|
on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Hyejin Kim; Jongkwan Lee; Giovanni Peri |
| Abstract: | In this study, we first evaluate the effect of a significant increase in low-skilled immigration in Korean municipalities from 2010-2015 on the internal migration of natives. Using Korean survey data we are able to distinguish between natives moving for work-related and non-work-related reasons. Using a change in immigration policy and the pre-existing networks of immigrants to construct an instrument for immigration across Korean municipalities, we find that locations experiencing significant low-skilled immigration attracted natives who moved for working purposes. However, these locations saw outflows of natives that moved for non-work-related reasons, such as due to housing and local amenities. We then estimate that immigration had positive effects on local firm creation and on native wages but reduced the quality of local amenities. It had small to no impact on local housing prices. These facts together suggest that immigration attracted natives who value labor income over local amenities but pushed out those who place a higher value on local amenities. Thus, immigration, while generating little net native migration, changed the composition of natives in Korean municipalities. |
| JEL: | J21 J61 R12 R31 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30464&r= |
| By: | Xing, Chunbing (Renmin University of China); Yuan, Xiaoyan (Shanghai University); Zhang, Junfu (Clark University) |
| Abstract: | Finding suitable employment in a city is more challenging for married than unmarried migrants. This paper provides empirical evidence that the denser and more diversified labor markets in large cities help alleviate the colocation problem of married couples. Using data from China, we show that the gender wage gap among married migrants is significantly smaller in larger cities, and this is mainly because large cities have higher employer and population densities. Large cities make married women more likely to be employed and to secure suitable jobs after family migration. We find no evidence for alternative explanations for the correlation between city size and married women's relative wages. |
| Keywords: | city size, family migration, colocation choice, gender gap |
| JEL: | J31 R12 R23 O15 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15549&r= |
| By: | Cannon Cloud; Simon He{\ss}; Johannes Kasinger |
| Abstract: | We estimate the causal effect of shared e-scooter services on traffic accidents by exploiting variation in availability of e-scooter services, induced by the staggered rollout across 93 cities in six countries. Police-reported accidents in the average month increased by around 8.2% after shared e-scooters were introduced. For cities with limited cycling infrastructure and where mobility relies heavily on cars, estimated effects are largest. In contrast, no effects are detectable in cities with high bike-lane density. This heterogeneity suggests that public policy can play a crucial role in mitigating accidents related to e-scooters and, more generally, to changes in urban mobility. |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2209.06870&r= |
| By: | Stefano Falcone |
| Abstract: | This paper provides the first causal evidence of the effect of evictions on crime. I leverage the exogenous variation in evictions due to the staggered adoption of nuisance ordinances in Ohio's cities from 2000 to 2014|a policy that sanctions landlords for nuisances on their properties. I find that each 10 percent increase in evictions leads to 5.5 percent higher burglary into structures and 8.5 per- cent higher vehicle theft. Other crimes are not affected. The effect appears to be driven by higher homelessness and the pursuit of shelter by illegal means. Findings highlight an unexplored social cost of evictions. |
| Keywords: | evictions, crime, homeless, housing policy, nuisance ordinances |
| JEL: | I3 K4 R21 R28 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1359&r= |
| By: | Anne D. Guerry; Jeffrey R. Smith; Eric Lonsdorf; Gretchen C. Daily; Xueman Wang; Yuna Chun |
| Keywords: | Environment - Ecosystems and Natural Habitats Environment - Environmental Economics & Policies Environment - Environmental Protection Urban Development - City Development Strategies Urban Development - Urban Economic Development Urban Development - Urban Environment |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:36325&r= |
| By: | Andrew E. Clark; Luis Diaz-Serrano |
| Abstract: | This paper provides one of the first tests of adaptation to the complete set of residential transitions. We use long-run SOEP panel data and consider the impact of all housing transitions, whether or not they involve a change in housing tenure or geographical movement, on both life satisfaction and housing satisfaction. Controlling for individual characteristics, some residential transitions affect life satisfaction only little, while all transitions have a significant effect on housing satisfaction. This latter is particularly large for renters who become homeowners and move geographically, and for renters who move without changing tenure status. Regarding housing satisfaction, we only uncover evidence of some adaptation for renter-renter moves. Losing homeowner status is the only transition that produces lower housing satisfaction, and here the effect seems to become even more negative over time. |
| Keywords: | Housing, adaptation, well-being, SOEP |
| JEL: | D19 R21 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp1168&r= |
| By: | Felix Ehrenfried; Thomas A. Fackler; Valentin Lindlacher; Thomas Fackler; Thomas Fackler |
| Abstract: | The extensive literature on university graduates’ regional mobility highlights the importance of early mobility but is primarily descriptive. We contribute the identification of the effect of mobility upon high-school graduation on subsequent mobility across labour market regions. The data permit a novel identification strategy that uses the distance to university as an instrument. To ensure comparability, we select high-school graduates from only the suburban region of a large German agglomeration in a university graduate survey. We find that early mobility leads to a sizable increase in later labour mobility, which has implications for labour market efficiency and distributional policy concerns. |
| Keywords: | regional mobility, job mobility, distance to university, students, spatial, instrumental variables estimation |
| JEL: | J61 R23 I23 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9922&r= |
| By: | Kate Antonovics; Sandra E. Black; Julie Berry Cullen; Akiva Yonah Meiselman |
| Abstract: | Schools often track students to classes based on ability. Proponents of tracking argue it is a low-cost tool to improve learning since instruction is more effective when students are more homogeneous, while opponents argue it exacerbates initial differences in opportunities without strong evidence of efficacy. In fact, little is known about the pervasiveness or determinants of ability tracking in the US. To fill this gap, we use detailed administrative data from Texas to estimate the extent of tracking within schools for grades 4 through 8 over the years 2011-2019. We find substantial tracking; tracking within schools overwhelms any sorting by ability that takes place across schools. The most important determinant of tracking is heterogeneity in student ability, and schools operationalize tracking through the classification of students into categories such as gifted and disabled and curricular differentiation. When we examine how tracking changes in response to educational policies, we see that schools decrease tracking in response to accountability pressures. Finally, when we explore how exposure to tracking correlates with student mobility in the achievement distribution, we find positive effects on high-achieving students with no negative effects on low-achieving students, suggesting that tracking may increase inequality by raising the ceiling. |
| Keywords: | ability tracking, achievement mobility |
| JEL: | H75 I21 I24 I28 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9928&r= |
| By: | Spyridon Tsangaris; Anastasios Xepapadeas; Athanasios Yannacopoulos |
| Abstract: | We incorporate the spatial dimension into a standard expanding variety growth model based on R&D. The spatial interaction is introduced through spatial production spillovers, knowledge diffusion across space, and the capability for spatial heterogeneity. Forward-looking agents who operate in a nite continuous geographic area choose how much to innovate at each point in time and space. We study the properties of equilibrium and optimal allocations and argue that the characteristics are different from those of the non-spatial model, which alter the appropriate policy measures. We show how spatial interactions may lead regions with spatial homogeneity to differ in their growth rates and areas with spatial heterogeneity to share the same growth rates in the long run. Finally, we present numerical examples to illustrate the different dynamic outcomes and stylized facts from the US economy. |
| Keywords: | endogenous growth, knowledge diffusion, R&D, scale effects, spatial development, spatial production externalities |
| Date: | 2022–10–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aue:wpaper:2225&r= |
| By: | Bing Zhu; Dorinth van Dijk; Colin Lizieri |
| Abstract: | We explore spatio-temporal aspects of global commercial real estate price movements and consider two channels where prices may spill over between global cities: (i) through a dominant market and (ii) through “neighbouring†markets. Neighbouring, here, is defined as the degree of overlap in ownership. We document significant ripple effects from both channels in commercial real estate prices across 22 markets from 2005 to 2019. In particular, London is found to be the dominant market and price shocks significantly diffuse across other global cities in the short- to medium-run. Additionally, shocks from neighbouring markets are important in the short- to medium-run. In the long-run, macroeconomic factors play a much more critical role. The spillover effect through both channels is more predominant during the financial crisis. In fact, the dominant market channel is mostly driven by the financial crisis. By contrast, the neighbouring market channel is significant throughout the economic cycle. |
| Keywords: | Commercial Real Estate; Prices; Spillovers; Spatial Dependence; Global Markets |
| JEL: | R3 R12 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dnb:dnbwpp:732&r= |
| By: | Andre Groeger; Gianmarco León-Ciliotta; Steven Stillman |
| Abstract: | Venezuela is currently experiencing the biggest crisis in its recent history. This has led more than 5.6 million Venezuelans to emigrate, one million of those to Peru, which amounted to an increase of over 2 percent in the Peruvian population. Venezuelan immigrants in Peru are relatively similar in cultural terms, but, on average, more skilled than Peruvians. In this paper, we first examine Venezuelans’ perceptions about being discriminated against in Peru. Using an instrumental variable strategy, we document a causal relationship between the level of employment in the informal sector – where most immigrants are employed – and reports of discrimination. We then study the impact of Venezuelan migration on local’s labor market outcomes, reported crime rates and attitudes using a variety of data sources. We find that inflows of Venezuelans to particular locations led to increased employment and income among locals, decreased reported crime, and improved reported community quality. We conduct a heterogeneity analysis to identify the mechanisms behind these labor market effects and discuss the implications for Peruvian immigration policy. |
| Keywords: | immigration, forced migration, discrimination, labor markets, Peru, Venezuela |
| JEL: | F22 J15 O15 R23 |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1350&r= |
| By: | Luca Paolo Merlino (ECARES - European Center for Advanced Research in Economics and Statistics - ULB - Université libre de Bruxelles, UA - University of Antwerp); Max Friedrich Steinhardt (FU - Free University of Berlin, IZA - Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit - Institute of Labor Economics); Wren-Lewis Liam (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 exploits quasi-random variation in the share of Black students across cohorts within US schools to investigate whether interracial contact in childhood impacts the residential choices of Whites in adulthood. We find that, 20 years after exposure, Whites who had more Black peers of the same gender in their grade go on to live in census tracts with more Black residents. Further investigation suggests that this result is unlikely to be driven by economic opportunities or social networks. Instead, the effect on residential choice appears to come from a change in preferences among Whites. |
| Keywords: | Segregation,Intergroup Contact,Race |
| Date: | 2022–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-03754124&r= |
| By: | Francesco Caloia |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the direct effect on household debt of macroprudential borrowerbased measures, namely Loan to Income (LTI) and Loan to Value (LTV) limits. The analysis focuses on the Netherlands, in a period characterized by growing vulnerabilities from the housing market and changes in the macroprudential policy. Results show that a LTI limit targeting debt repayment capacity is only binding at the left tail of the income distribution. Instead, a progressive tightening of the LTV limit that did not impose any downpayment constraint doubled the share of LTV-constrained borrowers. Results also show the role of increasing house prices as additional binding constraints for household borrowing choices. |
| Keywords: | Borrower based measures; macroprudential policy; LTV; LTI; DSTI |
| JEL: | D14 G21 |
| Date: | 2022–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dnb:dnbwpp:738&r= |
| By: | Christine Frayne; Agnieszka Szczypińska; Bořek Vašíček; Stefan Zeugner |
| Abstract: | House prices have been at the centre of the public debate recently. After years of sustained increases they accelerated further during the pandemic. The global financial crisis highlighted the impact that housing markets can have on financial stability and the real economy. However, housing market developments also affect housing affordability, which has been deteriorating as income growth did not keep pace with house prices. This paper looks at housing developments in the euro area countries from an affordability perspective, and shows its various dimensions, such as price-to-income, burden of housing cost, household borrowing capacity, but also regional patterns and the impact of affordability on broader economic developments. The paper discusses policy options for addressing high and increasing house prices and the impact these measures have on affordability. The paper documents how housing has evolved across time and countries. The main policy conclusion is that affordability requires policies ssupporting housing supply. While there is a full set of policies that can boost supply of housing, effectively introducing these policies is challenging as they are usually under the control of different actors, often implemented to address other issues and take long to make an impact. In contrast, demand-side policies can be introduced quickly and provide assistance to vulnerable groups. The excess of housing demand over supply gives rise to economic rents for property and land owners, which makes finding a balanced solution more challenging. |
| JEL: | G51 R21 R31 R52 R58 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:euf:dispap:171&r= |
| By: | Crowley, Duncan; Fitch, Dillon; Handy, Susan |
| Abstract: | In this study, the researchers examined traffic volumes and patterns in Yosemite Valley, the heart of Yosemite National Park. The purpose of this analysis was to understand which destinations attract the most visitors and to analyze how visitors move around the park on foot, by bike, and by car. Aggregated cell phone location data accessed through the StreetLight Data platform was used to produce vehicle volumes and indexes of bicycle and pedestrian volumes. This analysis reveals noteworthy patterns of travel for each mode with respect to weekdays versus weekends and times of day. An analysis of trip origins and destinations for each mode shows that drivers generally make longer trips than visitors who walk or bike, but that many driving trips are relatively short. Vehicle counts are higher in the core area of the valley than on the roads into and out of the valley, suggesting that most drivers circulate between valley destinations rather than parking and using other modes. Short distance trips by car could be a target for efforts to replace driving with walking and bicycling. This analysis can help to inform transportation planning in Yosemite Valley, particularly with respect to the bicycle network and potential changes to and expansion of the bike share service overseen by the Yosemite Conservancy. As a follow-up to this analysis, the research team plans to conduct an intercept survey of visitors to Yosemite Valley to better understand their choices about travel within the valley, especially their choices about bicycling. View the NCST Project Webpage |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences, Traffic volume, multimodal, walking, biking, Yosemite, national parks, StreetLight Data, Streetlight Index, bikeshare, shuttle bus |
| Date: | 2022–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsdav:qt50r778cj&r= |
| By: | Denis Gorea; Oleksiy Kryvtsov; Marianna Kudlyak |
| Abstract: | Existing literature documents that house prices respond to monetary policy surprises with a significant delay, taking years to reach their peak response. We present new evidence of a much faster response. We exploit information contained in listings for residential properties for sale in the United States between 2001 and 2019 from the CoreLogic Multiple Listing Service Dataset. Using high-frequency measures of monetary policy shocks, we document that a one-standard-deviation contractionary monetary policy surprise lowers housing list prices by 0.2%–0.3% within two weeks—a magnitude on par with the effect on stock prices. House prices respond more strongly to the surprises to future rates as compared with the surprise changes in the federal funds rate. Sale prices are mostly predetermined by list prices and do not respond independently to monetary policy surprises. |
| Keywords: | Housing; Inflation and prices; Interest rates; Monetary policy transmission |
| JEL: | E52 R21 R31 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bca:bocawp:22-39&r= |
| By: | Manon Garrouste (LEM - Lille économie management - UMR 9221 - UA - Université d'Artois - UCL - Université catholique de Lille - Université de Lille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Meryam Zaiem |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of opening a new high school on individual schooling decisions at the end of lower secondary education. The working sample covers all ninth graders between 2007–2008 and 2012–2013 in France. The two-way fixed-effect estimation strategy uses variation in time and space to estimate the causal effect of an increase in school supply. Opening a new high school significantly increases the probability of pupils from neighboring middle schools continuing in higher secondary education. The effect is exclusively due to new high schools proposing a vocational track. Furthermore, the effect is mainly driven by low-achieving students. |
| Keywords: | Education,Track choice,School openings,Difference-in-differences,Two-way fixed effects |
| Date: | 2020–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03129958&r= |
| By: | Monturano, Gianluca; Resce, Giuliano; Ventura, Marco |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effects on the economic activities location of a specific governmental place-based policy, the Italian Strategy for Inner Areas (SNAI). Taking advantage of the most recent developments in the econometrics of policy evaluation, we apply a staggered difference-in-difference estimator to evaluate the impact of the public policy in terms of number of plants at municipal level. The analysis is made possible thanks to a detailed panel dataset containing information about Italian municipalities over the years 2014-2020. The results show that the policy has produced effects since its inception, generating a significant number of extra plants in the treated municipalities over the first two years. A further key issue is whether the policy has generated spillover effects on neighbours which may (in)validate the results obtained. To answer this question we propose an empirical strategy, joining the new estimator with spatial analysis, and we find no spillover effects. |
| Keywords: | Rural development, Policy evaluation, Place-based policy, Event study analysis, Spillover effects |
| JEL: | C21 O12 O18 |
| Date: | 2022–09–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mol:ecsdps:esdp22087&r= |
| By: | Ahmet Degerli; Jing Wang |
| Abstract: | We show that as nonbanks' market share increases in a local residential mortgage market, the quality of mortgage services in the market improves. Two instrumental variable analyses exploiting (1) stress tests conducted by the Federal Reserve, and (2) mortgage industry surety bonds required by each state confirm this finding. We find evidence that as nonbanks grow their market share, they develop a specialty in servicing lower-income borrowers and increase investment in technology, leading to improved service quality. This improvement in service quality is more salient in counties with a higher percentage of minority populations. |
| Keywords: | Product quality; Mortgage lending; Banks; Nonbanks |
| JEL: | G21 G28 L13 L15 |
| Date: | 2022–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2022-59&r= |
| By: | Huthaifa Alqaralleh; Canepa, Alessandra; Gazi Salah Uddin (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | This paper considers dynamic features of house prices in metropolises that are characterized by high degree of internationalization. Using the wavelet coherency procedure the degree of co-movement and causality between housing, stock markets and macroeconomic uncertainty are investigated. In addition, the existence of volatility spillover across housing markets is assessed in the time-frequency domain using a novel procedure that involves combining the wavelet decomposition with time varying parameter vector autoregression model. The results highlight that the clustering of global business in a limited number of metropolises that act as “global hubs” leaves local housing markets exposed to international shocks and volatility spillover. The empirical analysis suggests that the correlations between real estate and stock markets from one side, and real estates and uncertainty on the other side, intensify during the turmoil periods, but causality and co-movement relationships appear, predominately, in the medium-, long run period. |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:202213&r= |
| By: | Nino Abashidze; Robert L. Clark; Lee A. Craig |
| Abstract: | In recent decades, many states have reduced future retirement benefits for newly hired teachers. We estimate that in 2020 the average initial monthly retirement benefit, for teachers retiring with 30 years of service, is 11.2 percent lower than that of teachers retiring in the same plan with the provisions that were in place in 2000, implying a lower annual benefit of over $3,000. We examine why state plans that cover only teachers, along with plans in which teachers are not included in Social Security, have made smaller reductions in the generosity of their pension benefits in recent decades. |
| JEL: | H55 J26 J32 J45 N31 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30472&r= |
| By: | Serena Canaan; Antoine Deeb; Pierre Mouganie |
| Abstract: | Religious divisions have long played a primary role in major conflicts throughout much of the world. Intergroup contact may increase trust between members of different religions. However, evidence on how inter-religious contact affects individuals’ behavior towards one another is scarce. We examine this question in the setting of a four-year university in Lebanon, a country with a long history of deep divisions and armed conflicts between religious groups. To identify causal effects, we exploit the university’s random assignment of first-year students to peer groups. We proxy students’ religious backgrounds by whether they attended secular, Christian or Islamic high schools—the last of which have the most religiously homogeneous student body. Results indicate that for students from Islamic high schools, exposure to peers from different religious backgrounds decreases their enrollment in courses taught by instructors with distinctively Muslim names, suggesting that contact improves trust towards members of other religions. Moreover, we show that students from Islamic schools experience improvements in GPA when interacting with those from other groups, while exposure to Islamic students reduces secular students’ academic performance. |
| Keywords: | diversity, religious schools, intergroup contact |
| JEL: | I23 J15 Z12 P00 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9896&r= |
| By: | Maurizio Strazzeri; Chantal Oggenfuss; Stefan C. Wolter |
| Abstract: | We estimate the impact of a large curriculum reform in Switzerland that substantially increased the share of foreign language classes in compulsory school on students’ subsequent educational choices in upper secondary school. Using administrative student register data and exploiting the staggered implementation of the curriculum reform, we find that exposure to more foreign language classes during compulsory school has only minor effects on educational choices of the overall student population. However, we find substantial effect heterogeneity: while the reform has no effect on the direct educational progression of either low-track female or high-track students, it impedes low-track male students’ transition to upper secondary education. The effect of foreign language classes on the educational trajectory of low-track male students is particularly pronounced for students who do not speak at home the school’s language of instruction. Finally, we find that female students who start vocational training immediately after compulsory school are more likely to select into training occupations that require higher foreign language skills instead of natural science skills. |
| Keywords: | policy evaluation, Goodman-Bacon decomposition, education reform, foreign language skills, compulsory school, educational choices, occupational choices |
| JEL: | I21 I24 I28 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9912&r= |
| By: | Yue Li; Mauro Mastrogiacomo |
| Abstract: | The Dutch government modified twice the taxation of intergenerational transfers aimed at mortgage down-payments and prepayments. We identify the causal effects of the tax exemption on prepayments and inter vivos transfers separately by exploiting changes in the policy design. Subsequent policy changes resulted in two expansions of the tax-free transfers that caused a significant increase in the probability of receiving such transfers — a relatively rare event — which translated then in a more modest increase in the probability to make prepayments, that are far more common. Initially the amounts prepaid increased by a similar magnitude, while the second expansion only increased the amounts being transferred but not the prepayments. The macroprudential policy goal of the reform was to reduce the number of underwater mortgages, at the time constituting more than onethird of all mortgages. We find that the prepayments triggered by the policy change increased mostly for borrowers with low original loan to value (LTV) ratios. This implies that most transfers were made from wealthy parents to housing-rich children. This because the policy was too generic, so it did not help to reduce the share of underwater mortgages. |
| Keywords: | mortgage repayments; intergenerational transfers; household indebtedness; |
| JEL: | G5 H2 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dnb:dnbwpp:751&r= |
| By: | Sébastien Willis |
| Abstract: | Immigrants are more likely to have conationals as colleagues, however the consequences of such workplace segregation is an open question. I study the effect of the conational share in an immigrant’s first job on subsequent labour market outcomes using register data from Germany. I instrument for the conational share using hiring trends in the local labour market and find that a ten-percentage-point increase in the initial conational share lowers employment rates by 3.1 percentage points six or more years after the start of the first job, an effect not observed for non-conational immigrants, with no effect on wages conditional on employment. The employment effect appears to be due to the effect of differences in the composition of social networks induced by differences in the initial workplace on subsequent job search behaviour, although differential Germany-specific human capital acquisition cannot be entirely ruled out. |
| Keywords: | employment, segregation, coworker networks, immigrant earnings dynamics |
| JEL: | J61 J64 J31 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9895&r= |
| By: | Cathrin Söllner; Dirk Fornahl |
| Abstract: | Cognitive, social and geographic distances between collaborators impact the likelihood to succeed together. This paper argues that cultural proximity moderates this impact. While taking Boschma's (2005) proximity concept as a point of departure, the informal part of institutional distance - cultural distance - is emphasized. Culture is defined following the concept of Hofstede et al. (2010), applying it one of the first times to the regional level. Results reveal that cultural proximity has different layers, all moderating the impact of cognitive, social and geographic distances. Out of the six investigated cultural distance layers, five moderate the impact of geographic distance, another five the one of social distance and four moderate the impact of cognitive distance. |
| Keywords: | Research collaboration, cultural distance, proximity interactions, collaboration performance |
| JEL: | D91 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2021–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:atv:wpaper:2103&r= |
| By: | Julien Silhol; Lionel Wilner |
| Abstract: | This paper exploits a 2018 reform of teachers’ financial incentives to work in some French disadvantaged schools. Based on this quasi-natural experiment, it evaluates the impact of those incentives on teachers’ stated preferences to move to such schools. Using data from the internal human resource management of some educational authority, we find that most responsive teachers have less experience and work already in those areas. Counterfactual simulations suggest that the policy has not hurt other disadvantaged schools, but rather induced some teachers not to remain in their current school or to opt less for regular schools. |
| Keywords: | teacher mobility, financial incentives, stated preferences, rank-ordered choices, disadvantaged schools |
| JEL: | I21 I22 J45 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9906&r= |
| By: | Baert, Stijn (Ghent University); Lippens, Louis (Ghent University); Van Borm, Hannah (Ghent University) |
| Abstract: | In recent decades, researchers have found compelling evidence of discrimination in the labor and housing market toward ethnic minorities based on field experiments using fictitious applications. However, these findings may be exaggerated as the names used for ethnic minorities in various experiments may have also signaled low socioeconomic class. Therefore, in this study, we perform a name categorization experiment in the United States that yields 56 names associated with six ethnicity groups, which signal different ethnicities and genders but similar social classes. These names should greatly improve the validity of future experiments on ethnic discrimination. |
| Keywords: | ethnic discrimination, social class, experiments |
| JEL: | C91 C93 J71 |
| Date: | 2022–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15524&r= |
| By: | Gibney, Victoria Hunter (American University); West, Kristine L. (St. Catherine University); Gershenson, Seth (American University) |
| Abstract: | The burnout, stress, and work-life balance challenges faced by teachers have received renewed interest due to the myriad disruptions and changes to K-12 schooling brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, even prior to the pandemic relatively little was known about teachers' time use outside of the classroom, the blurring of work and home boundaries, and how teachers compare to similar professionals in these regards. We use daily time-diary data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) for 3,227 teachers and 1,947 professionals in similarly prosocial occupations from 2003 to 2019 to examine occupational differences in time use. Compared to observationally similar non-teachers, teachers spend significantly more time volunteering at their workplace and completing work outside the workplace. On average, teachers spend 12 more minutes working outside of the workplace on weekdays than observably similar non-teachers, and 39 more minutes on weekends. The weekend disparity is particularly large among secondary school teachers. This suggests that before the widespread switch to online and hybrid learning necessitated by the COVID pandemic, teachers were already navigating blurrier work-life boundaries than their counterparts in similar professions. This has important implications for teacher turnover and for the effectiveness and wellness of teachers who remain in the profession. |
| Keywords: | teacher labor supply, time use |
| JEL: | I2 J22 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15548&r= |
| By: | Miguel A. Ferreira; Joao Pereira dos Santos; Ines Venancio |
| Abstract: | We study the role of property taxes on entrepreneurial activity using a quasi-natural experiment, which unexpectedly reduced the upper bound of the Portuguese property tax rate for urban properties in 2008. Using a diffrence-in-differences approach, we nd that treated municipalities (i.e., municipalities that had a property tax rate above the new upper bound) experienced higher entry rates in the manufacturing sector vis-a-vis control municipalities (i.e., municipalities that had a property tax rate at or below the new upper bound). Taking advantage of rm-level data, we show that start-ups created as a response to the decrease in property taxes in treated municipalities use more debt, invest more, and are more likely to survive. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, Property taxes, Savings, Portugal |
| JEL: | L26 H20 R30 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unl:unlfep:wp643&r= |
| By: | Ellora Derenoncourt; Chi Hyun Kim; Moritz Kuhn; Moritz Schularick |
| Abstract: | The racial wealth gap is the largest of the economic disparities between Black and white Americans, with a white-to-Black per capita wealth ratio of 6 to 1. It is also among the most persistent. In this paper, we construct the first continuous series on white-to-Black per capita wealth ratios from 1860 to 2020, drawing on historical census data, early state tax records, and historical waves of the Survey of Consumer Finances, among other sources. Incorporating these data into a parsimonious model of wealth accumulation for each racial group, we document the role played by initial conditions, income growth, savings behavior, and capital returns in the evolution of the gap. Given vastly different starting conditions under slavery, racial wealth convergence would remain a distant scenario, even if wealth-accumulating conditions had been equal across the two groups since Emancipation. Relative to this equal-conditions benchmark, we find that observed convergence has followed an even slower path over the last 150 years, with convergence stalling after 1950. Since the 1980s, the wealth gap has widened again as capital gains have predominantly benefited white households, and income convergence has stopped. |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2022_368&r= |
| By: | Ivan Luzardo-Luna (University of Pennsylvania) |
| Abstract: | This article aims to identify the impact of regional employment polarization on labor frictions in a time of crisis and structural change by examining the case of interwar Britain. Using an original dataset from the regional returns of unemployment insurance administration, this article estimates the aggregate and regional Beveridge curve shifts, which allows the breakdown of labor frictions into spatial mismatching (interregional frictions) and frictions within regions (intraregional frictions). The latter were the main source of labor frictions during the interwar period, but the former significantly contributed to the mass unemployment observed in the Great Depression. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment, Spatial Mismatching, Beveridge Curve, Great Depression |
| JEL: | N12 J60 R11 |
| Date: | 2022–09–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pen:papers:22-025&r= |
| By: | Michael Fritsch (Friedrich Schiller University Jena and Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH), Germany); Michael Wyrwich (University of Groningen, The Netherlands and Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany) |
| Abstract: | We review and discuss research on the development of regional entrepreneurship over time. A particular focus is on the long-term persistence of regional levels of entrepreneurship, its explanation, and its meaning for economic development. What is the state of empirical research in this field, and what can explain the empirical findings? How are long-term trends of entrepreneurial activity linked to regional performance in terms of employment, gross domestic product (GDP), and innovative activity? Based on our assessments we derive conclusions for theory, policy implications, and avenues for further research. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, self-employment, regional growth, entrepreneurial culture, historical analysis |
| JEL: | L26 M13 O1 O33 R11 |
| Date: | 2022–09–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2022-010&r= |
| By: | World Bank |
| Keywords: | Education - Education For All Education - Educational Institutions & Facilities Education - Educational Technology and Distance Education Education - Effective Schools and Teachers Social Protections and Labor - Disability |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:36326&r= |
| By: | Thomä, Jörg |
| Abstract: | Regarding the spatial impact of digitalization, the concern is often expressed that rural areas and the companies located there are disadvantaged by a digital divide compared to urban regions. Against this background, this paper explores the role of the urban/rural location of a small firm in the use of digital communication and information technologies (ICT). With the help of a cluster analysis approach, different modes of digitalization in the German small enterprise sector are identified. According to this, four groups of small firms can be distinguished in accordance to the maturity level concept of digital transformation: non-digital firms, digital beginners, platform-oriented firms and digital manufacturers. From a spatial perspective, it can be seen that the members of the platform-oriented group are relatively often located in urban regions, whereas the digital manufacturers are relatively often found in rural areas. These findings are interpreted as an indication that small firms at least partially consciously assign themselves to one of these digitalization modes, depending on which business model is most effective in the respective (urban or rural) business environment. By contrast, whether a small firm has not yet done anything in terms of digitalization or is only at the beginning of the digital transformation process does not significantly depend on the location of the company. The paper concludes with implications for policy and research. |
| Keywords: | Digitalization,Rural regions,Digital divide,Urban-rural typology,SMEs |
| JEL: | D22 O33 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifhwps:372022&r= |
| By: | Basteck, Christian (WZB Berlin); Mantovani, Marco (University of Milan-Bicocca) |
| Abstract: | In school choice problems, the widely used manipulable Immediate Acceptance mechanism (IA) disadvantages unsophisticated applicants, but may ex-ante Pareto dominate any strategy-proof alternative. In these cases, it may be preferable to aid applicants within IA, rather than to abandon it. In a laboratory experiment, we first document a substantial gap in strategy choices and outcomes between subjects of higher and lower cognitive ability under IA. We then test whether disclosing information on past applications levels the playing field. The treatment is effective in partially reducing the gap between applicants of above- and below-median cognitive ability and in curbing ability segregation across schools, but may leave the least able applicants further behind. |
| Keywords: | laboratory experiment; school choice; immediate acceptance; strategy-proofness; cognitive ability; mechanism design; |
| JEL: | C78 C91 D82 I24 |
| Date: | 2021–11–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:303&r= |
| By: | Michelle Gonz\'alez Amador; Robin Cowan; Eleonora Nillesen |
| Abstract: | Continuing education beyond the compulsory years of schooling is one of the most important choices an adolescent has to make. Higher education is associated with a host of social and economic benefits both for the person and its community. Today, there is ample evidence that educational aspirations are an important determinant of said choice. We implement a multilevel, networked experiment in 45 Mexican high schools and provide evidence of the malleability of educational aspirations. We also show there exists an interdependence of students' choices and the effect of our intervention with peer networks. We find that a video intervention, which combines role models and information about returns to education is successful in updating students' beliefs and consequently educational aspirations. |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2209.08340&r= |
| By: | Mr. Yunhui Zhao; Yang Liu; Di Yang |
| Abstract: | Inflation has been rising during the pandemic against supply chain disruptions and a multi-year boom in global owner-occupied house prices. We present some stylized facts pointing to house prices as a leading indicator of headline inflation in the U.S. and eight other major economies with fast-rising house prices. We then apply machine learning methods to forecast inflation in two housing components (rent and owner-occupied housing cost) of the headline inflation and draw tentative inferences about inflationary impact. Our results suggest that for most of these countries, the housing components could have a relatively large and sustained contribution to headline inflation, as inflation is just starting to reflect the higher house prices. Methodologically, for the vast majority of countries we analyze, machine-learning models outperform the VAR model, suggesting some potential value for incorporating such models into inflation forecasting. |
| Keywords: | Housing Price Inflation; Rent; Owner-Occupied Housing; Machine Learning; Forecast; machine-learning model; machine learning method; housing boom; D. forecasting result; Inflation; Housing prices; Housing; Consumer price indexes; Global; Europe; Australia and New Zealand; North America; Caribbean;VAR model |
| Date: | 2022–07–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2022/151&r= |
| By: | Omoniyi Alimi (University of Waikato); Geua Boe-Gibson (University of Waikato); John Gibson (University of Waikato) |
| Abstract: | Night lights data are increasingly used by economists, especially for developing country research. Many of these countries have limited capacity to generate timely and accurate sub-national statistics on economic activity so satellite data seem attractive. Most studies have used Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) data that are flawed by blurring, lack of calibration, and top- and bottom-coding. These noisy data are only weakly related to traditional economic activity measures for lower levels spatial units. More accurate data from VIIRS (the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) are available since 2012 but are rarely used by economists. This paper examines how recent published findings for developing countries based on DMSP data for very small spatial units change when the more accurate VIIRS night lights data are used. Our first example finds that economic activity is far more concentrated in low-lying, flood-prone, urban areas than is apparent with the DMSP data. Our second example shows that urbanization, as proxied by night lights, is not ceteris paribus associated with better child nutritional outcomes in Nigeria, contrary to claims in a study using DMSP data. In both examples, spatially mean-reverting errors in the DMSP data cause econometric bias that distorts policy implications. |
| Keywords: | Anthropometrics; DMSP; flooding; night lights; satellite data; VIIRS |
| JEL: | C80 O12 Q54 |
| Date: | 2022–09–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wai:econwp:22/12&r= |
| By: | Anna Gervasoni; Cristina De Silva; Michele Lertora; Andrea Odille Bosio |
| Abstract: | Urban transformation represents an increasingly urgent goal in accelerating the transition towards innovative, sustainable and digital cities to make them more efficient and smarter. An extraordinary availability of public funding is currently mobilized to this effect; however, it is not sufficient to pursue sustainability goals. Since the acceleration of smart city growth requires a huge amount of investment, venture capital could play a key role in launching the smart city of the future. In our research we analyse the role of venture capital as a promoter and accelerator of industrial sectors through the financing of innovative start-ups and funding disruptive technologies, which impact the smart city. Descriptive analysis was conducted based on data collected through venture capital deals carried out in Italy during the period 2015 to 2021, as monitored by 〖VeM〗^TM, selecting specific industries which impact the smart city: digitalization, ecological transition, financial services, healthcare and mobility. The results suggest that there is an overall growth of interest from venture capitalists in investing in the smart city, which makes the market more dynamic and ready to accelerate urban transformation. This represents an impressive trend that may be good groundwork for further growth in the years ahead. |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:liu:liucec:2022-13&r= |
| By: | Lisa Marie Timm (University of Amsterdam); Massimo Giuliodori (University of Amsterdam); Paul Muller (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines to what extent an income tax exemption affects international mobility and wages of skilled immigrants. We study a preferential tax scheme for foreigners in the Netherlands, which introduced an income threshold for eligibility in 2012 and covers a large share of the migrant income distribution. By using detailed administrative data ina difference-in-differences setup, we find that the number of migrants in the income range closely above the threshold more than doubles, whereas there is little empirical support for a decrease of migration below the threshold. Our results indicate that these effects are driven mainly by additional migration, while wage bargaining responses are fairly limited. We conclude that the preferential tax scheme is highly effective in attracting more skilled migrants |
| Keywords: | international migration, income tax benefits, wage bargaining, bunching. |
| JEL: | F22 J61 H24 H31 |
| Date: | 2022–09–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20220068&r= |
| By: | Martina Miotto; Luigi Pascali |
| Abstract: | In the 19th century, the process of European expansion led to unprecedented changes in the urban landscape outside of Europe, with the urban population moving towards the coast and tripling in size. We argue that the majority of these changes can be explained by a single innovation, the chronometer, which allowed European explorers and merchants to measure longitude at sea. We use high-resolution global data on climate, ship routes, and demography from 1750 to 1900 to investigate empirically (i) the role of the adoption of the marine chronometer in re-routing trans-oceanic navigation, and (ii) the impact of these changes on the distribution of cities and population across the globe. Our identification relies on the differential impact of the chronometer across trans-oceanic sailing routes. |
| Keywords: | longitude, chronometer, gravity, globalization, trade, development |
| JEL: | F1 F15 F43 R12 R4 |
| Date: | 2022–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1326&r= |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | Cultural and creative sectors are a significant driver of local development through job creation and income generation, spurring innovation across the economy. Beyond their economic impacts, they also have significant social impacts, from supporting health and well-being to promoting social inclusion and local social capital. Glasgow City Region in Scotland, United Kingdom has a long history of transformative cultural policy. Cultural and creative sectors are now one of the region’s strengths. This paper provides an overview of cultural and creative sectors in the Glasgow City Region, highlighting trends in employment, business dynamics, entrepreneurship and financing as well as cultural participation. It offers analysis and recommendations to support the region in continuing to build on its local cultural and creative ecosystem. |
| Keywords: | creative industries, cultural employment, culture and local development |
| JEL: | I31 Z1 |
| Date: | 2022–10–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:cfeaaa:2022/10-en&r= |
| By: | Duygu Buyukyazici; ; ; |
| Abstract: | The present study provides a framework to empirically integrate regional workplace knowledge and skills with the smart specialization concept. It evaluates the smart specialization priorities of regions with respect to skill relatedness and skill complexity measures to analyze to what extent they build on the regional skill base. It shows that leading and lagging regions strongly di↵er in their strategies. Leading regions tend to prioritize domains in which they have some experience and related capabilities while lagging regions choose domains in which they do not possess experience and capabilities. |
| Keywords: | skills, complexity, relatedness, smart specialization, diversification |
| JEL: | R11 O38 R58 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2218&r= |
| By: | Lergetporer, Philipp (TU Munich, ifo Institute and CESifo); Woessmann, Ludger (LMU Munich, ifo Institute and CESifo) |
| Abstract: | We present novel evidence for the influence of malaria exposure on the geographic location of Chinese economic activities in Africa. The hypothesis is based on the observation that many Chinese aid projects and infrastructure contractors rely on Chinese personnel. High malaria exposure might constitute an important impediment to their employment and productivity. Combining data on Chinese aid and construction projects with geo-localized information about the presence of individuals from internet posts reveals a lower density of Chinese activities and of Chinese workers in areas with a high malaria exposure. This effect is mitigated partly through heterogeneity across sectors and immunity of the local population, through the selection of Chinese workers from regions in China with historically high malaria risk, and through the availability of malaria treatment. |
| Keywords: | tuition; higher education; information; earnings premium; public opinion; voting; |
| JEL: | H52 I22 D72 D83 |
| Date: | 2021–11–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:294&r= |
| By: | Kerstin Grosch; Simone Haeckl; Martin G. Kocher |
| Abstract: | We examine individual-level determinants of interest in STEM and analyze whether a digital web application for elementary-school children can increase children’s interest in STEM with a specific focus on narrowing the gender gap. Coupling a randomized-controlled trial with experimental lab and survey data, we analyze the effect of the digital intervention and shed light on the mechanisms. We confirm the hypothesis that girls demonstrate a lower overall interest in STEM than boys. Moreover, girls are less competitive and exhibit less pronounced math confidence than boys at the baseline. Our treatment increases girls’ interest in STEM and decreases the gender gap via an increase in STEM confidence. Our findings suggest that an easy-to-implement digital intervention has the potential to foster gender equality for young children and can potentially contribute to a reduction of gender inequalities in the labor market such as occupational sorting and the gender wage gap later in life. |
| Keywords: | STEM, digital intervention, gender equality, field experiment |
| JEL: | C93 D91 I24 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9907&r= |
| By: | Benjamin Niswonger |
| Abstract: | This paper highlights the potential for negative dynamic consequences of recent trends towards the formation of "skill-hubs". I first show evidence that skill acquisition is biased towards skills which are in demand in local labor markets. This fact along with large heterogeneity in outcomes by major and recent reductions in migration rates implies a significant potential for inefficient skill upgrading over time. To evaluate the impact of local bias in education in the context of standard models which focus on agglomeration effects, I develop a structural spatial model which includes educational investment. The model focuses on two sources of externalities: productivity through agglomeration and signaling. Both of these affect educational decisions tilting the balance of aggregate skill composition. Signaling externalities can provide a substantial wedge in the response to changes in skill demand and skill concentration with the potential for substantial welfare gains from a more equal distribution of skills. |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2209.03892&r= |
| By: | Yiang Li; Xingzuo Zhou |
| Abstract: | In 2012, the School Teachers' Review Body discontinued central guidance and allowed school discretion in determining teachers' pay in England. Meanwhile, local education authorities (LEAs) offer non-statutory teacher pay recommendations to LEA-controlled schools. This study examines how LEAs' political party control determines their guidance regarding whether to adopt flexible performance pay or continue seniority-based pay. A regression discontinuity design is used to address the endogeneity of political control and educational policy-making. We find that marginally Conservative-controlled LEAs are more inclined to recommend market-oriented flexible pay structures. The results remain robust to alternative specifications. This study reveals that politics matter in England's local educational policy-making, which has broad implications for future policy. |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2209.08211&r= |
| By: | Aubrey Keeler Saunders; Samuel Brazys (University College Dublin School of Politics and International Relations, and Geary Institute for Public Policy) |
| Abstract: | Child labour continues to be a major concern in developing countries. One of the main issues with child labour is that it interferes with a child’s right to education as the majority of child labourersâ do not attend school due to employment. In this study, we consider the issue in Bangladesh where education rates have recently stagnated despite economic growth, which typically leads to an increase of education rates. The Bangladeshi economy is driven by its export sector, which relies on low-cost labour and it is plausible that children are not attending school in order to work. To test the claim, we combine novel spatial data on the locations over 11,000 exporting firms with over 95,000 similarly geo-located child survey responses from three waves of the Bangladesh Household Income and Expenditure Survey. Using matching techniques, we show that, when controlling for external factors, such as household income, students living closer to an exporting firm are more likely to report work and less likely to report attending school, providing evidence to suggest that the exporting sector may be influencing macro trends in Bangladesh school attendance. |
| Keywords: | Child Labour; Education; Bangladesh; Export; Spatial |
| JEL: | I24 I25 R23 |
| Date: | 2022–09–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucd:wpaper:202206&r= |
| By: | Tijan L. Bah; Catia Batista; Flore Gubert; David McKenzie |
| Abstract: | Irregular migration from West Africa to Europe across the Sahara and Mediterranean is extremely risky for migrants and a key policy concern. A cluster-randomized experiment with 3,641 young men from 391 settlements in The Gambia is used to test three approaches to reducing risky migration: providing better information and testimonials about the risks of the journey, facilitating migration to a safer destination by providing information and assistance for migration to Dakar, and offering vocational skill training to enhance domestic employment opportunities. Current migration to Senegal was increased by both the Dakar facilitation and vocational training treatments, partially crowding out internal migration. The vocational training treatment reduced intentions to migrate the backway and the number of steps taken toward moving. However, the backway migration rate from The Gambia collapsed, even in the control group, resulting in no space for a treatment effect on irregular migration from any of the three interventions. |
| Keywords: | Irregular migration, Migration deterrence, Information interventions, Vocational training, Cash transfer, Randomized experiment |
| JEL: | O15 F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unl:novafr:wp2203&r= |
| By: | Jordi Brandts; Isabel Busom; Cristina Lopez-Mayan; Judith Panadés |
| Abstract: | The popular belief that rent–control leads to an increase in the amount of affordable housing is in contradiction with ample empirical evidence and congruent theoretical explanations. It can therefore be qualified as a misconception. We present the results of a preregistered on–line experiment in which we study how to dispel this misconception using a refutational approach both in a video and in a text format. Communication in a video format comes closer to how citizens are typically exposed to information. We find that the refutational video has a significantly higher positive impact on revising the misconception than a refutational text, an effect that is driven by the departure from the misconception by individuals who initially agreed with it. The refutational text, in turn, does not have a significant impact relative to a non–refutational baseline text. Higher cognitive reflective ability positively affects the impact on beliefs of all interventions. Our research shows that visual communication effectively reduces the gap between scientific economic knowledge and the views of citizens. |
| Keywords: | misconceptions, written and visual communication, refutation, persuasion, online experiment |
| JEL: | A12 A2 D9 I2 |
| Date: | 2022–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1322&r= |
| By: | Aksoy, Cevat Giray (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development); Barrero, Jose Maria (Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México Business School); Bloom, Nicholas (Stanford University); Davis, Steven J. (University of Chicago); Dolls, Mathias (Ifo Institute for Economic Research); Zarate, Pablo (Princeton University) |
| Abstract: | The pandemic triggered a large, lasting shift to work from home (WFH). To study this shift, we survey full-time workers who finished primary school in 27 countries as of mid 2021 and early 2022. Our cross-country comparisons control for age, gender, education, and industry and treat the U.S. mean as the baseline. We find, first, that WFH averages 1.5 days per week in our sample, ranging widely across countries. Second, employers plan an average of 0.7 WFH days per week after the pandemic, but workers want 1.7 days. Third, employees value the option to WFH 2-3 days per week at 5 percent of pay, on average, with higher valuations for women, people with children and those with longer commutes. Fourth, most employees were favorably surprised by their WFH productivity during the pandemic. Fifth, looking across individuals, employer plans for WFH levels after the pandemic rise strongly with WFH productivity surprises during the pandemic. Sixth, looking across countries, planned WFH levels rise with the cumulative stringency of government-mandated lockdowns during the pandemic. We draw on these results to explain the big shift to WFH and to consider some implications for workers, organization, cities, and the pace of innovation. |
| Keywords: | work from home, preferences over working arrangements, commute times, COVID-19, productivity surprises, government lockdown effects, innovation, cities |
| JEL: | J2 D22 E24 L23 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15540&r= |
| By: | Panle Jia Barwick; Dave Donaldson; Shanjun Li; Yatang Lin; Deyu Rao |
| Abstract: | The social costs of pollution and climate change hinge critically on humans’ ability to adapt. Based on transaction records from the world’s largest payment network, this research compiles daily travel flows and documents that China's rapid expansion of high-speed railways (HSR) facilitates the use of intercity travel as an effective adaptation strategy. Access to HSR reduces travelers' exposure to extreme air pollution and temperature by 7% and 10%, leading to substantial health benefits. These reductions are attributed to both contemporaneous responses to unexpected adverse conditions and also longer-horizon changes in travel patterns. |
| JEL: | O18 Q53 Q54 R41 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30462&r= |
| By: | Hoffstadt, Martin |
| Abstract: | Borders are often associated with low economic activity. A popular explanation for this phenomenon argues that borders cut market access. But as a growing amount of literature demonstrates that border effects persist after the removal of formal barriers, the forces behind low economic activity near borders remain unclear. This paper develops a new methodology to measure the market access of 16,596 settlements in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1965, right before the hardening of Yugoslavia’s federal borders. Based on elevation, rivers, roads and the Dijkstra algorithm, this methodology identifies 4,682 settlements whose commuting spheres crossed Yugoslavia’s federal borders. Using panel data for the 1948-1991 period, a difference-in-differences estimation identifies that the settlements that lost access to their nearest town due to hardened federal borders experienced strong decline in population growth following the reforms. Robustness checks demonstrate that depopulation occurred when settlements lost access to towns of significant size. This effect appears regardless of ethnicity and history. Instead, depopulation occurred in the absence of a nearby alternative town in the same federal unit. |
| Keywords: | federal borders, market access, population growth, Yugoslavia |
| JEL: | H77 N44 |
| Date: | 2022–09–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:114594&r= |
| By: | Frank van Tubergen1,2, (Utrecht University,); Yuliya Kosyakova (University of Groningen); Agnieszka Kanas (University of Bamberg) |
| Abstract: | Do violent conflicts increase religiosity? This study draws on evidence from a large-scale survey on refugees in Germany linked with data on time-varying conflict intensity in refugees’ birth regions prior to the survey interview. The results show that the greater the number of conflict-induced fatalities in the period before the interview, the more often refugees pray. The relationship between conflict and praying holds equally across demographic subgroups. Evidence suggests that both short- and long-term cumulative fatalities in refugees’ birth regions affect how often they pray. Additionally, the link between conflict and praying is stronger for refugees who have family and relatives still living in their country of origin. Finally, we show that the conflicts that matter are those occurring within the refugees’ specific region of birth rather than in other regions in the country. Implications for existential insecurity theory and cultural evolutionary theory are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Religiosity, existential insecurity, refugees, praying, war |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:2222&r= |
| By: | Eri Yamada; Pierre-Alexandre Balland; Tetsu Kawakami; Jiro Nemoto |
| Abstract: | The literature on economic complexity has shown that the structure of the economy is a strong determinant of diversification, growth, innovation, inequality, and many other major socio- economic outcomes. Most of the empirical analyses, however, remain at a very macro level. It is not clear whether key features of the structure and dynamics of the macroeconomy also apply at a more meso, or micro-level. In this study, we deep dive into the automotive components industry in Japan and contribute to the literature by analyzing within-product category complexity and by taking a dynamic approach to the product space. To achieve this objective, we use unique survey data containing detailed information on each auto part supplier’s product baskets to uncover the industry’s productive structure and the process underlying structural change. We compute and visualize the auto parts product space and confirm properties found for international and domestic economies - suggesting the existence of fractals. These properties include power–laws, nestedness, and core- periphery structures. Moreover, this study develops exploratory and econometric approaches, unifying the measures of product relatedness and product complexity, explaining the productive structure’s dynamic process due to capability accumulation. The empirical analyses reveal that the events of new product appearance are not random but are instead significantly contingent on the network topology of the product space, which in turn shapes its structure. In particular, the effects of the network topology have a significant impact on the development of more complex products with sophisticated capabilities. |
| Keywords: | Product space, Relatedness, Economic complexity, Exploratory network analysis, Auto parts industry |
| JEL: | L62 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2022–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2217&r= |
| By: | Crescenzi, Riccardo; Ganau, Roberto |
| Abstract: | Global connectivity and knowledge circulation are necessary for innovation to thrive. However, in response to external shocks, economies tend to reduce their external exposure in order to minimize risk and focus their resources on internal markets. Uncoordinated and often competitive responses to economic shocks are in sharp contrast with the need for innovative solutions for recovery. This paper explores this paradox by looking at regional innovation in the USA in the aftermath of the Great Recession. The paper compares Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) with similar domestic, inter-state investment in order to assess whether a ‘local innovation premium’ is associated with global connectivity vis-à-vis purely domestic linkages. The results show that what matters for post-crisis innovation is active internationalization in the form of outward FDI. Truly global outward connectivity matters the most: investing abroad offers the highest short-term returns vis-à-vis domestic inter-regional investments. FDI connectivity with highly innovative frontier systems offers the highest returns when innovation is needed to respond to the crisis. However, low-innovation regions can still profit (in the short-run) from connectivity with other relatively less technologically advanced regions, benefitting from stronger congruence in terms of technological capabilities. These results send a warning message on the potentially adverse consequences of current policies in most advanced economies that seek to manage foreign activities of domestic companies in attempts to foster domestic security and recovery. |
| Keywords: | innovation; foreign and domestic investment; Great Recession; regions; USA; 639633-MASSIVE-ERC- 2014-STG |
| JEL: | F21 O19 O30 O51 R12 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:116878&r= |
| By: | Pierfrancesco Rolla; Patricia Justino |
| Abstract: | Organized crime affects security, development, and democracy worldwide, but not much is known about its social consequences. We study how exposure to the presence of organized crime groups shapes the social capital of Italian citizens, including political participation, civic engagement, and institutional and interpersonal trust. To address this question, we first leverage a survey of almost 800,000 respondents on social capital and exposure to organized crime conducted in Italy between 2000 and 2018. |
| Keywords: | Crime, Social capital, Italy |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2022-106&r= |
| By: | Ondrej Rolnik (Department of Economics, Faculty of Business and Economics, Mendel University in Brno, Zemedelska 1, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic) |
| Abstract: | The aim of the paper is to prove a hypothesis concerning the causality of economic well-being and political polarization in the state. The causality is proven in all regions of the Czech Republic on the observed data set, from 1993 to the present. The evidence was provided by expressing the economic well-being by three indicators, i.e., gross domestic product per capita, unemployment and disposable income per capita in combination with the development of a created polarization index. This index depends on the left-right ideological party division combined with election results in the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic for regional districts. Socio-demographic indicators of the development of individual regions were used as control variables. These include, the average state of the population, the share of university-educated people in the average state of the population, age indicators, the population density of a given region, or voter turnout in a given election year. The most important variable of the economic well-being influencing the development of polarization is the disposable income of households. The proof is accomplished by quantitative economic analysis using the Least Squares Method. |
| Keywords: | polarization, politics, economic well-being, Czech Republic, gross domestic product, disposable income, unemployment, political economics |
| JEL: | D72 E61 I31 P16 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:men:wpaper:84_2022&r= |
| By: | Philip Kerner; Torben Klarl; Tobias Wendler |
| Abstract: | Green technologies are at the very core of endeavors to combine economic and environmental targets to achieve sustainable growth. In this article, we aim to determine the impact of green technology development on total factor productivity of European regions. Our paper contributes to the literature on technological change and regional growth in various ways. i) Our paper is, to the best of our knowledge, the first to assess the specific role of green technologies for regional growth on a broad empirical base. ii) We advance methodologically on the pertinent literature by explicitly accounting for cross-sectional dependence in our empirical approach. iii) By providing a simple theoretical framework, we directly link our results to implications of environmental policies for capital accumulation and composition dynamics, contributing to the ongoing debate revolving around the strong version of the Porter hypothesis. Our results, based on a sample of 270 European NUTS-2 regions over 25 years, imply that general technology development is mostly associated with positive economic returns, but our data is not supportive of positive economic returns to green technologies. |
| Keywords: | Regional Growth, Green Technologies, Environmental Policy, Cross-Sectional Dependence |
| JEL: | C23 O0 O33 |
| Date: | 2021–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:atv:wpaper:2104&r= |
| By: | Jieun Lee |
| Abstract: | I propose Robust Rao's Score (RS) test statistic to determine endogeneity of spatial weights matrices in a spatial dynamic panel data (SDPD) model (Qu, Lee, and Yu, 2017). I firstly introduce the bias-corrected score function since the score function is not centered around zero due to the two-way fixed effects. I further adjust score functions to rectify the over-rejection of the null hypothesis under a presence of local misspecification in contemporaneous dependence over space, dependence over time, or spatial time dependence. I then derive the explicit forms of our test statistic. A Monte Carlo simulation supports the analytics and shows nice finite sample properties. Finally, an empirical illustration is provided using data from Penn World Table version 6.1. |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2209.05563&r= |
| By: | Thierry Blayac (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement); Dimitri Dubois (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement); Sébastien Duchêne (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement); Phu Nguyen-Van (EconomiX - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Thang Long University); B Ventelou (AMSE - Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Marc Willinger (LAMETA - Laboratoire Montpelliérain d'Économie Théorique et Appliquée - UM1 - Université Montpellier 1 - UPVM - Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - Montpellier SupAgro - Centre international d'études supérieures en sciences agronomiques - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier) |
| Abstract: | We test the effectiveness of a social comparison nudge to enhance lockdown compliance during the Covid-19 pandemic, using a representative sampleof metropolitan French adultpopulation(N=1154). Respondents were randomly assigned to a favourable/unfavourable informational feedback (daily road traffic mobility patterns, in Normandy -a region of France) on peer lockdown compliance.Our dependent variable was the intention to comply with a possible future lockdown. We controlled for risk, time, and social preferences and tested the effectiveness of the nudge. We found no evidence of theeffectiveness of thesocial comparison nudge among the wholepopulation, butthe nudgewas effective when its recipient and the reference population shared the same geographical location(Normandy). Exploratory results on this subsample (N=52) suggest that this effectiveness could be driven by non-cooperative individuals. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19,Lockdown compliance,Social Comparison Nudge,Risk preferences,Time preferences,Social preferences |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03629110&r= |
| By: | Amy Finkelstein; Matthew Gentzkow; Dean Li; Heidi L. Williams |
| Abstract: | We investigate the role of person- and place-specific factors in the opioid epidemic by developing and estimating a dynamic model of risky prescription opioid use. We estimate the model using the relationship between cross-state migration and risky use among adults receiving federal disability insurance from 2006 to 2015. Event studies suggest that moving to a state with a 3.5 percentage point higher rate of risky use (roughly the difference between the 20th and 80th percentile states) increases the probability of risky use by 1.0 percentage point on-impact, followed by an additional increase of 0.30 percentage points per subsequent year. Model estimates imply large place effects in both the likelihood of transitioning to addiction and the availability of prescription opioids. A one standard deviation reduction in all place effects would have reduced risky use by two-thirds over our study period. Reductions in place effects on addiction have a larger cumulative effect than analogous reductions in place effects on availability. However, their relative efficacy is reversed in the first few years, suggesting a temporal tradeoff among policy options. |
| JEL: | H51 I12 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30471&r= |
| By: | Rishi Sharma (Rishi Sharma); Chad Sparber (Chad Sparber) |
| Abstract: | The H-1B program allows firms in the United States to temporarily hire high skilled foreign citizens. The government restricts foreign labor inflows and therefore generates potential rents typical of a quota. However, the US allocates H-1B status by random lottery. We develop a theoretical model demonstrating that this lottery creates a negative externality by incentivizing firms to search for more workers than can actually be hired and, in so doing, completely destroys quota rents. Moreover, some firms specialize in hiring foreign labor and contracting out those workers’ services to third-party sites, and this outsourcing behavior both exacerbates lost quota rents and leads to an increased concentration of H-1B workers among a small number of firms. Simple numerical exercises suggest that the H-1B lottery and outsourcing result in an annual economic loss exceeding $10,000 per new H-1B worker hired relative to what would occur under a quota alone. |
| Keywords: | Skilled Workers, H-1B, Quota Rents, Outsourcing |
| JEL: | J61 J68 F22 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:2221&r= |
| By: | Ridwan Ah Sheikh (Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics); Sunil Kanwar (Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Using disaggregated industry level data for 1976-2019, we find, unlike much of the received literature, that patent rights have a strong positive effect on developing country knowledge-intensive imports. Using the new gravity model of Anderson-van Wincoop, there is strong evidence of a market expansion effect across knowledge-intensive industries. The overall elasticity of knowledge-intensive imports w.r.t patent rights is 0.28, with considerable variation across industries, being 0.55 for electronics, 0.44 for rubber manufactures, and 0.32 for pharmaceuticals. This increase in imports appears to be (mainly) driven by quantity increases, not just price increases. Our results survive multiple robustness checks. Key Words: Imports, Intellectual property rights, Gravity model, Multilateral resistance JEL Codes: F13, F14, O34 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cde:cdewps:329&r= |