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on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Tong Zhang; Paul J. Burke |
| Abstract: | By raising road transportation costs, an increase in gasoline prices should be expected to reduce housing demand in locations further from the central business district (CBD) relative to inner-city locations. This study uses a monthly real estate area-level dataset for 19 large cities in China over 2010–2018 to investigate the impact of gasoline prices on intra-city spatial differentials in housing prices. The findings suggest that higher gasoline prices on average lead to a relative decline in housing prices in outer suburbs, with a 1% increase in gasoline prices on average leading to a 0.004% relative reduction in home values for every additional kilometer from the CBD. The effect is larger in cities that have higher automobile ownership rates and that are less densely populated. The results are consistent with a conclusion that the rise of electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, and working from home is likely to contribute to a lowering of geographical price differentials within Chinese cities over time. |
| Keywords: | gasoline price; housing price; transportation cost. |
| JEL: | R31 Q41 Q43 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pas:papers:2022-01&r= |
| By: | Pierre Magontier, Maximilian v. Ehrlich, Markus Schläpfer |
| Abstract: | Social interactions are crucial to a city's cohesion, and the high frequency of interaction reflects many benefits of density. However, adverse environmental conditions, such as pollution or pandemics, may critically affect these interactions as they shift preferences over meeting locations and partners. Some interactions may be shifted to the virtual space, while other non-planned interactions may disappear. We analyze spatial interaction networks in Singapore covering about half of the adult population at a fine-grained spatial resolution to understand the importance of population mixing and places' amenities for urban network resilience. We document that environmental shocks negatively affect total interactions. Still, conditional on meeting physically, the number and type of location options may crucially impact the intensity and type of social interactions. The interplay between preferences for meetings partners, locations, and mobility determines population mixing and the fragility of urban social networks. |
| Keywords: | Urban interactions, networks, mobility, environmental shocks |
| JEL: | R1 R2 L14 |
| Date: | 2022–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rdv:wpaper:credresearchpaper38&r= |
| By: | Wall, Howard J. |
| Abstract: | This paper finds a link between the trends in K-12 spending and student success in Missouri after the Great Recession. I find that, for city schools only, changes in English Language Arts and Math proficiency rates for third graders were negatively related to changes in the number of students per teacher. According to my estimates, an increase in the average number of students per teacher in city schools accounted for almost all of the drop in the schools’ average ELA proficiency, and all of the drop in their average Math proficiency. Thus, the evidence indicates that the cuts in spending on teachers in the aftermath of the Great Recession affected student outcomes in city schools, but did little to affect student outcomes in schools in other locales. |
| Keywords: | Education spending |
| JEL: | I22 I28 |
| Date: | 2022–06–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:113440&r= |
| By: | Karmelavičius, Jaunius; Mikaliūnaitė-Jouvanceau, Ieva; Petrokaitė, Austėja Petrokaitė |
| Abstract: | During the COVID-19 pandemic, house prices and mortgage credit rose at a long unseen pace. It is unclear, however, whether such increases are warranted by the underlying market and macroeconomic fundamentals. This paper offers a new structural two-market disequilibrium model that can be estimated using full-information methods and applied to analyse housing and credit dynamics. Dealing with econometric specification uncertainty, we estimate a large ensemble o f t he two-market disequilibrium model specifications f or Lithuanian monthly data. U sing the model estimates, we identify the historical drivers of Lithuania’s housing and credit demand and supply, as well as price and market quantity variables. The paper provides a novel approach in the financial stability literature to jointly measure house price overvaluation and mortgage credit flow g aps. We find that, by mid-2021, Lithuania was experiencing a heating-up in housing and mortgage credit markets, with home prices overvalued by around 16% and the volume of mortgage credit flow being 20% above its fundamentals. JEL Classification: C34, D50, E44, E51, G21 |
| Keywords: | disequilibrium, early warning indicators., fundamentals, house prices, misalignments, mortgage credit |
| Date: | 2022–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:srk:srkwps:2022135&r= |
| By: | Francesco Cinnirella (University of Bergamo); Erik Hornung (University of Cologne); Julius Koschnick (London School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Economic societies emerged during the late eighteenth-century. We argue that these institutions reduced the costs of accessing useful knowledge by adopting, producing, and diffusing new ideas. Combining location information for the universe of 3,300 members across active economic soci-eties in Germany with those of patent holders and World’s Fair exhibitors, we show that regions with more members were more innovative in the late nineteenth-century. This long-lasting effect of societies arguably arose through agglomeration economies and localized knowledge spillovers. To support this claim, we provide evidence suggesting an immediate increase in manufacturing, an earlier establishment of vocational schools, and a higher density of highly skilled mechanical workers by mid-nineteenth century in regions with more members. We also show that regions with members from the same society had higher similarity in patenting, suggesting that social networks facilitated spatial knowledge diffusion and, to some extent, shaped the geography of innovation. |
| Keywords: | Economic Societies, Useful Knowledge, Knowledge Diffusion, Innovation, Social Networks |
| JEL: | N33 O33 O31 O43 |
| Date: | 2022–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ajk:ajkdps:175&r= |
| By: | Luca Marchiori; Julien Pascal; Olivier Pierrard |
| Abstract: | We develop a monocentric urban search-and-matching model in which workers can choose to commute or to migrate within the region. The equilibrium endogenously allocates the population into three categories: migrants (relocate from their hometown to the city), commuters (traveling to work in the city) and home stayers (remaining in their hometown). We prove that the market equilibrium is usually not optimal: a composition externality may generate under- or over-migration with respect to the central planner’s solution, which in all cases results in under-investment in job vacancies and therefore production. We calibrate the model to the Greater Paris area to reproduce several gradients observed in the data, suggesting over-migration. We show how policy interventions can help to reduce inefficiencies. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Commuting, Urban search-and-matching, Efficiency, Policy. |
| JEL: | E24 J68 R13 R23 |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bcl:bclwop:bclwp159&r= |
| By: | Philipp Schrauth (University of Potsdam) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effect of new bicycle lanes on traffic volume, congestion, and accidents. Crucially, the new bike lanes replace existing car lanes thereby reducing available space for motorized traffic. In order to obtain causal estimates, I exploit the quasi-random timing and location of the newly built cycle lanes. Using an event study design, a two-way fixed effects model and the synthetic control group method on geo-coded data, I show that the construction of pop-up bike lanes significantly reduced average car speed by 8 to 12 percentage points (p.p.) and up to 16 p.p. in peak traffic hours. In contrast, the results for car volume are modest, while the data does not allow for a conclusive judgment of accidents. |
| Keywords: | congestion, urban, traffic, environment, accidents, cycling, health, COVID-19 |
| JEL: | O18 Q56 R11 R41 R42 |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pot:cepadp:48&r= |
| By: | Hall, Caroline (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); Hardoy, Inés (Institutt for Samfunnsforskning); Lundin, Martin (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy) |
| Abstract: | This article provides an overview of the extent of school closures and the use of distance learning in the Nordic countries during the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020 to June 2021). Taking the preparedness of the educational systems into consideration and combining several reports summarising student and teacher experiences with research on the causal impact of distance learning, we discuss expected and revealed effects on student outcomes in the short and long term. Survey evidence indicates that the Nordic education systems were relatively well-prepared for a transition to distance learning in terms of access to digital technology. Overall, Sweden stands out as having kept compulsory schools open to a greater extent than the other countries, while policies put in place at the upper secondary level were more similar across the region. The literature suggests that school closures can be expected to have long term negative effects on skill formation and future earnings and that the negative impacts are likely to be larger for more disadvantaged students and larger the younger the students are when exposed to remote instruction. Given the extent of school closures, students in compulsory schooling in Norway, Finland and Denmark seem particularly vulnerable as do disadvantaged groups of upper secondary school students in all of the countries, since they have been exposed to distance learning for the longest periods. The size of the long-term effects will eventually depend on the success of policies put in place to counteract the potential negative effects. |
| Keywords: | school closures; distance learning; COVID-19; student performance |
| JEL: | I21 I24 I26 I28 |
| Date: | 2022–06–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2022_013&r= |
| By: | Vincent, Jeffrey M. PhD; Maves, Sydney; Thomson, Amy |
| Abstract: | In response to California law (SB 743, Chapter No. 386, Statutes of 2013), school districts are encouraged to use vehicle miles traveled (VMT) as criteria when evaluating the transportation impacts of new school construction, and identify feasible mitigation measures that eliminate or substantially reduce VMT generated by the new construction. To better understand the implications of this new law on school siting decisions, researchers at UC Berkeley analyzed 301 new schools constructed between 2008 and 2018 with respect to four VMT mitigation measures identified by the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) known to minimize VMT – proximity to high quality transit areas (HQTA), proximity to roads with bicycle facilities, proximity to electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, and walkability scores. |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences |
| Date: | 2022–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsrrp:qt61q8g7n7&r= |
| By: | Marlon G. Boarnet (University of Southern California); Xize Wang (University of California, Berkeley) |
| Abstract: | This research examines the relationship between urban polycentric spatial structure and driving. We identified 46 employment sub-centers in the Los Angeles Combined Statistical Area and calculated access to jobs that are within and beyond these sub-centers. To address potential endogeneity problems, we use access to historically important places and transportation infrastructure in the early 20th century as instrumental variables for job accessibility indices. Our Two-stage Tobit models show that access to jobs is negatively associated with household vehicle miles traveled in this region. Among various accessibility measures, access to jobs outside sub-centers has the largest elasticity (-0.155). We examine the location of places in the top quintile of access to non-centered jobs and find that those locations are often inner ring suburban developments, near the core of the urban area and not far from sub-centers, suggesting that strategies of infill development that fill in the gaps between sub-centers, rather than focusing on already accessible downtowns and large sub-centers, may be the best land use approach to reduce VMT. |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2206.12613&r= |
| By: | John J. Donohue; Samuel V. Cai; Matthew V. Bondy; Philip J. Cook |
| Abstract: | We analyze a sample of 47 major US cities to illuminate the mechanisms that lead Right-to-Carry concealed handgun laws to increase crime. The altered behavior of permit holders, career criminals, and the police combine to generate 29 and 32 percent increases in firearm violent crime and firearm robbery respectively. The increasing firearm violence is facilitated by a massive 35 percent increase in gun theft (p=0.06), with further crime stimulus flowing from diminished police effectiveness, as reflected in a 13 percent decline in violent crime clearance rates (p=0.03). Any crime-inhibiting benefits from increased gun carrying are swamped by the crime-stimulating impacts. |
| JEL: | K0 K14 K40 K42 |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30190&r= |
| By: | F. Aresu; E. Marrocu; R. Paci |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the role played by public capital on the production level of Italian regions by specifically accounting for the quality of institutions. Our analysis, carried out over the period 2000-2019, benefits from the use of a rich dataset on public expenditures which allows us to build the regional series of public capital stock by distinguishing among public institutions in charge of the investments and sectors of intervention. While controlling for several contextual variables (human capital, social capital, technological capital, population density), main results show that public capital has a positive and significant effect on production. Most interestingly, looking at the Mezzogiorno s regions, public capital carried out by local institutions turns out to have a lower impact than in the rest of the Italian regions. On the other hand, central bodies in the South exhibit an impact higher than the average. Moreover, institutions quality exhibits a positive and significant effect on regional economic performance. These results cast serious doubts about the actual capacity of the local Southern administrations to effectively manage the enormous resources of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and of the new European Union cohesion framework 2021-2027. Our results are also relevant for other European regions that, featuring structural traits similar to Southern Italian regions, are expected to face the same difficulties in managing public funding. |
| Keywords: | Public capital stock; Productivity; Italian regions; Institutions' Quality |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cns:cnscwp:202202&r= |
| By: | Yousen Jin (School of Economics and Management, Nanjing University of Science and Technology); Helian Xu (School of Business Administration, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law); Haitao Mao (School of Business Administration, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effect of rising housing prices on the quality of export products. It employs a model of endogenous quality choice to show that rising housing prices can exert both positive and negative effects on export quality. We test the model’s predictions by using Chinese firm-level data matched with customs and city-level data from 2000 to 2013. Results show that rising housing prices significantly reduce the quality of export products: the negative effect of speculative investment is found to outweigh the positive effect of easing of financing constraints. High-productivity firms and industries with a greater scope for quality differentiation are more affected by the rising housing prices. Furthermore, government controls on home purchasing help reduce the negative effect of rising housing prices on the quality of export products. |
| Keywords: | Housing prices, quality of export products, home purchase restriction policy |
| JEL: | F10 R31 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwa:wpaper:22-08&r= |
| By: | N. Denisa Naidin; Sofie R. Waltl; Michael H. Ziegelmeyer |
| Abstract: | Reliable macroeconomic housing and wealth statistics as well as counterfactual analyses across housing tenure status require hypothetical sales and rent prices for properties off the market reflecting current market conditions and representing the entire housing stock. We replace subjective values reported by participants in the Luxembourg Household Finance and Consumption Survey by objectified values imputed via hedonic models estimated on observable market data. We find that the participants’ tendency to overand under-report values is strongly correlated with tenure length, tenure type, dwelling type, household income and wealth. We find shifts in the wealth distribution, detect large regional variation in price-to-rent, price-to-income and rent-to-income ratios as well as significant affordability concerns: only 18% of all renting households could theoretically afford to purchase the dwelling they currently rent at market conditions. These renters are usually younger, at the top of the wealth and income distribution, and reside outside Luxembourg City. |
| Keywords: | Macroeconomic Statistics; Subjective Assessments; Surveys; Measurement Errors; Housing and Rent Markets; Housing Wealth; Affordability |
| JEL: | E58 G51 R21 R31 |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bcl:bclwop:bclwp160&r= |
| By: | Guinea Voinea, Laurentiu; Puch González, Luis Antonio; Ruiz, Jesús |
| Abstract: | We investigate how the economy responds to anticipated (news) shocks to future investment decisions. Using structural vector autoregressions (SVARs), we show that news about the future relative price of residential investment explains a high fraction of the variance of output, aggregate investment and residential investment for Spain. In contrast, for Germany it is the news shocks on business structures and equipment that explain a higher fraction of the variance of output, consumption and non-residential investment. We confront the identified shock with other shocks to provide evidence that our structural interpretation is valid. Then, to interpret our empirical findings, we propose a stylized two-sector model of the willingness to substitute current consumption for future investment in housing, structures or equipment. The model combines a wealth effect driven by the expectation of rising house prices, with a reduced-form friction in labor reallocation. We find that the model calibrated for Spain displays a response to anticipated house price shocks that stimulate residential investment, whereas for Germany those shocks enhance investment in equipment and structures. The results highlight the propagation mechanism of anticipated shocks to future investment, which is consistent with the housing booms in Spain and their absence in Germany. Such a mechanism complements a view relying on a combination of monetary, financial or housing supply and demand, surprise shocks. |
| Keywords: | Investment-specific technical change; News shocks; Housing booms; Wealth effects |
| JEL: | C32 D84 E22 E32 |
| Date: | 2022–07–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:werepe:35430&r= |
| By: | Andrea Cerrato (University of California [Berkeley] - University of California); Francesco Filippucci (PSE - Paris School of Economics - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | Fiscal consolidation is often a necessity for local governments, but the cost of austerity for local economic activity is an open empirical question. Quasi-experimental estimates of local fiscal multipliers range between 1.5 and 1.8, but most of them are obtained from expansionary shocks. We study the extension of tighter budget rules in 2013 to Italian municipalities below 5,000 inhabitants, which generates a persistent increase of about 100 Euros per capita (0.5% of local income) in municipal net budget surplus, mostly driven by a cut in capital expenditures. We find no decrease in local income over a eight-year horizon. The estimated multiplier is always not significantly different from zero, and we can exclude it is above 1.5 with 95% confidence within 4 years from the shock. We find no evidence of spillovers to neighboring municipalities. These results suggest that the cost of fiscal consolidation can be lower than what currently prevailing estimates of local multipliers imply. |
| Keywords: | Local economy multiplier,Budget deficit,Fiscal policy,Fiscal consolidation |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-03665241&r= |
| By: | Zhaoqi Zang; Xiangdong Xu; Kai Qu; Ruiya Chen; Anthony Chen |
| Abstract: | The unavoidable travel time variability in transportation networks, resulted from the widespread supply side and demand side uncertainties, makes travel time reliability (TTR) be a common and core interest of all of the stakeholders in transportation systems, including planners, travelers, service providers, and managers. This common and core interest stimulates extensive studies on modeling TTR. Researchers have developed a range of theories and models of TTR, many of which have been incorporated into transportation models, transport policies, and project appraisals. Adopting the network perspective, this paper aims to provide an integrated framework for summarizing the methodological developments of modeling TTR in transportation networks, including its characterization, evaluation and valuation, and traffic assignment. Specifically, the TTR characterization provides a whole picture of travel time distribution in transportation networks. TTR evaluation and TTR valuation interpret abstract characterized TTR in a simple and intuitive way to be well understood by different stakeholders of transportation systems. Lastly TTR-based traffic assignment investigates the effects of TTR on the individual users travel behavior and consequently the collective network flow pattern. As the above three topics are mainly separately studied in different disciplines and research areas, the integrated framework allows us to better understand their relationships and may contribute to developing possible combinations of TTR modeling philosophy. Also, the network perspective enables to focus on common challenges of modeling TTR, especially the uncertainty propagation from the uncertainty sources to the TTR at spatial levels including link, route, and the entire network. Some potential directions for future research are discussed in the era of new data environment, applications, and emerging technologies. |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2206.12696&r= |
| By: | Qing Li (Department of Economics and Finance, SILC Business School, Shanghai University); Yanrui Wu (Business School, The University of Western Australia) |
| Abstract: | This study uses a rich city-level dataset to analyse the relationship between information and communication technology (ICT) and economic growth in Chinese cities during 2001-2016. It is shown that ICT not only improves the aggregate efficiency of a city but also helps the city absorb technological diffusion from the frontier city. In addition, distance plays little role in technological diffusion process associated with ICT. Cities geographically farther away from or closer to the frontier city can equally benefit from technological diffusion as long as they have the same level of ICT development. |
| Keywords: | ICT, technological diffusion, economic growth, Chinese cities |
| JEL: | O47 O33 R11 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwa:wpaper:22-07&r= |
| By: | William Grieser (Texas Christian University); Morad Zekhnini (Michigan State University); Jan Ditzen (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano) |
| Abstract: | Network analysis has become critical to the study of social sciences. While several Stata programs are available for analyzing network structures, programs that execute regression analysis with a network structure are currently lacking. We fill this gap by introducing the nwxtregress command. Building on spatial econometric methods (LeSage and Pace 2009), nwxtregress uses MCMC estimation to produce estimates of endogenous peer effects, as well as own-node (direct) and cross-node (indirect) partial effects, where nodes correspond to cross-sectional units of observation, such as firms, and edges correspond to the relations between nodes. Unlike existing spatial regression commands (for example, spxtregress), nwxtregress is designed to handle unbalanced panels of economic and social networks as in Grieser et al. (2021). Networks can be directed or undirected with weighted or unweighted edges, and they can be imported in a list format that does not require a shapefile or a Stata spatial weight matrix set by spmatrix. Finally, the command allows for the inclusion or exclusion of contextual effects. To improve speed, the command transforms the spatial weighting matrix into a sparse matrix. Future work will be targeted toward improving sparse matrix routines, as well as introducing a framework that allows for multiple networks. |
| Date: | 2022–06–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boc:dsug22:03&r= |
| By: | Patricia Rice (Department of Economics and St. Anne’s College, University of Oxford); Anthony J.Venables (Alliance Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester and Monash University) |
| Keywords: | Regional economics, lagging regions, tradability, productivity, disparities |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anj:wpaper:021&r= |
| By: | Carina Altreiter (Institute for Sociology and Social Research, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria); Susanna Azevedo (Department of European Ethnology, University of Vienna, Austria); Laura Porak (Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria); Stephan Puehringer (Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria; Institute of Economics, Cusanus Hochschule, Bernkastel-Kues, Germany); Georg Wolfmayr (Department of European Ethnology, University of Vienna, Austria) |
| Abstract: | In the last decades many scholars have studied urban competition and entrepreneurial urban policies. Coming from the evolving field of competition research, we are interested in how urban competition is constructed and, for this purpose, examine the competition imaginary of Vienna, a city known less for its entrepreneurial policies than for its social welfare policies. The paper employs critical discourse analysis of Viennese policy papers from 1985-2015, a period particularly shaped by the process of competitization. The analysis shows that Vienna's social and welfare policies are also decisive for the city's positioning in urban competition and rankings. |
| Keywords: | urban competition; urban policies; Vienna; competition imaginary; extra-economic competition; entrepreneurial city; social welfare policies |
| Date: | 2022–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ico:wpaper:137&r= |
| By: | VERA-TOSCANO Esperanza; FANA Marta (European Commission - JRC); FERNANDEZ MACIAS Enrique (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | Using Census data, this paper proposes an empirical approach to look at differences and changes in the composition of employment across NUTS-3 level regions of six European Union countries over the period 1981 – 2011. We focus on jobs (defined as specific occupations within specific sectors) as our unit of analysis. We rank all jobs based on their average educational level and divide these distribu-tions into terciles. We accommodate the approach to compare regions to their national average and see how they evolve compared to the national trend. Our aim is to determine if regional employment structures converge over time and whether they are polarising, upgrading or downgrading. Several hypotheses regarding possible underlying factors of structural changes are further discussed. Results show a high degree of heterogeneity in the different regions. This presents considerable challenges for policymakers, as they need to gear their efforts at regional, more localised level. |
| Keywords: | Job polarisation, economic restructuring, technological change, Census data, regional heterogeneity |
| Date: | 2022–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:laedte:202203&r= |
| By: | Tiina Kuuppelomäki (Työn ja talouden tutkimus LABORE) |
| Abstract: | The school environment forms a large part of adolescents’ lives and can thus have a large impact on their mental health. However, fairly little is known on the specific impact of school characteristics, such as selectivity. In this paper, comprehensive Finnish register data is used to investigate how studying at a more selective, preferred upper secondary school affects students’short- and long-term mental health. A regression discontinuity design is employed for the analysis, finding that, while access to more selective school has little overall effect on individual’s short- or long-term mental health, it does have positive effects during the time of matriculation examinations. Further analysis also reveals heterogeneity based on the selectivity difference between the preferred school and next-best alternative. |
| Keywords: | education, secondary, mental health, selectivity, peers |
| JEL: | I21 I26 I12 I31 |
| Date: | 2021–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pst:wpaper:333&r= |
| By: | Faguet, Jean-Paul; Khan, Qaiser; Kanth, Devarakonda Priyanka |
| Abstract: | We explore the effects of decentralization on education and health in Ethiopia using an original database covering all of the country’s regions and woredas (local governments). Ethiopia is a remarkable case in which war, famine and chaos in the 1970s–80s were followed by federalization, decentralization, rapid growth, and dramatic improvements in human development. Did decentralization contribute to these successes? We use time series and panel data analyses to show that decentralization improved net enrollments in primary schools and access to antenatal care for pregnant women. The main channel appears to be institutional, not fiscal. We offer the database as an additional contribution. |
| JEL: | H41 H77 H75 |
| Date: | 2021–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:105231&r= |
| By: | Damon Clark |
| Abstract: | For much of the 20th century, British students were tracked into higher-track (for the "top" 20%) or lower-track (for the rest) secondary schools. Opponents of tracking contend that the lower-track schools in these systems will inevitably provide low-quality education. In this paper I examine this claim using a 1947 reform that increased the minimum school leaving age from 14 to 15. First, I show that over 95% of the students affected by the reform ("compliers") attended lower-track schools. Second, using new data, I show that for both men and women, the additional schooling induced by the reform had close to zero impact on a range of labor market outcomes including earnings. Third, I show that lower-track schools featured, among other things, large classes and a curriculum that promoted practical education. I conclude that my findings shed new light on the potential consequences of educational tracking. |
| JEL: | I21 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30174&r= |
| By: | Diego Aboal (Universidad ORT Uruguay. Facultad de Administración y Ciencias Sociales. Departmento de Economía / CINVE / Universidad de la República. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Administración); Bibiana Lanzilotta (CINVE / Universidad de la República. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Administración.); Martín Pereyra (Universidad ORT Uruguay. Facultad de Administración y Ciencias Sociales. Departmento de Economía / CINVE); María Paz Queraltó (CINVE) |
| Abstract: | This work contributes to the regional development literature by constructing a multidimensional indicator of regional development and carrying out a convergence analysis applying the novel methodology of Philips and Sul (2007). The paper adds to the debate of place based versus place neutral policies in Latin America. The convergence analysis contrast processes of global and in clubs convergence of regions in Uruguay in the period 2007-2015. The findings rule out the hypothesis of global convergence for the period analyzed, but it identifies convergence in clubs, distinguishing 3 clubs with specific development dynamics. |
| Keywords: | regional economic development; multidimensional indicator; convergence; clubs |
| JEL: | O18 C33 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:avs:wpaper:122&r= |
| By: | María Orduz |
| Abstract: | This article finds the impact of public spending on academic performance under different institutional contexts, considering a Colombian reform to the educational system as a quasi-natural experiment. The reform generated an exogenous change in each municipality's school spending from the Central Government and arbitrarily granted administrative decentralization to municipalities with more than one hundred thousand inhabitants. To find the causal effect of per-pupil expenditures on educational outcomes, I use the variation of per-student spending, the standardized test results for Saber11 and Saber-Pro, and the probability of entering higher education. Using an instrumental variable model, I conclude that an increase in per-student spending improves the standardized test results of secondary and higher education and the probability of entering higher education. Furthermore, through a regression discontinuity framework, I find that institutional arrangement improves the efficiency of providing education; significant heterogeneity exists among centralized and decentralized municipalities: autonomous municipalities use public resources more efficiently. |
| Keywords: | Academic performance, per-pupil spending, efficiency, instrumental variable, regression discontinuity |
| Date: | 2022–06–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000089:020224&r= |
| By: | Asadullah, Niaz (Monash University); Bhattacharjee, Anindita (Save the Children) |
| Abstract: | COVID-19 school closure has caused a worldwide shift towards technology-aided home schooling. Given widespread poverty in developing countries, this has raised concerns over new forms of learning inequalities. Using nationwide data on primary and secondary school children in slum and rural households in Bangladesh, we examine how learning time at home during the early months of school closure varies by access to technology at home. Data confirms significant socio-economic and gender divide in access to TV, smartphone, computer and internet among rural households. However, the analysis of daily time use data shows only a modest return to technology in terms of boosting learning time at home. Learning-grade gradient is shallow and insensitive to TV, smartphone and computer access at home. We also find no evidence that technology access per se helps learning continuity through boosting time spent in online schooling and private supplementary coaching/tutoring. While technology access matters in households where parents act as home tutors, the magnitude of such complementary effect is not large. The results imply a loss of out-of-school learning time during school closure even in households with technology access. We consider additional hypotheses relating to institutional and socio-economic barriers to home-based learning in developing countries. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, learning crisis, home-based education, school closure |
| JEL: | D10 I21 J22 Q50 |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15382&r= |
| By: | MARQUES SANTOS Anabela (European Commission - JRC); BARBERO JIMENEZ Javier (European Commission - JRC); SALOTTI Simone (European Commission - JRC); DIUKANOVA Olga (European Commission - JRC); PONTIKAKIS Dimitrios (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | We construct a novel indicator of regional competitive sustainability based on the changes over time of employment sectoral shares across all the regions of the European Union. The indicator accounts for shifts in employment towards greener and more productive sectors over the 2008-2018 period. The mapping of the indicators shows considerable regional heterogeneity in terms of both competitiveness and environmental sustainability, as well as interesting dynamics over time. We present an econometric analysis of the determinants of these sectoral shifts. It appears that the European Structural Funds are positively associated with the transition towards a more competitive and sustainable economy at the regional level. This is particularly true for the competitive dimension of the transition, with the Funds being positively associated with regional employment restructuring towards more productive sectors within each country. |
| Keywords: | Green transition, public support, sectoral employment, European regions |
| Date: | 2022–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:termod:202207&r= |
| By: | Ohto Kanninen (Palkansaajien tutkimuslaitos); Hannu Karhunen; Jeremias Nieminen |
| Abstract: | We study how decentralization of public employment services affects the labor market outcomes of job seekers and the behavior of employment offices. We utilize a Finnish temporary reform during which employment services were decentralized for specific target groups of job seekers in 23 treated municipalities and remained centralized for others. We estimate causal effects of the temporary reform using individual level difference-in-differences in a matched sample. We find no evidence of better labor market outcomes and find that municipalities are able to shift 14-17 % of their unemployment benefit costs to the central government. |
| Keywords: | public employment services, fiscal federalism, decentralization |
| JEL: | J08 H75 J48 |
| Date: | 2021–09–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pst:wpaper:332&r= |
| By: | César Ducruet; Hidekazu Itoh |
| Abstract: | This research investigates the determinants of ship turnaround times at about 2,300 container ports between 1977 and 2016, based on nearly 3 million daily vessel movements. It adopts a multilevel approach combining territorial and network indicators to characterize ports, and proposes a new methodology calculating shipping delays. Main results reveal that port connectivity, Gross Domestic Product per capita, the number of vessel calls, and island location foster efficient port operations. Conversely, urban population, voyage delays at sea, maximum ship size, and upstream location increase turnaround time. While average turnaround time and inter-port sailing time have both regularly declined, operational and technological changes in the ports and maritime sector - especially after the 2007/8 global financial crisis - accelerated intra-port time and slowed down inter-port time. This relational and spatial approach also underlines the geographic differentiation of ship times nationally and regionally, as it is far from being randomly distributed on the globe. |
| Keywords: | congestion; containerization; liner shipping networks; port cities; ship turnaround time; uncertainty |
| JEL: | L90 N70 R40 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2022-15&r= |
| By: | Hélène Laurent; Marc Sangnier; Carole Treibich (GAEL - Laboratoire d'Economie Appliquée de Grenoble - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes - Grenoble INP - Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes) |
| 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 crosscountry estimates that support the existence of a bell-shaped relationship between norms of compliance with rules and traffic fatalities. |
| Date: | 2021–12–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03675955&r= |
| By: | Mutsumi Matsumoto (Graduate School of Environmental Policies, Nagoya University); Hikaru Ogawa (Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo) |
| Abstract: | This paper considers efficient fiscal transfer policies in a tax competition setting with ad valorem taxation (i.e., income taxation) on mobile capital and immobile labor. We show that fiscal equalization of regions’ capital income tax bases eliminates the inefficiency of horizontal tax competition if these tax bases are evaluated by the average taxable return on capital in all regions, rather than the taxable return in each region. This equalization system, together with revenue matching grants that correct vertical externalities, achieves efficiency. By investigating the nature of horizontal and vertical externalities arising from non-cooperative regional tax policies, we derive formulas for efficient fiscal transfer policies and explain their workings. |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tky:fseres:2022cf1196&r= |
| By: | Richard Dorsett; Jessica Hug |
| Abstract: | This paper provides new evidence on the disruption brought by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic to local labour markets in the U.K.. After presenting key trends on local labour markets, a matching function is estimated using monthly data on vacancies and unemployment. This matching function is specified to capture local variations in efficiency. These estimates of labour market efficiency are then included in an individual-level regression of year-on-year transitions between employment, unemployment and inactivity. The results show that, for males, living in an area with a more efficient labour market pre-COVID was associated with a reduced likelihood of being unemployed in 2021 but that for females there was no such association. |
| Keywords: | efficiency, labour market transitions, matching function |
| JEL: | E24 J63 J64 |
| Date: | 2022–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nsr:escoed:escoe-dp-2022-18&r= |
| By: | Fadia Panosetti; Laurence Roudart |
| Date: | 2022–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulb:ulbeco:2013/344648&r= |
| By: | Cummins, Neil; Ó Gráda, Cormac |
| Abstract: | The successful assimilation of ethnic minorities into Western economies is one of the biggest challenges facing the Modern World. The substantial flows of Irish, to England, provide an historical example of this process. However, this has received surprisingly little scholarly attention. We use the universe of probate and vital registers of births, marriages and deaths, from England, 1838 to 2018, to document the status of the Irish in England. We identify the ‘Irish’ in the records as those individuals with distinctively Irish surnames. From at least the mid 19th century to 2018, the Irish in England have persisted as an underclass, 30-50% poorer than the English. Infant mortality is about 25% higher for the Irish 1838- 1950 but has subsequently equalized. We discuss the potential roles of selective migration, social mobility, and discrimination in this, and signpost directions for future research. |
| Keywords: | inequality; economic history; big data |
| JEL: | N00 N33 N34 |
| Date: | 2022–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:wpaper:115497&r= |
| By: | John M Abowd; Michael B Hawes |
| Abstract: | In an era where external data and computational capabilities far exceed statistical agencies' own resources and capabilities, they face the renewed challenge of protecting the confidentiality of underlying microdata when publishing statistics in very granular form and ensuring that these granular data are used for statistical purposes only. Conventional statistical disclosure limitation methods are too fragile to address this new challenge. This article discusses the deployment of a differential privacy framework for the 2020 US Census that was customized to protect confidentiality, particularly the most detailed geographic and demographic categories, and deliver controlled accuracy across the full geographic hierarchy. |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2206.03524&r= |
| By: | Shamsuddin, Mrittika (Dalhousie University); Acosta, Pablo A. (World Bank); Schwengber, Rovane Battaglin (World Bank); Fix, Jedediah (UNHCR); Pirani, Nikolas (UNHCR) |
| Abstract: | As more and more Venezuelans leave their country, fleeing the economic and social crisis, the number of Venezuelans in Brazil has risen steadily since 2016, constituting about 18.6 percent of Brazil's 1.4 million refugee and migrant population as of October 2020. Past research finds that the impacts of forced displacement on the labor market outcomes of host community are mixed and tend to depend on country characteristics. This paper extends the previous literature by exploring the economic impact of Venezuelan influx on Roraima, the state bordering the República Bolivariana de Venezuela at the north and the main gateway of the Venezuelan refugees and migrants entering Brazil, and focusing on the formal sector employment of the host community. Using survey and administrative data and regression discontinuity frameworks, this paper finds that in the short-run, the Venezuelan influx led to an overall increase in unemployment and a decrease in informal sector employment, specially among the female workers in Roraima. Focusing on the host community, the findings suggest that Venezuelan influx led to increase in formal sector employment among the Brazilians, while the effect on both overall and native wages are heterogenous, suggesting distribution impacts and need for gender targeted policies. |
| Keywords: | labor market impacts, Venezuelan refugees and migrants, host community, forced displacement |
| JEL: | J21 J31 J61 F22 F15 O15 R23 H20 H50 |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15384&r= |
| By: | Damian Clarke; Pilar Larroulet; Daniel Paila\~nir; Daniela Quintana |
| Abstract: | Ongoing school closures and gradual reopenings have been occurring since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. One substantial cost of school closure is breakdown in channels of reporting of violence against children, in which schools play a considerable role. There is, however, little evidence documenting how widespread such a breakdown in reporting of violence against children has been, and scant evidence exists about potential recovery in reporting as schools re-open. We study all formal criminal reports of violence against children occurring in Chile up to December 2021, covering physical, psychological, and sexual violence. This is combined with administrative records of school re-opening, attendance, and epidemiological and public health measures. We observe sharp declines in violence reporting at the moment of school closure across all classes of violence studied. Estimated reporting declines range from -17% (rape), to -43% (sexual abuse). While reports rise with school re-opening, recovery of reporting rates is slow. Conservative projections suggest that reporting gaps remained into the final quarter of 2021, nearly two years after initial school closures. Our estimates suggest that school closure and incomplete re-opening resulted in around 2,800 `missing' reports of intra-family violence, 2,000 missing reports of sexual assault, and 230 missing reports of rape against children, equivalent to between 10-25 weeks of reporting in baseline periods. The immediate and longer term impacts of school closures account for between 40-70% of `missing' reports in the post-COVID period. |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2206.14612&r= |
| By: | Iogansen, Xiatian; Circella, Giovanni |
| Abstract: | Emerging transportation services such as ridehailing, whose development and adoption have been enabled by information and communication technology, are transforming people’s travel and activity patterns. It is unclear what these changes mean for environmental sustainability, as researchers are still trying to understand how new mobility services might impact multimodal travel and reliance on private cars. A better understanding of emerging mobility patterns can improve travel demand forecasting tools, inform investment decisions, and help provide efficient, reliable, and accessible transportation solutions. Building on a multi-year study, researchers at the University of California, Davis surveyed 4,071 California residents in 2018 about their personal attitudes and preferences, lifestyles, travel patterns, vehicle ownership, adoption and use of new mobility services, and personal and household characteristics. This brief summarizes the results of multiple studies that have used this dataset to generate insights into the impact of ridehailing services on the use of other travel modes and on car ownership prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as provides policy implications. View the NCST Project Webpage |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences, Age groups, Automobile ownership, Consumer preferences, Mode choice, Shared mobility, Travel behavior |
| Date: | 2022–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsdav:qt0130q7rw&r= |
| By: | Luis Guillermo Woo-Mora (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses skin tone and income information for over a hundred thousand individuals across 31 Latin American countries to study racial inequalities during the last decade. First, I estimate the welfare consequences of racial inequality. Subnational regions with higher income inequality between racial groups have worse economic development. Next, I provide evidence of a skin tone income premium. In an eleven-color palette, each darker shade in skin tone on average leads to a 3% decrease in income, with heterogeneity across countries. My analysis suggests racial discrimination is the main mechanism behind this income premium. |
| Keywords: | Race,Inequality,Economic Development,Discrimination |
| Date: | 2022–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-03693205&r= |
| By: | Fabio Gatti |
| Abstract: | Urban governance has been considered a key feature in the political and economic development in Europe in the medieval and early modern times. This paper aims to explore the different institutional settings that characterized the community organization in the Kingdom of Naples, with a particular attention to the case of the King Owned Towns (KOTs), which somehow resembled the North Italian commune experience. Our exploration uncovers experiences of urban autonomy in South Italy, that so fa has been missed in the modern literature on historical urban development, that focused its attention on the case of North Italian and North-West European city’s institutional development. |
| Keywords: | Economic History, Political Institutions, History, Local Economics, Culture, Italy |
| JEL: | D72 H10 N44 O43 O52 K00 R10 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:baf:cbafwp:cbafwp22183&r= |
| By: | Elisa Borghi; Fabio Gatti; Donato Masciandaro |
| Abstract: | According to the literature, historical episodes of local self-governing institutions can explain why differences in socio-economic performances among different territories can persist over centuries. Such assumption has been tested comparing free city-states (Communes) and feudal towns in Italy, Germany, Switzerland and United Kingdom. This paper explores a third and novel category: the King-owned towns. King-owned towns (KOTs) were present in South Italy when the Kingdom delegated jurisdictional and fiscal powers to the town ruling class, creating a self-governance setting, where the community representatives systematically implemented articulated right negotiations with the Crown, which in turn influenced the evolutions of the municipal statutes of their towns. We interpret this collective action as a mechanism that can explain the persistence effects. Empirically, we find that, given a town, its past king-owned experience is correlated with today outcomes, both in terms of current economic performances and civil capital. These results offer evidence that the KOT status is more similar to the Commune experience than to the fief experience. |
| Keywords: | Self-Governance, Long Run Persistence, Economic History, Political Institutions, Culture, Economic Geography, Italy |
| JEL: | D72 H10 N44 O43 O52 K00 R10 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:baf:cbafwp:cbafwp22182&r= |
| By: | Andersen, Carsten (Aarhus University); Houmark, Mikkel Aagaard (Aarhus University); Nielsen, Helena Skyt (Aarhus University); Svarer, Michael (Aarhus University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we study effects of mass layoffs on parents and their children in the aftermath of the Great Recession using staggered difference-in-differences (DiD). We exploit quasi-experimental variation in announcements of mass layoffs in Danish firms in 2008-2019. We document that parents exposed to a mass layoff during and immediately after the Great Recession are negatively affected 6 years after the event; more so and for a longer period of time for parents at high risk of long term unemployment. Perhaps surprisingly, we find no overall significant negative effects of parental mass layoffs on children; neither academic achievement, absenteeism nor well-being are affected. We even find some positive effects for the children of parents who were more adversely affected by the layoff, consistent with an increase in parental time investment following unemployment. This last finding would not have appeared using a traditional two-way fixed effects approach, which appears to be biased towards zero in our setting. |
| Keywords: | mass layoff, unemployment, school outcomes, academic achievement, wellbeing |
| JEL: | I20 J63 |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15389&r= |
| By: | Qing Li (Department of Economics and Finance, SILC Business School, Shanghai University); Yanrui Wu (Business School, The University of Western Australia) |
| Abstract: | This study uses a rich city-level dataset to analyse the relationship between information and communication technology (ICT) and productivity performance in China during 2003-2016. It is shown that ICT positively contributes to Chinese cities’ productivity in conjunction with other growth determinants, such as human capital, foreign direct investment, infrastructure development, financial market development, and research and development investment. An identifiable amplified effect is detected when ICT exceeds certain threshold in Chinese cities. This threshold level is reached in over a half of Chinese cities particularly cities in coastal regions. Finally, ICT is found to substitute human capital in China’s context. Since the average education level in Chinese cities is low, the finding is in line with the argument that ICT only improves productivity of high-skilled workers but worsens that of the low-skilled ones. |
| Keywords: | ICT, human capital, productivity, China |
| JEL: | O47 O33 R10 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwa:wpaper:22-05&r= |
| By: | Prasad S. Bhattacharya (Deakin University); Abhiroop Mukhopadhyay (Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi) |
| Abstract: | We investigate whether the historical shock of the Indian Partition, one of the largest forced displacements in the twentieth century, affected social capital in affected parts of India in the long-run. India was partitioned in 1947 into India and Pakistan (East and West Pakistan). At this time, many Hindus and Sikhs migrated from Pakistan to India while Muslims migrated from India to Pakistan. The Partition shock is measured as the proportion of "displaced" migrants in Indian districts in 1951 from census data. Using data from the World Health Organisation Survey on the Aged and Elderly conducted in six Indian states, we find that social capital is lower in districts that received more Partition migrants. The effect remains strongly robust to spatial robustness checks, contemporary differences in demographics and income, public goods provisions, literacy, urbanisation and the gender ratio. We find these effects are mediated through riots, community conflicts and violent crime that start from Partition sixty years ago and continue through to more recent times. Our study contributes to the understanding of large forced displacement events and their shadow on institutions-here social capital-over the long run. |
| Keywords: | partition, social capital |
| Date: | 2022–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:alo:isipdp:22-01&r= |
| By: | Henrekson, Magnus (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); Wennström, Johan (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | This essay argues that the most crucial institution of any school system is its view of knowledge—from which virtually all other aspects of a school are derived: the content of its curricula, its pedagogical practices, and the incentives that motivate its members. To make this case, we outline the two main conflicting views of knowledge, the classical view and the postmodern social constructivist view. According to the classical view, the purpose of schooling is to give students objective knowledge and skills that they cannot acquire in any way other than through hierarchical instruction in well-defined disciplines. The social constructivist view rejects the existence of objective knowledge. This rejection translates to a preference for student-directed pedagogy, the mixing of instructional fields, and an emphasis on developing general critical thinking skills rather than on acquiring domain-specific knowledge. Using the history of education in Sweden as an example, our analysis suggests that the recent decline in educational quality in the Western democracies can be remedied by a paradigm shift in the governing view of knowledge toward the classical view. |
| Keywords: | Communal knowledge; Institutions; Postmodernism; Social constructivism; Thought style; Views of knowledge |
| JEL: | H42 H44 H75 I22 I28 L88 |
| Date: | 2022–06–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1432&r= |
| By: | Veljko Fotak; William Megginson; Yi-Da Tsai |
| Abstract: | UForeign infrastructure investments tend to increase cross-border economic activity between investor and recipient countries. We question whether such an increase comes at the expense of trade with third-party countries (a “zero-sum hypothesis”), or whether the infrastructure investment leads to an increase in overall trade (a “lifting all boats hypothesis”). Our investigation is within the context of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In a sample spanning 2013 to 2018 and covering 1,135 BRI projects in 110 countries, we find strong evidence in support of the zero-sum hypothesis. The increase in cross-border economic activity (imports, exports, and M&A flows) with China is accompanied by a decrease in activity with third party countries. Further, we show that, following BRI investments, BRI countries trade more with other countries that are politically aligned with China, but less with countries that have recently been visited by the Dalai Lama. Overall, our evidence points to both a “zero-sum” nature of the impact of infrastructure on cross-border trade, and to the existence of a BRI “network” that favors countries that are politically aligned with China. |
| Keywords: | Trade, cross-border M&As, infrastructure, Belt and Road |
| JEL: | F14 F36 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:baf:cbafwp:cbafwp22184&r= |
| By: | Roxana Gutiérrez-Romero (Queen Mary University of London, School of Business and Management,) |
| Abstract: | Despite the extensive literature on civil conflict, little is known about the medium- and long-term effects of electoral violence on young children and adolescents. This paper shows that electoral violence of low scale yet recursive nature has a detrimental effect on the height of children and adolescents of affected households. Our identification strategy uses the variation of electoral violence across time and space in Kenya during 1992−2013. We find that infants and adolescents exposed to electoral violence are shorter as adults if compared to similar people not exposed to violence during their growing age. We also find inter-generation effects as the children of the victims of electoral violence, particularly boys, also have reduced height-for-age. Higher food prices and changes in diet experienced during outbreaks of violence are important mechanisms. No impact is found on the educational attainment of school-aged pupils as electoral violence has been concentrated during the school holidays. |
| Keywords: | electoral violence, household victimization, height-for-age, education, Kenya, Africa |
| JEL: | D74 I1 J24 O55 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:364&r= |
| By: | Lauriane Belloy (TREE - Transitions Energétiques et Environnementales - UPPA - Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Has the Covid-19 crisis changed tourist destinations to greener places in France? Yes partly, at least by considering changes in revenue generated by short-term rentals on the AirBnB platform in the largest region of France (Nouvelle Aquitaine). To show this, I compare spatially the revenue generated by short-term rentals near different types of amenities between the summer months in 2019 (without a pandemic) and that same revenue after deconfinement in summer 2020. I find that the revenues of rentals near natural areas (public forests, rivers, lacke, etc) increase more strongly than those farther away after the lockdown (comparing the summer of 2020 with the summer of 2019). However among these locations, those with a high density of short-term rentals were the most favored. In addition, it was the locations near historical monuments that had a stronger lockdown months catch-up than those further away, unlike the locations near green spaces and the ocean. Another finding is that rentals located on the edge of rural areas did not generate significantly more income than those located next door in rural areas, unlike in previous years. |
| Date: | 2022–05–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-03671537&r= |
| By: | Lai, Tat-kei; Wang, Luhang |
| Abstract: | In China, the relative wages of high-skilled and low-skilled workers display huge variation across different regions. We examine whether financial intermediation development can explain such variation. Conceptually, better-developed financial intermediation helps financially-constrained firms raise new capital, which is usually skilled-biased, resulting in an increased demand for skilled labor and skill premium. Using a cross-section of workers from the 1% Population Survey of 2005, we find consistent evidence; besides, the relationship is stronger among workers in industries with higher capital-skill complementarity and in non-state-owned enterprises. Overall, our results suggest that the financial market plays a role in explaining skill premium in China. |
| JEL: | J24 J31 O11 |
| Date: | 2022–07–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bof:bofitp:2022_006&r= |
| By: | Datta, Sandip (University of Delhi); Kingdon, Geeta G. (University College London) |
| Abstract: | During COVID school closures, learning become mostly restricted to young people who had internet access at home. This paper examines internet access in India using National Sample Survey 2017-18. It probes the extent of inequality in young people's internet access across gender, caste, religion, rural-urban sector, private-public schools, and income group. Our triple-hurdle model of internet use shows that, ceteris paribus, there is a very significant digital divide across many of the social and economic groups. Additionally, intra-household analysis using family fixed effects estimation shows that girls have significantly lower ability to use internet vis-à-vis their brothers within the household. |
| Keywords: | schooling, internet, equality, COVID-19, India |
| JEL: | I21 I24 I25 |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15387&r= |
| By: | Ugochi Emenogu; Brian Peterson |
| Abstract: | Macroprudential policies are often aimed at the traditional banking sector while non-depository financial institutions or shadow banks have limited or no prudential regulations. This paper studies the macroeconomic impact of household-side macroprudential tightening in the presence of unregulated lenders. Our result shows that the presence of unregulated lenders dampens the impact of the policies on house prices and household debt. We also find that leakage to the unregulated sector increases when monetary policy is tightened. |
| Keywords: | Financial institutions; Financial system regulation and policies; Monetary policy transmission |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bca:bocawp:22-28&r= |
| By: | Peter Goodridge (x The Productivity Institute, Alliance Manchester Business School); Jonathan Haskel (Bank of England; Imperial College Business School; CEPR and IZA) |
| Keywords: | productivity, growth, slowdown, innovation, knowledge, intangibles, investment, capital, TFP |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anj:wpaper:022&r= |
| By: | Liza Charroin (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Bernard Fortin (ULaval - Université Laval [Québec]); Marie Claire Villeval (GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - ENS Lyon - École normale supérieure - Lyon - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - UCBL - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 - Université de Lyon - UJM - Université Jean Monnet [Saint-Étienne] - Université de Lyon - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, IZA - Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit - Institute of Labor Economics) |
| Abstract: | If individuals tend to behave like their reference group, is it because of peer effects, selfselection, or both? Using a peer effect model allowing for conformity and link formation, we designed a real-effort laboratory experiment in which individuals could misreport their performance and select their peers. Our results reveal both a preference for conformity and homophilous link formation, but only among individuals cheating in isolation. This suggests that such link formation was not motivated by a taste for similarity but by acquiring self-serving information. Importantly, we reject the presence of a self-selection bias in the peer effect estimates by showing that the size of peer effects is similar when identical peers were randomly assigned and when individuals selected them. |
| Keywords: | Peer effects,Self-selection,Homophily,Dishonesty,Experiment |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:hal-03712450&r= |
| By: | Arnaoutoglou, Nikolaos-Boleslav |
| Abstract: | This paper examines one of the most significant policies of the European Union, namely the cohesion policy, focusing on the institutions which shaped it and are responsible for its implementation. With this in mind, first, the appropriate literature is reviewed. Second, using scatterplots, the correlation between the quality of regional institutions and the absorption of funds from the European Regional Development Fund for the operational period 2014-2020 is tested. The findings of this dual assessment demonstrate that institutions, especially regional, are one of the most vital cogs for a region’s ability to absorb cohesion policy’s funds. In turn, this observation is of great importance as the member-states are bound to use the European Recovery and Resilience Fund to overcome the effects of the COVID-19 subsequent economic crisis. |
| Keywords: | European Union, Cohesion Policy, ERDF, Institutions, Rule of law, COVID-19 |
| JEL: | K0 |
| Date: | 2022–06–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:113543&r= |
| By: | Philip McCannn (Alliance Manchester Business School, The Productivity Institute) |
| Keywords: | Productivity, Levelling Up, Institutions |
| Date: | 2022–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anj:ppaper:011&r= |