|
on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | He,Yiyi; Thies,Stephan Fabian; Avner,Paolo; Maruyama Rentschler,Jun Erik |
| Abstract: | Transportation networks underpin socioeconomic development by enabling the movement of goods and people. However, little is known about how flooding disrupts transportation systems in urban areas in developing country cities, despite these natural disasters occurring frequently. This study documents the channels through which regular flooding in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, impacts transport services, commuters' ability to reach their jobs, and the associated economic opportunity costs from travel delays. This assessment is based on transit feed specification data sets collected specifically for this analysis under normal and flooded conditions. These data sets were combined with travel survey data containing travelers' socioeconomic attributes and trip parameters, as well as a high-resolution flood maps. The results show that (1) flood disruptions cause increases in public transit headways and transit re-routing, decreases in travel speeds, and thus travel time delays, which translate into substantial economic costs to local commuters; (2) accessibility to jobs decreases under flooded conditions, hindering the establishment of an integrated citywide labor market; (3) there are spatial clusters where some of the poorest commuters experience among the highest travel delays, highlighting socio-spatial equity aspects of floods; (4) certain road segments are critical for the transport network and should be prioritized for resilience measures; and (5) the estimated daily cost of flood disruption to commuters’ trips in Kinshasa is $1,166,000. The findings of this assessment provide disaster mitigation guidance to the Office des Voiries et Drainage under the Ministry of Infrastructure, as well as strategic investment recommendations to the Ministry of Housing and Planning. |
| Keywords: | Natural Disasters,Transport Services,Transport in Urban Areas,Urban Transport,Intelligent Transport Systems,Labor Markets |
| Date: | 2020–12–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9504&r=ure |
| By: | Ginzinger, Felix Sebastian Veit |
| Abstract: | Sub-Saharan Africa has experienced a rapid population increase and growing urbanization rates in recent years and is bound to have the world's largest urban population. If no steps are taken against it, the fast rise in the urban population will result in severe consequences for urban localities in the developing countries located in this region. Along with the natural population increase, internal migration is one prime reason for a fast-rising urbanization process. Since this type of migration is very common in developing countries, this following paper conducts a spatial analysis of inter-regional migration with special reference to Ghana. Specifically, it analyzes the Ghana's migration patterns in Ghana by visualizing the regional differences in net migration and the major migration flows from one region to another. Data for this analysis were collected from a population census and a household survey. A cross-sectional regression analysis was conducted to examine which factors explain inter-regional migration flows in the country. The regression model employed in the analysis is based on the gravity model of migration, which explains how the size of and the distance between two places affects the movement between them, and added the rate of urbanization as well as the average annual income per capita of both regions. The regression results reveal that the distance between two administrative regions in Ghana and the birth region's urbanization rate refrain people from migrating to other regions. In contrast, the urbanization rate and the average income of the destination region are positively associated with the inflow of migrants. Nevertheless, due to the data's limitations, the nexus between migration flows and regional disparities cannot be fully investigated. Therefore, this paper calls for more research to be done in this field. |
| Keywords: | Inter-regional migration, Urbanization, Spatial analysis, Gravity model of migration, Ghana |
| JEL: | O1 O15 R23 |
| Date: | 2020–12–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:114945&r=ure |
| By: | Eckert,Fabian; Kleineberg,Tatjana Karina |
| Abstract: | Children's education and economic opportunities differ substantially across US neighborhoods. This paper develops and estimates a spatial equilibrium model that links children's education outcomes to their childhood location. Two endogenous factors determine education choices in each location: local education quality and local labor market access. This paper estimates the model with US county-level data and studies the effects of a school funding equalization on education outcomes and social mobility. The reform's direct effects improve education outcomes among children from low-skill families. However, the effects are weaker in spatial general equilibrium because average returns to education decline and residential and educational choices of low-skill families shift them toward locations with lower education quality. |
| Keywords: | Educational Sciences,Rural Labor Markets,Labor Markets,Education for Development (superceded),Education For All,Educational Populations,Economics of Education,Urban Housing,Urban Housing and Land Settlements,Urban Governance and Management,Municipal Management and Reform |
| Date: | 2021–03–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9574&r=ure |
| By: | Gerard Domènech-Arumí; Paula Eugenia Gobbi; Glenn Magerman |
| Abstract: | We use detailed information on all real estate stock and transactions since 2006 to study housing inequality in Belgium and how a recent policy shaped it. We use the transactions to predict the market value of all dwellings in the country, to then estimate inequality in value or space at different levels of aggregation - from the federal to the local neighborhood level. Overall inequality is relatively low (Gini of 0.25), but significant heterogeneity exists across and within municipalities. Using a dfferences-in-differences framework, we study how Flanders's recent 3% reduction in registration fees affected house prices and inequality. We estimate that the policy increased prices by 3% on average and reduced inequality in Flanders by 0.8% by compressing the price distribution from below. We argue that the primary winners of the policy are low-value homeowners, who see their estate's valuation increase. The main losers are low-value renters, who might see rent increases in the short term. Both parts of the paper reveal signiffcant geographic heterogeneities, thus highlighting the importance of granularity in the data for studying inequality. |
| Keywords: | inequality, housing market, fiscal policy |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eca:wpaper:2013/350819&r=ure |
| By: | Ballesteros, Marife M.; Ramos, Tatum P.; Ancheta, Jenica A. |
| Abstract: | Understanding housing affordability is key to addressing the housing problem. This study evaluates housing affordability in the Philippines using conventional approaches. It compares Residual Income Method estimates with those from the 30 percent of income standard that is commonly used as a measure of housing affordability in the country. The authors note that the 30 percent of income standard overestimates housing affordability among the poor and underestimates among those in the upper income levels relative to the Residual Income Method. In other words, the poor and low-income households are not able to afford housing priced at 30% of their income, while the middle income to rich are able to afford housing priced at more than 30% of their income. The study also shows that the structure of family (i.e., size and presence of children) affects housing affordability. A comparison of household affordability levels with the available housing supply in the formal market shows that a typical household in the Philippines experiences housing stress due to inadequate affordable housing specifically near places of work or livelihood and the low capacity to qualify for mortgage financing. This situation tends to worsen over time as the growth of residential prices surpasses the growth of incomes. Given the housing affordability problem in the country, the government must undertake reforms to prevent speculative increases in land and residential prices and to reexamine the role of the public sector in the delivery of affordable housing. The former would involve adopting a standard valuation of land and real estate properties; the effective implementation of idle land tax by all LGUs and regulation on borrowings such as financial ceilings on household debt to income ratio and other anti-speculative measures. On the other hand, government provision of affordable housing would require an overhaul of the housing subsidy programs and creation of a public housing fund to finance direct subsidies to households, public sector construction of affordable housing (for rent or ownership); and housing support in times of disaster. At the town or city level, Community Development Funds (CDFs) anchored to municipal councils should be established to support housing projects arising from urban renewal or upgrading or other urbanization challenges. Comments to this paper are welcome within 60 days from the date of posting. Email publications@pids.gov.ph |
| Keywords: | housing;affordable housing;shelter poverty;urbanization;cities |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:dpaper:dp_2022-22&r=ure |
| By: | Mary C. Daly |
| Abstract: | Presentation at UC Berkeley’s Fisher Center for Real Estate & Urban Economics, Berkeley, California, October 21, 2022, by Mary C. Daly, President and Chief Executive Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. |
| Keywords: | inflation; federal reserve; Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC); dual mandate; housing markets |
| Date: | 2022–10–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfsp:94964&r=ure |
| By: | De Weerdt,Joachim; Christiaensen,Luc; Kanbur,Ravi |
| Abstract: | While city migrants see their welfare increase much more than those moving to towns, many more rural-urban migrants end up in towns. This phenomenon, documented in detail in Kagera, Tanzania, begs the question why migrants move to seemingly suboptimal destinations. Using an 18-year panel of individuals from this region and information on the possible destinations from the census, this study documents, through dyadic regressions and controlling for individual heterogeneity, how the deterrence of further distance to cities (compared to towns) largely trumps the attraction from their promise of greater wealth, making towns more appealing destinations. Education mitigates these effects (lesser deterrence from distance, greater attraction from wealth), while poverty reduces the attraction of wealth, consistent with the notion of urban sorting. With about two-thirds of the rural population in low-income countries living within two hours from a town, these findings underscore the importance of vibrant towns for inclusive development. |
| Keywords: | Inequality,Educational Sciences,Urban Governance and Management,Urban Housing and Land Settlements,Municipal Management and Reform,Urban Housing,Energy and Mining,Health Care Services Industry |
| Date: | 2021–04–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9622&r=ure |
| By: | Ballesteros, Marife M.; Ancheta, Jenica |
| Abstract: | This study documents the application of participatory governance for social housing in the Philippines through the local housing boards (LHBs), which are seen to have a crucial role in the adoption of inclusive social housing programs and policies. It shows that local government units (LGUs) vary in their implementation of the LHBs. For instance, the LHBs that serve only as clearinghouses for the eviction and demolition activities of some LGUs have a limited role as an institution for participatory governance. On the other hand, social housing policies and projects that cater to the poor are evident among LGUs with functioning LHBs. |
| Keywords: | land use; social housing; participatory governance;local housing board |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:pjdevt:pjd_2021_vol__45_no__1a&r=ure |
| By: | Lautharte Junior,Ildo Jose; de Oliveira,Victor Hugo; Loureiro,Andre |
| Abstract: | Financial incentives for students, teachers, and schools are often used to promote learning. Yet, little is known about whether similar incentives for mayors produce analogous findings. This paper investigates this question by exploring a results-based financing reform in Ceará, Brazil, which redistributes state resources to municipalities based on education performance. Comparing schools on both sides of Ceará's border over key implementation periods, the paper shows that ninth grade students who were exposed to the results-based financing performed 0.15 standard deviation higher on mathematics and language tests. These impacts increase twofold when Ceará offers technical assistance to municipalities (pedagogical and managerial) and become significant for fifth graders. These gains are seen among students in the top performance quantiles, but reformulating the results-based financing rule to penalize municipalities with more low performers significantly reduces learning gaps. The paper discuss several mechanisms: the selection of school principals, teacher training, the provision and quality of textbooks, curriculum coverage, and school homework. |
| Keywords: | Educational Sciences,Financial Sector Policy,Education for Development (superceded),Educational Policy and Planning - Textbook,Educational Populations,Education For All,Educational Institutions&Facilities,Effective Schools and Teachers |
| Date: | 2021–01–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9509&r=ure |
| By: | Nicolas Coeurdacier (ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Florian Oswald (ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Marc Teignier (University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | We develop a multi-sector spatial equilibrium model with endogenous land use: land is used either for agriculture or housing. Urban land, densely populated due to commuting frictions, expands out of agricultural land. With rising productivity, the reallocation of workers away from agriculture frees up land for cities to expand, limiting the increase in land values despite higher income and increasing urban population. Due to the reallocation of land use, the area of cities expands at a fast rate and urban density persistently declines, as in the data over a long period. As structural change slows down, cities sprawl less and land values start increasing at a faster rate, as in the last decades. Quantitative predictions of the joint evolution of density and land values across time and space are confronted with historical data assembled for France over 180 years. |
| Keywords: | Structural Change,Land Use,Productivity Growth,Urban Density |
| Date: | 2021–12–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpspec:hal-03812819&r=ure |
| By: | Farfan Bertran,Maria Gabriela; Holla,Alaka; Vakis,Renos |
| Abstract: | Do teachers’ stereotypes of social class bias their assessment of students? This study uses a lab-in-the-field experiment among primary school teachers to test whether they are biased against poor students. Teachers assessed a student in a video of an oral exam after watching one of two versions of an introductory video that portrayed the child’s home and playground. When the student in the exam video exhibited inconsistent performance, showing varying levels of scholastic aptitude and focus during the exam, teachers were far more likely to judge his scholastic aptitude as below grade-level if they had watched the introductory video portraying a poor background than if they had watched the introductory video portraying a middle-class background. The social class background portrayed in the introductory video did not affect teachers’ behavioral assessments of the student. When the student in the exam video was consistently high achieving, showing high levels of scholastic aptitude and focus throughout the exam, teachers who watched the introductory video depicting a poor background were more likely to assess the student as above grade-level than teachers who watched the video conveying a middle-class background. In this case, however, they had a more negative assessment of the child’s behavior when they thought he came from a poor background, deeming him to be less motivated and less emotionally mature than when the introductory video depicted a middle-class background. These findings suggest that stereotypes influence how teachers assess the scholastic aptitude and behavior of their students. |
| Keywords: | Effective Schools and Teachers,Educational Institutions&Facilities,Human Rights,Educational Sciences,Urban Housing,Urban Governance and Management,Urban Housing and Land Settlements,Municipal Management and Reform |
| Date: | 2021–03–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9593&r=ure |
| By: | Milusheva,Svetoslava Petkova; Marty,Robert Andrew; Bedoya Arguelles,Guadalupe; Williams,Sarah Elizabeth; Resor,Elizabeth Landsdowne; Legovini,Arianna |
| Abstract: | With all the recent attention focused on big data, it is easy to overlook that basic vital statistics remain difficult to obtain in most of the world. This project set out to test whether an openly available dataset (Twitter) could be transformed into a resource for urban planning and development. The hypothesis is tested by creating road traffic crash location data, which are scarce in most resource-poor environments but essential for addressing the number one cause of mortality for children over age five and young adults. The research project scraped 874,588 traffic-related tweets in Nairobi, Kenya, applied a machine learning model to capture the occurrence of a crash, and developed an improved geoparsing algorithm to identify its location. The project geolocated 32,991 crash reports in Twitter for 2012-20 and clustered them into 22,872 unique crashes to produce one of the first crash maps for Nairobi. A motorcycle delivery service was dispatched in real-time to verify a subset of crashes, showing 92 percent accuracy. Using a spatial clustering algorithm, portions of the road network (less than 1 percent) were identified where 50 percent of the geolocated crashes occurred. Even with limitations in the representativeness of the data, the results can provide urban planners useful information to target road safety improvements where resources are limited. |
| Keywords: | ICT Applications,Disease Control&Prevention,Public Health Promotion,Road Safety,Intelligent Transport Systems,Transport Services,Crime and Society |
| Date: | 2020–12–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9488&r=ure |
| By: | De Hoyos Navarro,Rafael E.; Estrada,Ricardo; Vargas Mancera,Maria Jose |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the relationship between test scores and cognitive skills using two longitudinal data sets that track student performance on a national standardized exam in grades 6, 9, and 12 and post-secondary school outcomes in Mexico. Using a large sample of twins, the analysis finds that primary school test scores are a strong predictor of secondary education outcomes and that this association is mainly driven by the relationship between test scores and cognitive skills, as opposed to family background and other general skills. Using a data set that links results in the national standardized test to later outcomes, the paper finds that secondary school test scores predict university enrollment and hourly wages. These results indicate that, despite their limitations, large-scale student assessments can capture the skills they are meant to measure and can therefore be used to monitor learning in education systems. |
| Keywords: | Educational Sciences,Labor Markets,Rural Labor Markets,Education For All,Education for Development (superceded),Educational Populations,Educational Institutions&Facilities,Effective Schools and Teachers |
| Date: | 2021–02–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9537&r=ure |
| By: | Jianxin Wu; Xiaoling Zhan; Hui Xu; Chunbo Ma |
| Abstract: | China adopted the world’s most stringent lockdown interventions to contain the COVID-19 spread. Using macro- and micro-level data, this paper shows that the pandemic and lockdown both had negative and significant impacts on the economy. Gross regional product (GRP) fell by 9.5 and 0.3 percentage points in cities with and without lockdown, respectively, representing a dramatic recession from China’s average growth of 6.74% before the pandemic. The results indicate that lockdown explains 2.8 percentage points of the GDP loss. We document significant spill-over effects the pandemic but no such effects of lockdown. Reduced mobility, land supply, and entrepreneurship are significant mechanisms underpinning the impacts. Cities with higher share of secondary industry, higher traffic intensity, smaller population, lower urbanization, and lower fiscal capacity suffered more. However, these cities have recovered well and quickly closed the economic gap in the aftermath of the pandemic and city lockdown. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Health Economics and Policy, Public Economics |
| Date: | 2022–10–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uwauwp:329094&r=ure |
| By: | Akresh,Richard; Halim,Daniel Zefanya; Kleemans,Marieke |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the long-term and intergenerational effects of the 1970s Indonesian school construction program, which was one of the largest ever conducted. Exploiting variation across birth cohorts and districts in the number of schools built suggests that education benefits for men and women persist 43 years after the program. Exposed men are more likely to be formal workers, work outside agriculture, and migrate. Men and women who were exposed to the program have better marriage market outcomes with spouses that are more educated, and households with exposed women have improved living standards and pay more government taxes. Mother’s program exposure, rather than father’s, leads to education benefits that are transmitted to the next generation, with the largest effects in upper secondary and tertiary education. Cost-benefit analyses show that school construction leads to higher government tax revenues and improved living standards that offset construction costs within 30-50 years. |
| Keywords: | Educational Sciences,Health Care Services Industry,Gender and Development,Labor Markets,Rural Labor Markets,Urban Housing,Urban Governance and Management,Municipal Management and Reform,Urban Housing and Land Settlements |
| Date: | 2021–03–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9559&r=ure |
| By: | Eric Chyn; Kareem Haggag; Bryan A. Stuart |
| Abstract: | This paper provides new evidence on the causal impacts of city-wide racial segregation on intergenerational mobility. We use an instrumental variable approach that relies on plausibly exogenous variation in segregation due to the arrangement of railroad tracks in the nineteenth century. Our analysis finds that higher segregation reduces upward mobility for Black children from households across the income distribution and White children from low-income households. Moreover, segregation lowers academic achievement while increasing incarceration and teenage birth rates. An analysis of mechanisms shows that segregation reduces government spending, weakens support for anti-poverty policies, and increases racially conservative attitudes for White residents. |
| JEL: | D63 H0 J0 R0 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30563&r=ure |
| By: | Chicas Romero,Mauricio; Bedoya,Juan; Yanez Pagans,Monica; Silveyra De La Garza,Marcela Lucia; De Hoyos Navarro,Rafael E. |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the results of a large-scale randomized experiment conducted across 1,496 public primary schools in Mexico. The experiment identifies the impact on schools’ managerial capacity and student test scores of providing schools with: (a) cash grants, (b) managerial training for school principals, or (c) both. The school principals’ managerial training focused on improving principals’ capacities to collect and use data to monitor students’ basic numeracy and literacy skills and provide feedback to teachers on their instruction and pedagogical practices. After two years of implementing these interventions, the study finds that: (a) the cash grant had no impact on the student’s test scores or the management capacity of school principals; (b) the managerial training improved school principals’ managerial capacity but had no impact on students’ test scores; and (c) the combination of cash grants and managerial training amplified the effect on the school principals’ managerial capacity and had a positive but statistically insignificant impact on students’ test scores. |
| Keywords: | null |
| Date: | 2021–02–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9535&r=ure |
| By: | Panman,Alexandra Patricia; Lozano Gracia,Nancy |
| Abstract: | Many people in the global south access housing through informal rental markets, but remarkably little is known about how these markets work or the quality of the accommodations on offer. This paper draws on a unique new data set to analyze the informal rental market in a case study city: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The picture that emerges is one of a large, anonymous market in which there are clear price premiums for accommodation and neighborhood quality. At the same time, however, demand for quality housing outstrips supply, confining even upper-income households to slum conditions. The findings shed light on market dynamics that shape access to adequate housing in Dar es Salaam and other cities across the world. The paper closes by drawing on these insights to make recommendations to improve existing urban development policies such as slum upgrading, as well as to develop new approaches to rental housing that can materially improve living conditions in the rapidly expanding cities of the Global South. |
| Keywords: | Urban Housing and Land Settlements,Urban Governance and Management,Municipal Management and Reform,Urban Housing,Non Bank Financial Institutions,Capital Markets and Capital Flows,Capital Flows,Health and Sanitation,Water and Human Health,Sanitation and Sewerage,Environmental Engineering,Engineering,Water Supply and Sanitation Economics,Town Water Supply and Sanitation,Sanitary Environmental Engineering,Small Private Water Supply Providers,Hydrology,Energy Policies&Economics |
| Date: | 2021–03–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9579&r=ure |
| By: | Herrera Dappe,Matias; Lebrand,Mathilde Sylvie Maria; Van Patten,Diana |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effects of removing transport and trade barriers between Bangladesh and India on aggregate real income and the distribution of population and real income within both countries. The paper uses a spatial general equilibrium model calibrated to these two economies, along with road network travel time calculated using GPS data, to measure changes in economic outcomes given changes in trade costs across regions. The paper focuses on the Motor Vehicles Agreement between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal and full transport and trade integration between Bangladesh and India. The counterfactual exercises show that decreasing transport and trade barriers between Bangladesh and India can lead to up to a 7.6 percent increase in national real income for India and a 16.6 percent increase for Bangladesh. |
| Keywords: | International Trade and Trade Rules,Transport Services,Urban Housing and Land Settlements,Urban Housing,Municipal Management and Reform,Urban Governance and Management,Trade and Multilateral Issues |
| Date: | 2021–03–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9592&r=ure |
| By: | Panman,Alexandra Patricia; Lozano Gracia,Nancy |
| Abstract: | Land titling has been a policy priority for developing country cities for decades. In Sub-Saharan Africa and across the world, tenure formalization has been promoted as a tool to improve the quality and value of urban housing. The track record of these projects, however, has generally been disappointing. Why is this? This paper argues that project design has paid too little attention to contextual features of land markets in estimating the benefits of formalization to individual households. The paper draws on evidence from a case study city — Dar es Salaam, Tanzania — to show that in cities where broader property rights institutions are incomplete and informal sources of tenure security are strong, formal property rights may not be valued by households. This raises questions about the households’ willingness to pay for regularization and suggests that complementary strategies to build trust in government and consolidate public benefits of titling will be needed to ensure that projects have a beneficial impact. |
| Keywords: | Municipal Management and Reform,Urban Housing,Urban Housing and Land Settlements,Urban Governance and Management,Regulatory Regimes,Legislation,Legal Reform,Social Policy,Common Property Resource Development,Legal Products,Judicial System Reform,Agricultural Economics,Hydrology,Energy Policies&Economics |
| Date: | 2021–03–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9580&r=ure |
| By: | Rigissa Megalokonomou; Yi Zhang |
| Abstract: | How can individuals respond to their ordinal ranking when they are not aware of it? We present evidence on the effects and mechanisms of achievement rank effects in middle schools when ranks are salient to students and their parents. For identification, we rely on the random assignment of students (and teachers) to classrooms in China. That is, students with the same baseline test scores end up having different achievement ranks in their assigned classroom. We find positive and large effects of being assigned a higher rank on subsequent performance, especially for males and overconfident students. We show that students with higher ranks spend more hours on autonomic studying. What drives these effects is still an open question, especially when ranks are salient to both students and their parents. Using rich survey data, we show that these academic gains are not only mediated through (1) students’ higher self-perception and higher subject learning confidence, but also through (2) better parental understanding of their child’s ranks, stricter parental requirements for their child’s study, and higher parental expectations regarding their child’s educational attainment and career prospects. We show that these two channels make similar contributions to explaining salient rank effects, and when combined they explain 46.80% of the increase in test scores. We find no impact on teachers’ investment or attention to students as a result of rank effects. |
| Keywords: | achievement rank, salience, quasi-random classroom assignment, mechanisms, survey data, middle schools, mediation analysis |
| JEL: | I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9991&r=ure |
| By: | Abhijeet Singh; Mauricio Romero; Karthik Muralidharan |
| Abstract: | We use a panel survey of ~19,000 primary-school-aged children in rural Tamil Nadu to study ‘learning loss’ after COVID-19-induced school closures, and the pace of recovery after schools reopened. Students tested in December 2021 (18 months after school closures) displayed learning deficits of ~0.7σ standard deviations in math and ~0.34σ standard deviations in language compared to identically-aged students in the same villages in 2019. Two-thirds of this deficit was made up within 6 months after school reopening. Further, while learning loss was regressive, the recovery was progressive. A government-run after-school remediation program contributed ~24% of the cohort-level recovery, and likely aided the progressive recovery. |
| JEL: | H52 I21 I25 O15 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30552&r=ure |
| By: | Ander Iraizoz (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); José M Labeaga (UNED - Universidad Estatal a Distancia) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we study the effect of spatial tax differentials on fuel tax pass-though and sales responses. We use two-way fixed effects methods to exploit regional variation in diesel excise taxes in Spain. Using a dataset containing daily diesel prices for the universe of petrol stations in Spain, we find that diesel tax pass-through is asymmetric depending on the sign of tax differentials with bordering regions. Petrol stations bordering with lower tax regions pass-through only 56% of fuel taxes, petrol stations bordering with higher tax regions pass-through 120% of fuel taxes. We provide evidence to attribute the asymmetric spatial incidence of fuel taxes to the market power given by the competitive tax advantage relative to competitors. Furthermore, we use diesel sales data aggregated at the province level and we find significant spatial tax avoidance responses to regional fuel tax differentials. |
| Keywords: | Automotive Fuel,Tax Incidence,Spatial Avoidance |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-03789430&r=ure |
| By: | Baye, Vera; Dinger, Valeriya |
| JEL: | R38 R31 E65 R21 R23 R10 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc22:264120&r=ure |
| By: | Jean-Victor Alipour; Oliver Falck; Simon Krause; Carla Krolage; Sebastian Wichert |
| Abstract: | We estimate the impact of Covid-induced working from home (WFH) on offline consumer spending in urban agglomerations. Our analysis draws on postcode-level data on card transactions and WFH patterns in major German cities between January 2019 and May 2022. We address endogeneity in WFH uptake by estimating intention-to-treat effects based on “untapped WFH potential”, i.e. the share of employees with a teleworkable job who did not WFH pre-pandemic. This measure approximates the local scope to expand WFH and explains both observed WFH growth during the pandemic as well as prospective employer plans and employee desires. Difference-in-differences estimates show that local spending increases by 2–3 percent per standard deviation higher untapped WFH potential. The effects are only significant in non-lockdown periods and after Covid restrictions are permanently lifted. Null effects during lockdowns are consistent with temporary shifts toward online spending when business closures preclude regional relocation of offline consumption. |
| Keywords: | Covid-19, geography of consumption, consumer spending, work from home, Germany |
| JEL: | D10 E20 G20 J00 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10000&r=ure |
| By: | Alam,Muneeza Mehmood; Cropper,Maureen L.; Herrera Dappe,Matias; Suri,Palak |
| Abstract: | There is increasing recognition that women experience mobility differently from men. A growing body of literature documents the differences in men and women’s mobility patterns. However, there is limited evidence on the evolution of these mobility patterns over time and the role that transportation networks play in women’s access to economic opportunities. This study attempts to fill these gaps. It contributes to the literature in two ways. First, it documents the differences in men and women’s mobility patterns in Mumbai, India, and the changes in these patterns over time, as the city has developed. Second, it explores whether the lack of access to mass transit limits women’s labor force participation. The study analyzes two household surveys conducted in the Greater Mumbai Region in 2004 and 2019. It finds important differences in the mobility patterns of men and women that reflect differences in the division of labor within the household. These differences in mobility patterns, and their evolution over time, point to an implicit “pink tax†on female mobility. Transport appears to be only one of many barriers to women’s labor force participation and not the most important one. |
| Keywords: | Transport Services,Labor Markets,Gender and Development,Transport in Urban Areas,Urban Transport,Educational Sciences |
| Date: | 2021–03–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9569&r=ure |
| By: | Fehrle, Daniel |
| JEL: | C22 C23 E31 E44 G11 N10 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc22:264044&r=ure |
| By: | Navarro, Adoracion M. |
| Abstract: | This study assesses the adequacy of school infrastructure in the Philippine basic education sector and conducts benchmarking against developmental targets and other countries' performance. The study shows that with respect to classrooms, there had been progress in decongesting schools, but spatial inequality in classroom-student ratio exists and must be addressed. Spatial inequality is evident given the congested classrooms in some administrative regions. Moreover, additional classrooms are needed given that school buildings in certain remote areas do not meet quality and safety standards, enrolment is increasing, and existing classrooms deteriorate due to wear and tear and calamities. With respect to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities, the gaps are huge and become more visible when benchmarked against other countries. The Philippines is lagging behind most countries in the Eastern and South-Eastern Asia region in providing WASH facilities to schools, even when compared with neighboring countries that have lower per capita income. With respect to electricity access of schools, many countries in the Eastern and South-Eastern Asia region have already achieved universal access and yet the Philippines still struggles to complete the electrification of schools. Comments to this paper are welcome within 60 days from the date of posting. Email publications@pids.gov.ph. |
| Keywords: | human capital;school infrastructure; school buildings; WASH facilities; electricity access; ICT access |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:dpaper:dp_2022-10&r=ure |
| By: | Andrea Albanese; Bart Cockx; Muriel Dejemeppe |
| 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:ces:ceswps:_9972&r=ure |
| By: | Gałecka-Burdziak, Ewa; Gora, Marek; Jessen, Jonas; Jessen, Robin; Kluve, Jochen |
| JEL: | H55 J20 J65 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc22:264046&r=ure |
| By: | Markowsky, Eva; Wolf, Fridolin; Schäfer, Marie |
| Abstract: | We compare the earnings of monolingual and competent bilingual immigrants in Germany. A joint discussion of language skills as human capital or social capital and theories of ethnic marginalisation leads us to expect heterogeneous returns to bilingualism. To track this potential divergence, we differentiate effects by gender, language group, immigrant density in respond- ents' areas of residence, and communication intensity of their occupations. Doing so reveals sizeable differences in the returns to bilingualism. We find positive effects for the largest immigrant community in Germany, the Turkish population, while other language groups do not seem to benefit from retaining their heritage language. Individuals with a Turkish migration background have higher earnings when proficient in their heritage language and German. We discuss how the size of the immigrant community and the bilingualism premium might be related and pursue two alternative explanations: Specialised labour demand due to the wide dissemination of the Turkish-speaking population in Germany and ethnic social networks that are open only to those with proficiency in the heritage language. Our data indicate that both are important but operate in gender-specific ways. Turkish bilingual men experience an earnings premium only in occupations with high communication intensity, while there is no statistical relationship for women. The social capital channel is also much more potent for men, while bilingual German-Turkish women do not seem to profit from heritage-language networks for labour market success to the same degree. We discuss differences by gender in activating social capital and cultural influences as drivers of this gap. |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:uhhwps:68&r=ure |
| By: | Sam Sims (UCL Centre for Education Policy & Equalising Opportunities); John Jerrim (UCL Social Research Institute) |
| Abstract: | Traditionalists argue that teachers should carefully sequence the best knowledge from their subject area and deliver it directly to the whole class. Progressives argue that teachers should instead facilitate pupils' exploration of their individual interests, thereby nurturing curiosity and thinking skills. We test these claims using fixed effect models applied to data on 1,223 pupils (age 11-14) in the German National Educational Panel Study. We find few links between pupil outcomes and their teachers' orientation. The one exception is that - contrary to progressive claims - pupils develop greater interest in learning when taught by teachers with a traditionalist orientation. |
| Keywords: | traditional teaching; progressive teaching; meta-cognition |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucl:cepeow:22-08&r=ure |
| By: | Rude, Britta; Giesing, Yvonne |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J61 J78 O15 O33 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc22:264093&r=ure |
| By: | Clemens, Michael A. (Center for Global Development) |
| Abstract: | Immigration policy can have important net fiscal effects that vary by immigrants' skill level. But mainstream methods to estimate these effects are problematic. Methods based on cashflow accounting offer precision at the cost of bias; methods based on general equilibrium modeling address bias with limited precision and transparency. A simple adjustment greatly reduces bias in the most influential and precise estimates: conservatively accounting for capital taxes paid by the employers of immigrant labor. The adjustment is required by firms' profit-maximizing behavior, unconnected to general equilibrium effects. Adjusted estimates of the positive net fiscal impact of average recent U.S. immigrants rise by a factor of 3.2, with a much shallower education gradient. They are positive even for an average recent immigrant with less than high school education, whose presence causes a present-value subsidy of at least $128,000 to all other taxpayers collectively. |
| Keywords: | immigration, fiscal, tax, revenue, budget, deficit, surplus, capital, cost, benefit, dividend, subsidy, burden, social security, welfare, outlays, balance, foreign, skill, government, public |
| JEL: | F22 H68 J61 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15592&r=ure |
| By: | Burlina, Chiara; Casadei, Patrizia; Crociata, Alessandro |
| Abstract: | Several studies have detected a positive relationship between the spatial dynamics of cultural and creative industries (CCIs) and their social and economic outcomes. In this article, we draw upon the Economic Complexity Index (ECI) as a proxy to capture the social interactive nature that characterises CCIs and the way this affects firm performance. Our assumption is that more complex locations, endowed with different types of more sophisticated production capabilities, allow CCI firms to perform more strongly. This can depend on the higher opportunities of complex knowledge sharing and cross-fertilisation processes among different types of CCI firms or with non-CCI firms. The focus is on Italy, a country with a long-standing historical tradition in culture and creativity. We draw upon an original panel database at firm and province level (for the period 2010–2016) to compute two different ECIs, one for the CCIs and another one for the rest of the economy. Moreover, we analyse the effects these two types of complexity on the performance of firms within sectors with different levels of cultural and commercial value. We find that economic complexity of CCIs but not economic complexity of the rest of the economy matters for CCI firm performance. However, the effect is relatively weak. The same finding applies to all CCI firms, irrespective of their type of sector. Policy implications and directions for future research are discussed. |
| Keywords: | clusters; cultural and creative industries; economic complexity; firm performance; Italy; provinces |
| JEL: | J1 R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2022–09–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:116979&r=ure |
| By: | Ganau, Roberto; Grandinetti, Roberto |
| Abstract: | Where does innovation come from? And do all regions innovate similarly? We deal with these questions by highlighting the complexity of the concepts of innovation capability and performance, and by testing their association at the European Union regional level. We disentangle inputs of innovation capability, and consider regional heterogeneity in institutional quality, to understand the relative endowment of what innovation inputs is associated with higher relative innovation performance. We find that ‘formal’ inputs–public and business R&D expenditure–do not work unconditionally and everywhere, and that less ‘formal’ ones–e.g., non-R&D expenditure and firms collaborating for innovation–matter particularly in regions with relative low-quality institutions. Moreover, institutional quality emerges as an innovation productivity-enhancing factor. |
| Keywords: | European Union; Innovation capability; innovation performance; institutional quality; regions |
| JEL: | O30 O52 R11 |
| Date: | 2021–07–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:114921&r=ure |
| By: | Kemp, Jack (University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | The impact of teachers’ unions on educational outcomes is theoretically and empirically ambiguous. This study aims to provide additional evidence to this debate by analyzing the educational impact of Wisconsin’s Act 10, which significantly weakened teachers’ unions. A unique school-level dataset is constructed containing data on educational outcomes, high-school and district-level characteristics in Wisconsin and Illinois. Schools in treated and control groups are matched using propensity score matching. A difference-in-difference methodology is used to mitigate problems surrounding simultaneity and omitted variable bias from standard OLS regression. This paper uses an event study design and a triple difference model to estimate the effect of Act 10 on the dropout rate and subject proficiency rate. The triple difference model used has lower power but is more robust to the parallel trends assumption as it takes into account differences in economic conditions between states. Models suggest that weakening teachers’ unions worsens educational outcomes, providing support for the union-voice hypothesis. |
| Keywords: | Education ; Teacher unions ; Event study ; Triple difference ; Propensity score matching JEL Classification: I20 ; I28 ; J45 ; J50 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:wrkesp:39&r=ure |
| By: | Barrera-Osorio,Felipe; Cilliers,Jacobus; Cloutier,Marie-Helene; Filmer,Deon P. |
| Abstract: | This paper reports on a randomized evaluation of two teacher incentive programs, which were conducted in a nationally representative sample of 420 public primary schools in Guinea. In 140 schools, high-performing teachers were rewarded in-kind, with the value of goods increasing with level of performance. In another 140 schools, high-performing teachers received a certificate and public recognition from the government. After one year, the in-kind program improved learning by 0.24 standard deviations, while the recognition treatment had a smaller and statistically insignificant impact. After two years, the effect from the in-kind program was smaller (0.16 standard deviations) and not significant; the paper provides suggestive evidence that the reduction may be due to the onset of an Ebola outbreak. The effects of the recognition program remained small and insignificant. The effects differed by teacher gender: for female teachers, both programs were equally effective, while for male teachers, only the in-kind program led to statistically significant effects. |
| Keywords: | Effective Schools and Teachers,Educational Institutions&Facilities,Communicable Diseases,Gender and Development,Educational Sciences,Public Health Promotion |
| Date: | 2021–05–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9652&r=ure |
| By: | Rezaei, Sarah; Rosenkranz, Stephanie; Weitzel, Utz; Westbrock, Bastian |
| JEL: | D85 C70 C91 H41 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc22:264063&r=ure |
| By: | Sahay,Abhilasha |
| Abstract: | Although violence against women is pervasive and can have severe adverse implications, it is considerably underreported. This paper examines whether public activism against such violence can stimulate disclosure of socially sensitive crimes such as rape and sexual assault. The analysis uses a quasi-experimental setting arising from an infamous gang rape incident that took place on a moving bus in Delhi in 2012. The incident sparked widespread protests demarcating a nationwide ‘social shock’. Exploiting regional variation in exposure to the shock, the analysis finds an increase of 27 percent in reported violence against women after the shock but no change in gender-neutral crimes such as murder, robbery and riots. Additional evidence -- generated from self-compiled high frequency crime data -- suggests that the increase can be attributed to a rise in reporting rather than an increase in occurrence. |
| Keywords: | Crime and Society,Gender and Development,Social Conflict and Violence,Social Cohesion |
| Date: | 2021–03–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9566&r=ure |
| By: | Jeanne Bomare (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); Ségal Le Guern Herry (ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides evidence of the growing importance of real estate assets in offshore portfolios. We study the implementation of the first multilateral automatic exchange of information norm, the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), which introduces cross-border reporting requirements for financial assets but not for real estate assets. Exploiting administrative data on property purchases made by foreign companies in the UK, we show that the implementation of the CRS led to a significant increase of real estate investments from companies incorporated in the tax havens that were the most exposed to the policy. We confirm that this increase comes from company owners of countries committing to the new standard by identifying the residence country of a sub-sample of buyers using the Panama Papers and other leaked datasets. We estimate that between £16 and £19 billion have been invested in the UK real estate market between 2013 and 2016 in reaction to the CRS, suggesting that at the global scale between 24% and 27% of the money that fled tax havens following this policy were ultimately invested in properties. |
| Date: | 2022–06–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpspec:hal-03811306&r=ure |
| By: | Grover,Arti Goswami; Lall,Somik V. |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether a country’s participation in global value chains supports spatial convergence in the domestic economy. In theory, production disintegration through “unbundling†makes industrial development less lumpy, providing opportunities for smaller cities to plug and play in niche spaces while not having to fight the agglomeration economies offered by large metropolitan areas. Using data on the size distribution of cities within countries and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Trade in Value Added database, the paper finds that integration in global value chains is strongly associated with greater concentration in large urban agglomerations, not less. A unit standard deviation increase in domestic value added in exports of intermediate products is associated with a decline of 0.1 standard deviation in the Zipf coefficient, an index measuring spatial dispersion. Spatial concentration is strongest for global value chains involving knowledge-intensive business services and high-technology manufacturing. |
| Date: | 2021–04–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9619&r=ure |
| By: | Lall,Somik V.; Lebrand,Mathilde Sylvie Maria; Soppelsa,Maria Edisa |
| Abstract: | This paper describes new global evidence—derived from satellite data—for rates and patterns of urban spatial development since 1990 along three margins: horizontal spread (outward extension), infill development (inward additions in the gaps left between earlier structures), and vertical layering (upward construction). The end product of this growth is floor space, the amount and distribution of which are central to understanding how a city becomes livable and sustainable. Over the quarter century between 1990 and 2015, urban built-up area worldwide grew by 30 percent through horizontal spread and infill. While most cities grow through a combination of horizontal spread and infill, the paper provides the first estimates of the relative prominence of each type of expansion at different stages of economic development. In low-income and lower-middle-income countries, 90 percent of urban built-up area expansion occurs as horizontal spread. The study also finds that increasing incomes are a uniquely necessary condition for a rise in floor space per person through vertical layering: the reason is that building tall is capital intensive. The analysis highlights that if a city’s population doubles but incomes stay constant, the city’s floor space per person declines by 40 percent; by contrast, if per capita income doubles but population stays constant, the city’s total floor space per person increases by 29 percent. |
| Date: | 2021–04–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9618&r=ure |
| By: | Bohnet, Lara (New York University); Peralta, Susana (Universidade Nova de Lisboa); Pereira dos Santos, João (RWI) |
| Abstract: | We study the labour market impact of the return of half a million Portuguese due to onset of the colonial war in 1974. Both the size and similarity with the native population (almost 80% were Portuguese-born) make this a unique shock. We use census data from 1960 and 1981 to document a decrease in dependent employment of 15% for native males and 62% for females. The bulk of the effects is driven by Portuguese-born repatriates. We use shit-share IVs based on the repatriates' municipality of birth, and the municipal hotel capacity, exploiting a large-scale resettlement program. |
| Keywords: | return migration, labour market, labour supply, entrepreneur- ship, instrumental variable |
| JEL: | F22 J20 R23 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15595&r=ure |
| By: | David R. Agrawal; Jan K. Brueckner |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the interstate effects of decentralized taxation and spending when individuals can work from home (WFH). Because WFH decouples population and employment, the analysis of tax impacts on state populations, employment levels, wages and housing prices is radically different than in the standard model where individuals live and work in the same state. Which state can tax teleworkers—leading to either source or residence taxation—matters for tax impacts under WFH. Our main findings, which pertain to the employment and wage effects of WFH, show that a shift from a non-WFH economy to WFH reduces employment and raises the wage in high-tax states, with larger effects under source taxation. Once WHF is established, an increase in a state’s tax rate either reduces employment further while raising the wage (source taxation) or leaves the labor market unaffected (residence taxation). The analysis also shows that the residence-taxation equilibrium is efficient, while source taxation is inefficient. |
| Keywords: | state income taxes, telework, work-from-home |
| JEL: | H20 H73 R12 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9975&r=ure |
| By: | Soh,Yew Chong; Del Carpio,Ximena Vanessa; Wang,Liang Choon |
| Abstract: | This paper employs the synthetic control method to examine the impact of using a non-native language as the medium of instruction in schools on a student’s learning. Exploiting an unanticipated policy change in Malaysia and using data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Studies, the results show that changing the medium of instruction negatively influenced eighth graders’ achievement in mathematics and science. The differential performance, by year and gender, suggests that using a non-native language throughout a student’s schooling may have greater negative impact on the student’s learning than switching the language of instruction in the middle of the student’s schooling does. This paper sheds light on the various manners in which a language policy can adversely affect a student’s learning outcomes. It also highlights how the transition in switching the language of instruction in schools can be implemented more effectively to mitigate its adverse effects. |
| Keywords: | Education For All,Education for Development (superceded),Educational Populations,Educational Policy and Planning - Language of Instruction,Educational Institutions&Facilities,Effective Schools and Teachers,Educational Sciences,Gender and Development |
| Date: | 2021–01–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9517&r=ure |
| By: | Romain Boulongne; Rodolphe Durand; Caroline Flammer |
| Abstract: | We examine whether impact investing is more effective in fostering business venture success and social impact when investments are directed toward ventures located in disadvantaged urban areas compared to similar investments directed toward ventures located outside these areas. We explore this question in the context of loans made to business ventures in French "banlieues" vs. "non-banlieues." We find that loans issued to banlieue ventures yield greater improvements in financial performance, as well as greater social impact in terms of the creation of local employment opportunities, quality jobs, and gender-equitable jobs. These results suggest that impact investors are able to contract with ventures of greater unrealized potential in banlieues, as banlieue ventures tend to be discriminated on the traditional loan market. This is corroborated in a controlled lab experiment in which participants--working professionals who are asked to act as loan officers--are randomly assigned to identical business ventures that only differ in their geographic location. We find that participants are indeed less likely to grant loans to banlieue ventures compared to non-banlieue ventures, despite the ventures being identical. |
| JEL: | G3 R0 R3 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30551&r=ure |
| By: | Betti,Gianni; Molini,Vasco; Pavelesku,Dan |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a new method for improving the design effect of household surveys based on a two-stage design in which the first stage clusters, or primary selection units, are stratified along administrative boundaries. Improvement of the design effect can result in more precise survey estimates (smaller standard errors and confidence intervals) or reduction of the necessary sample size, that is, a reduction in the budget needed for a survey. The proposed method is based on the availability of a previously conducted poverty mapping, that is, spatial descriptions of the distribution of poverty, which are finely disaggregated in small geographic units, such as cities, municipalities, districts, or other administrative partitions of a country that are linked to primary selection units. Such information is then used to select primary selection units with systematic sampling by introducing further implicit stratification in the survey design, to maximize the improvement of the design effect. The proposed methodology has been implemented for the new 2021 Household Budget Survey in Tunisia, conducted under a cooperation project funded by the World Bank. The underlying poverty mapping is based on the 2015 Household Budget Survey and the 2014 Population and Housing Census. |
| Keywords: | Inequality,Public Sector Administrative&Civil Service Reform,Economics and Finance of PublicInstitution Development,Democratic Government,State Owned Enterprise Reform,Public Sector Administrative and Civil Service Reform,De Facto Governments,Labor&Employment Law,Small Area Estimation Poverty Mapping,Poverty Lines,Poverty Assessment,Poverty Monitoring&Analysis,Poverty Diagnostics,Poverty Impact Evaluation,Crime and Society |
| Date: | 2021–05–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9648&r=ure |
| By: | Shamsuddin,Mrittika; Acosta,Pablo Ariel; Battaglin Schwengber,Rovane; Fix,Jedediah Rooney; Pirani,Nikolas |
| Abstract: | An unprecedented number of Venezuelans have left behind the worsening economic and social crisis at home to look for better future prospects. Brazil is hosting about 261,000 Venezuelans as migrants, asylum seekers, or refugees, which, at 18 percent, constitutes the largest share of Brazil’s 1.3 million refugees and migrants population (as of October 2020). Although previous literature on other host countries found that Venezuelan refugees and migrants are struggling to secure high-paying jobs that are commensurate with their education, little is known about their access to education and social protection. This paper fills this gap by analyzing various administrative and census data to explore whether Venezuelan migrants and refugees face differential access to education, the formal labor market and social protection programs. It finds that even though there is minimum legal constraints and work permits are relatively easy to obtain, Venezuelan refugees and migrants face challenges integrating into the education system, social protection programs and the formal labor market. The results suggest that Venezuelan refugees and migrants have faced downgrading in grades at school and occupations at work. They are more likely to attend overcrowded schools than their host community counterparts and more likely to do inferior jobs characterized by temporality, lower wages and higher hours worked. Overall, the results suggest that improvement in school capacity, accreditation of Venezuelan education or degrees and relocation to places with favorable employment opportunities may facilitate integration. |
| Keywords: | Educational Sciences,Rural Labor Markets,Social Protections&Assistance,Labor Markets,Access&Equity in Basic Education,Educational Populations,Education for Development (superceded),Education For All |
| Date: | 2021–03–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9605&r=ure |
| By: | Wright, Taylor |
| Abstract: | A common approach to identifying the causal impact of immigration on outcomes involves using a "shift-share" or Bartik instrument exploiting country-specific immigration in ows (shifts) and location specific prior shares for the same countries. New econometric findings suggest this instrumental variables approach uses identifying variation not from the shifts, as previously believed, but rather from the shares and suggest a battery of checks to explore the sensitivity of estimates. In this note, I first replicate Hunt and Gauthier-Loiselle (2010) which estimates the effects of immigration on innovation via patenting, and second deploy these new checks from the econometric literature on shift-share instruments. I find that the results of Hunt and Gauthier-Loiselle (2010) (skilled immigration increases innovation and has positive spillovers on the innovation of others) replicate and hold up well to these new tests. |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:i4rdps:4&r=ure |
| By: | Bau,Natalie; Das,Jishnu; Yi Chang,Andres |
| Abstract: | Using a unique longitudinal data set collected from primary school students in Pakistan, this paper documents four new facts about learning in low-income countries. First, children’s test scores increase by 1.19 standard deviation between Grades 3 and 6. Second, going to school is associated with greater learning. Children who drop out have the same test score gains prior to dropping out as those who do not but experience no improvements after dropping out. Third, there is significant variation in test score gains across students, but test scores converge over the primary schooling years. Students with initially low test scores gain more than those with initially high scores, even after accounting for mean reversion. Fourth, conditional on past test scores, household characteristics explain little of the variation in learning. To reconcile the findings with the literature, the paper introduces the concept of “fragile learning,†where progression may be followed by stagnation or reversals. The implications of these results are discussed in the context of several ongoing debates in the literature on education in low- and middle-income countries. |
| Keywords: | Educational Sciences,Education Finance,Economics of Education,Adolescent Health,Gender and Development,Crime and Society |
| Date: | 2021–03–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9597&r=ure |
| By: | Schoner, Florian; Mergele, Lukas; Zierow, Larissa |
| JEL: | D91 I21 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc22:264140&r=ure |
| By: | Bury, Yannick; Feld, Lars P.; Köhler, Ekkehard A. |
| Abstract: | Cooperative fiscal federalism needs a multi-level consent to decide on the allocation of intergovernmental transfers. We study how parliamentary representation of municipalities on the federal level influences the allocation of federal transfers to municipal governments under this type of federalism. Using a regression discontinuity design in close electoral races, we find that a directly elected member of the federal parliament, who belongs to the party that leads the federal government, induces higher infrastructure transfers from the federal government to a local jurisdiction. However, our results show that this effect only unfolds, if the parliamentarian's party is simultaneously leading the state government. Moreover, we identify party competition on the local level as motive behind the strategic use of federal funds. Thus, while supporting the swing voter hypothesis, our results suggest that federalism inherently entails restrictions for misusing intergovernmental transfers for political reasons. |
| Keywords: | Fiscal Federalism,Partisan Alignment,Vertical Transfers |
| JEL: | H71 H72 H77 E62 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:aluord:2209&r=ure |
| By: | Bossavie,Laurent Loic Yves; Garrote Sanchez,Daniel; Makovec,Mattia; Ozden,Caglar |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses the impact of immigration to Western Europe on the exposure of native-born workers to economic and health risks created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Using various measures of occupational risks, it first shows that immigrant workers, especially those coming from lower-income member countries of the European Union or from outside the European Union, are more exposed to the negative income shocks relative to the natives. The paper then examines whether immigration has an impact on the exposure of natives to COVID-19-related risks in Western Europe. A Bartik-type shift share instrument is used to control for potential unobservable factors that would lead migrants to self-select into more vulnerable occupations across regions and bias the results. The results of the instrumental variable estimates indicate that the presence of immigrant workers had a causal impact in reducing the exposure of natives to COVID-19-related economic and health risks in European regions. Estimated effects are stronger for high-skilled native workers than for low-skilled natives and for women relative to men. The paper does not find any significant effect of immigration on wages and employment, which indicates that the effects are mostly driven by a reallocation from less safe jobs to safer jobs. |
| Keywords: | Labor Markets,Indigenous Peoples Law,Indigenous Peoples,Indigenous Communities,Health Care Services Industry,Human Migrations&Resettlements,International Migration,Migration and Development |
| Date: | 2020–12–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9500&r=ure |
| By: | Luong, Tuan Anh; Nguyen, Manh-Hung; Khuong Truong, N.T.; Le, Kien |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the extent to which exposure to climate volatility can in-fluence individual migration decisions in Vietnam, based on the historical rainfall data from 70 weather stations in Vietnam and the Vietnam Access to Resources House-hold Survey. Utilizing the exogenous variation in the rainfall deviation from the local norms within an individual fixed-effects framework, we uncover the negative associa-tion between rainfall and the probability of individual migration. Individual migration probability drops by 7.5 percentage points when the amount of rainfall relative to the long-run local average doubles. This reduction could potentially be driven by individ-uals who work in the agricultural sector and are less likely to migrate as more rainfall could increase their agricultural incomes. Furthermore, our heterogeneity analyses sug-gest that rainfall shocks could perpetuate gender inequality in Vietnam since women cannot cope with climatic shocks through migration. Policy-makers could shift their focus on flood control and water management in affected areas, where people’s liveli-hoods depend on agriculture, to efficiently address issues related to climate-induced internal migration. |
| JEL: | Q26 Q54 O15 |
| Date: | 2022–10–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:127429&r=ure |
| By: | Berbée, Paul; Braun, Sebastian T.; Franke, Richard |
| JEL: | N91 N92 O14 R12 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc22:264032&r=ure |
| By: | Seth M. Freedman; Daniel W. Sacks; Kosali I. Simon; Coady Wing |
| Abstract: | Vaccines influence the course of pandemics both directly, by protecting the vaccinated, and indirectly, by reducing transmission to the unvaccinated, a key externality. Estimating direct effects is challenging because of selective vaccine take-up; estimating indirect effects also poses difficulty as it requires exogenous variation in peer vaccination status. We overcome these challenges using unique microdata from Indiana together with a natural experiment. To identify direct effects, we use federal age-based vaccine eligibility rules by which seventh graders were eligible in Fall 2021 but sixth graders and younger were not. To identify indirect effects, we compare sixth graders in middle schools (whose older schoolmates are vaccine eligible) to sixth graders in elementary schools (whose schoolmates are ineligible). This variation in difference-in-differences designs leads to large estimates of direct effects: vaccination reduces COVID-19 incidence by 80 percent. But our estimates of indirect effects are small and statistically insignificant: despite a 20 percentage point increase in vaccination rates across all grades, we find essentially no difference in COVID-19 incidence between sixth graders in middle schools and sixth graders in elementary schools. A complementary identification strategy also finds small indirect effects from vaccinated grade-mates. This evidence from real-world settings matches clinical evidence forCOVID-19 vaccines’ benefits for the vaccinated, and provides new evidence that clinical trials were unable to examine, on indirect effects. Prior work on the influenza and pertussis vaccines has found substantial externalities, thus our findings suggest that prior evidence on one disease and its vaccine need not generalize to others. |
| JEL: | I0 I28 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30550&r=ure |
| By: | Sara Lamboglia (Bank of Italy); Massimiliano Stacchini (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | Financial literacy is low among young people and their uninformed choices may have costly and long-lasting consequences. This paper uses information on approximately 52,000 fifteen-year-old students participating in the 2018 OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to provide fresh evidence on two drivers for youth financial skills: maths skills and students’ exposure to financial education at school. Our results are threefold. First, mathematical skills have a positive impact on financial skills, and to a greater extent than reading skills. Second, an extension based on the 2012 wave of PISA suggests that the transfer of competences from mathematics to financial literacy can be enhanced when teaching strategies focus more on stimulating “cognitive activation†. Third, we show how the percentage of students having the chance to receive financial education at school varies widely across countries, and how having such an opportunity positively influences financial achievements. |
| Keywords: | Financial literacy, Schooling, PISA 2018 |
| JEL: | G53 H52 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_722_22&r=ure |
| By: | Arroyo Arroyo,Fatima; Fernandez Gonzalez,Marta; Matekenya,Dunstan; Espinet Alegre,Xavier |
| Abstract: | In recent years, researchers have demonstrated that digital footprints from mobile phones can be exploited to generate data that are useful for transport planning, disaster response, and other development activities—thanks mainly to the high penetration rate of mobile phones even in low-income regions. Most recently, in the effort to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, these data can be used and explored to track mobility patterns and monitor the results of lockdown measures. However, as rightly noted by other scholars, most of the work has been limited to proofs of concept or academic work: it is hard to point to any real-world use cases. In contrast, this paper uses mobile data to obtain insight on urban mobility patterns, such as number of trips, average trip length, and relation between poverty, mobility, and areas of Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. These data were used in preparation of an urban mobility lending operation. Additionally, the paper describes good practices in the following areas: accessing mobile data from telecom operators, frameworks for generating origin and destination matrices, and validation of results. |
| Keywords: | Transport Services,Telecommunications Infrastructure,ICT Applications |
| Date: | 2021–01–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9519&r=ure |
| By: | Sekou Keita; Thomas Renault; Jérôme Valette |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses whether the systematic disclosure of criminals’ origins in the press affects natives’ attitudes towards immigration. It takes advantage of the unilateral change in reporting policy announced by the German newspaper Sächsische Zeitung in July, 2016. Combining individual-level panel data from the German Socio-Economic Panel from 2014 to 2018 with 402,819 crime-related articles in German newspapers and those newspapers’ market shares, we find that systematically mentioning the origins of criminals increases the relative salience of natives’ criminality and reduces natives’ concerns about immigration, breaking the implicit link between immigration and crime. |
| Keywords: | Immigration;Crime;Media Bias |
| JEL: | F22 K42 L82 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cii:cepidt:2022-10&r=ure |
| By: | Bouzid,Bechir Naier; Toumi,Sofiene |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the relationship between key economic and institutional attributes of Tunisian governorates and their ability to attract foreign direct investment inflows. A dynamic generalized method of moments and spatial autoregressive approaches are used to estimate a model of regional foreign direct investment over the recent period. The results provide evidence of regional interdependence of foreign direct investment that appears to be highly clustered along the coastal areas. An increase/decrease of foreign direct investment inflows to a given region creates an incentive/disincentive for other foreign direct investment inflows to the same regions as well as nearby ones. These agglomeration forces are relatively strong in Tunisia in the presence of vertical foreign direct investment. Further, the results indicate that a relatively developed market size, an increase of regional development areas, as well as robust governance practices and infrastructure are positive determinants of regional foreign direct investment inflows. Finally, the paper shows that although some of the determinants exhibit spillover effects on nearby regions, the direct effect on the region represents the bulk of the influence over foreign direct investment inflows. |
| Keywords: | Financial Economics,Finance and Development,Foreign Direct Investment,Transport Services,Employment and Unemployment,Investment and Investment Climate |
| Date: | 2020–11–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9484&r=ure |
| By: | Francisco J. Beltran Tapia (Norwegian University of Science and Technology); Alfonso Diez Minguela (Universitat de Valencia); Victor Fernandez Modrego (Universitat de Valencia); Alicia Gomez Tello (Universitat de Valencia); Julio Martinez-Galarraga (Universitat de Barcelona); Daniel A. Tirado Fabregat (Universitat de Valencia) |
| Abstract: | This document presents ESPAREL (“España, del Antiguo Régimen al Estado Liberal†), a project in the field of digital humanities. The main objective of ESPAREL has been to generate a spatial data infrastructure (SDI) that allows linking the territorial structure of the Ancien Régime with that of the Liberal State at the end of the 19th century and with the current one, linking the existing population entities in (1) the Census of 1787 (CP1787), (2) the Nomenclator of Spain of 1887 (NE1887) and (3) the Basic General Nomenclator of Spain (NGBE). Firstly, the NE1887 (106,491 population entities) was digitised and converted into data format using optical character recognition techniques (OCR) and machine learning algorithm programming. The main entities of the NE1887 were then linked to the existing entities (NGBE), and given that the NGBE includes the geographical coordinates of the entities, this made it possible to geolocate the NE1887, opening the door to its processing by means of Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Once this work had been carried out, CP 1787 (20,236 entities organised into towns, villages, places, hamlets, etc.) was linked to this database. The results of this project, which can be consulted openly on the ESPAREL platform (www.esparel.com), will allow progress to be made in a number of areas of historical research. These include the study of changes in settlement patterns over time and the depopulation that has taken place in a significant part of Spain. By way of example, the second part of the text presents a case study, based on the Comunitat Valenciana, which, by going beyond the municipalities, shows the possibilities offered by ESPAREL to improve our knowledge of the origins of depopulation, with a level of territorial detail not achieved until now. |
| Keywords: | digital humanities, population entities, nomenclator, census of 1787 |
| JEL: | C8 J1 H1 N9 O1 R1 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ahe:dtaehe:2207&r=ure |
| By: | Riillo, Cesare Fabio Antonio; Peroni, Chiara |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the empirical link between migrations and entrepreneurship in European countries, for the first time drawing from a large sample of individuals sourced from the cross-country GEM survey. Specifically, the paper studies the impact of individuals' immigration status on entrepreneurial outcomes at all stages of the entrepreneurial process: interest in starting a new business, effectively starting, running a new business and managing an established company. The analysis uses a sequential probit model with sample selection to capture the dependence between entrepreneurial stages. It also distinguishes between different typologies of entrepreneurs (necessity and opportunity-driven, European and non-European; recent and long-standing immigrants). Additionally, it implements heteroscedasticity based instruments to address potential endogeneity issues. The study finds evidence that immigration has a positive effect on entrepreneurship. Immigrants are more willing to engage in entrepreneurship. Among those who started a new business, however, immigrants have lower chances than natives to succeed in the following stages of entrepreneurship. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship; Immigration; Sequential Logit; Probit; sample selection; GEM. |
| JEL: | C25 D0 F22 J15 J6 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2022–09–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:114580&r=ure |
| By: | Carattini, Stefano; Figge, Béla; Gordan, Alexander; Löschel, Andreas |
| Abstract: | Conflicting societal goals can lead to national and local policies that are at odds with each other. National policies promoting the adoption of solar photovoltaics may be counteracted by local policies defining the aesthetics of the built environment. As solar photovoltaic energy approaches grid parity globally, non-pecuniary barriers to the adoption of this important renewable energy source become increasingly salient. Using a unique survey of municipalities regarding such building codes and administrative data on all solar installations in Germany, a leader in solar adoption, we document the impact that municipalities amending their building codes to restrict solar installations, often with an eye toward preserving the historical nature of the town, has on solar adoption. We find that municipalities that implement solar policies have 10.4 percent less solar photovoltaic capacity than municipalities in the control group. We confirm our results when applying spatial techniques and analyzing the impact of such policies on regulated areas within municipalities. |
| Keywords: | building codes; solar photovoltaics; policy evaluation; NIMBY |
| JEL: | D62 H77 Q48 Q58 R52 |
| Date: | 2022–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:116962&r=ure |
| By: | Lozano Gracia,Nancy; Bainomugisha,Engineer; Soppelsa,Maria Edisa; Okure,Deo |
| Abstract: | Many cities and urban centers around the world experience high air pollution episodes attributable to increased anthropogenic alterations of natural environmental systems. World Health Organization estimates indicate strong exceedances of prescribed limits in developing countries. However, the evidence on local pollution measures is limited for such cities and Uganda is no exception. Informed by the practical realities of air quality monitoring, this paper employs a low-cost approach using passive and active monitors to obtain characterization of pollution levels based on particulate matter 2.5, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone over a six-month period (starting in December 2018) for selected urban centers in three of the four macro-regions in Uganda. This is the first attempt to comprehensively assess pollution levels at a near-national level in Uganda. A combination of distributed stationary monitors and mobile monitors installed on motorcycle taxis (boda-boda) was employed in selected parishes to obtain spatiotemporal variations in the pollutant concentrations. The results suggest that seasonal particulate levels heavily depend on precipitation patterns with a strong inverse relation, which further corroborates the need for longer monitoring periods to reflect actual seasonal variations. Informed by the observed level of data completeness and quality in all the monitoring scenarios, the paper highlights the practicability and potential of a low-cost approach to air quality monitoring and the potential to use this information to inform citizens. |
| Keywords: | Pollution Management&Control,Air Quality&Clean Air,Brown Issues and Health,Health Care Services Industry,Intelligent Transport Systems,Social Risk Management,Disaster Management,Hazard Risk Management |
| Date: | 2021–01–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9512&r=ure |
| By: | Petreski, Aleksandar; Schäfer, Dorothea; Stephan, Andreas |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the effect of a firm's reputation of being a green bond issuer on its financing costs. Using a sample of 73 listed Swedish real estate companies issuing in total about 1500 bonds over the period from 2011 till 2021, differencein- difference analyses and instrumental variable estimations are applied to identify the causal impact of frequent green vis-à-vis frequent non-green bond issuing on a firm's cost of capital and credit rating. The paper argues that it is repetitive issuance which lowers a firm's cost of capital, while the effects from first or one-time green bond issuance is the opposite. In line with the reputation capital hypothesis, issuing green bonds even lowers the firm's cost of equity capital, while issuing non-green bonds has no effect on the cost of equity capital. |
| Keywords: | bond issuance,green debt,reputation capital,sustainability,ESG |
| JEL: | G32 R30 R32 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1182&r=ure |
| By: | Odozi, John; Uwaifo Oyelere, Ruth |
| Abstract: | Recent research on Nigeria indicates declining income inequality. In contrast, anecdotal evidence suggests that only the upper class has benefited from economic growth in Nigeria overtime. The disconnect between these findings and anecdotal evidence, and the limitation in how inequality was estimated in the past literature are the motivation for our research. First we consider if inequality decreased in Nigeria between 2010 and 2018. We then examine how changes in inequality relate to changes in consumption and poverty. In addition, we examine whether there has been convergence in inequality and consumption across regions over this period? Leveraging data from the four waves of the Nigeria General Household Panel Survey (GHS) and carefully measuring inequality using consumption expenditure, our results suggest that inequality has decreased and median consumption expenditure increased. At the same time, poverty incidence and severity increased precipitously. Our findings suggest convergence in estimated inequality by regions but we do not find evidence of convergence across regions in consumption. |
| Keywords: | Inequality,Gini,Nigeria,Income Distribution,Poverty,Regional Disparities |
| JEL: | D31 I32 O15 O10 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1183&r=ure |
| 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. |
| Keywords: | firm-to-firm networks, model selection, balls-and-bins, buyer-seller matching, underidentification |
| JEL: | F11 F14 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9964&r=ure |
| By: | Laia Bosque-Mercader |
| Abstract: | Early childhood education programmes are expected to improve child conditions including educational attainment, labour, and health outcomes. This study evaluates the effect of a Spanish universal preschool programme, which implied a large-scale expansion of full-time high-quality public preschool for three-year-olds in 1991, on long-term health. Using a difference-in-differences approach, I exploit the timing of the policy and the differential initial speed of implementation of public preschool expansion across regions. I compare long-term health of cohorts aged three before to those aged three after the start of the policy residing in regions with varying initial implementation intensity of the programme. The results show that the policy does not affect long-term health outcomes and use of healthcare services, except for two outcomes. A greater initial intensity in public preschool expansion by 10 percentage points decreases the likelihood of being diagnosed with asthma by 2.1 percentage points, but hospitalisation rates increase by 2.7%. The findings indicate that the effect on asthma is larger for men, hospitalisation rates are higher for pregnant women, and disadvantaged children benefit the most in terms of a lower probability of taking medicines and being diagnosed with asthma and mental health disorders. |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdaddt:2022-07&r=ure |
| By: | Velasco, Lawrence G. |
| Abstract: | This study evaluates the financial condition and performance of local water districts (LWDs) in the Philippines. National data show that their consolidated financial performance has improved in the past years. With the government’s aggressive spending program on water infrastructure, lower debt ratios are needed to prepare LWDs to achieve universal access to water supply and sanitation. However, the government’s spending plans are so ambitious that the current balance sheets of LWDs cannot sustain the planned investments financed through debt. This paper shows the significant disparity in water investments across the different regions, resulting in uneven water service coverage throughout the Philippines. |
| Keywords: | water supply and sanitation; water districts; water supply and sanitation investments |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:pjdevt:pjd_2021_vol__45_no__2c&r=ure |
| By: | Heyns,Andries Michiel; Banick,Robert Steven; Regmi,Suraj |
| Abstract: | Existing methods of prioritizing rural roads for construction in hilly and mountainous settings require expensive data collection or major simplifications of ground conditions. Traditional social surplus based-methods favor economic and political decision criteria over social criteria, despite evidence of the latter's importance, and struggle to scale beyond major roads to feeder roads, forcing local governments with limited capacity to adopt ad-hoc alternative criteria. Using roads proposed for construction in Nepal's remote Karnali province, this paper develops a scalable method to prioritize these roads for inclusion in construction plans with the aim of optimizing potential accessibility improvements to specified services in dry and monsoon seasons -- within Karnali's infrastructure budget constraints. Road-specific improvements in accessibility to services are measured by estimating accessibility changes resulting from each proposed road within a multimodal accessibility model. In this paper, walking across Karnali's mountainous, high-elevation terrain is incorporated as a primary modality -- a rarity in related accessibility literature. These improvements are implemented within heuristic and integer-linear programming optimization models. Optimization-determined solutions were calculated within a day, and substantially outperformed the actual roads selected by Karnali's provincial government in terms of accessibility, efficiency, and political economy. |
| Keywords: | Transport Services,Rural Roads&Transport,Health Care Services Industry,Inequality,ICT Policy and Strategies |
| Date: | 2021–01–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9526&r=ure |
| By: | Ayenew,Ashenafi Belayneh |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the welfare impact of hosting refugees in Ethiopia, one of the largest refugee-hosting countries worldwide. Identification comes from a large spatial difference in within-village temporal changes in refugee intensity, following a recent upsurge in the flow of refugees into the country. The findings reveal different implications depending on the type of household welfare metric. While reducing consumption expenditure per capita and increasing the probability of falling into consumption poverty, hosting refugees has no effect on wealth and the status of wealth poverty. Decomposing consumption expenditure per capita into food, education, and other nonfood components, the results further reveal that hosting refugees alters the composition of consumption, as it solely affects food consumption expenditure. The consumption effects prevail in rural areas with no effects in urban centers while no heterogeneity is found concerning wealth and wealth poverty results. Key mechanisms explaining the adverse consumption effects include displacement of hosts from salaried employment and a spike in prices of agricultural inputs but not changes in the extent of societal cooperation. |
| Keywords: | Inequality,Educational Sciences,Post Conflict Reconstruction,Rural Labor Markets,Labor Markets,Social Conflict and Violence |
| Date: | 2021–04–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9613&r=ure |
| By: | Zheng, Han; Hongtao, Li |
| Abstract: | This paper offers a variant of the Ricardian model able to structurally interpret the estimate of country-specific variable—transportation infrastructure. Guided by this new theoretical framework, this paper shows that transportation infrastructure enhances international trade more than internal trade. Further quantitative analysis suggests 10% increase in transportation infrastructure induces 3.9% increase in real income and more than 95% of the gains concentrate on the infrastructure improving country. This paper also suggests that transportation infrastructure improvement increases real income mostly through internal trade cost reduction. All the above results suggest that better infrastructure leads to sizable gains providing additional empirical support to policies aiming to improve transportation infrastructure. |
| Keywords: | Gravity model, Transportation infrastructure, Internal trade cost |
| JEL: | F10 F14 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:hiasdp:hias-e-124&r=ure |