autonomous problems. |
| Keywords: | Transboundary pollution,spatiotemporal modeling,geographic heterogeneity,infinite dimensional optimal control,optimal spatiotemporal short-term dynamics |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03463547&r= |
| By: | M. Delogu; D. Paolini; G. Atzeni; LG Deidda |
| Abstract: | We analyze the effects of migration allowing for endogenous labor supply in a standard two-region model with monopolistically competitive producers and love for variety. We find that the welfare effects of migration depend on firms' market power in the final good markets. If market power is sufficiently high, migration of low-skill individuals positively affects the welfare of native high skill individuals in the destination region, while low skill individuals are unaffected. Natives of the origin region are always better off, irrespective of their skills. Differently, if market power is sufficiently low, low skill migration makes both high and low individuals native of the destination region better off. |
| Keywords: | Welfare Analysis;Monopolistic Competition;migration;Labor Supply |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cns:cnscwp:202111&r= |
| By: | Peter Fuleky (UHERO and Department of Economics, University of Hawai'i at Manoa); Istvan Szapudi (Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawai'i at Manoa,) |
| Abstract: | COVID-19 dealt a formidable blow to the US economy. We present a joint analysis of the epidemiological and labor market outcomes across US states. We focus on the relationship across relevant indicators in the pre-vaccination era. As expected, we find strong correlation between changes in economic conditions and mobility. However, mobility fluctuations tend to be uncorrelated with local epidemics and occur simultaneously across most states. The magnitude of the mobility response is highly correlated with the rural vs. urban character of the area. Employment losses are most strongly associated with high population density and concentration of the leisure and hospitality industry. The relationship between job losses and the case fatality ratio is affected by the timing of the most severe COVID-19 waves. |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hae:wpaper:2021-5&r= |
| By: | Mr. Junghwan Mok; Andrea Deghi; Tomohiro Tsuruga |
| Abstract: | The COVID-19 pandemic crisis has severely shocked the commercial real estate (CRE) sector, which could have important implications for macro-financial stability going forward because of the large size of the sector and its strong interconnectedness with the real economy. Using a novel methodology, this paper quantifies vulnerabilities in the CRE sector and analyzes policy tools available to mitigate related risks. The analysis shows that CRE prices were overvalued in several major advanced economies in 2020:Q1. It also shows that such price misalignments increase the likelihood of future price corrections and exacerbate downside risks to future GDP growth. While the path of recovery in the sector will depend inherently on the pace of overall economic recovery and the structural shifts induced by the pandemic, easy financial conditions may contribute to an increase in financial vulnerabilities and persistent price misalignment. Macroprudential policy can, however, be effective in curbing the financial stability risks posed by the CRE sector. |
| Keywords: | Commercial Real Estate; Asset Prices; Growth-at-Risk; Panel Quantile Regression; Macroprudential Policy |
| Date: | 2021–11–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2021/264&r= |
| By: | F. Cerina; M. Nieddu; A. Caria |
| Abstract: | Using a rich database on local politicians in Italian municipalities between 1985 and 1992, we implement a regression-discontinuity analysis to evaluate the causal effect of monetary incentives on the characteristics of politicians in local parliamentary systems. We find that higher expected wages result in more educated member of the local council (+0.8 years of schooling), but not in more educated mayors. While low-wage councils tend to elect mayors who are on average 1.5 years more educated than the mean councillor, this difference vanishes in high-wage councils. This finding is not solely explained by a ceiling effect, as council-elected mayors turn up being less educated in high-wage than in low-wage councils (-0.9 years). Our results highlight that the positive impacts of monetary incentives can be undone or even reversed in the parliamentary stage of the election process. More generally, they suggest that the effects of monetary incentives are not invariant across different institutional setting. |
| Keywords: | Political Selection;Parliamentary System;Monetary Incentives;Local Politicians |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cns:cnscwp:202109&r= |
| By: | Jorge González Chapela; Sergi Jiménez-Martín; Judith Vall Castello |
| Abstract: | We exploit a child labor regulation that raised the minimum working age from 14 to 16 while leaving the age for compulsory education at 14 to provide new evidence on the causal effect of education on migration. Individuals born at the beginning of the year are more likely to complete compulsory and post-compulsory education if they turn 14 after the reform. Men’s internal migration flows were unaffected by the reform. For women, long-distance migration and the distance moved by migrants declined after the reform, whereas certain types of short-distance moves increased. Some implications of these findings and a consideration of their external validity are also provided. |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdaeee:eee2021-34&r= |
| By: | Filippo Santi; Giorgia Giovannetti; Margherita Velucchi |
| Abstract: | We use the instruments of the social network analysis to revisit the relationship between international migration and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows in the period between 2000 and 2015. Applying a multilevel mixed estimator inspired to the gravity literature, we test how and to what extent the structure of the international migrants’ network contributes to bilateral FDI flows. We find that the inclusion of network level statistics exposes a much larger degree of complexity in the relationship between international migration and investments. Testing the assumption that migrants networks act as preferential channel for information with their homeland, we find evidence that a more diverse immigrant community in investing countries could “perturb†the flow of information at bilateral level, de facto translating into lower bilateral FDI |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2021_17.rdf&r= |
| By: | Fuad Hasanov; Reda Cherif; Jyrki Ali-Yrkkö; Natalia Kuosmanen; Mika Pajarinen |
| Abstract: | Do workers hired from superstar tech-firms contribute to better firm performance? To address this question, we analyze the effects of tacit knowledge spillovers from Nokia in the context of a quasi-natural experiment in Finland, the closure of Nokia’s mobile device division in 2014 and the massive labor movement it implied. We apply a two-stage difference-in-differences approach with heterogeneous treatment to estimate the causal effects of hiring former Nokia employees. Our results provide new evidence supporting the positive causal role of former Nokia workers on firm performance. The evidence of the positive spillovers on firms is particularly strong in terms of employment and value added. |
| Keywords: | human capital, employment, value added, Nokia, difference-in-differences, heterogeneous treatment, knowledge spillovers, superstar firms.; superstar tech-firm; spillover effect; Nokia employee; superstar firm; effects from Nokia; Spillovers; Employment; Labor productivity; Positive spillovers; Human capital; Global |
| Date: | 2021–10–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2021/258&r= |
| By: | Daudin, Guillaume; Héricourt, Jérôme; Patureau, Lise |
| Abstract: | International transport costs do have an additive part. How large is it? Does it matter? This paper provides new answers to these questions. Using information contained in the US imports flows from 1974 to 2019, we develop an empirical model that disentangles the ad-valorem and the additive components of international transport costs. The per-unit component of transport costs represents a sizeable share of total transport costs, between 30% and 45% depending on the year and the transport mode considered. We then investigate the important consequences of additive costs, under two different perspectives. First, modelling varying additive costs modifies the decomposition of transport costs time trend between the reduction in “pure†transport costs and trade composition effects, the latter playing a minor role. Second, we revisit the welfare gains of the transport cost reduction in presence of additive costs. In this regard, we shed light on the welfare variations induced by the international trade acceleration and the “hyper-globalization†, as well as the key role of additive transport costs in determining those welfare variations. Neglecting the additive component substantially underestimates the welfare gains of the transport cost decrease. |
| Keywords: | Transport costs estimates, non-linear econometrics, period 1974-2019, additive costs, trade composition effects, gains from trade |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpm:docweb:2203&r= |
| By: | Pike, Susan; Handy, Susan |
| Abstract: | The California Department of Transportation set a goal of doubling walking and transit use and tripling bicycling in the state between 2010 and 2020. However, the most recent comprehensive travel surveys, the 2012 California Household Travel Survey (CHTS) and the California results from the 2017 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS), suggest that the state is moving in the wrong direction. These surveys seemed to show that a smaller share of trips were made by walking or biking in 2017 than in 2012, while private vehicle mode share increased. It is unclear whether the decline represents real changes stemming from various demographic or other factors or is instead related to methodological differences between the two surveys. Researchers at the University of California, Davis used the publicly available 2012 CHTS and 2017 NHTS California add-on data to examine the impact of methodological differences on the changes in mode shares over this five-year period and conducted a preliminary investigation into the role of demographic and other factors in these changes. This policy brief summarizes the findings from that research and provides policy implications. View the NCST Project Webpage |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences, Bicycling, Data preparation, Modal shift, Modal split, Travel behavior, Walking |
| Date: | 2021–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsdav:qt5cw6c5f5&r= |