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on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Juan S. MUNOZ-MORALES (IESEG School of Management, Univ. Lille, CNRS, UMR 9221 - LEM - Lille Économie Management, F-59000 Lille, France); Ruchi SINGH (University of Georgia) |
| Abstract: | This paper exploits the exogenous timing of mass shootings in schools to estimate the causal effects of school shootings on housing values and sheds light on the underlying mechanism. Using a difference-in-differences strategy, we find that house prices within a school district decline by seven percent after a school shooting, with stronger effects among houses with more bedrooms (proxy for school-age children in household). We also find evidence of a decrease in school enrollment and the number of teachers after the shooting. This suggests that decreased demand for schools within the affected school districts explains the drop in property prices |
| Keywords: | : Mass shooting, house prices, schooling amenities, crime |
| JEL: | I21 R21 |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ies:wpaper:e202111&r= |
| By: | Francisco Amaral; Martin Dohmen; Sebastian Kohl; Moritz Schularick |
| Abstract: | We study long-term returns on residential real estate in twenty-seven “superstar” cities in fifteen countries over 150 years. We find that total returns in superstar cities are close to 100 basis points lower per year than in the rest of the country. House prices tend to grow faster in the superstars, but rent returns are substantially greater outside the big agglomerations, resulting in higher long-run total returns. The excess returns outside the superstars can be rationalized as a compensation for risk, especially for higher co-variance with income growth and lower liquidity. Superstar real estate is comparatively safe. |
| Keywords: | housing returns; housing risk; superstar cities; regional housing markets |
| JEL: | G10 G12 N90 R21 R31 |
| Date: | 2021–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fednsr:93542&r= |
| By: | William Gamber; James Graham; Anirudh Yadav |
| Abstract: | The COVID-19 pandemic induced an increase in both the amount of time that households spend at home and the share of expenditures allocated to at-home consumption. These changes coincided with a period of rapidly rising house prices. We interpret these facts as the result of stay-at-home shocks that increase demand for goods consumed at home as well as the homes that those goods are consumed in. We first test the hypothesis empirically using US cross-county panel data and instrumental variables regressions. We find that counties where households spent more time at home experienced faster increases in house prices. We then study various pandemic shocks using a heterogeneous agent model with general equilibrium in housing markets. Stay-at-home shocks explain around half of the increase in model house prices in 2020. Lower mortgage rates explain around one third of the price rise, while unemployment shocks and fiscal stimulus have relatively small effects on house prices. We find that young households and first-time home buyers account for much of the increase in housing demand during the pandemic, but they are largely crowded out of the housing market by the equilibrium rise in house prices. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, Pandemic, Stay at Home, Housing, House Prices, Consumption, Mortgage Interest Rates, Unemployment, Fiscal Stimulus |
| JEL: | E21 E32 E60 E62 E65 R21 R30 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:camaaa:2021-97&r= |
| By: | Allison McKie; Jeffrey Terziev; Brian Gill |
| Abstract: | This study examined the impacts of structured relationship-building teacher home visits conducted in grades 1–5 as part of a family engagement program in the District of Columbia Public Schools. |
| Keywords: | academic achievement, attendance, behavior problems, data analysis, expulsion, family school relationship, home school relationship, home visits, impact evaluation, statistical analysis, suspension |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:59d973eb3a2c408280509c5700486b62&r= |
| By: | Dennis Epple; Francisco Martinez-Mora; Richard Romano |
| Abstract: | We model charter school entry and choice of educational practices. Student achievement depends on cognitive ability, motivation, effort, and match of school curriculum to ability. Exercising charter school autonomy over curriculum, to maximize achievement gains, the charter sets curriculum to attract the highest ability students. Achievement gains are modest, consistent with empirical evidence. We next investigate a no-excuses charter that not only chooses curriculum but also enforces an effort minimum. Consistent with the evidence, highly motivated students select into the charter, achievement gains are large, and the largest gains accrue to those who would be lower performers in public school. |
| JEL: | I21 I24 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29529&r= |
| By: | Michael Gilraine; Nolan G. Pope |
| Abstract: | Teacher value-added (VA) measures how teachers improve their students' contemporaneous test scores. Many teachers, however, argue that contemporaneous test scores are a poor proxy for their permanent influence on students. This paper considers a new VA measure -- 'long-run VA' -- that captures teachers' contributions that persist by replacing contemporaneous test scores with subsequent test scores in VA estimation. We find that students assigned to high long-run VA teachers fare substantially better in terms of long-term outcomes. Policy simulations indicate that the use of long-run VA improves policy effectiveness by a factor of two compared to traditional VA measures. |
| JEL: | I20 J24 J45 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29555&r= |
| By: | Rainald Borck; Niklas Gohl |
| Abstract: | We use a quantitative spatial equilibrium model to evaluate the distributional and welfare impacts of a recent temporary rent control policy in Berlin, Germany. We calibrate the model to key features of Berlin’s housing market, in particular the recent gentrification of inner city locations. As expected, gentrification benefits rich homeowners, while poor renter households lose. Our counterfactual analysis mimicks the rent control policy. We find that this policy reduces welfare for rich and poor households and in fact, the percentage change in welfare is largest for the poorest households. We also study alternative affordable housing policies such as subsidies and re-zoning policies, which are better suited to address the adverse consequences of gentrification. |
| Keywords: | rent control, housing market, gentrification |
| JEL: | R00 R21 R30 R31 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9454&r= |
| By: | Borges Ferreira Neto, Amir; Nowicki, Jennifer; Shakya, Shishir |
| Abstract: | We examine the relationship between public libraries and local crime rates. Previous studies have looked at different factors that could account for changes in crime, but few have focused on cultural institutions as a primary factor. Using crime data from the Crime Open Database and library data from the Public Library Survey, we leverage the geolocation of crimes and libraries and explore opening a new public library branch in Kansas City, MO. We use a difference-in-difference strategy. Our results show that public library may reduce crime within its nearby proximity. In particular, we find within the nearby proximity of the library a substantial reduction of burglary, vandalism, robbery, fraud, and assault. However, such effects vanish in the distant proximity of the library. |
| Keywords: | crime, public library, geolocation, cultural institutions, Kansas City |
| JEL: | R12 Z19 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:111073&r= |
| By: | Mastrorocco, Nicola (Trinity College Dublin); Ornaghi, Arianna (Hertie School) |
| Abstract: | Do U.S. municipal police departments respond to news coverage of local crime? We address this question exploiting an exogenous shock to local crime reporting induced by acquisitions of local TV stations by a large broadcast group, Sinclair. Using a unique dataset of 8.5 million news stories and a triple differences design, we document that Sinclair acquisitions decrease news coverage of local crime. This matters for policing: municipalities that experience the change in news coverage have lower violent crime clearance rates relative to municipalities that do not. The result is consistent with a decrease of crime salience in the public opinion. |
| Keywords: | Police ; Local News ; Clearance Rates ; Sinclair JEL Classification: K42 ; D73 ; |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:wqapec:09&r= |
| By: | Persyn, Damiaan |
| Abstract: | I consider a RUM model for migration where destination countries or regions are viewed as collections of ‘opportunities’ which are the fundamental units of choice for migrants. The best opportunity for a prospective migrant is more likely to be found in a destination that has many and diverse opportunities. Recent contributions in economics studying migration rather consider entire regions or countries as the fundamental, atomistic, units of choice. The key role of the size of destinations and the diversity within them is therefore often not fully recognised, which may lead to biased inference. I argue that the coefficient on size equals 1 in the ideal RUM model. This is also required for the gravity model for migration to have some intuitive properties: only then migration flows scale proportionally when aggregating destinations, and there is zero net migration between otherwise similar regions of different size. Models omitting size or using a coefficient on size different from 1 violate these properties. Imposing proportional scaling also has implications for how different sets of opportunities should be combined. The approach is showcased in a study of internal migration and urbanisation in Ethiopia. |
| Keywords: | migration, regional economics, spatial modelling, gravity equations, discrete choice |
| JEL: | C25 F2 R23 |
| Date: | 2021–12–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:111064&r= |
| By: | Holmlund, Helena (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); Lindahl, Erica (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); Roman, Sara (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy) |
| Abstract: | We investigate whether exposure to immigrant peers at school affects natives’ future interactions with ethnic minorities. Identification is based on variation in immigrant exposure across cohorts within school catchment areas in Sweden. We document that natives respond to immigrants by changing school and develop an IV strategy that accounts for such endogenous responses. Our results show that minority exposure at the extensive margin increases the probability that natives form inter-ethnic romantic partnerships, which is suggestive of altered preferences for interacting with immigrants. We also find that minority exposure affects women’s educational choices and family formation decisions in a family-oriented direction. |
| Keywords: | contact hypothesis; peer effects; intermarriage |
| JEL: | I20 J12 J15 |
| Date: | 2021–11–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2021_016&r= |
| By: | Samuel Berlinski (Inter-American Development Bank and IZA); Matias Busso (Inter-American Development Bank); Michele Giannola (Università di Napoli Federico II, CSEF and the Institute for Fiscal Studies.) |
| Abstract: | We exploit the randomized evaluation of a remedying education intervention that improved the reading skills of low-performing third grade students in Colombia, to study whether providing educational support to low-achieving students affects the academic performance of their higher- achieving classmates. We find that the test scores of non-treated children in treatment schools increased by 0.108 of a standard deviation compared to similar children in control schools. We interpret the reduced-form effect on higher-achieving students as a spillover effect within treated schools. We then estimate a linear-in-means model of peer effects, finding that a one-standard-deviation increase in peers’ contemporaneous achievement increases individual test scores by 0.679 of a standard deviation. We rule out alternative explanations coming from a reduction in class size. We explore several mechanisms, including teachers’ effort, students’ misbehavior, and peer-to-peer interactions. Our findings show that policies aimed at improving the bottom of the achievement distribution have the potential to generate social-multiplier effects that benefit all. |
| Keywords: | peer effects; remedying education. |
| JEL: | D62 I21 I25 J01 |
| Date: | 2022–01–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sef:csefwp:634&r= |
| By: | Cathrin Söllner (CRIE - Centre for Regional and Innovation Economics, University of Bremen) |
| Abstract: | Collaboration is an important factor for regional economic growth. Still, the literature lacks explanations why some regions collaborate more or less than expected. The present paper proposes regional culture as influencing factor, being region-specific and connected to interactive activities. Estimations are based on a sample of 155,019 collaborative patents from 134 European NUTS-2 regions. Data on regional culture was extracted from the European Values Study. Results reveal that regional culture has a significant effect on the collaboration likelihood. This influence differs due to the various dimensions of regional culture. |
| Keywords: | collaboration propensity, regional culture, Hofstede, EU-regions, patents |
| JEL: | F00 O43 R11 |
| Date: | 2022–01–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2022-001&r= |
| By: | Svaleryd, Helena; Vlachos, Jonas |
| Abstract: | To reduce the spread of COVID-19, schools closed to an unprecedented degree in the spring of 2020. To varying extent, students have moved between in-person and remote learning up until the spring of 2021. This chapter surveys the literature on the implications of school closures of primary to upper-secondary schools for virus transmission, student learning, and mental health among children and adolescents in high-income countries. Subject to severe methodological challenges, most studies indicate that the initial school closures at least to some extent contributed to a reduction of virus transmission. However, several studies find that schools could reopen safely, especially when substantial within-school preventive measures were implemented and the general level of transmission was moderate. Student age also matters and keeping schools open for younger students contributes less to overall virus transmission. Most studies find that students learned less and that learning inequalities widened when school closed. These patterns are particularly pronounced for younger students who face more challenges adjusting to remote instruction. Essentially nothing can be said concerning the implications for vocational training. High-quality evidence on the impact on mental health is scarce and the results are mixed, but there are some indications that older students coped better with school closures also in this regard. On balance, closing schools for younger students is less well-motivated than for older students. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19,Mental health,School closures,Student achievement,Virus transmission |
| JEL: | I12 I21 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1008&r= |
| By: | Dhaniel Ilyas (Institute for Economic and Social Research, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia (LPEM FEB UI)) |
| Abstract: | Using micro commuting data in 2015, I estimate travel demand of Denpasar greater area. Motorcycle and car are still more preferred greatly compare to public transport. Faster travel time are the most important factor that drive the use of motorcycle and car in Denpasar greater area. Younger people seems to use the public transport more, including the Trans Sarbagita BRT. An incentive in pricing for older group of people and improving the bus scheduling might help increase the use of public transport. |
| Keywords: | Denpasar — Indonesia — travel demand — transportation |
| JEL: | R22 R41 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lpe:wpaper:202166&r= |
| By: | Remi Jedwab (George Washington University); Marina Gindelsky (Bureau of Economic Analysis) |
| Abstract: | In the historical literature, cities of the Industrial Revolution are portrayed as having a demographic penalty: killer cities with high death rates and industrious cities with low birth rates. To econometrically test this, we construct a novel data set of almost 2,000 crude demographic rates for 142 large cities in 35 countries for 1700-1950. Mortality actually decreased faster than fertility during the Industrial Revolution era and rates of natural increase rose in the cities of industrializing countries, especially large cities. This implies a declining, not rising, demographic penalty thanks to the Industrial Revolution. To explain the puzzle, we posit that negative health and industriousness effects of industrial urbanization might have been outweighed by positive effects of increased income and life expectancy. |
| Keywords: | Urban Demographic Penalty; Killer Cities; Industrious Cities; Mortality; Fertility; Natural Increase; Industrial Revolution; Urban Growth |
| JEL: | N90 N30 N10 R00 J10 |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gwi:wpaper:2022-01&r= |
| By: | Giovanni Calabro'; Andrea Araldo; Simon Oh; Ravi Seshadri; Giuseppe Inturri; Moshe Ben-Akiva |
| Abstract: | In most cities, transit consists of fixed-route transportation only, whence the inherent limited Quality of Service for travellers in sub-urban areas and during off-peak periods. On the other hand, completely replacing fixed-route with demand-responsive (DR) transit would imply huge operational cost. It is still unclear how to ingrate DR transportation into current transit systems to take full advantage of it. We propose a Continuous Approximation model of a transit system that gets the best from fixed-route and DR transit. Our model allows to decide, in each area and time of day, whether to deploy a fixed-route or a DR feeder, and to redesign line frequencies and stop spacing of the main trunk service accordingly. Since such a transit design can adapt to the spatial and temporal variation of the demand, we call it Adaptive Transit. Our numerical results show that Adaptive Transit significantly improves user cost, particularly in suburban areas, where access time is remarkably reduced, with only a limited increase of agency cost. We believe our methodology can assist in planning future-generation transit systems, able to improve urban mobility by appropriately combining fixed and DR transportation. |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2112.14748&r= |
| By: | Castro, Juan F.; Glewwe, Paul; Heredia-Mayo, Alexandra; Montero, Ricardo |
| Abstract: | We evaluate the impact of a large-scale teacher coaching program, in a context of high teacher turnover, on teachers’ pedagogical skills. Previous studies find that small-scale coaching programs can improve teaching of reading and science in developing countries. However, scaling up can reduce programs’ effectiveness, and teacher turnover can erode compliance and cause spillovers onto non-program schools. We develop a framework that defines different treatment effects when teacher turnover is present, and explains which effects can be estimated. We evaluate a Peruvian teacher coaching program, exploiting random assignment of that program’s expansion to 3,795 rural schools in 2016. After two years, teachers assigned to the program increased their aggregate pedagogical skills by 0.20 standard deviations. The program also increased student learning, and the schools whose teachers’ pedagogical skills increase the most are also the schools with the highest increases in learning, indicating that pedagogical skills are one mechanism linking teacher coaching to student learning. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:umaesp:316662&r= |
| By: | Bracco, Emanuele (Universita di Verona); Liberini, Federica (University of Bath); Lockwood, Ben (University of Warwick); Porcelli, Francesco (ESRC CAGE Centre & Universita di Bari); Redoano, Michela (University of Warwick); Sgroi, Daniel (University of Warwick, IZA & ESRC CAGE Centre) |
| Abstract: | Italy became one nation only relatively recently and as such there remains significant regional variation in trust in government and society (so-called “social capital”) as well as in language and diet. In an experiment conducted across three Italian cities we exploit variation in family background generated through internal migration and make use of novel measures of social capital, language and diet to develop a new index of cultural heritage. Our new index predicts social capital, while self-reported identity does not. The missing link between the past and current identity seems to come through grandparents (especially maternal grandmothers) who have a strong role in developing the cultural identity of their grandchildren. |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:wqapec:01&r= |
| By: | Giuseppe Simone |
| Abstract: | Large cities are a key driver of technological innovation and economic growth. This paper investigates the developments of Italian metropolitan areas, building on insights from economic geography and innovation studies. The key questions to be investigated are the following: a) Which trajectories of population and economic change can be identified for Italian metropolitan areas? Are we facing a process of economic and technological polarisation that may worsen the country’s imbalances? b) What is the role played in such developments by technological and structural change, and in particular by digital technologies and the rise of finance? The empirical analysis investigates the patterns of technological and economic indicators for the period 2000-2018 for 14 Italian metropolitan areas – proxied by their provinces -, providing evidence of growing polarisation between Milan, where most positive developments are concentrated, and the other metropolitan zones. Rome has been losing ground in most fields; Venice and Genoa are characterised by industrial decline. Few mid-sized cities show some economic dynamism – including Bologna and Cagliari - while most southern and insular Italian cities increase their gap relative to the performances of leading metropolitan areas. |
| Keywords: | urban economics, statistical methods, economic polarization, metropolitan areas, divergence. |
| JEL: | C10 O14 R11 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usi:wpaper:865&r= |
| By: | Bo Zhao |
| Abstract: | States use local-option taxes to promote local revenue diversification and improve local fiscal health. However, many sub-state governments wait a long time before adopting local-option taxes or do not adopt them at all, which seems puzzling or even irrational upon first glance. This paper uses the local-option meals tax in Massachusetts as a case study to examine the factors that affect the timing of local adoptions. It finds significant positive results for adoption by neighboring municipalities, which are robust to a variety of specifications, neighbor definitions, and weighting matrices. The adoption hazard also increases if a municipality faces greater fiscal stress, such as being more constrained by a property tax limitation or receiving a larger cut in state aid. In addition, the form of local government, size of the meals tax base, and ability to export the tax to non-residents are important factors. |
| Keywords: | hazard model; fiscal stress; policy diffusion; local-option tax; yardstick competition |
| JEL: | C41 H71 H73 H77 R50 |
| Date: | 2021–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedbwp:93550&r= |
| By: | Mike Gilraine; Jiaying Gu; Robert McMillan |
| Abstract: | We propose a nonparametric approach for studying the impacts of teachers, built around the distribution of unobserved teacher value-added. Rather than assuming this distribution is normal (as standard), we show it is nonparametrically identified and can be feasibly estimated. The distribution is central to a new nonparametric estimator for individual teacher value-added that we present, and allows us to compute new metrics for assessing teacher-related policies. Simulations indicate our nonparametric approach performs very well, even in moderately-sized samples. We also show applying our approach in practice can make a significant difference to teacher-relevant policy calculations, compared with widely-used parametric estimates. |
| Keywords: | Teacher Impacts, Teacher Value-Added, Value-Added Distribution, Nonparametric Estimation, Empirical Bayes, Education Policy, Teacher Release Policy, False Discovery Rate |
| JEL: | C11 H75 I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2022–01–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tor:tecipa:tecipa-716&r= |
| By: | Paul Gregg (University of Bath); Ricky Kanabar (University of Bath) |
| Abstract: | The rapid widening of intergenerational wealth inequalities has led to sharp differences in living standards in Great Britain. Understanding which components of wealth are driving such inequalities is important for improving wealth and social mobility. Using the Wealth and Assets Survey we show the change in the intergenerational persistence in wealth in Great Britain is driven by inequality in offspring housing wealth. We estimate between 2010/12-2016/18 the intergenerational wealth elasticity in housing increased by 18 percentage points for individuals born to the same parental wealth background but born six years apart, and that offspring homeownership has become increasingly stratified by parental wealth even after controlling for individual's own characteristics. We show by age 35 homeownership levels are three times higher among offspring whose parents are high educated homeowners compared to those whose parents are from a low educated renter background. In terms of housing wealth, by age 35 the former group holds approximately ten-times the level of housing wealth compared to the latter. We show such differences in housing wealth hold across the lifecycle and if maintained imply the intergenerational wealth elasticity in housing wealth is set to double in approximately one century. Taken together, our findings highlight the increasingly important role parental wealth has for determining whether offspring hold and the rate at which they accumulate particular types of wealth, and the implications for intergenerational wealth persistence, wealth mobility and inequality now and in the future. |
| Keywords: | Wealth, Housing, Inequality, intergenerational mobility, Great Britain. |
| JEL: | D31 D63 I24 |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucl:cepeow:22-01&r= |
| By: | Philipp Gareis; Tom Broekel; |
| Abstract: | The paper contributes to the literature investigating students’ spatial mobility. By focusing on German higher education students with a novel dataset providing data from 1999 to 2015, we evaluate the impact of the change from a one-tiered to the two-tiered study structure of bachelor and master degrees (Bologna reform) on their inter-regional mobility and its underlying drivers. Our analysis confirms the system change to slightly alter inter-regional mobility of students. However, differences distinguish between different fields of study and universities und universities of applied sciences and indicate that the German higher education system is fairly resilient in its allocation of students. A Bologna-Drain of students moving from rural to urban regions to study master programs, can partially be confirmed for students of business studies. Our results reject the idea of (low) tuition fees discouraging students from enrolling in specific locations. |
| Keywords: | student mobility, Germany, Bologna, higher education |
| JEL: | I23 I25 R12 |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2201&r= |
| By: | Monteiro, Stein |
| Abstract: | Immigration from poorer source countries is larger than from richer countries, so that poor country immigrants have greater exposure to co-ethnics, leading to fewer incentives to learn the local culture and assimilate. In this paper, the exposure channel through which source country richness affects assimilating immigration is modelled through neighbour-hood location choices and incentives to learn the local culture in the host country. Two equilibrium outcomes are identified, in which, there is either only assimilating immigration in at least one neighbourhood of the host country (sorting equilibrium) when immigration is from a rich source country, or there is some non-assimilating immigration in all neighbourhoods (mixed equilibrium) when immigration is from a poor source country. The presence of this exposure channel is tested using data from the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants in Canada: waves 1-3. Learning, rather than sorting into co-ethnic communities, is the main factor operating in the exposure channel between source country richness and assimilating immigration. |
| Keywords: | Cultural Assimilation; Language Proficiency; Pre-immigration Experience; Ethnic Enclaves; Sorting; Exposure |
| JEL: | J61 Z1 |
| Date: | 2021–06–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:110997&r= |
| By: | Nobuo Kobayashi (School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University); Takeshi Mori (Nomura Research Institute) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents an analysis of factors that promote and suppress the regional start-up activities of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) in Japan, based on the Digital Capability Index (DCI). The results showed that rapid progress in the digitization of public services and local residents f high ICT skills were factors that promoted KIBS start-ups. In addition, the results revealed that the establishment of a high-speed information and communication environment in the region has promoted T-KIBS startups, which utilize the Internet. Regarding factors not included in the DCI, the results showed a positive effect of the concentration of human resources and business establishments in metropolitan areas, which was in line with the findings of previous studies. In contrast, the start-up rates of T-KIBS were high in areas where the ratios of day and night populations were low. This finding suggests that although the main customers of T-KIBS are companies in metropolitan areas, such as Tokyo and Osaka, they locate their offices in the suburbs, where commercial rents are lower than in urban areas. |
| Keywords: | Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS), Digital Capability Index (DCI), start-up activity |
| JEL: | L26 L84 L86 R30 |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kgu:wpaper:234&r= |
| By: | Di Ao; Zhijie Lai; Sen Li |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how autonomous vehicles (AV) affect passengers, for-hire human drivers, and the platform on a ride-sourcing network. We consider a ride-sourcing market where a mixture of AVs and human drivers is deployed by the platform to provide mobility-on-demand services under labor regulations. In this market, the ride-sourcing platform determines the spatial prices, fleet size, human driver payments, and vehicle relocation strategies to maximize its profit, while individual passengers choose between different transport modes to minimize their travel costs. A market equilibrium model is proposed to capture the interactions among passengers, human drivers, AVs, and the ride-sourcing platform over the network. The overall problem is formulated as a non-convex program with network constraints, and an algorithm is developed to derive its approximate solution with performance guarantee. Our study shows that ride-sourcing platform prioritizes AV deployment in high-demand areas to make a higher profit. As AVs flood into these high-demand areas, they compete with human drivers in the urban core and push them to relocate to suburbs. This leads to reduced earning opportunities for human drivers and increased spatial inequity for passengers. We also show that placing a wage floor may protect drivers from the negative impact of AVs, and meanwhile the total vehicle supply and passenger demand are almost unaffected. However, there exists a threshold beyond which the minimum wage will trigger a paradigm shift of labor supply where the platform will completely replace all human drivers with AVs. This indicates that the minimum wage should be carefully designed in the mixed environment to avoid the loss of job opportunities for human drivers. These results are validated with realistic case studies for San Francisco. |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2112.07218&r= |
| By: | Bracco, Emanuele (Universita di Verona); Liberini, Federica (University of Bath); Lockwood, Ben (University of Warwick); Porcelli, Francesco (ESRC CAGE Centre & Universita di Bari); Redoano, Michela (University of Warwick); Sgroi, Daniel (University of Warwick, IZA & ESRC CAGE Centre) |
| Abstract: | This paper makes three contributions. First, it presents a theoretical analysis of how social capital, formalized as trust in politicians, impacts on government performance and turnover, employing a political agency model with both moral hazard and adverse selection. Second, it presents novel measures of both local government performance and on social capital at the Italian municipality level, using administrative data and an online survey respectively. Third, empirical results are consistent with the main predictions of the theory; higher social capital improves both the discipline and selection effects of elections (performance both in the first and final terms in office), but also increases turnover of incumbent mayors. |
| Keywords: | Social Capital ; Voting ; Elections ; Government Efficiency JEL Classification: H41 ; H72 ; D72 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:wqapec:04&r= |
| By: | Labonne, Claire (Federal Reserve Bank of Boston); McCann, Fergal (Central Bank of Ireland); O'Malley, Terry (Udemy, inc.) |
| Abstract: | How do banks design mortgage modifications when under regulatory expectation to issue them widely and quickly? Who do they allocate modifications to, and how deep are repayment cuts? How many modified loans end up re-defaulting? A large-scale Irish program allows us to tackle these questions using household- and loan-level data from 2012 to 2016. We show that the issuance of permanent modifications is not uniform across the credit risk distribution: those with a moderate ability to repay are more likely to receive a modification than those in deepest financial difficulty. Repayment cuts however are more generous as repayment capacity weakens, as long as borrowers have some surplus income available to service debt. Finally, deeper repayment cuts and lower payment-to-income ratios lower redefault rates, confirming prior evidence on the importance of liquidity for mortgage distress. |
| Keywords: | Mortgage Default, Mortgage Modification |
| JEL: | G21 G28 G51 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbi:wpaper:6/rt/21&r= |
| By: | Mengoli, Stefano; Pagano, Marco; Pattitoni, Pierpaolo |
| Abstract: | Retail investors pay over twice as much attention to local companies than non-local ones, based on Google searches. News volume and volatility amplify this attention gap. Attention appears causally related to perceived proximity: first, acquisition by a nonlocal company is associated with less attention by locals, and more by nonlocals close to the acquirer; second, COVID-19 travel restrictions correlate with a drop in relative attention to nonlocal companies, especially in locations with fewer flights after the outbreak. Finally, local attention predicts volatility, bid-ask spreads and nonlocal attention, not viceversa. These findings are consistent with local investors having an information-processing advantage. |
| Keywords: | attention,retail investors,local investors,distance,news,liquidity,volatility |
| JEL: | D83 G11 G12 G14 G50 L86 R32 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cfswop:671&r= |
| By: | Jingwen Tan; Shixi Kang |
| Abstract: | While the size of China's mobile population continues to expand, the fertility rate is significantly lower than the stable generation replacement level of the population, and the structural imbalance of human resource supply has attracted widespread attention. This paper uses LPM and Probit models to estimate the impact of house prices on the fertility intentions of the mobile population based on data from the 2018 National Mobile Population Dynamics Monitoring Survey. The lagged land sales price is used as an instrumental variable of house price to mitigate the potential endogeneity problem. The results show that for every 100\% increase in the ratio of house price to household income of mobile population, the fertility intention of the female mobile population of working age at the inflow location will decrease by 4.42\%, and the marginal effect of relative house price on labor force fertility intention is EXP(-0.222); the sensitivity of mobile population fertility intention to house price is affected by the moderating effect of infrastructure construction at the inflow location. The willingness to have children in the inflow area is higher for female migrants of working age with lower age, smaller family size and higher education. Based on the above findings, the study attempts to provide a new practical perspective for the mainline institutional change and balanced economic development in China's economic transition phase. |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2112.07273&r= |
| By: | Bartolini, Stefano; O’Connor, Kelsey J. |
| Abstract: | Schools are ripe for policy intervention. We demonstrate that implementing different teaching practices is effective, finding a greater prevalence of group discussion used in schools positively affects students’ life satisfaction and noncognitive skills but has no impact on test scores. The benefits do not apply to girls, however, unless they attend all-girl schools. These findings are based on a sample from the 2015 PISA which includes more than 35 thousand students from approximately 1500 schools in 14 countries or regions. We perform regressions of student life satisfaction on the prevalence of group discussion and lecturing used in their school, including a battery of individual, teacher, and school controls, as well as random intercepts by school. For robustness we use instrumental variables and methods to account for school-selection. The average impact of group discussion is not small – a one standard deviation leads to an increase in life satisfaction that is about one-half of the negative association with grade repetition. On the other hand, more or less lecturing does not affect life satisfaction, noncognitive skills, nor test scores. We conclude that teaching practices – group discussion – can be used to improve student life satisfaction, thereby likely positively affecting future economic outcomes and well-being. |
| Keywords: | subjective well-being,teaching,teaching practices,non-cognitive skills,education,PISA,participatory teaching,vertical teaching,horizontal teaching |
| JEL: | I21 I31 J24 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1009&r= |
| By: | Li, Shiyuan; Hao, Miao |
| Abstract: | Based on the analysis of provincial-level data from 2001 to 2015, we find that regional inequality in China is not optimistic. Whether artificial intelligence, as a major technological change, will improve or worsen regional inequality is worthy of researching. We divide regional inequality into two dimensions: production and consumption, a total of three indicators. The empirical research is carried out to the eastern, central and western regions respectively. It is found that industrial intelligence improves the inequality of residents’ consumer welfare among regions, while at the same time there is the possibility of worsening regional inequality of innovation. We also clarify the heterogeneity of the mechanisms that artificial intelligence promotes innovation in different regions. |
| Keywords: | Artificial Intelligence; Regional Inequality; Innovation; Purchasing Power |
| JEL: | L25 O32 |
| Date: | 2021–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:110973&r= |
| By: | Alan J. Auerbach; Yuriy Gorodnichenko; Peter McCrory; Daniel Murphy |
| Abstract: | In response to the record-breaking COVID19 recession, many governments have adopted unprecedented fiscal stimuli. While countercyclical fiscal policy is effective in fighting conventional recessions, little is known about the effectiveness of fiscal policy in the current environment with widespread shelter-in-place (“lockdown”) policies and the associated considerable limits on economic activity. Using detailed regional variation in economic conditions, lockdown policies, and U.S. government spending, we document that the effects of government spending were stronger during the peak of the pandemic recession, but only in cities that were not subject to strong stay-at-home orders. We examine mechanisms that can account for our evidence and place our findings in the context of other recent evidence from microdata. |
| JEL: | E32 E62 H3 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29531&r= |
| By: | Ritika Jain; Shreya Biswas |
| Abstract: | This study examines the relationship between road infrastructure and crime rate in rural India using a nationally representative survey. On the one hand, building roads in villages may increase connectivity, boost employment, and lead to better living standards, reducing criminal activities. On the other hand, if the benefits of roads are non-uniformly distributed among villagers, it may lead to higher inequality and possibly higher crime. We empirically test the relationship using the two waves of the Indian Human Development Survey. We use an instrumental variable estimation strategy and observe that building roads in rural parts of India has reduced crime. The findings are robust to relaxing the strict instrument exogeneity condition and using alternate measures. On exploring the pathways, we find that improved street lighting, better public bus services and higher employment are a few of the direct potential channels through which road infrastructure impedes crime. We also find a negative association between villages with roads and various types of inequality measures confirming the broad economic benefits of roads. Our study also highlights that the negative impact of roads on crime is more pronounced in states with weaker institutions and higher income inequality. |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2112.07314&r= |
| By: | Vicente Rios (Universita degli Studi di Milano); Beatriz Manotas-Hidalgo (Universidad Publica de Navarra); Lisa Gianmoena |
| Abstract: | This study examines the link between spatial income inequality and civil conflict in Africa. To that end, we extend traditional empirical models of conflict to account for both endogenous and exogenous spatial interaction effects in the process of conflict by means of modern spatial econometric techniques. Using a geographically disaggregated annual high-resolution cell data for a sample of African countries during the period 1998 to 2013, we quantify the effect of spatial inequality on the probability of conflict incidence. Estimates show the existence of a positive and statistically signicant relationship between spatial income inequality and conflict in African regions. This is partly due to the role played by spatial spillovers induced by spatial inequality in neighboring regions. The observed link is robust to the inclusion in the analysis of different explanatory variables that may affect both conflict and spatial inequality such as the level of economic development, the endowment of natural resources, infrastructures, geographical conditions, population density, fractionalization, polarization, socialexclusion, or the share of urban population. The observed positive effect does not depend on the level of data disaggregation, the type of conflict, the spatial inequality metric used in the analysis and the econometric specification employed to capture the nature of spatial spillovers. |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nav:ecupna:2110&r= |
| By: | Aron, Janine; Muellbauer, John |
| Abstract: | Excess mortality is a more robust measure than the counts of COVID19 deaths typically used in epidemiological and spatial studies. Measurement issues around excess mortality, considering data quality and comparability both internationally and within the U.S., are surveyed. This paper is the first statelevel spatial analysis of cumulative excess mortality for the U.S. in the first full year of the pandemic. There is strong evidence that, given appropriate controls, states with higher Democrat vote shares experienced lower excess mortality (consistent with county level studies of COVID19 deaths). Important demographic and socioeconomic controls from a broad set tested were racial composition, age structure, population density, poverty, income, temperature, and timing of arrival of the pandemic. Interaction effects suggest the Democrat vote share effect of reducing mortality was even greater in states where the pandemic arrived early. Omitting political allegiance leads to a significant underestimation of the mortality disparities for minority populations. |
| Keywords: | Excess Mortality, COVID-19, Spatial Analysis, US States, Political Polarization |
| JEL: | I14 I18 J11 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:amz:wpaper:2021-24&r= |
| By: | Cattan, Sarah (Institute for Fiscal Studies, London); Conti, Gabriella (University College London); Farquharson, Christine (Institute for Fiscal Studies, London); Ginja, Rita (University of Bergen); Pecher, Maud (Institute for Fiscal Studies, London) |
| Abstract: | We evaluate the short- and medium-term health impacts of Sure Start, a large-scale and universal early childhood program in England. We exploit the rollout of the program and implement a difference-in-difference approach, combining data on the exact location and opening date of Sure Start centers with administrative data on the universe of admissions to public-sector hospitals. Exposure to an additional Sure Start center per thousand age-eligible children increases hospitalization by 10% at age 1 (around 6,700 hospitalizations per year), but reduces them by 8-9% across ages 11 to 15 (around 13,150 hospitalizations per year). These findings show that early childhood programs that are less intensive than small-scale 'model programs' can deliver significant health benefits, even in contexts with universal healthcare. Impacts are driven by hospitalizations for preventable conditions and are concentrated in disadvantaged areas, suggesting that enriching early childhood environments might be a successful strategy to reduce inequalities in health. |
| Keywords: | health, early childhood intervention, difference-in-difference |
| JEL: | I10 I14 I18 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14868&r= |
| By: | James Mabli; Martha Bleeker; Mary Kay Fox; Betina Jean-Louis; Marlene Fox |
| Abstract: | This article estimates the effect of Healthy Harlem's Get Fit—a 12-week after-school program aimed at helping students improve physical activity and eating habits—on BMI and weight status of adolescents. |
| Keywords: | high school, middle school, obese, overweight, randomized controlled trial |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:ff43eb73b0d74398af9e2ceb214fc24e&r= |
| By: | Daniel Osuna Gómez |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the impact of the capture of leaders of criminal organizations on the labor market in municipalities where these organizations operated between 2004 and 2006. The difference-in-difference analysis compares different employment outcomes in cartel locations and the rest, before and after the capture of cartel leaders. The results show that captures caused a decrease in nominal wages and paid employment in cartel municipalities. Using Economic Census Data, I find that captures also caused a fall in the number of establishments and had a negative impact on other establishment outcomes. This document focuses exclusively on the impact of the capture of leaders of criminal organizations on the labor market until 2011 without studying other possible consequences, and thus does not make an integral assessment of this policy. |
| JEL: | J20 J48 K42 O17 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdm:wpaper:2021-19&r= |
| By: | Toman Barsbai; Andreas Steinmayr; Christoph Winter |
| Abstract: | We analyze how economic conditions at the time of arrival affect the economic integration of family-sponsored migrants in the U.S. Our identification strategy exploits long waiting times for family-sponsored immigration visas that decouple the migration decision from economic conditions at the time of arrival. A one pp higher unemployment rate at arrival decreases annual wage income by four percent in the short run and two percent in the longer run. The loss in wage income is the result of substantial occupational downgrading, lower hourly wages, and a reduction in working hours. Family migrants who immigrate into a recession draw on migrant and family networks to mitigate the negative labor market effects. As a result, they take up occupations with higher concentrations of fellow countrypeople. They are also more likely to reside with family members, potentially reducing their geographical mobility. |
| Keywords: | Immigrant integration, family reunification, migrant networks, labor market, business cycle |
| JEL: | E32 F22 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inn:wpaper:2022-01&r= |
| By: | Geraci, Andrea; Nardotto, Mattia; Reggiani, Tommaso (Cardiff Business School); Sabatini, Fabio |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of broadband penetration on social capital in the UK. Our empirical strategy exploits a technological feature of the telecommunication infrastructure that generated substantial variation in the quality of Internet access across households. The speed of a domestic connection rapidly decays with the distance of a userÕs line from the networkÕs node serving the area. Merging information on the topology of the network with geocoded longitudinal data about individual social capital from 1997 to 2017, we show that access to fast Internet caused a significant decline in civic and political engagement. Overall, our results suggest that broadband penetration crowded out several dimensions of social capital. |
| Keywords: | ICT, broadband infrastructure, networks, Internet, social capital, civic capital. |
| JEL: | D91 L82 Z13 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdf:wpaper:2021/32&r= |
| By: | Bethany Millar-Powell; Bert Brys; Pierce O’Reilly; Yannic Rehm; Alastair Thomas |
| Abstract: | This paper measures the effective taxation of housing investments in 40 OECD member and partner countries. The paper derives both Marginal Effective Tax Rates (METRs) and Average Effective Tax Rates (AETRs), which incorporate the stream of income and taxes over the life of the housing investment. The methodology is applied to owner-occupied and rented residential property for investments that are financed with debt or equity. The paper finds that the level and components of housing taxation depend greatly on the investment scenario. Effective tax rates vary substantially depending on the holding period, rate of return, tenure (owner-occupied or rented), financing scenario, and the inflation rate. Effective tax rates do not vary much with the taxpayer’s income and wealth or with the rate of return. The paper finds there is scope to reduce the tax differential between different investment scenarios and strengthen progressivity and horizontal equity. |
| JEL: | H2 |
| Date: | 2022–01–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ctpaaa:56-en&r= |
| By: | Gabriel Loumeau; Christian Stettler |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the equilibrium effects of local fiscal autonomy accounting for benefits from self-determination. It proposes a quantifiable structural equilibrium framework in which imperfectly mobile heterogeneous households sort themselves across jurisdictions under endogenous public good provision. We calibrate the framework to fit the economic and geographic characteristics of the Canton of Bern using household-level data. In particular, we exploit quasi-natural policy variation in voting rights to quantify benefits from self-determination, and employ machine learning methods to accurately represent the local political process. We find that restricting local fiscal autonomy decreases welfare for (almost) all households. |
| Keywords: | fiscal autonomy, self-determination, decentralization, household, equilibrium, quasi-natural variation |
| JEL: | H71 H77 R51 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9445&r= |
| By: | Touria Jaaidane (Université de Lille, CNRS, IESEG School of Management, UMR 9221 LEM, Lille Economie Management, F-59000 Lille, France, and Université Paris 2, CRED); Sophie Larribeau (Univ Rennes, CNRS, CREM - UMR 6211, F-35000 Rennes, France) |
| Abstract: | We address the issue of a Leviathan behavior in French municipalities' public personnel expenditures in a context of inter-municipal cooperation (IMC) and investigate whether mayors' partisanship is likely to alter it. We consider a large panel dataset of municipalities embedded in IMC structures between 2011 and 2018. This recent period witnessed a decrease in the grant from the central government implemented to curb the increasing trend of local public expenditures, although no binding budgetary rules fall on municipalities. Our main results, obtained using an original identication strategy, are threefold. We rst nd evidence of a substitution eect between municipal and IMC personnel expenditures revealing that rationalization is operating. Second, we nd a partisan alignment through the grant allocation: despite its formula-based denition, municipalities aligned with the central government receive more than those which are unaligned. Third, we show that cuts in grants lead to cuts in municipalities' public wage bills, while partisanship hinders such cuts. |
| Keywords: | Public nance, Local governments, Inter-municipal cooperation, Inter-governmental transfers, Partisanship, Instrumental variables |
| JEL: | D78 H70 H72 C23 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tut:cremwp:2021-04&r= |
| By: | Miriam Juárez-Torres; Jonathan Puigvert |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the effects of tropical cyclones on the economic activity of establishments in the manufacturing and service sectors in Mexico. The analysis relies on panel data that combines establishment-level economic activity with municipal-level exposure to tropical cyclones on a monthly basis to estimate an augmented distributed lag model. Results show that, after a tropical cyclone, the average manufacturing establishment experiences a short-term and small negative effect on production growth. For establishments in the service sector, the effect is small and negative on revenue growth, while positive, higher in magnitude, and more persistent on growth of operative expenditures. The disaggregated data allows for the analysis of the heterogeneity of the effects between manufacturing and services sectors. |
| JEL: | Q54 Q51 L60 O12 O14 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdm:wpaper:2021-24&r= |
| By: | Subuhi Asheer; Susan Zief; Ruth Neild |
| Abstract: | This study explores the program elements and practices that, when used together, improved academic outcomes for New Heights participants and define a possible roadmap for service providers interested in replicating the program’s success. |
| Keywords: | New Heights, education, students |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:0954dc30aaf54c1897f4c55ad2aaa806&r= |
| By: | Katja Seidel |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the concrete post-school decision of school students whether to study or to enter the German VET system. It focuses on the investigation of individual risk preferences and the social background of individuals, and the effect on the ultimate decision to enrol in university or to start an apprenticeship, given the same level of qualification. For the empirical approach, the German SOEP is used, and information on individuals’ educational decisions between 2007 and 2013 is considered. The results indicate that (i) individual risk preferences do not have an overall effect on the real transition and are not conditional on the academic background of parents; (ii) privileged individuals are more likely to take up higher education; and (iii) even when parents without an academic background support their children during school, they are less likely to guide their children into tertiary education. |
| Keywords: | Educational decision, risk preferences, uncertainty, social classes, family background |
| JEL: | D81 I24 J24 |
| Date: | 2021–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lue:wpaper:398&r= |
| By: | Helene Laurent (University of Namur); Marc Sangnier; Carole Treibich |
| Abstract: | We use a simple model of drivers’ vigilance effort choice to show that drivers’ propensity to follow traffic rules has two opposite effects on road safety. On the one hand, it lowers the frequency of dangerous situations. On the other hand, it also reduces drivers’ vigilance effort as each driver anticipates that dangerous situations will be less frequent. These two opposite effects may lead to a non-monotonic relationship between compliance with road rules and the incidence of road traffic accidents. We present cross-country estimates that support the existence of a bellshaped relationship between norms of compliance with rules and traffic fatalities. |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nam:defipp:2103&r= |
| By: | Stephen Lipscomb; Forest Crigler; Duncan Chaplin |
| Abstract: | This research brief describes how local education agencies in Pennsylvania responded to an unprecedented public health emergency and other challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic during the 2020–2021 school year. |
| Keywords: | Pennsylvania, in-person learning, hybrid learning, remote learning, synchronous instruction, students with disabilities, Internet, supports, COVID-19, well-being, safety |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:c381fc86e70044bc80230e88c70b5e08&r= |
| By: | Shifa Taslim Chowdhury; Mohammad Nur Nobi; Anm Moinul Islam |
| Abstract: | The creative Education system is one of the effective education systems in many countries like Finland, Denmark, and South Korea. Bangladesh Government has also launched the creative curriculum system in 2009 in both primary and secondary levels, where changes have been made in educational contents and exam question patterns. These changes in the previous curriculum aimed to avoid memorization and less creativity and increase the students' level of understanding and critical thinking. Though the Government has taken these steps, the quality of the educational system in Bangladesh is still deteriorating. Since the curriculum has been changed recently, this policy issue got massive attention of the people because the problem of a substandard education system has arisen. Many students have poor performances in examinations, including entrance hall exams in universities and board examinations. This deteriorating situation is mostly for leakage of question paper, inadequate equipment and materials, and insufficient training. As a result, the existing education system has failed to provide the standard level of education. This research will discuss and find why this creative educational system is getting impacted by these factors. It will be qualitative research. A systematic questionnaire will interview different school teachers, parents, experts, and students. |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2112.13842&r= |
| By: | Nauli A. Desdiani (Institute for Economic and Social Research, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia (LPEM FEB UI)); Fachry Abdul Razak Afifi (Institute for Economic and Social Research, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia (LPEM FEB UI)); Amalia Cesarina (Institute for Economic and Social Research, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia (LPEM FEB UI)); Syahda Sabrina (Institute for Economic and Social Research, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia (LPEM FEB UI)); Meila Husna (Institute for Economic and Social Research, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia (LPEM FEB UI)); Rosalia Marcha Violeta (Institute for Economic and Social Research, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia (LPEM FEB UI)); Adho Adinegoro (Institute for Economic and Social Research, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia (LPEM FEB UI)); Alin Halimatussadiah (Institute for Economic and Social Research, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Indonesia (LPEM FEB UI)) |
| Abstract: | The establishment of national climate policy targets has forced the local government to set ambitious climate goals supporting the national government to achieve its proposed target. Besides low awareness of climate change and environmental risk impacts, the biggest challenge faced by the local governments to exert climate actions lies in the financing of the programs. This paper aims to analyze the current local government budget on climate and environmental activities and identify available potential financing sources to finance local government climate and environmental initiatives. We found that the local budget allocation for environmental spending increased from 1% in 2016 to 3% in 2020, yet it is still relatively low and insufficient for achieving the climate target. With a limited budget, local governments must find additional potential financing sources for financing their climate actions. Through case study analysis, insights from several regions that have gained harness of potential from various climate and environmental financing initiatives to overcome environmental issues in their areas and reach climate and environmental goals were attained. To address local budget shortages problem for climate and environmental activities, several strategies for the local government are proposed: (1) optimizing and improving the quality of spending from intergovernmental fiscal transfer; (2) adopting Climate Budget Tagging (CBT); (3) increasing local-own source revenue from natural resource and environmental based activities; (4) valuing regencies and/or cities with high ecological value with more fiscal support through TAPE and TAKE schemes; (5) optimizing the role of SOEs and private sectors through CSR and PPP; (6) optimizing multilateral financing; and (7) utilizing other financings from the central government such as through environmental fund management agency (BPDLH), disaster pooling fund, ICCTF, and SDGs Indonesia One. |
| Keywords: | climate change — environmental risk — climate and environmental financing — local budget |
| JEL: | H72 Q54 R11 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lpe:wpaper:202167&r= |
| By: | Frédéric Dobruszkes; Christian Vandermotten |
| Abstract: | Investigating the determinants of air traffic has become somewhat commonplace. However, previous papers have neglected to distinguish between domestic and international markets and to think about spatial units. This paper examines the factors of passenger air traffic for the whole world and considers both national and sub-national units. The study finds that the relevant factors partially diverge between domestic and international markets. It also appears that it is more valuable to consider sub-national spatial units than countries, notwithstanding econometric results. Indeed, the geography of residuals is much richer by sub-national units, while national units clearly mask centre-periphery patterns and/or significant disparities within large countries. |
| Keywords: | Air services; Aviation; Air transport geography; Spatial units |
| Date: | 2022–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulb:ulbeco:2013/336304&r= |
| By: | Rangel González Erick; Irving Llamosas-Rosas |
| Abstract: | This document presents an alternative to measure informal economic activity at the municipal level for the 2013-2020 period in Mexico. Using satellite images of nightlight and microdata from the 2019 Economic Census, the formal and informal Value Added at the municipal level is estimated using a modified version of the model proposed by Tanaka and Keola (2017). Although there are some measurements in Mexico of informal economic activity, these are not available at the municipal level or on an annual basis. The results indicate that at the national level, most of the municipalities show decreases in their levels of informal activity during the 2013-2019 period, with the North and North central regions concentrating a higher proportion of these, while in the Center the majority of the municipalities remained unchanged in the percentage of informal Value Added. In contrast, an important part of the Southern municipalities registered increases in the percentage of their informal activity during the same period. |
| JEL: | E01 E26 C53 C55 O54 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdm:wpaper:2021-18&r= |
| By: | Sauro Mocetti (Bank of Italy); Lucia Rizzica (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | Organized crime affects the socio-economic development of the areas in which it is rooted through a multiplicity of channels. However, analysing these effects is difficult, largely because it is extremely hard to observe and thus confidently measure the extent of mafia presence in a given area. On the basis of the most recent economic literature and with the aid of new information sources, this paper (i) analyses the spread of organized crime in Italy; (ii) describes the institutional environment that may have favoured the birth of mafias and their subsequent spread beyond traditional borders; (iii) examines the impact on economic growth and the different channels through which these effects occur. |
| Keywords: | organized crime, institutions, economic growth, North-South divide |
| JEL: | K42 O17 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_661_21&r= |
| By: | Martinez-Iriarte, Julian; Montes-Rojas, Gabriel; Sun, Yixiao |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes an extension of the unconditional quantile regression analysis to (i) location-scale shifts, and (ii) compensated shifts. The first case is intended to study a counterfactual policy analysis aimed at increasing not only the mean or location of a covariate but also its dispersion or scale. The compensated shift refers to a situation where a shift in a covariate is compensated at a certain rate by another covariate. Not accounting for these possible scale or compensated effects will result in an incorrect assessment of the potential policy effects on the quantiles of an outcome variable. More general interventions and compensated shifts are also considered. The unconditional policy parameters are estimated with simple semiparametric estimators, for which asymptotic properties are studied. Monte Carlo simulations are implemented to study their finite sample performances, and the proposed approach is applied to a Mincer equation to study the effects of a location scale shift in education on the unconditional quantiles of wages. |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences, Quantile regression, unconditional policy effect, unconditional regression |
| Date: | 2022–01–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:ucsdec:qt89z1w74z&r= |
| By: | Sam Sims (UCL Centre for Education Policy & Equalising Opportunities); Harry Fletcher-Wood (Ambition Institute); Alison O'Mara-Eves (UCL Institute of Education); Sarah Cottingham (Ambition Institute); Claire Stansfield (UCL Institute of Education); Josh Goodrich (Step Lab); Jo Van Herwegen (UCL Institute of Education); Jake Anders (UCL Centre for Education Policy & Equalising Opportunities) |
| Abstract: | Multiple meta-analyses have now documented small positive effects of teacher professional development (PD) on pupil test scores. However, the field lacks any validated explanatory account of what differentiates more from less effective in-service training. As a result, researchers have little in the way of advice for those tasked with designing or commissioning better PD. We set out to remedy this by developing a new theory of effective PD based on combinations of causally active components targeted at developing teachers' insights, goals, techniques, and practice. We test two important implications of the theory using a systematic review and meta-analysis of 104 randomised controlled trials, finding qualified support for our framework. While further research is required to test and refine the theory, we argue that it presents an important step forward in being able to offer actionable advice to those responsible for improving teacher PD. |
| Keywords: | professional development, teachers, theory, meta-analysis. |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucl:cepeow:22-02&r= |
| By: | Martin Hoesli (University of Geneva - Geneva School of Economics and Management (GSEM); Swiss Finance Institute; University of Aberdeen - Business School); Louis Johner (University of Geneva - Geneva School of Economics and Management) |
| Abstract: | Using simulation analysis and property-level data for the U.S., we compare performance metrics for portfolios containing varying proportions of gateway and non-gateway markets. Risk-adjusted performance is found to be similar across types of markets. Gateway markets have higher appreciation and total returns, while non-gateway markets exhibit higher income returns even after accounting for capital expenditures. Downside risk appears to be slightly greater for gateway markets than for non-gateway markets; however, full drawdown and recovery lengths tend to be shorter for gateway markets. Systematic risk is found to be constant across types of markets. We show that discriminating between gateway and non-gateway markets is useful for mixed-asset diversification purposes, with the former type of markets appearing in risky portfolios and the latter in low-risk portfolios. By considering a large spectrum of performance metrics in a realistic investment setting, the results should provide investors with valuable information when allocating funds across gateway and non-gateway markets. The paper also provides insights regarding how best to define gateway markets. |
| Keywords: | Commercial Real Estate; Gateway Markets; Non-Gateway Markets; Diversification; Risk-Adjusted Performance; Downside Risk |
| JEL: | R33 C63 G11 G23 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chf:rpseri:rp2189&r= |
| By: | Mary Anne Anderson; Katie Eddins; Karen Needels; Scott Richman |
| Abstract: | This report describes the scaling of Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY), a home visiting intervention that seeks to help parents improve their young children’s development, by Parent Possible and its partners. |
| Keywords: | Scaling, interventions, AmeriCorps, evidence, parent intervention, HIPPY, preschool young people |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:54b584afb0d440a1afe06373140606ae&r= |
| By: | Halla, Martin (University of Linz); Kah, Christopher (Mercedes-Benz AG); Sausgruber, Rupert (Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien) |
| 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:iza:izadps:dp14886&r= |
| By: | Audinga Baltrunaite (Bank of Italy); Tommaso Orlando (Bank of Italy); Gabriele Rovigatti (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | Project duration is an important metric in the assessment of public works procurement and consists of the time taken to complete the three major sub-phases (design, awarding and execution). The overall duration may be influenced by various factors such as project characteristics, local market conditions, and the features of the contracting authority. Italy is characterized by stark territorial differences, potentially encompassing all the above dimensions. This paper uses granular data on Italian procurement to investigate public works’ completion times in the last decade. We unveil performance differentials across macro-areas and analyze possible drivers. We find that i) Southern regions underperform with respect to those in the Centre-North, in particular in phases characterized by a greater intensity of administrative tasks; ii) durations are significantly correlated with the features of the contracting authority, such as workforce composition, workload and experience, and administrative efficiency; iii) these factors, however, explain the North-South divide only partially, suggesting the need to further analyze the internal functioning of contracting authorities. |
| Keywords: | public procurement, public works, local authorities, local administrations |
| JEL: | D73 H54 H57 R58 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_659_21&r= |
| By: | Magne Mogstad (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University of Chicago); Joseph P. Romano (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Stanford University); Azeem M. Shaikh (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University of Chicago); Daniel Wilhelm (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London) |
| Abstract: | It is often desired to rank di?erent populations according to the value of some feature of each population. For example, it may be desired to rank neighborhoods according to some measure of intergenerational mobility or countries according to some measure of academic achievement. These rankings are invariably computed using estimates rather than the true values of these features. As a result, there may be considerable uncertainty concerning the rank of each population. In this paper, we consider the problem of accounting for such uncertainty by constructing con?dence sets for the rank of each population. We consider both the problem of constructing marginal con?dence sets for the rank of a particular population as well as simultaneous con?dence sets for the ranks of all populations. We show how to construct such con?dence sets under weak assumptions. An important feature of all of our constructions is that they remain computationally feasible even when the number of populations is very large. We apply our theoretical results to re-examine the rankings of both neighborhoods in the United States in terms of intergenerational mobility and developed countries in terms of academic achievement. The conclusions about which countries do best and worst at reading, math, and science are fairly robust to accounting for uncertainty. The con?dence sets for the ranking of the 50 most populous commuting zones by mobility are also found to be small. However, the mobility rankings become much less informative if one includes all commuting zones, if one considers neighborhoods at a more granular level (counties, Census tracts), or if one uses movers across areas to address concerns about selection. |
| Date: | 2021–04–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:cemmap:17/21&r= |
| By: | Yildiz, Savas |
| Abstract: | Chapter 1 provides an introduction and preliminary comparisons of economic and human development indicators to present current differences in levels of development between different countries grouped by their income level. Since World War II foreign aid has proved to be one of the main instruments for the developed countries to promote and increase economic development in less developed parts of the world. Chapter 2 will give a brief chronological overview of economic theories about economic growth and development and highlight recent approaches in development research. It will be shown that the focus of development policies has changed several times since its emergence. Given positive and negative growth experiences in developing countries, the development research literature is still inconclusive concerning the effects of development assistance and foreign aid on economic development. The gap in economic performance between developing and developed countries remains considerable, even in the face of constant flows of foreign aid and continuously changing policy prescriptions addressing pressing issues and obstacles of development. Chapter 3 uses sub-nationally disaggregated data to assess the importance of recipient countries' governance on the allocation of aid projects within recipient countries. The results show that incumbent presidents' birth regions do not signiffcantly attract more project aid than other regions in a country. Accounting for levels of governance in recipient countries does not change the results. On the other hand, capital city regions appear to attract more project aid. Higher levels of governance seem to have a negative effect on the allocation of aid projects in capital city regions, which might be driven by clientelistic and corrupt motives of political decision makers. Considering the results from the research literature and from Chapter 3 one may wonder how different sub-national distributional patterns of aid projects and foreign aid influence regional and spatial inequalities within recipient countries. If the sub-national allocation of foreign aid follows certain ethnic, political or economic considerations, instead of addressing poverty or alleviating human misery, then foreign aid might further deepen regional inequalities in recipient countries. Thus, Chapter 4 first elaborates on different theories and highlights existing empirical evidence about regional inequality. The chapter additionally presents trends and levels of different measures of regional inequality in sub-Saharan Africa. Chapter 5 assesses the relationship between foreign aid and regional inequality. First, different measures of regional inequality and necessary considerations for proper interpretation are discussed. Secondly, using sub-nationally disaggregated GDP data these measures of regional inequality in sub-Saharan Africa are calculated to further discuss their patterns and levels over the years 1998 to 2015. The data shows that regional inequalities vary largely within and between countries and that the pattern is on average highly persistent in the entire sample. The empirical analysis to understand the effects of foreign aid on regional inequality first provides estimation results using a static panel estimation approach. However, due to serious endogeneity concerns, especially between foreign aid and regional inequality, these results need to be taken cautiously. The empirical analysis further uses dynamic panel estimation methods such as system GMM to account for endogeneity issues and for the high persistence of regional inequalities. The results indicate that foreign aid does not increase regional inequalities, but instead even reduces regional inequalities in some specifications. Interestingly, higher trade ratios significantly reduce regional inequalities in all specifications. Furthermore, the estimation using the decomposition of regional inequalities by within and between capital and non capital city regions could not detect any significant effects in almost all specifications. This results from the limited instrument set due to fewer countries in the sample and the higher persistence of within and between regional inequalities. As a results, the analysis provides no support for the assumption that foreign aid increases regional inequalities. The uneven distribution of aid projects sub-nationally does not appear to affect overall regional inequalities. |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dar:wpaper:129988&r= |
| By: | Owen Schochet; Christina M. Padilla |
| Abstract: | This study examines the impacts of Head Start on parental earnings. The authors estimate an average effect of the program, investigate for whom impacts are greatest, explore whether impacts vary across program sites, and identify the characteristics of sites that predict cross-site impact variation. |
| Keywords: | Human Services, Early Childhood, Head Start, Family Support, Economic Wellbeing, Multi-Site Randomized Control Trial |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:049438354a4b483d8cfe9aecff453dc0&r= |
| By: | Piyush Panigrahi (University of California, Berkeley) |
| Abstract: | Larger Indian firms selling inputs to other firms tend to have more customers, tend to be used more intensively by their customers, and tend to have larger customers. Motivated by these regularities, I propose a novel empirical model of trade featuring endogenous formation of input-output linkages between spatially distant firms. The empirical model consists of (a) a theoretical framework that accommodates first order features of firm-to-firm network data, (b) a maximum likelihood framework for structural estimation that is uninhibited by the scale of data, and (c) a procedure for counterfactual analysis that speaks to the effects of micro- and macro- shocks to the spatial network economy. In the model, firms with low production costs end up larger because they find more customers, are used more intensively by their customers and in turn their customers lower production costs and end up larger themselves. In the model, differences in production costs across firms arise not just from differences in productivity but also from ï¬ nding the most cost-effective suppliers of intermediate inputs. Firms with low production costs end up larger because they ï¬ nd more customers, are used more intensively by their customers and in turn their customers lower production costs and end up larger themselves. The model is estimated using novel micro-data on firm-to-firm sales between Indian firms. The estimated model implies that a 10% decline in inter-state border frictions in India leads to welfare gains ranging between 1% and 8% across districts. Moreover, over half of the variation in changes in firms’ sales to other firms can be explained by endogenous changes in the network structure. |
| Keywords: | Network formation, Production networks, Firm-to-firm networks, International trade, Economic geography, Spatial economics |
| JEL: | F11 F12 D24 C67 C68 L11 O11 O12 R12 R15 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:2314&r= |
| By: | Munemo, Jonathan |
| Abstract: | As Chinese loans to Africa have been on an upward trajectory for more than a decade, there are questions about the economic consequences that large scale borrowing from China has on African economies. Jonathan Munemo investigates the impact these rising loans have on entrepreneurship and finds that African countries with a higher percentage of economic infrastructure loans have greater entrepreneurship in the form of new business startups. |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cariwp:202146&r= |
| By: | Timothy J. Moore; Rosalie Liccardo Pacula |
| Abstract: | Large and rapid upswings in illicit drug use display similar properties to infectious disease epidemics. In this chapter, we review research to understand what causes drug epidemics and how they end. Drug market actors are subject to both positive and negative reinforcement that lead to rapid, nonlinear increases and decreases in drug market activity. There is evidence that drug epidemics cause serious problems, including drug overdoses, adverse birth outcomes, homicides, lower educational attainment, and migration from neighborhoods subject to intense drug market activity. Many of these costs are borne by those who do not consume or sell drugs. Given the frequency, size, and impacts of illicit drug epidemics, they deserve more attention by researchers and policy-makers. |
| JEL: | I12 I18 K42 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29528&r= |
| By: | Leonid V. Azarnert; Slava Yakubenko |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effect of emigration on gender norms in countries of migrants’ origin. We use an instrumental variable strategy that allows us to estimate a causal effect of emigration on gender inequality. Our findings suggest that emigration to countries with low (high) levels of gender inequality is associated with promotion of more (less) progressive gender norms. These effects are observed for a wide range of indicators and are robust to inclusion of a set of control variables. Moreover, countries with high levels of gender inequality benefit from this process disproportionately more. Based on the provided evidence we argue that this effect is channelled through “cultural remittances”. |
| Keywords: | migration, gender, cultural remittances |
| JEL: | F22 F63 J16 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9450&r= |