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on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | World Bank |
| Keywords: | Environment - Natural Disasters Urban Development - Hazard Risk Management Urban Development - Municipal Housing and Land Urban Development - Urban Governance and Management Urban Development - Urban Housing |
| Date: | 2020–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:34990&r= |
| By: | World Bank |
| Keywords: | Urban Development - City Development Strategies Urban Development - National Urban Development Policies & Strategies Urban Development - Regional Urban Development Urban Development - Transport in Urban Areas Urban Development - Urban Economic Development Urban Development - Urban Governance and Management Urban Development - Urban Services to the Poor |
| Date: | 2021–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:35059&r= |
| By: | World Bank |
| Keywords: | Poverty Reduction - Migration and Development Social Protections and Labor - Labor Markets Urban Development - Municipal Financial Management Urban Development - Municipal Housing and Land Urban Development - National Urban Development Policies & Strategies Urban Development - Urban Economic Development |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:34761&r= |
| By: | Ping Wang; Danyang Xie |
| Abstract: | To fill the knowledge gap that previous studies ignore either housing or internal urban structure and to enable better fit with important stylized facts, we construct a two-sector optimal growth model of housing where housing is produced by land and housing structure/household durables. We explicitly model within-city locational choice. Housing services derive positive utility but are decayed away from the city center. Our model enables a full characterization of the dynamic paths of housing and housing and land prices. The model is then calibrated to fit part of the stylized facts: faster growth of housing structure/household durables than housing, faster growth of land prices than housing prices, and downward housing price and land rent gradients within a city. The calibrated model can then be used to predict the remaining untargeted part of stylized facts: a locationally steeper land rent gradient than the housing price gradient, relatively flatter housing quantity and price gradients in larger cities with flatter population gradients and moderate rise in the housing expenditure share. The calibrated model can be further used to yield additional insights on housing dynamics and spatial distribution. We find nonhomotheticities in housing preference and housing production are crucial for realistic model predictions. |
| JEL: | E20 O41 R13 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30516&r= |
| By: | Shagun Mehrotra; Lincoln Lewis; Mariana Orloff; Beth Olberding |
| Keywords: | Environment - Adaptation to Climate Change Environment - Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases Urban Development - City Development Strategies Urban Development - City to City Alliances Urban Development - National Urban Development Policies & Strategies Urban Development - Regional Urban Development Urban Development - Urban Economic Development Urban Development - Urban Economics |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:34820&r= |
| By: | Nicholas Chiumenti; Amrita Kulka; Aradhya Sood |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how local land-use regulations and community opposition affect the trade-offs to building single-family, multifamily, and affordable housing and how their effects on rents differ from their effects on house prices. Using lot-level zoning regulations and a boundary discontinuity design at regulation boundaries in Greater Boston, we obtain causal estimates for the effects of zoning regulations on the supply of different types of housing, single-family-house prices, multifamily rents, and households’ willingness to pay for higher density. We find that relaxing density restrictions (minimum lot size and maximum number of dwelling units)—either alone or in combination with relaxing maximum-height restrictions or allowing multifamily housing—is the most fruitful policy reform for increasing the housing supply and reducing multifamily rents and single-family-house prices. However, adopting multifamily zoning or relaxing height regulations alone has little effect on the number of units built or on rents. Moreover, in each land-use relaxation scenario where rents fall, house prices also fall, complicating the political economy of land-use reform. We also find that mature suburbs that are closer to a city center and have a representative town meeting structure of local governance are the most restrictive with respect to adding multi-unit housing. Furthermore, inclusionary zoning policies such as Massachusetts’s Chapter 40B rarely substitute for relaxing zoning regulations, particularly restrictions on building multifamily housing. |
| Keywords: | multifamily zoning; height restrictions; density; house prices; rents |
| JEL: | R21 R31 R58 H77 H11 |
| Date: | 2022–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedbwp:94892&r= |
| By: | Victoria Gregory; Julian Kozlowski; Hannah Rubinton |
| Abstract: | We incorporate race into an overlapping-generations spatial-equilibrium model with neighborhood spillovers. Race matters in two ways: (i) the Black-White wage gap and (ii) homophily—the preferences of individuals over the racial composition of their neighborhood. We find that these two forces generate a Black-White college gap of 22 percentage points, explaining about 80% of the college gap in the data for the St. Louis metro area. Counterfactual exercises show that the wage gap and homophily explain 7 and 18 percentage points of the college gap, respectively. A policy of equalizing school funding across neighborhoods reduces the college gap by almost 10 percentage points and generates large welfare gains. |
| Keywords: | racial disparities; neighborhood segregation; education; income inequality |
| JEL: | J15 J24 O18 |
| Date: | 2022–10–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedlwp:94907&r= |
| By: | Nicholas Chiumenti; Aradhya Sood |
| Abstract: | Housing affordability is a significant issue in many U.S. metropolitan areas, including Greater Boston. Affordability has always been a major challenge for low-income renters; however, even middle-income families now face considerable affordability hurdles, particularly in metro areas with strong labor markets. Where people live has important implications for their health, schooling, and economic mobility. Researchers and policymakers have devoted attention to the role of land-use practices, such as regulating residential zoning, in creating housing affordability problems, particularly in the context of single-family houses. This paper studies how zoning regulations influence affordability in the context of multifamily housing, focusing on Greater Boston. It finds that reforms such as relaxing housing-density restrictions could lead to meaningful increases in the supply of multifamily housing and reductions in rents. |
| Keywords: | multifamily zoning; height restrictions; density; house prices; rents |
| JEL: | R21 R31 R58 H77 H11 |
| Date: | 2022–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedbcr:94865&r= |
| By: | Gerald Ollivier; Ashish Ghate; Kaira Bankim; Prerna Mehta |
| Keywords: | Urban Development - National Urban Development Policies & Strategies Urban Development - Transport in Urban Areas Urban Development - Urban Economic Development Urban Development - Urban Environment Transport - Transport Economics Policy and Planning Urban Development - City Development Strategies |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:34870&r= |
| By: | Alona Shmygel (National Bank of Ukraine) |
| Abstract: | In this article, we developed a reliable method to detect house price bubbles using data for the largest Ukrainian cities. Further, we identified the thresholds, the breach of which is signaling that house price growth may be problematic as a bubble may be forming. In this paper, house price bubbles are detected with the help of two general approaches: ratio calculation and regression analysis. These general approaches are subdivided into two each. We calculated the Price-to-Rent and Price-to-Income ratios that can identify a possible over- or undervaluation of house prices for Ukrainian cities under the scope of this investigation. Then, we performed the regression analysis by building individual multifactor models for different cities and by running a pooled OLS regression for the panel data. According to the results, the only pronounced and prolonged period of house price bubbles is the one that coincides in time with the Global Financial Crisis – from late 2005 to early 2009. The bubble signals, produced by these methods are, on average, simultaneous and are in accordance with economic sense. A tool for measuring fundamental house prices and an indicator of bubble on housing markets will be used to monitor the systemic risks stemming from the real estate market. Thus, it will help the National Bank of Ukraine maintain financial stability. |
| Keywords: | House price bubbles, Fundamental house prices, Mortgage lending, Systemic risk, Regression analysis |
| JEL: | C31 C33 E30 G21 |
| Date: | 2022–10–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gii:giihei:heidwp22-2022&r= |
| By: | Eerola, Essi; Lyytikäinen, Teemu; Saarimaa, Tuukka; Vanhapelto, Tuuli |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effects of housing allowances on rents. Our research design is based on a reform that made the allowance more generous for small housing units as a quasi-experimental setting. We find that large increases in housing allowances for small housing units have little or no effect on their rents relative to larger units. Thus, the incidence of the reform is largely on allowance recipients and not on their landlords. Consistent with very moderate rent effects, we do not find evidence of recipient households responding to the increased incentive to choose small units. A possible explanation is that optimization frictions and short expected allowance spell duration limited demand responses to the reform. |
| Keywords: | rental housing, demand subsidies, housing allowance, rent, incidence, housing demand, Local public finance and provision of public services, Social security, taxation and inequality, H22, R28, fi=Asuntopolitiikka|sv=Bostadspolitik|en=Housing policy|, fi=Sosiaaliturva|sv=Social trygghet|en=Social security|, |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:wpaper:149&r= |
| By: | Benjamin Lahey; Andrew F. Haughwout; Benjamin Hyman; Jason Somerville |
| Abstract: | Housing is the single largest element of the typical household’s budget, and data from the SCE Household Spending Survey show that this is especially true for renters. As the housing market heated up in the latter stages of the pandemic, home prices and rents both began to rise sharply. For renters, some protection from these increases was afforded by national, state, and in some cases local eviction moratoria, which greatly reduced the risk of households losing access to stable housing if they couldn’t afford their rent. Yet many of these protections have expired and additional supports will do so soon. In this post, we draw on data from our SCE Housing Survey to explore how renters perceive their housing risk and find that the answers depend to a large degree on their current and past experiences of the housing market. |
| Keywords: | evictions; expectations; renters; housing |
| JEL: | R31 |
| Date: | 2022–10–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fednls:94866&r= |
| By: | Alexander M. Petersen |
| Abstract: | We exploit a timely city-level panel of individual house price estimates for both small and big real-estate markets in California USA to estimate the impact of COVID-19 on the housing market. Descriptive analysis of spot house price estimates, including contemporaneous price uncertainty and 30-day price change for individual properties listed on the online real-estate platform Zillow.com, together facilitate quantifying both the excess valuation and valuation confidence attributable to this global socio-economic shock. Our quasi-experimental pre-/post-COVID-19 design spans several years around 2020 and leverages contemporaneous price estimates of rental properties - i.e., real estate entering the habitation market, just not for purchase and hence free of speculation - as an appropriate counterfactual to properties listed for sale. Combining unit-level matching and difference-in-difference approaches, we estimate that properties listed for sale after the pandemic featured an excess monthly price growth of roughly 1 percentage points, corresponding to an excess annual price growth of roughly 12.7 percentage points, which accounts for more than half of the annual growth observed across those regions in 2021. Simultaneously, uncertainty in price estimates decreased, signaling the irrational confidence characteristic of prior asset bubbles. We explore how these two trends are related to market size, local market supply and borrowing costs, which altogether lend support for the counter-intuitive roles of uncertainty and interruptions in decision-making. |
| Date: | 2022–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2209.03936&r= |
| By: | Kenneth S. Rogoff; Yuanchen Yang |
| Abstract: | This paper provides new estimates of the housing stock, construction rates and price developments by city tier in China in order to understand where excess supply might be concentrated, and the implications of any significant contraction. We also update estimates of the size of China’s rapidly evolving real estate sector through 2021, allowing one to look at the initial impact of COVID-19, as well as extending the analysis to incorporate urban-expansion related infrastructure construction. We argue that China overall faces imbalances between supply and demand for housing stock, but the problem is significantly deeper in the generally smaller and lower income tier 3 cities, which nevertheless account for more than 60% of both China’s GDP and its housing stock. |
| JEL: | F39 G01 R3 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30519&r= |
| By: | Karmali,Nadeem M.; Aline Weng |
| Abstract: | The focus of this paper is on the demand for housing in urban India. Using rental data, thepaper finds that income elasticities of housing demand are high and elastic across time. Hedonic pricing regressionsconfirm that this high elasticity is driven by high demand for improved water and sanitation amenities that areattached to the consumption of housing. Further, the demand estimations show that rental markets in urban India and inmegacities are becoming more efficient, emerging from the shadow of legacy rent control regulation and uncertaintyfrom the past. All the results suggest that household subsidies or other demand-side interventions are lesswarranted, but rather investments to increase housing supply through better service infrastructure for water, sanitation,and connectivity are better uses of public resources. The analysis also provides guidelines to improve the targetingof housing programs by means testing against the income distribution. Using one such estimate of the incomedistribution, the paper shows that housing affordability is improving in India. In doing so, the paper highlights themethodological challenges in measuring housing affordability in developing countries. |
| Date: | 2022–05–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10031&r= |
| By: | World Bank |
| Keywords: | Infrastructure Economics and Finance - Private Participation in Infrastructure Urban Development - Urban Economic Development Urban Development - Urban Governance and Management Urban Development - Urban Housing |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:34889&r= |
| By: | Liotta,Charlotte; Avner,Paolo; Viguié,Vincent; Selod,Harris; Hallegatte,Stephane |
| Abstract: | Opposition to climate policies seems to arise, at least partly, from their effects on inequality.However, so far, the impact of climate policies on inequality has mainly been studied through the lens ofincome inequality, and their spatial dimension is poorly understood. This paper, using Cape Town, South Africa, as acase study, investigates the impact of a fuel tax on both spatial and income inequalities. It uses a model derivedfrom the standard urban economics land use model, accounting for four income classes and four housing types. Thismodeling framework allows decomposing the impacts of the tax by income class, housing type, and housing location. Theanalysis also decomposes the impacts of the tax over different timeframes, assuming that households anddevelopers progressively adapt to the tax. The findings reveal strong evidence that in the short term, there areboth income and spatial inequalities, with households being more negatively impacted by the fuel tax if they earn lowincomes or live far from employment centers. In the medium and long term, these inequalities persist: the pooresthouseholds, living in informal settlements or subsidized housing, have few or no ways to adapt to changes in fuelprices by changing housing type, adjusting their dwelling sizes or locations, or shifting transportation modes.Low-income households living in formal housing also remain impacted by the tax over the long term due to complexeffects driven by the competition with richer households on the housing market. Complementary policies promoting afunctioning labor market that allows people to change jobs easily, affordable public transportation, or subsidieshelping low-income households to rent houses closer to employment centers will be key to enable the socialacceptability of climate policies. |
| Date: | 2022–09–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10185&r= |
| By: | Gershenson, Seth (American University); Holt, Stephen B. (University at Albany, SUNY); Tyner, Adam (Thomas B. Fordham Institute) |
| Abstract: | Teachers are among the most important inputs in the education production function. One mechanism by which teachers might affect student learning is through the grading standards they set for their classrooms. However, the effects of grading standards on student outcomes are relatively understudied. Using administrative data that links individual students and teachers in 8th and 9th grade Algebra I classrooms from 2006 to 2016, we examine the effects of teachers' grading standards on student learning and attendance. High teacher grading standards in Algebra I increase student learning both in Algebra I and in subsequent math classes. The effect on student achievement is positive and similar in size across student characteristics and levels of ability, students' relative rank within the classroom, and school context. High teacher grading standards also lead to a modest reduction in student absences. |
| Keywords: | teachers, grade inflation, student achievement |
| JEL: | I2 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15556&r= |
| By: | Remi Jedwab (George Washington University); Jason Barr (Rutgers University-Newark) |
| Abstract: | Despite the widespread prevalence and economic importance of tall buildings, little is known about how their patterns vary across space and time. We focus on vertical real estate, aiming to quantify differences across major world regions over time (1950-2020). To do so, we exploit a novel database on the location, height (above 55 meters), and year of construction of nearly all tall buildings in the world. We propose a new methodology to estimate the extent to which some world regions build up more than others given similar economic and geographic conditions, city size distributions, and other features. Our analyses reveal that many skylines may visually appear more prominent than they really are once one includes all tall buildings and core controls, which alters how regions are ranked in terms of tall building stocks. Using results by city size, centrality, height of buildings, and building function, we classify world regions into different groups, finding that international tall building stocks are driven by mostly boring skylines of residential high-rises, and to a lesser extent exciting skylines of skyscrapers and office supertall towers. Finally, land-use regulations and preferences, not historical preservation nor dispersed ownership, likely account for most observed differences. |
| Keywords: | Buildings Heights; Skyscrapers; Global Real Estate; Housing Supply |
| JEL: | R14 R30 R38 R31 R33 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gwi:wpaper:2022-11&r= |
| By: | He,Yiyi; Maruyama Rentschler,Jun Erik; Avner,Paolo; Gao,Jianxi; Yue,Xiangyu; Radke,John |
| Abstract: | This study provides the first global evaluation of both direct and indirect flood hazard impactson road transportation networks. It constructs topological road networks for 2,564 human settlements, representing over14 million kilometers of urban roads. It assesses their exposure to pluvial and fluvial flood risks under 10scenarios, corresponding to different flood intensities (1:5 year to 1:1,000 year return periods). Under each scenario,the study analyzes direct infrastructure exposure and assesses the indirect effects of flood-induced mobilitydisruptions: route failures, travel delays, and travel distance increases. The results document a positiverelationship between flood return period and flood impact (both direct and indirect). Compared with direct floodhazard exposure, the indirect impact of floods on mobility is more prominent and heterogeneous. The average share ofthe road network that is flooded by at least 0.3 meters is 3.64 percent (or 24.84 percent) under the 5-year (or1,000-year) return period, yet 11.58 percent (or 65.67 percent) of the simulated trips fail in the same scenario.The results enable comparisons of exposure and vulnerability of road networks to flood hazards across countries, allowingthe identification and prioritization of urban transport resilience measures. |
| Date: | 2022–05–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10049&r= |
| By: | Cattan, Sarah (Institute for Fiscal Studies, London); Salvanes, Kjell G. (Norwegian School of Economics); Tominey, Emma (University of York) |
| Abstract: | Intergenerational persistence in studying for elite education is high across the world. We study the role that exposure to high school peers from elite educated families ('elite peers') plays in driving such a phenomenon in Norway. Using register data on ten cohorts of high school students and exploiting within school, between cohort variation, we identify the causal impact of elite peers on the probability of enrolling in elite education for students from different socioeconomic (SES) backgrounds. We show that exposure to elite peers in high school does drive enrolment into elite degree programmes, but the effect for low SES students is a third of the size than for high SES students. We explore mechanisms behind this pattern – finding that elite peers have a complex effect on students' GPA which is a key part of the story. Elite peers increase the effort of both low and high SES students, but they also push the rank of other students down and trigger a change in teacher behaviour which disadvantages low SES students. To quantify the contribution of this mechanism, we perform a causal mediation analysis exploiting a lottery in the assessment system in Norway to instrument GPA. We find that the indirect effect of elite peers on enrolment through GPA explains just less than half of the total peer effect. Our concluding analysis shows that elite peers in high school raises intergenerational mobility for poor students, but increases persistence for rich students, thereby simultaneously facilitating first generation elite whilst contributing to the high intergenerational persistence at the top of the education and income distribution. |
| Keywords: | peers, elite university, subject choice, social mobility, teacher bias |
| JEL: | I24 J24 J62 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15560&r= |
| By: | Frédéric Kluser, Tobias Seidel, Maximilian v. Ehrlich |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we empirically quantify spatial consumption frictions and the degree of local retail competition. We exploit a unique data set including 1.5 billion daily transactions in combination with detailed characteristics of more than 3 million households. Our estimates are based on a quasi-experimental approach to estimate the causal effect of store openings. We find that a same-chain store opening in the proximity of households' residences reduces their expenditures at incumbent stores by 30% in the first month. Smaller effects for competitors suggest imperfect substitutability between retail chains. Exploiting more than 350 openings, we identify causal consumption gravity functions, which allow us to quantify spatial consumption areas. We document significant heterogeneities across regions and socio-demographic groups, indicating substantial inequalities in consumption access. |
| Keywords: | economic geography, consumption, consumption access, consumption inequality, spatial competition |
| JEL: | R1 R2 L14 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rdv:wpaper:credresearchpaper40&r= |
| By: | Victor Mulas; Haruka Miki-Imoto; Vibhu Jain; Shoko Tawara; Michiko Kadono; Jamil Wyne |
| Keywords: | Culture and Development - Cultural Heritage & Preservation Culture and Development - Culture in Sustainable Development Urban Development - City Development Strategies Urban Development - National Urban Development Policies & Strategies Urban Development - Urban Economic Development |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:35582&r= |
| By: | Eerola, Essi; Lyytikäinen, Teemu; Ramboer, Sander |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of a limit on loan-to-value (LTV) ratios implemented in Finland in 2016. Focusing on households that buy an apartment for the first time, we evaluate how the regulation influenced household leverage and the decision to become a homeowner. Through bunching analysis, the reform is estimated to have reduced transitions into homeownership by 17% among borrowers potentially affected by the reform. This corresponds to an 8% reduction in the total amount of first-time apartment buyers. The reduction in transitions to homeownership is found to be driven by households with below median income, suggesting that the regulation may have important consequences for the distribution of wealth. An additional 8% of potentially affected households reduced their LTV ratios to below the limit. Differences-in-differences analysis, comparing those expected to have LTV ratios above the limit to those below the limit, indicates that the reduction in mortgage debt was accompanied by an increase in other debt. |
| Keywords: | macroprudential policy, mortgage regulation, loan-to-value ratio, household leverage, homeownership, housing demand, Local public finance and provision of public services, Social security, taxation and inequality, G28, G51, R21, R28, fi=Asuntopolitiikka|sv=Bostadspolitik|en=Housing policy|, |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:wpaper:148&r= |
| By: | Ursula Mello |
| Abstract: | Race-neutral affirmative action in higher education has gained importance following the controversies over their race-based alternatives. In many settings, these interventions use a school-based criterion that selects beneficiaries relative to their peers. Exploiting a nationwide quota policy in Brazil that reserved a large share of vacancies in higher education for public-school students, I show that the reform increases the private-to-public school transitions, especially among students of low-performing private schools. In addition to a direct decrease in returns of the private-school investment, spillovers on indirectly exposed cohorts and general equilibrium effects in the school system might also explain the results. |
| Keywords: | Affirmative Action, school choice |
| JEL: | I23 I28 |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1285&r= |
| By: | Munoz Saavedra,Ercio Andres |
| Abstract: | This paper studies whether the observed differences in intergenerational educationalmobility across regions in Latin America and the Caribbean are due to the sorting of families or the effect of growingup in these different places. The analysis exploits differences in the ages of children at the time theirfamilies moved across locations, to isolate regional childhood exposure effects from sorting. The findings show aconvergence rate of 3.5 percent per year of exposure between age 1 to 11, implying that children who moved at age of 1would pick up 35 percent of the observed differences in mobility between origin and destination. These results arerobust to using a specification that identifies the effect of place within households, the use of only anomalously highmigration outflows, instrumenting the choice of destination with historical migration, and a combination of both approaches. |
| Date: | 2022–05–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10037&r= |
| By: | Iimi,Atsushi |
| Abstract: | Large-scale transport infrastructure investment can facilitate structural transformation bychanging firm behavior. Although its impact is evident over the long term, an important empirical challenge is potentialendogeneity of infrastructure placement. By using the dynamic panel data regression, the paper examines theimpacts of massive road corridor investment under the Nurly Zhol program in Kazakhstan. The paper takes advantage ofdetailed micro shipping data to capture historical changes in transport connectivity over the past 10 years. While theaverage travel speed has slightly increased, transport costs have been nearly halved. The estimated translog costfunctions indicate that local market accessibility is the most important factor to boost firm productivity. Theelasticity was 0.24 in absolute terms. Inventory is found to be a major cost factor for firms. It is found that a10-percent improvement in accessibility to large cities, such as Astana and Almaty, could allow firms to reduce theirinventory by 8.7 percent. The market accessibility is found to foster firm agglomerations, but agglomeration economiesdo not seem to translate into higher firm productivity. This is possibly because the Kazakh economy still lacks effectiveforward or backward linkages across industries. |
| Date: | 2022–09–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10196&r= |
| By: | Stephen Bond-Smith (University of Hawai'i, Economic Research Organization); Philip McCann (The University of Manchester, The Productivity Institute) |
| Keywords: | Working-from-home, agglomeration economies |
| JEL: | R1 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anj:wpaper:026&r= |
| By: | World Bank |
| Keywords: | Urban Development - National Urban Development Policies & Strategies Urban Development - Rural Urban Linkages Urban Development - Urban Economic Development Urban Development - Urban Economics Urban Development - Urban Governance and Management Urban Development - Urban Services to the Poor |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:35197&r= |
| By: | Akiko Sawamoto; Jeffery H. Marshall |
| Keywords: | Education - Education For All Education - Educational Institutions & Facilities Education - Educational Technology and Distance Education Education - Effective Schools and Teachers |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:34890&r= |
| By: | Marenzi, A.;; Rizzi, D.;; Zanette, M.;; Zantomio, F.; |
| Abstract: | We show how regional governments affect the appropriate – in terms of territorial equity - assignment of a national LTC benefit. We analyse a three-layers setting, where eligibility criteria are defined by the central government (which bears the fiscal cost of transfers) but the assignment decision is taken by regional medical commissions, while applications are activated by individual potential beneficiaries. Combining administrative and survey data, and accounting for regional variation in eligibility prevalence, we document large territorial disparities in needadjusted benefit assignment. We investigate the determinants of such disparities both in terms of individuals’ differential propensity to claim, and of regional discretionary behaviour, as shaped by the underlying quality of regional institutions. Regional discretion appears to play a major role, with local institutional quality accounting for about one fifth of explained variation in needadjusted benefit coverage. Lower regional institutional quality results in more opportunistic benefit adjudication decisions, although the relationship is attenuated in highly deprived areas. |
| Keywords: | territorial equity; regional discretion; multi-level government; institutional quality; long-term care; benefit targeting; |
| JEL: | C13 H11 H53 H75 J14 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yor:hectdg:22/27&r= |
| By: | tobias König; thomas Brenner |
| Abstract: | Regional and sector-specific skill shortages are either foreseeable or a reality in Germany. It is unclear whether shortages of skilled workers are more apparent in industry-specific agglomerations due to competitive labor poaching or less apparent benefitting labor pooling. This paper analyses the association of skill shortages and the level of industrial clustering in Germany. The results show, that firms located in an industrial cluster have a significantly lower chance of experiencing skill shortages in terms of vacancies for qualified jobs. At the same time, if firms located in industrial clusters face skill shortage, they struggle more to fill such vacancies. |
| Keywords: | Skill shortage, cluster, location quotient, Establishment panel data |
| JEL: | J23 J63 R10 |
| Date: | 2022–09–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iaw:iawdip:140&r= |
| By: | Deininger,Klaus W.; Ali,Daniel Ayalew |
| Abstract: | Using spatial fixed effects and time-varying controls, this paper draws on complete registrydata for 1981–2019, supplemented by satellite imagery, to analyze impacts of urban land titling for some 40,000 gridcells in Lesotho. Beyond confirming the short-term impacts on female co-ownership and investment, previously reported,the paper documents medium-term impacts on land sale and mortgage market activity and women’s participation in thesemarkets. Although titling was instrumental in ensuring the effectiveness of an earlier legal reform that allowed womento be co-owners of land, the credit and land market effects are due not to titling but to changes in policy to reducethe transaction cost of registering land that took effect just before titling started. Downward shifts in the timerequired to register transactions support this interpretation. The paper concludes by discussing what theevidence implies for design and evaluation of property registration programs. |
| Date: | 2022–05–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10043&r= |
| By: | Charpe, Matthieu |
| Abstract: | This paper tests for convergence in labor productivity at the local level in 10 Sub-Saharan countries, disaggregated into 1136 administrative entities. This work combines nighttime lights data and a unique set of population censuses to produce local measures of growth, employment and sectoral shares. We find evidence of unconditional convergence across sectors in the range of 2\%. However, convergence is heterogeneous and conditional on both manufacturing and services employment shares. Convergence is also associated with proximity to the main city, moderate population density, low land suitability and relatively moderate temperature. Lastly, the within effect dominates the between effect. |
| Keywords: | Local convergence, nighttime lights, heterogeneity, local labour market, structural transformation, census |
| JEL: | J23 J46 O14 R11 R23 |
| Date: | 2022–06–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:114860&r= |
| By: | Santos, Indhira (World Bank); Petroska-Beska, Violeta (University of SS. Cyril and Methodius); Carneiro, Pedro (University College London); Eskreis-Winkler, Lauren (Northwestern University); Boudet, Ana Maria Munoz (World Bank); Berniell, Ines (University of La Plata); Krekel, Christian (London School of Economics); Arias, Omar (World Bank); Duckworth, Angela Lee (University of Pennsylvania) |
| Abstract: | We study whether a particular socio-emotional skill – grit (the ability to sustain effort and interest towards long-term goals) – can be cultivated through a large-scale program, and how this affects student learning. Using a randomized control trial, we evaluate the first nationwide implementation of a low-cost intervention designed to foster grit and self- regulation among sixth and seventh-grade students in primary schools in North Macedonia (about 33,000 students across 350 schools). The results of this interventions are mixed. Exposed students report improvements in self-regulation, in particular the perseverance-of- effort facet of grit, relative to students in a control condition. Impacts on students are larger when both students and teachers are exposed to the curriculum than when only students are treated. For disadvantaged students, we also find positive impacts on grade point averages, with gains of up to 28 percent of a standard deviation one year post-treatment. However, while this intervention made students more perseverant and industrious, it reduced the consistency-of-interest facet of grit. This means that exposed students are less able to maintain consistent interests for long periods. |
| Keywords: | socio-emotional skills, grit, gpas, middle-school students, field experiment, RCT |
| JEL: | C93 D91 I20 I24 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15588&r= |
| By: | Hisanobu Kakizawa (Institute for Transdisciplinary Graduate Degree Programs, Osaka University); Wataru Senoh (National Institute for Educational Policy Research); Ryosuke Nakamura (College of Economics, Kanto Gakuin University); Hisakazu Matsushige (Faculty of business administration, Takamatsu University; Osaka School of Internationl Public Policy, Osaka University) |
| Abstract: | This study aims to describe the extent to which class size affects student performance using five years of panel data on both elementary and junior high schools in a Japanese municipality. First, panel data estimation was conducted to control for individual effects. Second, instrumental variables method was applied to it considering the possibility that class size is rather determined by student performance and other factors. Third, we attempted to observe the changes in cohorts and incorporate socioeconomic variables into the estimations. The results show that increasing class size can have a negative impact on students’ grades, though not consistently observed in all grades and subjects. This indicates that class size effects may differ depending on grade level, subject matter, and socio-economic environment where the students live. |
| Keywords: | class size; deviation value; panel data |
| JEL: | I21 I24 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osp:wpaper:22j004&r= |
| By: | Alvin Christian; Brian Jacob; John D. Singleton |
| Abstract: | The COVID-19 pandemic drew new attention to the role of school boards in the U.S. In this paper, we examine school districts’ choices of learning modality—whether and when to offer in-person, virtual, or hybrid instruction—over the course of the 2020-21 pandemic school year. The analysis takes advantage of granular weekly data on learning mode and COVID-19 cases for Ohio school districts. We show that districts respond on the margin to health risks: all else equal, a marginal increase in new cases reduces the probability that a district offers in-person instruction the next week. Moreover, this negative response is magnified when the district was in-person the prior week and attenuates in magnitude over the school year. These findings are consistent with districts learning from experience about the effect of in-person learning on disease transmission in schools. We also find evidence that districts are influenced by the decisions of their peers. |
| JEL: | H0 H10 H30 I20 I21 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30520&r= |
| By: | Lehnert, Patrick (University of Zurich); Niederberger, Michael (University of Zurich); Backes-Gellner, Uschi (University of Zurich); Bettinger, Eric (Stanford University) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a novel procedure for proxying economic activity with day-time satellite imagery across time periods and spatial units, for which reliable data on economic activity are otherwise not available. In developing this unique proxy, we apply machine-learning techniques to a historical time series of daytime satellite imagery dating back to 1984. Compared to satellite data on night light intensity, another common economic proxy, our proxy more precisely predicts economic activity at smaller regional levels and over longer time horizons. We demonstrate our measure's usefulness for the example of Germany, where East German data on economic activity are unavailable for detailed regional levels and historical time series. Our procedure is generalizable to any region in the world, and it has great potential for analyzing historical economic developments, evaluating local policy reforms, and controlling for economic activity at highly disaggregated regional levels in econometric applications. |
| Keywords: | daytime satellite imagery, Landsat, machine learning, economic activity, land cover |
| JEL: | E01 E23 O18 R11 R14 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15555&r= |
| By: | N. Meltem Daysal (University of Copenhagen; CEBI; IZA); Michael F. Lovenheim (Cornell University, NBER, and CESifo); David Wasser (Cornell University) |
| Abstract: | Rising wealth inequality has spurred an increased interest in understanding how and why wealth is correlated across generations. Prior research has found an intergenerational correlation between 0.2 and 0.4 and has emphasized the role of family characteristics in driving this correlation. We contribute to this literature by examining the intergenerational transmission of wealth changes, which allows us to isolate the causal effect of wealth shocks from predetermined parental preferences and household characteristics. Using Danish Register Data, we examine the effect of home price changes that occur between ages 0-5, 6-11, and 12-17 on the value of the home children own at ages 29-33. For the youngest age group, we find that 12.7% of each Krone of home price change is transmitted to housing wealth in adulthood. The transmission rate for the 6-11 age group is higher, at 20.5%, and there is no transmission of home price changes that occur during the teenage years. Examining mechanisms, we find that home price increases in the first two age groups lead to modest increases in home ownership and educational attainment. There also is an increase in non-housing wealth, income, and partner wealth for the middle age group. Income and education can explain only 20-30% of the intergenerational transmission we document. We argue that our results largely reflect changes to parental/household behaviors and preferences that are passed down to children and cause them to accumulate more housing wealth in young adulthood. |
| Keywords: | Intergenerational wealth transmission, housing wealth |
| JEL: | J62 R31 I20 |
| Date: | 2022–10–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kud:kucebi:2221&r= |
| By: | Tom Kirchmaier; Carmen Villa-Llera |
| Abstract: | The pandemic changed the way people worked, shopped, socialised and travelled. Patterns of crime and policing changed too. Shubhangi Agrawal, Tom Kirchmaier and Carmen Villa-Llera reveal how different parts of the UK are faring. |
| Keywords: | Covid-19, Crime |
| Date: | 2022–06–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepcnp:630&r= |
| By: | Arpit Gupta; Vrinda Mittal; Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of remote work on the commercial office sector. We document large shifts in lease revenues, office occupancy, lease renewal rates, lease durations, and market rents as firms shifted to remote work in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. We show that the pandemic has had large effects on both current and expected future cash flows for office buildings. Remote work also changes the risk premium on office real estate. We revalue the stock of New York City commercial office buildings taking into account pandemic-induced cash flow and discount rate effects. We find a 45% decline in office values in 2020 and 39% in the longer-run, the latter representing a $453 billion value destruction. Higher quality office buildings were somewhat buffered against these trends due to a flight to quality, while lower quality office buildings see much more dramatic swings. These valuation changes have repercussions for local public finances and financial sector stability. |
| JEL: | G10 G17 R00 R33 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30526&r= |
| By: | You Suk Kim; Donghoon Lee; Tess C. Scharlemann; James Vickery |
| Abstract: | We study how intermediaries—mortgage servicers—shaped the implementation of mortgage forbearance during the COVID-19 pandemic and use servicer-level variation to trace out the causal effect of forbearance on borrowers. Forbearance provision varied widely across servicers. Small servicers and nonbanks, especially nonbanks with small liquidity buffers, facilitated fewer forbearances and saw a higher incidence of forbearance-related complaints. Easier access to forbearance substantially increased mortgage nonpayment but also reduced delinquencies outside of forbearance. Part of the liquidity from forbearance was used to reduce credit card debt, but most was saved or used for nondurable consumption. |
| Keywords: | mortgage; forbearance; liquidity; nonbanks; CARES Act; Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act; COVID 19 |
| JEL: | G21 G23 G28 |
| Date: | 2022–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fednsr:94910&r= |
| By: | Fabian Eckert; Sharat Ganapati; Conor Walsh |
| Abstract: | Since 1980, US wage growth has been fastest in large cities. Empirically, we show that most of this urban-biased growth reflects wage growth at large Business Services firms, which are also the most intensive users of information and communications technology (ICT) capital in the US economy. We provide an explicit economic mechanism whereby ICT is more complementary with labor at larger firms. Quantitatively, we find that with such a complementarity, the observed decline in ICT prices alone can account for most of the urban-biased growth, since Business Services firms in big cities tend to be large. |
| JEL: | J3 O33 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30515&r= |
| By: | Jedwab,Remi Camille; Ianchovichina,Elena; Haslop,Federico |
| Abstract: | Cities dramatically vary in their sectoral composition across the world, possibly lendingcredence to the theory that some cities are production cities with high employment shares of urban tradables whileothers are consumption cities with high employment shares of urban non-tradables. A model of structural change highlightsthree paths leading to the rise of consumption cities: resource rents from exporting fuels and mining products,agricultural exports, and premature deindustrialization. These findings appear to be corroborated using both country-and city-level data. Compared to cities in industrialized countries, cities of similar sizes in resource-rich anddeindustrializing countries have lower shares of employment in manufacturing, tradable services, and the formal sector,and higher shares of employment in non-tradables and the informal sector. Results on the construction of “vanitous”tall buildings provide additional evidence on the relationship between resource exports and consumptioncities. Finally, the evidence suggests that having mostly consumption cities might have economic implications for a country. |
| Date: | 2022–06–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10105&r= |
| By: | Bin Wei; Feng Zhao |
| Abstract: | This paper examines racial disparities in mortgage processing time prior to the global financial crisis. We find that Black borrowers are underrepresented and experience a longer processing time than White borrowers among the mortgages securitized by government-sponsored enterprises. At the same time, Black borrowers are overrepresented and face a similar processing time among privately securitized mortgages. Additionally, Black borrowers are strongly associated with the faster segments of mortgage markets, faster lenders within each segment, and the types of loan products that are processed faster, all of which subsequently experienced higher defaults. |
| Keywords: | processing time; lending standards; racial disparities; mortgage loans |
| JEL: | G01 G21 G23 R30 |
| Date: | 2022–01–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedawp:94781&r= |
| By: | Huning, Thilo R.; Wahl, Fabian |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we present novel data from the German-speaking area on 13,422 venture capital investments between 1999 and 2019, and document a novel and yet unexplained contributor to investors' home bias. We propose a new measure of regional identity based on a recent vehicle license plate liberalization in Germany, and leverage on a unique dataset of historical borders to show how regional identity is formed. We use an instrumental strategy to establish a causal link between historical political instability, regional identity, and the home bias. Our results indicate that a common regional identity is highly relevant for investment decisions. |
| Keywords: | home bias,venture capital,start-ups,investor behavior,common regional identity,historical political instability |
| JEL: | G11 G24 G41 N20 Z19 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:pp1859:35&r= |
| By: | Engelbert Stockhammer; Andre Novas Otero |
| Abstract: | Southern European countries are widely considered a distinct type of capitalism, but they have experienced a varied growth performance, both over time and across countries. This paper investigates the growth drivers in southern Europe since the mid-1990s. We consider a broad set of potential growth drivers derived from the literature on Mediterranean capitalism and Comparative Political Economy more broadly. On the demand side these include the role of house prices (as the main financial variable; highlighted in parts of the growth models approach); the ‘financial curse’ hypothesis (which posits that financial inflows caused house price booms and crowded out manufacturing activities); and Keynesian arguments on the impact of fiscal policy. On the supply side, these encompass the cost competitiveness argument (consistent with mainstream economics and the Varieties of Capitalism approach), research-led technological change; and neo-structuralist arguments regarding the productive capacity. We find strong evidence for the growth contributions of house prices and fiscal policy. While these findings are generally supportive of extant analysis of these economies as finance-led rather than export-led, they call for a more serious integration of house prices in growth model analysis and for a more systematic analysis of the growth impact of fiscal policy. |
| Keywords: | Comparative Political Economy, growth models, growth drivers, southern Europe, house price cycles, fiscal policy |
| JEL: | B20 B50 E12 O43 P51 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pke:wpaper:pkwp2224&r= |
| By: | World Bank |
| Keywords: | Urban Development - Hazard Risk Management Urban Development - National Urban Development Policies & Strategies Urban Development - Urban Economic Development Urban Development - Urban Governance and Management Urban Development - Urban Services to the Poor Urban Development - Urban Water & Waste Management |
| Date: | 2021–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:35115&r= |
| By: | Lopez, Claude (Milken Institute); Roh, Hyeongyul (Milken Institute); Switek, Maggie (Milken Institute) |
| Abstract: | The Community Explorer provides new insights and data on the characteristics and diversity of the US population. Using machine learning methods, it synthesizes the information of 751 variables across 3,142 counties from the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey into 17 communities. Each one of these communities has a distinctive profile that combines demographic, socio-economic, and cultural behavioral determinants while not being geographically bounded. We encourage policy makers and researchers to make use of the results of our analysis. The Community Explorer dashboard provides the location of these profiles, allowing for targeted deployment of community interventions and, more broadly, increasing the understanding of socioeconomic gaps withing the US. |
| Keywords: | diversity, communities, development, economic well-being |
| JEL: | D31 J08 J10 R10 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izapps:pp190&r= |
| By: | Maria Gunko (Institute of Geography of RAS - RAS - Russian Academy of Sciences [Moscow], University of Oxford [Oxford]); Benoit Conti (LVMT - Laboratoire Ville, Mobilité, Transport - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - Université Gustave Eiffel); Alexander Sheludkov (Institute of Geography of RAS - RAS - Russian Academy of Sciences [Moscow]); Sophie Baudet-Michel (GC (UMR_8504) - Géographie-cités - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UPCité - Université Paris Cité); Anastasia Novkunskaya (European University at Saint Petersburg) |
| Abstract: | Since the 1990s, many countries have implemented healthcare reforms underlined by New Public Management principles and technological transformations. Although studies have examined these reforms from different viewpoints, the spatial implications of healthcare reforms have received limited attention. Scholarship focused predominantly on regional variations of healthcare provision overlooking the sharp contrasts between cities where most healthcare facilities are de facto located. Addressing this research gap, we investigate the long-term dynamics of healthcare provision on the urban level, tracing the differences (if any) between cities of different sizes and administrative statuses. The study adopts a comparative approach. We draw our data from two countries: France and Russia (mainland France and European Russia). Findings indicate that, despite some variations, healthcare reforms in both countries follow similar paths, resulting in fewer hospital beds that have been partially replaced by places in day hospitals. At the same time, we also observe diverging country-specific trends in terms of redistribution of healthcare provision. In France, some cities completely lost their hospital equipment but those cities that remained equipped tend to a uniform distribution. In European Russia, on the contrary, all cities remain equipped but there is a drastic polarization depending on size and administrative status. |
| Keywords: | Healthcare,healthcare reforms,new public management,neoliberalism,France,Russia |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03771480&r= |
| By: | Munoz Saavedra,Ercio Andres |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates intergenerational mobility in education using data from 91censuses that span 24 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean over half a century. It measures upward mobilityas the likelihood of obtaining at least a primary education for individuals whose parents did not finish primary school,whereas downward mobility is the likelihood of failing to complete primary education for individuals whose parentscompleted at least primary school. In addition, the paper explores the geography of educational intergenerationalmobility using nearly 400 “provinces” and more than 6,000 “districts”. It documents wide cross-country andwithin-country heterogeneity. The paper documents a declining trend in the mobility gap between urban and ruralpopulations, and small differences by gender. Within countries, the level of mobility is highly correlated withthe share of primary completion of the previous generation, which suggests a high level of inertia. In addition, upward(downward) mobility is negatively (positively) correlated with distance to the capital and the share of employment inagriculture, but positively (negatively) correlated with the share of employment in industry. |
| Date: | 2022–05–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10036&r= |
| By: | Erman,Alvina Elisabeth; Dallmann,Ingrid |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a hedonic propertyprice function to estimate the relationship between flood risk and rents in four Sub-Saharan Africa cities: Accra,Antananarivo, Dar es Salaam, and Addis Ababa. The analysis relies on household survey data collected after flood eventsin the cities. Flood risk is measured with self-reported data on past flood exposure and perception of future risk offlooding of households. The study finds that flood risk is associated with lower rents in Accra, Antananarivo, andAddis Ababa, ranging from 14 to 56 percent lower. In contrast, risk is associated with higher rent in Dar esSalaam, which could be potentially attributed to a combination of lack of awareness of flood risk amongrenters, high transaction costs and omitted variable bias. For example, only 12 percent of households living inflood-prone areas were aware of the flood risk when they moved in. In Antananarivo, job density is associated withhigher rents while in Accra and Addis Ababa, higher job density is associated with lower rents. Results are negativebut not significant in Dar es Salaam. When interacting job density with flood risk for each city, the negative effectof job density on rents is higher (in absolute value) when flood risk is high in Accra and Addis Ababa, and thepositive effect of job density on rents becomes negative when flood risk is high in Antananarivo. This relationshipis not found in Dar es Salaam. The finding seems to suggest that access to jobs is a factor driving people to settle inflood-prone areas. |
| Date: | 2022–07–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10127&r= |
| By: | Lnu,Anukriti; Herrera-Almanza,Catalina; Karra,Mahesh Venkat |
| Abstract: | This paper experimentally tests whether enabling individuals to incentivize others tosocialize with them can strengthen social networks and improve well-being. The paper examines family planningaccess for women in India, who tend to be socially isolated and for whom peer support may overcome intrahouseholdconstraints. Enabling women to jointly visit a clinic with other women not only increased social ties and strengthenedpeer engagement, but also increased clinic visits and contraceptive use. Moreover, this intervention was moreeffective in improving reproductive autonomy of women who faced greater intrahousehold opposition than an interventionthat only improved women’s own access to the clinic. |
| Date: | 2022–06–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10107&r= |
| By: | World Bank |
| Keywords: | Education - Education Reform and Management Education - Effective Schools and Teachers |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:35461&r= |
| By: | Albanese, Andrea; Cockx, Bart; Dejemeppe, Muriel |
| Abstract: | We use (donut) regression discontinuity design and difference-in-differences estimators to estimate the impact of a one-shot hiring subsidy targeted at low-educated unemployed youths during the Great Recession recovery in Belgium. The subsidy increases job-finding in the private sector by 10 percentage points within one year of unemployment. Six years later, high school graduates accumulated 2.8 quarters more private employment. However, because they substitute private for public and self-employment, overall employment does not increase but is still better paid. For high school dropouts, no persistent gains emerge. Moreover, the neighboring attraction pole of Luxembourg induces a complete deadweight near the border. |
| Keywords: | Hiring subsidies,youth unemployment,cross-border employment,regression discontinuity design,difference-in-differences,spillover effects,displacement |
| JEL: | C21 J08 J23 J24 J64 J68 J61 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1168&r= |
| By: | Stefan Buechele (University of Kassel); Carina Marten (University of Kassel) |
| Abstract: | Studies determining students' success in higher education mostly rely on students' predetermined baseline variables like high school GPA or ACT scores and, therefore, describe skill differences at the beginning of college but not the development of these differences over time. Whether ex-ante lower-skilled students can catch up or higher-skilled students may expand their initial lead remains unclear. We investigate the students' learning growth in a business math course and analyze if the gap between initially higher and lower-skilled students changes. Also, we provide possible reasons for different skill growth rates using panel data and mixed-effects models. The results suggest that ex-ante higher-skilled students become disproportionately better (cumulative learning pattern). However, we find evidence that this is only because of engagement effects. In other words, ex-ante lower-skilled students cannot catch up and fall behind even more because they seem less engaged in their studies than higher-skilled students. |
| Keywords: | math skill; learning growth; higher education; learning differences; student heterogeneity |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mar:magkse:202236&r= |
| By: | Michah W. Rothbart (Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University, 426 Eggers Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244); Taryn W. Morrissey (School of Public Affairs, American University, Washington, D.C. 20016) |
| Abstract: | While previous research documents the direct benefits of preschool for those who attend, less is known about how the availability of public preschool indirectly affects the early educational experiences, preschool attendance patterns, and school readiness measures in a population of children more broadly. This study uses administrative data from Virginia of first-time kindergarteners from 2007 to 2019 (about 1,000,000 students) to better understand associations between public preschool availability, patterns of prekindergarten participation, and school readiness. We exploit discrete expansions in the Virginia Preschool Initiative Plus (VPI+) program and propensity weighted estimators to estimate public prekindergarten expansions’ effects on children’s patterns of early education attendance and literacy skills upon kindergarten entry for students in expansion districts. Findings indicate that residency in a VPI+ district increases the probability that students attend a public prekindergarten and (perhaps surprisingly) private center in the year prior to kindergarten by about 5-6 and 2-3 percentage points, respectively, while decreasing the probability of attending Head Start, unlicensed homes, or having no observed prekindergarten arrangement. Increases in hours per week in preschool settings are consistent in direction and magnitude with compositional shifts in prekindergarten setting. We also find improvements in literacy skills in the fall of kindergarten for students in a VPI+ expansion district (of about 6-7 percent of a standard deviation, and 1 percentage point decrease in the probability that students arrive below benchmark). Results demonstrate the community-wide effects of public preschool for patterns of early care and education participation and children’s outcomes in early elementary school (potentially previously unmeasured benefits), with implications for policy and research. |
| Keywords: | Public Prekindergarten, Early Childhood Education, Early Literacy Skills |
| JEL: | I28 I21 H44 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:max:cprwps:250&r= |
| By: | Fabian Eckert; Michael Peters |
| Abstract: | Between 1880 and 1920, the US agricultural employment share fell from 50% to 25%. However, despite aggregate demand shifting away from their sector of specialization, rural labor markets saw faster wage growth and industrialization than non-agricultural parts of the US. We propose a spatial model of the structural transformation to analyze the link between aggregate structural change and local economic development. The calibrated model shows that rural areas adapted to the decline of the agricultural sector by adopting technologies already in use in urban locations. Without such catchup growth, economic development would have been urban-biased and spatial inequality would have increased. |
| JEL: | O1 R11 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30489&r= |
| By: | Khan,Amjad Muhammad; Park,Hogeun; Roberts,Mark; Wibisana,Putu Sanjiwacika |
| Abstract: | This paper uses high-frequency nighttime time lights data to estimate the impacts of theCovid-19 crisis on economic activity during the first year of the pandemic for a global sample of 2,800 cities,covering a total population of 2.5 billion people. Activity is found to be negatively affected by both the spread of thevirus and the imposition of nonpharmaceutical interventions, but the negative impacts of the spread are large compared tothose of nonpharmaceutical interventions. Large differences in city trajectories are also observed. Cities in low- andmiddle-income countries faced a significantly larger overall loss of economic activity compared to those in high-incomecountries. Additionally, cities with higher population densities are found to be more resilient in the face of theglobal shock as compared to less dense ones, but this difference is only observed in low- and middle-incomecountries. Taken together, the findings suggest that the Covid-19 crisis gave rise to divergence in urban economictrajectories, both across and within countries. |
| Date: | 2022–09–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10189&r= |
| By: | Blanco,Christian; Meneses,Francisco Jalles; Villamizar-Chaparro,Mateo |
| Abstract: | Education is a powerful tool for social mobility and cultural integration. However, it is oneof the largest hurdles for migrants—particularly for forcefully displaced migrants, given their more vulnerablecondition and lack of resources to pay for private education. This paper explores educational gaps betweenmigrants and natives in Chile, a country that provides free public education to newcomers. The paper analyzes anadministrative data set that includes all students in the Chilean educational system and follows students from 2017 to2018. Using a research discontinuity design around the cut-off for financial aid to tertiary education, this paperinvestigates whether access to financial aid generatesincentives for forced migrants to enroll in tertiary education. This research confirms previous findings thatshow that migrants have lower advancement and enrollment rates than natives at every school level. Moreover, it findsthat financial aid applications constitute a major roadblock preventing migrant students from accessing higher education.Furthermore, the paper presents suggestive evidence showing that the interaction between the type of school (vocationalvs. technical) and the migrant condition affects applications for financial aid. |
| Date: | 2022–06–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10104&r= |
| By: | Yuko Arai; Daniel Levine; Haruka Miki-Imoto; Mitsuhiro Yamazaki |
| Keywords: | Urban Development - City Development Strategies Urban Development - Hazard Risk Management Urban Development - Urban Economic Development Urban Development - Urban Water & Waste Management Water Resources - Flood Control |
| Date: | 2020–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:35180&r= |
| By: | Walelign,Solomon Zena; Wang Sonne,Soazic Elise; Seshan,Ganesh Kumar |
| Abstract: | Most refugee hosting communities are characterized by high levels of poverty with precariouslivelihood conditions, low access to public services, and underdeveloped infrastructure. While the unexpected inflowof refugees might bring both constraints and opportunities for improving and maintaining local livelihoods in thesecommunities, the understanding of these effects remains limited. Using a household level micro data set from a 2018baseline survey of the Ethiopia Development Response to Displacement Impacts Project, this paper assesses the impactof refugee inflow on the livelihood strategies of host communities with respect to diversification and agriculturalcommercialization. The endogeneity of refugee inflow is addressed by exploiting differences in factors thatinfluence refugee arrival in the host communities. Specifically, the analysis uses potential refugee inflow asan instrument, which is the product of population density and intensity of conflicts (number of fatalities per event)in the closest region of the origin country to the refugee camp weighted by the distance of the refugee camp to theclosest region. The paper also constructs an aggregate index to proxy households’ livelihood diversification strategies.The findings show that refugee inflow brings substantial benefits to host communities by creating significant jobs,in which people engage as secondary occupations, and triggers an increasing demand for livestock products.Specifically, while no effect was found on diversification of activities such as a primary occupation and crop productsales, a 1 percent increase in refugee inflow leads to a 2.7 percent rise in diversification of livelihood activities asa secondary occupation and a 15.9 percent increase in the value of livestock product sales. These effects tend to beheterogeneous across refugee hosting regions and the gender of the household head: negative effects were mainly observedin Gambella region, which hosts the largest refugee population in the country, and male-headed households weremore likely to benefit from the refugee presence for the whole sample. The paper identifies households'increased engagement in different livelihood activities and access to markets as a potential mechanism for the observedeffects. The findings add to the growing literature on the socioeconomic impacts of refugee inflow on host communitiesby showing an overall positive effect on the livelihoods and welfare of receiving communities. |
| Date: | 2022–05–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10044&r= |
| By: | Bilo,Simon; Ajwad,Mohamed Ihsan; AlAnsari,Ebtesam; AlHumaidan,Lama; Alrashidi,Faleh M F E |
| Abstract: | The schooling disruption caused by COVID-19 in Kuwait is among the longest in the world. Usingthe similarities between the schooling disruptions due to the Gulf War and the schooling disruption due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, this note shows that students in school during the COVID-19 pandemic face significant reductions inthe present value of their lifetime income. Furthermore, the findings show that students in higher grades during thepandemic are likely to face larger reductions in lifetime earnings than students in lower grades. Kuwaiti females insecondary school who will become civil service workers face a reduction of close to $40,000. The corresponding reductionfor males is more than $70,000. |
| Date: | 2022–05–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10035&r= |
| By: | Stephen Machin |
| Abstract: | What can economics tell us about crime? Economists have discovered that young people who leave school during a recession are more likely to end up in prison than those who enter the labour market when the economy is buoyant. They have also shown that people with higher levels of education are less likely to commit crime. How do economists untangle the interactions between individuals, the economy and crime? |
| Keywords: | crime, crime control, policing, justice, labour markets, employment, unemployment, wages, education, recessions, domestic abuse, domestic violence, alcohol, incentives |
| Date: | 2022–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepins:10&r= |
| By: | David K. Evans |
| Keywords: | Education - Educational Institutions & Facilities Education - Effective Schools and Teachers |
| Date: | 2021–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:35079&r= |
| By: | Conte,Bruno; Ianchovichina,Elena |
| Abstract: | Using fine-grained spatial data and a dynamic spatial general equilibrium model, this paperassesses the magnitude of mobility frictions in Latin America as well as the effects of their reduction on spatialdevelopment in the region. The results suggest that in most Latin American countries, migration frictions calibratedbased on spatially differentiated initial utility are on average smaller and less dispersed than those obtainedassuming uniform within-country initial utility. A reduction in trade costs due to optimal investments in roadinfrastructure in most Latin American countries increases the present discounted value of real per capita income onaverage in the region by 15.1 percent. This effect is larger than the effects obtained with static quantitative trademodels because of substantial dynamic gains. By contrast, a reduction in migration entry costs in the most productiveand more populous locations in the Latin American countries has a negligible effect on the present discounted value ofthe region’s real per capita income, reflecting the relatively small dispersion in domestic migration frictionsand their relatively low levels in top locations. In both counterfactuals, the welfare increases are significantlylarger than the increases in real per capita output because the reductions in mobility frictions allow people torelocate to areas with better amenities and therefore derive higher utility. These results suggest that trade costs, notmigration barriers, represent a major constraint to theefficient spatial distribution of economic activity and growth in Latin America. |
| Date: | 2022–05–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10071&r= |
| By: | Luo, Chenghong; Mauleon, Ana (Université catholique de Louvain, LIDAM/CORE, Belgium); Vannetelbosch, Vincent (Université catholique de Louvain, LIDAM/CORE, Belgium) |
| Abstract: | We reconsider de Marti and Zenou (2017) model of friendship network formation where individuals belong to two different communities and costs of forming links depend on community memberships. Many inefficient friendship networks such as segregation can arise when all individuals are myopic. Once there are myopic and farsighted individuals in both communities, we show that if there are enough farsighted individuals in the dominant community relatively to the number of individuals in the small community, then the friendship network where the smaller community ends up being assimilated into the dominant community is likely to emerge and is strongly and Pareto efficient. Moreover, this friendship network Pareto dominates the complete segregation network. |
| Keywords: | Friendship networks ; stable sets ; myopia ; farsightedness ; assimilation ; segregation |
| JEL: | A14 C70 D20 |
| Date: | 2022–05–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cor:louvco:2022021&r= |
| By: | Bedaso, Fenet Jima; Jirjahn, Uwe; Goerke, Laszlo |
| Abstract: | We hypothesize that incomplete integration into the workplace and society implies that immigrants are less likely to be union members than natives. Incomplete integration makes the usual mechanism for overcoming the collective action problem less effective. Using data from the Socio-Economic Panel, our empirical analysis confirms a unionization gap for first-generation immigrants in Germany. Importantly, the analysis shows that the immigrant-native gap in union membership indeed depends on immigrants' integration into the workplace and society. The gap is smaller for immigrants working in firms with a works council and having social contacts with Germans. Our analysis also confirms that the gap is decreasing in the years since arrival in Germany. |
| Keywords: | Union membership,migration,works council,social contacts with natives,years since arrival |
| JEL: | J15 J52 J61 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1169&r= |
| By: | Simone Moriconi; Giovanni Peri; Riccardo Turati |
| Abstract: | We analyze whether second-generation immigrants have different political preferences relative to observationally identical children of citizens in the host countries. Using data on individual voting behavior in 22 European countries between 2001 and 2017, we characterize each vote on a left-right scale based on the ideological and policy positions of the party receiving the vote. In the first part of the paper, we characterize the size of the "left-wing bias" in the vote of second-generation immigrants after controlling for a large set of individual characteristics and origin and destination country fixed effects. We find a significant left-wing bias of second-generation immigrants, comparable in magnitude to the left-wing bias associated with living in urban (rather than rural) areas. We then show that this left-wing bias is associated with stronger preferences for inequality-reducing government intervention, internationalism and multiculturalism. We do not find that second-generation immigrants are biased towards or away from populist political agendas. |
| JEL: | J61 P16 Z1 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30523&r= |
| By: | Bruhn,Miriam; Garber,Gabriel; Koyama,Sergio; Zia,Bilal Husnain |
| Abstract: | In 2011, the impact of a comprehensive financial education program was studiedthrough a randomized controlled trial with 892 high schools in six Brazilian states. Using administrative data, thispaper follows 16,000 students for the next nine years. The short-term findings were that the treatment students usedexpensive credit and were behind on payments. By contrast, in the long-term, treatment students were less likely toborrow from expensive sources and to have loans with late payments than control students. Treatment students were alsomore likely to own microenterprises and less likely to be formally employed than control students. |
| Date: | 2022–07–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10131&r= |
| By: | Karmali,Nadeem M.; Guillermo J. Rodriguez Ruiz |
| Abstract: | Anecdotal studies have highlighted the recent rapid growth of so-called affordable housingfinance companies across India. These new lenders are reported to be using a high-touch approach common tomicrofinance to provide mortgages to households that are newer to credit, have irregular incomes, and live in smallerurban centers. As there is no specific license type for these lenders, this paper uses detailed credit bureau datato identify which lenders could be tagged as affordable housing finance companies. Using several classificationtechniques, the paper then assesses their growth and performance. The results vindicate the anecdotal studies andshow that this nascent sector grew at an average annual compound growth rate of 27–32 percent between 2016 and 2020.Affordable housing finance companies have been able to lend to more marginalized borrowers who are newer to credit anddo so in a markedly different way than other lenders. Delinquencies at affordable housing finance companies arehigher only for smaller loans, while risk-adjusted lending spreads are higher for all affordable housing financecompany loan sizes. This suggests that, thus far, the approach is profitable and sustainable. Looking forward,this lending model could be useful for other countries to explore given the incipient success in India, although thereare crucial capital market and institutional features that are unique to India. The paper also discusses demand-sidesubsidies for mortgages in India and identifies opportunities to improve the targeting of the program. |
| Date: | 2022–05–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10038&r= |
| By: | Cosar,Ahmet Kerem |
| Abstract: | Poor infrastructure and high domestic shipping costs are often cited as important impediments toeconomic activity in developing countries. Domestic shipping being mostly overland, understanding the level and structureof costs in road freight transportation could thus help formulate policies that aim to lower them. This reviewprovides a summary of overland transport cost estimates with a focus on trucking, the dominant mode of domestic freight.By describing conceptual issues, highlighting sources of data and alternative methodologies with their key findings,it is intended to help practitioners and researchers navigate the literature. |
| Date: | 2022–08–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10156&r= |
| By: | Colin Green (Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology); Ole Henning Nyhus (NTNU Social Research); Kari Vea Salvanes (Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU)) |
| Abstract: | How much young children should be tested and graded is a highly contentious issue in education policy. Opponents consider it detrimental to child mental health, leading to misaligned incentives in educational policy and having little if any redeeming impact on educational performance. Others see early testing of children as a necessary instrument for identifying early underachievement and educational targeting while incentivising schools to improve the educational performance of children. In practice, there is large crosscountry variation in testing regimes. We exploit random variation in test-taking in mathematics among early primary school children in Norway, a low testing environment. We examine two forms of testing, complex but low-stakes mathematics tests and relatively easy screening tests aimed at identifying children in need of educational assistance. In general, we demonstrate zero effects of testing exposure on later test score performance but some benefits for screening tests on low-performing students. While we demonstrate no negative effects on student welfare, we do find an indication that testing improves aspects of teaching practices and students’ perceptions of teacher feedback and engagement. |
| Keywords: | student assessment, testing, student achievement |
| JEL: | I28 I24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nst:samfok:19422&r= |
| By: | Beyer,Robert Carl Michael; Narayanan,Abhinav; Thakur,Gogol Mitra |
| Abstract: | Exceptionally high rainfall in the Indian state of Kerala caused major flooding in 2018. Thispaper estimates the short-run causal impact of the disaster on the economy, using a difference-in-difference approach.Monthly nighttime light intensity, a proxy for aggregate economic activity, suggests that activity declined for threemonths during the disaster but boomed subsequently. Automated teller machine transactions, a proxy for consumerdemand, declined and credit disbursal increased, with households borrowing more for housing and less forconsumption. In line with other results, both household income and expenditure declined during the floods. Despite astrong wage recovery after the floods, spending remained lower relative to the unaffected districts. The paper arguesthat increased labor demand due to reconstruction efforts increased wages after the floods and provides corroboratingevidence: (i) rural labor markets tightened, (ii) poorer households benefited more, and (iii) wages increased mostwhere government relief was strongest. The findings confirm the presence of interesting economic dynamics during andright after natural disasters that remain in the shadow when analyzed with annual data. |
| Date: | 2022–06–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10084&r= |
| By: | Ruiz,Isabel; Vargas Silva,Carlos Ivan |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the impact of refugee return on social cohesion using data from Burundi, acountry that experienced high levels of repatriation during the 2000s. It uses a nationwide survey conducted in 2015 andrelies on geographic features of the communities for identification purposes. The results suggest varying impactsof refugee return on different aspects of social cohesion. The stronger effects, suggest that refugee return has anegative impact on the feeling that community members help each other, could borrow money for emergencies fromnon-household members and feeling that the community is peaceful. The estimated impacts on measures ofreconciliation, post-conflict justice, trust and participation in community groups are mostly statisticallyinsignificant. The paper also explores how these effects differ across different sub-samples based on ethniccomposition, land scarcity and attitudes towards return. The results highlight the possible role of new migration-relatedsocietal divisions (i.e. returnees versus stayees) in affecting post-return social cohesion. |
| Date: | 2022–06–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10100&r= |
| By: | Bah,Tijan L; Batista,Catia; Gubert,Flore; Mckenzie,David J. |
| Abstract: | Irregular migration from West Africa to Europe across the Sahara and Mediterranean is extremelyrisky for migrants and a key policy concern. A cluster-randomized experiment with 3,641 young men from 391settlements in The Gambia is used to test three approaches to reducing risky migration: providing better informationand testimonials about the risks of the journey, facilitating migration to a safer destination by providinginformation and assistance for migration to Dakar, and offering vocational skill training to enhance domesticemployment opportunities. Current migration to Senegal was increased by both the Dakar facilitation and vocationaltraining treatments, partially crowding out internal migration. The vocational training treatment reducedintentions to migrate the backway and the number of steps taken toward moving. However, the backway migration ratefrom The Gambia collapsed, even in the control group, resulting in no space for a treatment effect on irregularmigration from any of the three interventions. |
| Date: | 2022–08–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10146&r= |
| By: | Mckenzie,David J. |
| Abstract: | Only one in seven of the world’s population has ever migrated, despite the enormous gains inincome possible through international and internal movement. This paper examines the evidence for different explanationsgiven in the economics literature for this lack of movement and their implications for policy. Incorrect informationabout the gains to migrating, liquidity constraints that prevent poor people paying the costs of moving, and highcosts of movement arising from both physical transportation costs and policy barriers all inhibit movement and offerscope for policy efforts to inform, provide credit, and lower moving costs. However, the economics literature haspaid less attention to the fears people have when faced with the uncertainty of moving to a new place, and to the reasonsbehind the tears they shed when moving. While these tears reveal the attachment people have to particular places, thisattachment is not fixed, but itself changes with migration experiences. Psychological factors such as a bias toward thestatus quo and the inability to picture what one is giving up by not migrating can result in people not moving, evenwhen they would benefit from movement and are not constrained by finances or policy barriers from doing so.This suggests new avenues for policy interventions that can help individuals better visualize the opportunity costs ofnot moving, alleviate their uncertainties, and help shift their default behavior from not migrating. |
| Date: | 2022–07–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10128&r= |
| By: | Patrinos,Harry Anthony; Vegas,Emiliana; Carter-Rau,Rohan |
| Abstract: | COVID-19 caused significant disruption to the global education system. Early reviews ofthe first wave of lockdowns and school closures suggested significant learning loss in a few countries. A more recentand thorough analysis of recorded learning loss evidence documented since the beginning of the school closuresbetween March 2020 and March 2022 finds even more evidence of learning loss. Most studies observed increases ininequality where certain demographics of students experienced more significant learning losses than others.But there are also outliers, countries that managed to limit the amount of loss. This review aims to consolidate all theavailable evidence and documents the empirical findings. Thirty-six robust studies were identified, the majority ofwhich find learning losses on average amounting to 0.17 of a standard deviation, equivalent to roughly a one-half year’sworth of learning. These findings confirm that learning loss is real and significant, even compared to the first year ofthe pandemic. Further work is needed to increase the quantity of studies produced, and to ascertain the reasonsfor learning loss and in a few cases mitigation of loss. |
| Date: | 2022–05–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10033&r= |
| By: | Ofori Adofo,Josephine; Tarui,Nori; Tanaka,Tomomi |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the welfare impacts of natural resources by analyzing Ghana’s offshoreoil discovery and subsequent production. It finds substantial increases in real income, but no effect onconsumption and poverty. The income effects are stronger for skilled workers. Estimates of the effects of oil discoveryon employment show that employment in general increased by 4 percentage points. The positive employment effects arelargely concentrated in non-oil local sectors: manufacturing and construction. The findings do not show significantimpacts on employment in the agriculture and service sectors where a large proportion of individuals below the povertyline are engaged. This largely explains why the oil discovery had no effect on poverty reduction, as itbenefited the non-poor rather than the poor. |
| Date: | 2022–08–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10154&r= |
| By: | Bertinelli,Luisito; Comertpay,Rana; Maystadt,Jean-François |
| Abstract: | Despite mixed empirical evidence, refugees have been blamed for spreading conflict in thecountries that receive them. This paper hypothesizes that such a relationship largely depends on the resulting changein ethnic composition of refugee-hosting areas. To test this, this paper investigates changes in diversity inrefugee-hosting areas across 23 countries in sub-Saharan Africa between 2005 and 2016. The paper then assesses thelikelihood of conflict in relation to the changing level of ethnic fractionalization and ethnic polarization. Ethnicfractionalization measures the probability that two individuals drawn at random from a society will belong totwo different ethnic groups and thus increases with the number of ethnic groups present. Ethnic polarizationcaptures antagonism between individuals and is maximized when the society is divided into two equally sized anddistant ethnic groups. Refugee polarization is found to exacerbate the risk of conflict, with a one standarddeviation increase in the polarization index increasing the incidence of violent conflict by 5 percentage points. Suchan effect corresponds to a 10 percent increase at the mean. The opposite effect is found for the fractionalizationindex. Additional analyses are also conducted based on individual data. Ethnic polarization increases thelikelihood of experiencing physical assault by 2.1 percentage points. Inversely, the equivalent change in theethnic fractionalization index decreases the likelihood of experiencing physical assault by 1.9 percentage points.Similar effects are found for interpersonal crime. The results should not be interpreted as evidence that refugeesper se impact the likelihood of violence. Indeed, there is no evidence of a significant correlation between the numberof refugees and the occurrence of conflict. Instead, the analysis points to the risk of conflict when refugeesexacerbate ethnic polarization in the hosting communities. In contrast, a situation where refugee flows increase thelevel of ethnic fractionalization is likely to see an attenuated risk of violence. This certainly calls forspecific interventions in polarized refugee-hosting communities. |
| Date: | 2022–05–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10052&r= |
| By: | Bossavie,Laurent Loic Yves; He Wang |
| Abstract: | Despite the magnitude of return migration from overseas to South Asia, the labor marketoutcomes of return migrants to this region have been understudied. This paper aims at filling this gap byexamining systematic differences between the labor market outcomes of return migrants and nonmigrants in Bangladesh,Nepal, and Pakistan using nationally-representative surveys that include information on past migration. Conditionalregression analysis is used with a focus on four labor market outcomes: (i) labor force status (ii) sectoral choice(iii) employment type, and (iv) earnings. The paper finds that return migrants are somewhat less likely to be employedthan nonmigrants, which is mainly driven by returnees who returned at an older age. As evidenced in other contexts,return migrants in Bangladesh and Pakistan are more likely to become entrepreneurs compared with nonmigrants.Self-employed returnees are also more likely to hire paid employees and to be engaged in non-farm activities, comparedwith nonmigrant entrepreneurs. Return migrants who become employees earn a small wage premium relative to nonmigrants,compared with contexts where temporary migrants are higher-skilled. The returnee wage premium, however, islarger in the construction sector where most temporary migrants were employed overseas. |
| Date: | 2022–09–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10180&r= |
| By: | World Bank; UNHCR |
| Keywords: | Education - Education Finance Education - Education Reform and Management Education - Educational Institutions & Facilities Education - Effective Schools and Teachers Poverty Reduction - Migration and Development |
| Date: | 2021–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:35238&r= |
| By: | Terry Sicular (University of Western Ontario); Mengbing Zhu (Beijing Normal University, China) |
| Abstract: | During the Cultural Revolution China embarked on a dramatic, albeit temporary, expansion of secondary education in rural areas that affected tens of millions of children who reached secondary school age in the late 1960s and 1970s. The conventional wisdom is that this expansion was politicized and low quality. Using instrumental variables estimation, we exploit variation in the expansion across localities and birth cohorts to estimate the impact of Cultural Revolution education on individual outcomes. Creative use of historical county-level information matched with rich household survey data from the mid-1990s allows analysis of multiple outcomes. We find a significant, positive effect of Cultural Revolution years of education on off-farm employment and wage earnings. The effect on household income is mixed and likely reflects the substitution of market purchases for own production. |
| Keywords: | Education expansion, secondary education, returns to schooling, rural China, Cultural Revolution |
| JEL: | I21 I28 J24 J31 O15 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwo:uwowop:202212&r= |
| By: | Timilsina,Govinda R.; Sahoo,Pravakar; Dash,Ranjan Kumar |
| Abstract: | The literature suggests that one of the main factors behind the interstate inequality ineconomic development in India is the variation in the level of infrastructure development. However, unequalinfrastructure development across the Indian States is less understood. This study empirically analyzes various factors(economic, fiscal, demographic, social, institutional, and political) to explain interstate infrastructure inequalityusing a panel data set for 18 states in India between 2004 and 2020. Employing the principal component analysistechnique, three separate infrastructure indices are developed for physical, social, and financialinfrastructures. The relationship of each index with its explanatory variables is estimated using System GeneralizedMethod of Moments. The results show that economic factors—including economic performance, financialdevelopment, investment, and economic structure—are more influential on physical infrastructure. For socialinfrastructure, in addition to economic factors, fiscal and demographic factors are more influential. Meanwhile,economic and demographic factors are found to drive financial infrastructure. Financial development fostersphysical infrastructure, while its impact on social infrastructure is weak. |
| Date: | 2022–06–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10086&r= |
| By: | Tomoya Mori; Jonathan Newton; Shosei Sakaguchi |
| Abstract: | Considering collaborative innovation in patent development, we provide micro-level evidence of knowledge spillovers. Knowledge embodied in a patent is proxied by word pairs appearing in its abstract, while novelty is measured by the frequency with which these word pairs have appeared in past patents. Inventors are assumed to possess the knowledge associated with patents in which they have previously participated. We find that collaboration by inventors with more mutually differentiated knowledge sets is likely to result in patents with higher novelty. |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2210.01392&r= |
| By: | Rafael González-Val (Universidad de Zaragoza and Institut d’Economia de Barcelona (IEB)); Pau Insa-Sánchez (Universitat de València); Julio Martinez-Galarraga (Universitat de Barcelona); Daniel A. Tirado-Fabregat (Universitat de València) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the relationship between market access and education levels in the context of an industrializing economy, in this case Spain between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Specifically, we examine whether differences in regional accumulations of human capital could be related to market access, which would explain the divergent trajectories of regional economic growth in Spain. To do this, we empirically test the relationship between education variables and market potential for Spanish provinces between 1860 and 1930. We then focus on the mechanism that may be mediating this relationship, i.e. the skill premium. The results suggest that there were sizeable provincial differences in the return on investment in education, the explanation for which would be that those provinces with the highest market potential specialized more in skill-intensive sectors in which higher wages were paid. |
| Keywords: | Economic history, market access, human capital |
| JEL: | I25 N90 O15 R12 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0229&r= |
| By: | Basu, Arnab K. (Cornell University); Dimova, Ralitza (University of Manchester); Gbakou, Monnet Benoit Patrick (Félix Houphouët-Boigny University); Viennet, Romane (OECD) |
| Abstract: | We analyse the effect of parental risk preferences and a novel measure of maternal bargaining power over educational expenses - elicited via lab-in-the-field experiments in rural Côte d'Ivoire – on the educational progression of boys and girls. Data from 135 couples and their children show that father's risk aversion is negatively associated with school attendance for boys and lowers the likelihood of transition from no-schooling to primary schooling for both boys and girls. Mother's risk aversion, on the other hand, has a positive association with the transition into primary schooling and a negative association with the transition into secondary schooling only for girls. Mother's bargaining power is also negatively associated with girls' schooling, while greater bargaining power for mothers who are relatively more risk averse than the father adversely impacts the transition into primary schooling for boys. Our findings are in line with suggestive evidence that points to a preference for current income generated by the employment of boys in high value cash crop production and the concern for girls' safety associated with traveling long distances to attend secondary schools. |
| Keywords: | Côte d'Ivoire, bargaining power, educational progressions, risk preferences |
| JEL: | C93 J43 O55 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15578&r= |
| By: | Florian Bonnet (INED - Institut national d'études démographiques); Hippolyte d'Albis (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); Josselin Thuilliez (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Influenza mortality has dramatically decreased in France since the 1950s. Annual death rates peaked during two pandemics: the Asian flu (1956-57) and the Hong-Kong flu (1969-1970). This study's objective is to evaluate whether the second pandemic created a structural change in the dynamics of influenza mortality in France. We employ a new database on influenza mortality since 1950 at the subnational level (90 geographic areas) to estimate statistical models to find whether a structural change happened and to explain the differences in mortality rates across geographic areas. Influenza mortality increased between 1950 and 1969, and decreased from 1970 onward. The Hong-Kong flu is identified as the event of a structural break. After the break, geographical differences are less explained by regional characteristics such as income, density or aging ratio. Hong Kong flu was found to be associated with a major change in influenza mortality in France. Change in health practices and policies induced a decline in mortality that started in 1970, just after the pandemics. The health benefits are notably important for senior citizens and for the poorest regions. |
| Date: | 2022–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-03763371&r= |
| By: | Merfeld,Joshua David; Newhouse,David Locke; Weber,Michael; Lahiri,Partha |
| Abstract: | Better understanding the geography of women’s labor market outcomes within countries is importantto inform targeted efforts to increase women’s economic empowerment. This paper assesses the extent to which amethod that combines simulated survey data from urban areas in Mexico with broadly available geospatial indicators fromGoogle Earth Engine and OpenStreetMap can significantly improve estimates of labor force participation andunemployment rates. Incorporating geospatial information substantially increases the accuracy of male and femalelabor force participation and unemployment rates at the state level, reducing mean absolute deviation by 50 to 62percent for labor force participation and 25 to 52 percent for unemployment. Small area estimation using a nested errorconditional random effect model also greatly improves municipal estimates of labor force participation, as themean absolute error falls by approximately half, while the mean squared error falls by almost 75 percent when holdingcoverage rates constant. In contrast, the results for municipal unemployment rate estimates are not reliablebecause values of unemployment rates are low and therefore poorly suited for linear models. The municipal results holdin repeated simulations of alternative samples. Models utilizing Basic Geo-Statistical Area (AGEB)–level auxiliaryinformation generate more accurate predictions than area-level models specified using the same auxiliary data.Overall, integrating survey data and publicly available geospatial indicators is feasible and can greatly improvestate-level estimates of male and female labor force participation and unemployment rates, as well as municipalestimates of male and female labor force participation. |
| Date: | 2022–06–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10077&r= |
| By: | Ludolph,Lars; Šedová,Barbora; Talevi,Marta |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the security implications of internal displacement shocks for hostcommunities. It focuses on changes in wealth within host communities induced by the inflow of internally displacedpersons (IDPs) as a potential mechanism that triggers local conflicts. The sudden insurgency of the jihadist terroristorganization Boko Haram, which led to the internal displacement of over 2.5 million persons in northeasternNigeria, is used as a quasi-natural experiment. Applying both a two-way fixed effects analysis and an instrumentalvariable strategy based on historical ethnic ties between the areas of displacement and receiving areas, the resultsshow that the presence of IDPs is associated with a decrease in aggregate wealth and an increase in inequality withinhost communities, between 2010 and 2019. These effects are accompanied by an increased risk of conflict onset in theshort and long run. The inequality–conflict link is likely to be caused by grievances among low-wealth segments of thehost community towards new arrivals rather than by changes in social cohesion within host communities, which increasedin response to the inflow of IDPs. The analysis further indicates that an improvement in IDPs’ living conditions isaccompanied by a decrease in violence and improved relations between hosts and IDPs. Taken together, findings from thisstudy call for a two-pronged immediate relief and recovery approach that alleviates adverse economic effects onvulnerable segments of host communities and increases IDPs’ welfare in displacement settings. |
| Date: | 2022–05–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10053&r= |
| By: | Roy Kelly; Roland White; Aanchal Anand |
| Keywords: | Law and Development - Tax Law Macroeconomics and Economic Growth - Taxation & Subsidies Urban Development - Municipal Financial Management Public Sector Development - Tax Administration |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:34793&r= |
| By: | Marion Drut (CESAER - Centre d'Economie et de Sociologie Rurales Appliquées à l'Agriculture et aux Espaces Ruraux - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Dijon - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement) |
| Date: | 2022–07–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03771891&r= |
| By: | Park,Hogeun; Selod,Harris; Murray,Siobhan; Chellaraj,Gnanaraj |
| Abstract: | The paper studies the dynamics of agricultural land use at the global scale as measured fromspace using satellite imagery between 2003 and 2018. It shows large global movements in and out of cropland andcorrelates these movements with biophysical, economic, and institutional variables. The empirical identification ofthese effects relies on a two-stage approach that disentangles the effect of local geography fromnational-level characteristics. The paper finds that weak land governance, inequality, and pressure on land resourcescontribute to land degradation but are less able to explain movements into cropland which could more likely reflectnational policies. |
| Date: | 2022–06–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10078&r= |
| By: | Dasgupta,Kunal; Grover,Arti Goswami |
| Abstract: | The spatial distribution of economic activity is known to depend on trade costs, bothinternational and domestic. This paper examines the interplay between these external and internal trade costsusing a model of trade and production that is tested with the organized manufacturing sector data for India from 1989to 2009. The analysis establishes that the trade liberalization episode of the early 1990s helped spreadmanufacturing away from the primary region (districts closest to ports) to the secondary region between 1994 and2000. Such dispersion of activity away from the primary to the secondary region was driven by high internal trade coststhat insulated manufacturers from import competition. This trend reversed post-2000, a period of massive decline ininternal trade costs, attributed to the Golden Quadrilateral highway upgrades. During this period, the districts alongthe highway network in the secondary region gained market access and manufacturing activity, while those off thenetwork lost. Irrespective of the period, or the nature of trade costs, manufacturing activity in the interior region(districts farthest from ports) remained depressed, thereby emphasizing the importance of complementary conditions indriving territorial development. |
| Date: | 2022–05–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10066&r= |
| By: | Christine de la Maisonneuve; Balázs Égert; David Turner |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a new measure of human capital, which distinguishes both quality and quantity components, to estimate the long-term effect of the COVID-19-related school closures on aggregate productivity through the human capital channel. Productivity losses build up over time and are estimated to range between 0.4% and 2.1% after 45 years, for 12 weeks and 2 years of school closure, respectively. These results appear to be broadly consistent with earlier findings in the literature. Two opposing effects might influence these estimates. Online teaching would lower economic costs while learning losses in tertiary education (not considered here) would inflate them. Policies aimed at improving the quality of education and adult training will be needed to offset or, at least, alleviate the impact of the pandemic on human capital. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, education policies, human capital, OECD countries, PIAAC, PISA, productivity |
| JEL: | E24 I19 I20 I25 I26 I28 |
| Date: | 2022–10–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1729-en&r= |
| By: | Yoshifumi Kon (Utsunomiya Kyowa University) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates wage inequality between high- and low-skilled workers in a two- region footloose capital model with endogenous educational choices. Firms’ location decisions are governed by two opposing forces: agglomeration force and dispersion force. Comparative statics are conducted regarding the transportation costs of the differentiated goods sector. When consumers’ preference for differentiated goods are weak relative to homogeneous goods, declining transportation costs push firms from the populous region to the peripheral. Furthermore, wage inequality in the core region shrinks, but expands in the peripheral region. |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tky:fseres:2022cf1200&r= |
| By: | Pilar Cuevas-Ruiz; Almudena Sevilla |
| Abstract: | Girls and young women underperform in mathematics relative to their male peers - a loss of talent that may hinder productivity growth. Almudena Sevilla and Pilar Cuevas-Ruiz explain how new developments in gender economics are changing our understanding of the maths gender gap and reshaping policy as a result. |
| Keywords: | productivity, wellbeing, education, gender, equality, growth, stem, Schools |
| Date: | 2022–06–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepcnp:632&r= |
| By: | Dang,Hai-Anh H.; Trinh,Trong-Anh; Verme,Paolo |
| Abstract: | Hardly any evidence exists on the effects of mental illness on refugee labor outcomes. Thispaper offers the first study on this topic in the context of Australia, one of the host countries with the largest numberof refugees per capita in the world. Analyzing the Building a New Life in Australia longitudinal survey, the paperexploits the variations in traumatic experiences of refugees interacted with post-resettlement time periods to causallyidentify the impacts of refugee mental health. The findings show that worse mental health, as measured by aone-standard-deviation increase in the Kessler mental health score, reduces the probability of employment by 14.1 percentand labor income by 26.8 percent. There is also evidence of adverse impacts of refugees’ mental illness on their children’s mental health and educational performance. Theseeffects appear to be more pronounced for newly arriving refugees and those without social networks, but they may beameliorated with government support. |
| Date: | 2022–06–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10083&r= |
| By: | Olaizola, Norma; Valenciano, Federico |
| Abstract: | We culminate the extension of the results on efficiency in the seminal connections model of Jackson and Wolinsky (1996), partially addressed in previous papers. In a model where both nodes and links are heterogeneous, we prove that efficiency is reached by networks with a particular type of architecture that we call "hierarchical flower networks". These networks have a unique non-trivial component, within which one of the nodes with a highest value is directly connected with the others in the component, among which some pairs are directly connected. Moreover, the greatest the sum of the values of two nodes, the greatest the strength of their connection, be it direct by a link or indirect by means of two links through the central node. |
| Keywords: | Networks; Connections model; Heterogeneity; Efficiency |
| JEL: | A14 C72 D85 |
| Date: | 2022–10–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:114884&r= |
| By: | Martina Bazzoli; Joan E. Madia; Federico Podestà |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of immigration on natives’ poverty risk in Western European countries. In doing so, it contributes to the academic debate on immigration impact in two manners. First, it introduces a novel outcome in this debate, i.e. natives’ poverty risk. Second, it brings together two strands of literature: that of the immigration impact on labour market outcomes and the one on the relationship between immigration and public finance. In fact, since poverty risk significantly varies in consequence of work attachment and public programs access, the impact of immigration on the poverty risks of European natives can be coherently investigated by combining the labour market channel with the public-finance channel. Empirically, we estimate to which extent immigrants affect poverty risk of natives, measured in terms of income poverty and material deprivation. Our analysis focuses on both the overall impact, i.e., how all immigrants affect the poverty risk of all natives, and the more specific skill-composition impact, i.e., how the share of low-skilled immigrants affects the poverty risk of low-skilled natives. To this end, we analysed an aggregate panel dataset composed by EU-15 countries plus Norway and Switzerland, annually observed for the period 2005-2018. Our findings indicate that higher shares of immigration do not increase the risk of poverty and material deprivation among natives. |
| Keywords: | Poverty risk of natives, Immigration, Western Europe |
| JEL: | J61 O15 I3 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fbk:wpaper:2022-07&r= |
| By: | Andrew B. Bernard; Yuan Zi |
| Abstract: | Firm-to-firm connections in domestic and international production networks play a fundamental role in economic outcomes. Firm heterogeneity and the sparse nature of firm-to-firm connections implicitly discipline network structure. We find that a large group of well-established statistical relationships are not useful in improving our understanding of production networks. We propose an ``elementary" model for production networks based on random matching and firm heterogeneity and characterize the families of statistics and data generating processes that may raise underidentification concerns in more complex models. The elementary model is a useful benchmark in developing ``instructive" statistics and informing model construction and selection. |
| JEL: | F11 F14 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30496&r= |
| By: | Kika,Jesal Chandrakant; Crouch,Luis A.; Dulvy,Elizabeth Ninan; Thulare,Tshegofatso Desdemona |
| Abstract: | The descriptions in this paper show some 22 to 24 interventions (SMRS, GPLMS, EGRS, Funda Wande,etc.), depending on how and what one counts. These approximately 23 (taking the mid-point) interventions hadsome 17 inputs, processes or vectors into the programs implemented in schools (e.g., better materials, coaching,more parental involvement, etc.). The mere fact that there were more interventions than vectors suggests that many ofthese interventions were churning the same vectors or were re-inventing the wheel. A tabulation (not shown but carriedout by the authors) of interventions as columns and vectors as rows thus has 391 cells (17 times 23). But only 81 ofthem, or about 21 percent were filled, again suggesting a sort of constant churning of the same vectors. Some vectorswere present in 85 percent of the interventions. But there were also many cases where a certain vector gets tried onlyonce or twice, often in interventions that either were not evaluated or were evaluated but did not turn out well, whichsuggests why they may not have been tried much further even if attractive in principle. An example will be the use ofuniversity certification of certain teaching techniques, or competence testing of educators. Note the most commonvectors (not visible) are the most populated rows, and they are teacher training, teacher practices, and classroom resources. |
| Date: | 2022–05–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:172983&r= |
| By: | Clément Malgouyres (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, IZA - Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit - Institute of Labor Economics); Thierry Mayer (ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research - CEPR, CEPII - Centre d'Etudes Prospectives et d'Informations Internationales - Centre d'analyse stratégique); Clément Mazet-Sonilhac (Centre de recherche de la Banque de France - Banque de France) |
| Abstract: | Suárez Serrato and Zidar (2016) identify state corporate tax incidence in a spatial equilibrium model with imperfectly mobile firms. Their identification argument rests on comparative-statics omitting a channel implied by their model: the link between common determinants of a location's attractiveness and the average idiosyncratic productivity of firms choosing that location. This compositional margin causes the labor demand elasticity to be independent from the product demand elasticity, impeding the identification of incidence from the four estimated reduced-form effects. Assigning consensual values to the unidentified parameters, we find that the incidence share born by firm-owners is closer to 25% than 40%. |
| Keywords: | Incidence,Corporate income tax,Discrete/Continuous choice |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:pseptp:hal-03805536&r= |
| By: | Jakub Cerveny (Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic); Jan C. van Ours (Erasmus University Rotterdam) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effects of health-care spending on mortality rates of heart attack patients. We relate in-hospital deaths to in-hospital end-of-life spending and post-discharge deaths to post-discharge health-care spending. In our analysis, we use detailed administrative data on individual personal characteristics and information about health-care expenses at the regional level. To account for potential selectivity in the region of health-care treatment we compare local patients with visitors and stayers with recent movers from a different region. In regions with higher health-care spending mortality after heart attacks is substantially lower. Apparently, there are long-term returns to local health-care spending. |
| Keywords: | Health-care spending, heart attack, mortality, duration models |
| JEL: | C41 H75 I11 I18 |
| Date: | 2022–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20220072&r= |
| By: | Eugen Dimant (University of Pennsylvania, USA; CESifo, Germany); Michele Gelfand (Stanford University, USA); Anna Hochleitner (University of Nottingham, U.K.); Silvia Sonderegger (University of Nottingham, U.K.) |
| Abstract: | Descriptive norms – the behavior of other individuals in one’s reference group – play a key role in shaping individual decisions. When characterizing the behavior of others, a standard approach in the literature is to focus on average behavior. In this paper, we argue both the-oretically and empirically that not only averages, but the shape of the whole distribution of behavior can play a crucial role in how people react to descriptive norms. Using a represen-tative sample of the U.S. population, we experimentally investigate how individuals react to strategic environments that are characterized by di˙erent distributions of behavior, focusing on the distinction between tight (i.e., characterized by low behavioral variance), loose (i.e., characterized by high behavioral variance), and polarized (i.e., characterized by u-shaped behavior) environments. We find that individuals indeed strongly respond to di˙erences in the variance and shape of the descriptive norm they are facing: loose norms generate greater behavioral variance and polarization generates polarized responses. In polarized environ-ments, most individuals prefer extreme actions that expose them to considerable strategic risk to intermediate actions that would minimize such risk. Importantly, we also find that, in polarized and loose environments, personal traits and values play a larger role in de-termining actual behavior. This provides important insights into how individuals navigate environments that contain strategic uncertainty. |
| Keywords: | Cooperation, Descriptive Norms, Variance, Peer Effects |
| JEL: | C91 D01 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ajk:ajkdps:198&r= |
| By: | Kocabicak, Ece |
| Abstract: | This article extends theories on varieties of gender regimes by arguing for the significance of property. Drawing on the case study of Turkey, it proposes that gendered property ownership diversifies patriarchal relations of labor. This historical-sociology-based case study method is used to differentiate two forms of domestic patriarchy: premodern and modern. In premodern domestic patriarchy, women’s exclusion from agricultural landownership, in conjunction with the dominance of small landownership, sustains the patriarchal exploitation of labor in agriculture. In modern domestic patriarchy, women’s exclusion from paid employment, along with dispossession and increasing wage dependency, maintains the patriarchal exploitation of labor within the home. |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2022–09–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:116700&r= |
| By: | Rainald Borck (University of Potsdam); Jun Oshiro (University of the Ryukyus); Yasuhiro Sato (University of Tokyo) |
| Abstract: | We develop a model of property taxation and characterize equilibria under three alternative taxa-tion regimes often used in the public finance literature: decentralized taxation, centralized taxation, and “rent seeking” regimes. We show that decentralized taxation results in inefficiently high tax rates, whereas centralized taxation yields a common optimal tax rate, and tax rates in the rent-seeking regime can be either inefficiently high or low. We quantify the effects of switching from the observed tax system to the three regimes for Japan and Germany. The decentralized or rent-seeking regime best describes the Japanese tax system, whereas the centralized regime does so for Germany. We also quantify the welfare effects of regime changes. |
| Keywords: | property taxes, tax competition, efficiency |
| JEL: | H71 H72 R13 R51 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pot:cepadp:52&r= |