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on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Daniel Borbely (Economics Group, School of Business, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK); Gennaro Rossi (Department of Economics, University of Sheffield, 9 Mappin Str, Sheffield S1 4DT, UK) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the effects of urban regeneration on crime, leveraging recent large-scale regeneration projects – called Transformational Regeneration Areas (TRAs) – in Glasgow, Scotland. We employ a difference-in-differences approach that makes use of variation in both the timing of TRA implementation, and in proximity to these areas to measure exposure to urban regeneration projects. Our findings are consistent with changing neighbourhood composition and the elimination of physical spaces that harbour criminal activity driving local crime reductions. We find a large and significant reduction in crime within 400 metres of TRAs but this effect fades as we move further away. Simultaneously, we find no evidence of city-wide reductions in crime after urban regeneration. |
| Keywords: | Crime, Housing, Spatial Spillovers, Urban Regeneration |
| JEL: | I38 R20 K42 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shf:wpaper:2022020&r=ure |
| By: | Wong, Francis; Kermani, Amir |
| JEL: | G50 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc22:264099&r=ure |
| By: | ITF |
| Abstract: | This report tracks the progress in reducing the number of road traffic fatalities and serious injuries in cities between 2010 and 2020. It presents traffic safety data collected in 32 cities participating in the ITF Safer City Streets network and compares trends in urban and national road safety. It provides indicators for the risk of traffic death for different road user groups that permits benchmarking of road safety outcomes. |
| Date: | 2022–11–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:itfaac:108-en&r=ure |
| By: | Höckel, Lisa Sofie; Schilling, Pia |
| Abstract: | This study is the first empirical analysis to identify the causal effect of a separate preparatory language learning class on the academic success of newly immigrated primary school-aged children in comparison to their direct integration into regular classrooms. Employing unique administrative panel data from the German federal state Hamburg between 2013 and 2019, we use the quasi-random allocation of refugee children to neighborhoods and therewith schools to measure the effect of the two educational integration models on standardized test scores and the probability of attending an academic track in secondary school. Our results show that primary school-aged refugees who visit a preparatory class perform significantly worse in standardized test scores in fifth grade. The negative effect is particularly strong for Math and German. They further have a slightly lower probability to attend the academic track. Overall, our results indicate that integrating newly immigrated children directly into regular classrooms fosters their academic achievement more than schooling them first in preparatory classes with a focus on language learning. |
| Keywords: | Academic achievement,education economics,language skills,migration,integration policy |
| JEL: | I24 I21 J13 J15 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:983&r=ure |
| By: | Yasmine Bekkouche (Université Libre de Bruxelles); Kenneth Houngbedji (LEDa-DIAL (IRD, CNRS, Universite Paris-Dauphine, Universite PSL)); Oswald Koussihouede (UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning) |
| Abstract: | : We combined information on daily rainfall at school locations and standardized test scores to study how learning outcomes at primary schools are affected by precipitation during school days in Sub-Saharan Africa. Our results suggest that student test scores are lower in schools that are exposed to more rainy days during the academic year. Students in locations that had more rainy school days are also more likely to experience grade repetition. We tested the mechanisms through which rainfall affects learning outcomes in our study area and found that teachers are more likely to be absent in locations with more rainy school days. We discuss the implications of these results and draw attention to policy options to mitigate learning loss during rainy school days. |
| Keywords: | Education, Children, Climate |
| JEL: | I21 Q54 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt202207&r=ure |
| By: | Tahir Andrabi; Natalie Bau; Jishnu Das; Asim Ijaz Khwaja |
| Abstract: | Using rich panel data from Pakistan, we compute test score based measures of quality (School Value-Addeds or SVAs) for more than 800 schools across 112 villages and verify that they are valid and unbiased. With the SVA measures, we then document three striking features of the schooling environment. First, there is substantial within-village variation in quality. The annualized difference in learning between the best and worst performing school in the same village is 0.4 sd; compounded over 5 years of primary schooling, this difference is similar in size to the test score gap between low- and high-income countries. Second, students learn more in private schools (0.15 sd per year on average), but substantial within-sector variation in quality means that the effects of reallocating students from public to private schools can range from -0.35sd to +0.65sd. Thus, there is a range of possible causal estimates of the private premium, a feature of the environment we illustrate using three different identification approaches. Finally, parents appear to recognize and reward SVA in the private sector, but the link between parental demand and SVA is weaker in the public sector. These results have implications for both the measurement of the private premium and how we design and evaluate policies that reallocate children across schools, such as school closures and vouchers. |
| JEL: | H44 I21 I25 I28 O12 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30627&r=ure |
| By: | Constantin Bürgi; Nisan Gorgulu |
| Abstract: | We look at a part of the spatial angle of economic growth. We introduce a new measure Spatial Population Concentration (SPC) that captures the weighted average population surrounding every person within a geographic area. The weights are a function of the distance between the person in question and everyone else. One special case of the SPC would be to measure how many people live on average within a given radius of every person within a geographic area. We then calculate the SPC measure at the US county level for various radii and identify that the measure has the strongest relationship with subsequent economic growth for a 25km radius. Interacting SPC with various infrastructure measures increases the radius to 50km. This suggests that regional policies which affect density as infrastructure projects should target the 25-50km distance range to maximize the growth impact. |
| Keywords: | spatial population concentration, endogeneous growth, spillover, the United States |
| JEL: | O47 O51 R12 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10008&r=ure |
| By: | Burcu Ozgun; Tom Broekel; ; |
| Abstract: | There are substantial differences across regions regarding COVID–19 infections and deaths, which are partly explained by differences in practicing social distancing. In this paper, we argue that the portrayal of COVID–19 in regional media might be an important factor in explaining regional differences in social distancing. By using mobility as a proxy, and analyzing data on regional news coverage in Germany, we empirically investigate whether the geographical heterogeneity in COVID–19-related news reporting has translated into spatial variations in social distancing. Our results confirm that the frequency of and the element of fear in COVID–19 news has a significant albeit time-varying relationship with social distancing. |
| Keywords: | COVID–19, coronavirus, news media, mobility, regional analysis |
| JEL: | R10 I12 D10 L82 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2224&r=ure |
| By: | Heinger, Sandro; Koeniger, Winfried; Lechner, Michael |
| Abstract: | We estimate the transmission of the pandemic shock in 2020 to prices in the residential and commercial real estate market by causal machine learning, using new granular data at the municipal level for Germany. We exploit differences in the incidence of Covid infections or short-time work at the municipal level for identification. In contrast to evidence for other countries, we find that the pandemic had only temporary negative effects on rents for some real estate types and increased asset prices of real estate particularly in the top price segment of commercial real estate. |
| Keywords: | Real estate, Asset prices, Rents, Covid pandemic, Short-time work, Affordability crisis |
| JEL: | E21 E22 G12 G51 R21 R31 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usg:econwp:2022:14&r=ure |
| By: | Jaqueson Galimberti (School of Economics, Auckland University of Technology); Lydia Cheung (School of Economics, Auckland University of Technology); Philip Vermeulen (School of Economics, Auckland University of Technology) |
| Keywords: | idiosyncratic risk, house prices, housing markets |
| JEL: | G1 R1 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aut:wpaper:202205&r=ure |
| By: | Philipp Koch; Viktor Stojkoski; C\'esar A. Hidalgo |
| Abstract: | Did migrants help make Paris a center for the arts and Vienna a beacon of classical music? Or was the rise of these knowledge agglomerations a sole consequence of local actors? Here, we use data on the biographies of more than 22,000 famous historical individuals born between the years 1000 and 2000 to estimate the contribution of famous immigrants, emigrants, and locals to the knowledge specializations of European regions. We find that the probability that a region develops a specialization in a new activity (physics, philosophy, painting, music, etc.) grows with the presence of immigrants with knowledge on that activity and of immigrants specialized in related activities. We also find that the probability that a region loses one of its existing areas of specialization decreases with the presence of immigrants specialized in that activity and in related activities. In contrast, we do not find robust evidence that locals with related knowledge play a statistically significant role in a region entering or exiting a new specialization. These findings advance our understanding of the role of migration in the historical formation of knowledge agglomerations. |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2210.15914&r=ure |
| By: | James, Amity; Crowe, Adam; Tually, Selina; Sharam, Andrea; Faulkner, Debbie; Cebulla, Andreas; Hodgson, Helen; Webb, Eileen; Coram, Veronica; Singh, Ranjodh |
| Abstract: | This research investigates lower income older households’ preferences for a range of alternative housing models and examines which of these would best meet their needs, as well as identifying ways to support households deciding their housing options. The findings of this project provide key evidence for consideration in developing a market for alternative housing options. Seven alternative housing models were presented to a nationally representative sample of older people. These composite models—each with a unique combination of tenure, construction, location, social composition, shared space and technology characteristics—included a mixed use apartment building option; a cooperative housing option; a communal housing option; a transportable home option; a shared equity home ownership option; a dual key property option; and a village-style housing option. The shared equity home ownership model; cooperative housing model; and transportable home model were substantially preferred by lower income housed older Australians. All three alternative housing models met the short and long-term housing needs of the respondents and would also deliver benefits in terms of people’s non-shelter aspirations for home including independence, privacy, security of tenure, ability to have companion animals, and room for friends, family or a carer to stay. Survey respondents expressed a strong liking for rights of ownership (84%)—through the dual key housing option and the shared equity housing option—and a long lease option (83%). Housing options that included other tenure arrangements, such as shared governance and management (59%) and land owned and retained by government (68%), were considered less desirable. |
| Date: | 2022–11–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:2t6xs&r=ure |
| By: | Smith, Michael E. (Arizona State Universityh) |
| Abstract: | Archaeology’s principal contribution to knowledge is its ability to track human actions and social conditions over long periods of time. I describe an approach to operationalizing this insight for the rise and fall of cities and other settlement over time. Cities that survive and thrive are considered successful, and urban success can be measured along three dimensions: persistence, population, and prosperity. Successful cities were those whose leaders, residents, and institutions found ways to adapt to a range of shocks and conditions, including the environment, local institutions, and regional political and economic forces. Urban success is therefore due to processes of urban adaptation that operated over long periods of time. I outline a conceptual and methodological approach to urban success, and position the concept with respect to notions of adaptation and time scales in sustainability science and the social and historical sciences more broadly. |
| Date: | 2022–10–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:y2vg7&r=ure |
| By: | Nicolás Abbate (CEDLAS & IIE-UNLP); Inés Berniell (CEDLAS - IIE-UNLP); Joaquín Coleff (CEDLAS - IIE-UNLP); Luis Laguinge (CEDLAS - IIE-UNLP & CONICET); Margarita Machelett (Banco de España); Mariana Marchionni (CEDLAS - IIE-UNLP & CONICET); Julián Pedrazzi (CEDLAS - IIE-UNLP & CONICET); María Florencia Pinto (CEDLAS - IIE-UNLP) |
| Abstract: | We assess the extent of discrimination against gay and transgender individuals in the rental housing markets of four Latin American countries. We conducted a large-scale field experiment building on the correspondence study methodology to examine interactions between property managers and fictitious couples engaged in searches in a major online rental housing platform. We find evidence of discriminatory behavior against heterosexual couples where the female partner is a transgender women (trans couples): they receive 19% fewer responses, 27% fewer positive responses, and 23% fewer invitations to showings than heterosexual couples. However, we find no evidence of discrimination against gay male couples. We also assess whether the evidence is consistent with taste-based discrimination or statistical discrimination models by comparing response rates when couples signal a high socioeconomic status (high SES). While we find no significant effect of the signal on call-back rates or the type of response for high-SES heterosexual or gay male couples, trans couples benefit when they signal a high SES. Their call-back, positive-response, and invitation rates increase by 25%, 36% and 29%, respectively. These results suggest the presence of discrimination against trans couples in the Latin American online rental housing market, which seems consistent with statistical discrimination. Moreover, we find no evidence of heterosexual couples being favoured over gay male couples, nor evidence of statistical discrimination for gay male or heterosexual couples. |
| JEL: | C93 J15 R23 R3 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dls:wpaper:0306&r=ure |
| By: | Wenshuang, Yu; Lindsay M., Tedds; Gillian, Petit |
| Abstract: | Using monthly public transit revenue data from January 2015 to December 2021, we investigate the effect of COVID-19 on public transit revenues in the large urban municipality of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. We find that revenue from transit fares dropped immediately and significantly after the declaration of a state of emergency in March 2020 for all transit fare types. While revenues began to slowly recover, nearly two years following the state of emergency transit fare revenue continue to be significantly lower than then the pre-pandemic baseline in most cases. Only revenues from transit fares for school-aged children and low-income persons have recovered to the pre-pandemic baseline, suggesting these groups are relatively more dependent on public transit compared to non-low-income, adult users. With revenues from transit fares continuing to be 60% below the pre-pandemic baseline, replacing this lost revenue is essential to maintaining service standards for those dependent on public transit. However, there are no simple answers to this problem given the ongoing shock to adult ridership. Over the short term, transit will need increased support from other revenues sources such as local property taxes or transfers from higher orders of government. Over the longer-term, the City of Calgary will need to weigh the trade-offs from pursuing fare increases, lowering service standards, and/or expansion of services to serve more riders with objectives such as addressing climate change, labour mobility, and accessibility. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, Public Transit, Municipal Revenue, Transit Ridership |
| JEL: | H42 H72 H76 R0 R4 R40 R42 R48 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:115350&r=ure |
| By: | Petra E. Todd (University of Pennsylvania); Weilong Zhang (University of Cambridge) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops and estimates a spatial general equilibrium job search model to study the effects of local and universal (federal) minimum wage policies on employment, wages, job postings, vacancies, migration/commuting, and welfare. In the model, workers, who differ in terms of location and education levels, search for jobs locally and in a neighboring area. If they receive remote offers, they decide whether to migrate or commute. Firms post vacancies in multiple locations and make offers subject to minimum wage constraints. The model is estimated using multiple databases, including the American Community Survey (ACS) and Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI), and exploiting minimum wage variation across state borders as well as time series variation (2005-2015). Results show that local minimum wage increases lead firms to post fewer wage offers in both local and neighboring areas and lead lower education workers to reduce interstate commuting. An out-of-sample validation finds that model forecasts of commuting responses to city minimum wage hikes are similar to patterns in the data. A welfare analysis shows how minimum wage effects vary by worker type and with the minimum wage level. Low skill workers benefit from local wage increases up to $10.75/hour and high skill workers up to $12.25/hour. The greatest per capital welfare gain (including both workers and firms) is achieved by a universal minimum wage increase of $12.75/hour. |
| Keywords: | spatial equilibrium, minimum wage, labor relocation, commuting |
| JEL: | J61 J63 J64 J68 R12 R13 |
| Date: | 2022–11–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pen:papers:22-027&r=ure |
| By: | Moritz Seebacher |
| Abstract: | How can infrastructure help to reduce the gender education gap in developing countries? In this paper, I analyze the complementarity of all-weather roads and a bicycle program in Bihar, India, which aimed to increase girls’ secondary school enrollment rate. Using Indian household survey data combined with a quadrupledifference estimation strategy, I find that the program’s main beneficiaries are girls living at least 3km away from secondary schools whose villages are connected with all-weather roads. Their net secondary school enrollment rate increased by over 87 percent, reducing the respective gender education gap by around 45 percent. I find no effect for girls living in villages without an all-weather road, suggesting that allweather roads are not just complementary to the bicycle program but a precondition for its success. The findings highlight the importance of well-functioning infrastructure for the accessibility of secondary schools and the empowering of girls in India. |
| Keywords: | Roads, bicycles, infrastructure, girls’ education, gender education gap, India |
| JEL: | I21 I28 H42 J16 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ifowps:_382&r=ure |
| By: | Bray, Vincent M; Brandel-Tanis, Freyja; Reichard, Will; O’Brien, Scott; Guensler, Randall |
| Abstract: | Sidewalk infrastructure presence is a key indicator of pedestrian safety and walkability for neighborhoods in cities throughout the United States. The existence and condition of sidewalk infrastructure, however, is not prioritized as much as motor vehicle infrastructure. Many cities lack sustained maintenance and operations programs for sidewalk infrastructure and comprehensive datasets covering the locations and distributions of sidewalk infrastructure, limiting the ability to develop such programs. This work refines prior sidewalk infrastructure network generation techniques, contributing new methods to identify sidewalk infrastructure presence.QA/QC efforts were conducted for in Atlanta’s sidewalk network by correcting errors identified in input data. Error identification and correction times were comprehensively tracked and used to estimate future labor costs. A Custom application with online access to Bing Maps Streetside and aerial imagery was developed to allow technicians to verify sidewalk presence data, which were joined to the structural sidewalk network and associated with adjacent parcels. Cost of ownership of Atlanta’s sidewalk infrastructure over an 80-year management period is then broken down by asset type and allocated in part to property owners directly adjacent to the applicable infrastructure, while remaining costs are recovered through a proportional increase in property tax millage rates. Sidewalk network estimates developed in previous Atlanta research efforts decreased sidewalk network mileage by 12% (386 miles), post-QA/QC. Regression analysis of error correction activity and labor data indicates gaps between tax parcels and misplacement of intersection centroids significantly increased QA/QC labor costs. Overall, 46% of Atlanta’s potential sidewalk links were present(i.e., along property superblock boundaries), with significant clustering in the city’s oldest neighborhoods. Hence, sidewalk repair and maintenance costs accrue disproportionately to these areas. Sidewalk infrastructure costs across neighborhoods also differ considerably, depending on whether estimates account for existing sidewalk infrastructure. The annual cost burden on property owners to implement a program to fund sustainable sidewalks (lifecycle assessment) by increasing property tax millage rates varies significantly across household income and ethnicity. The research suggests that sustainable sidewalk infrastructure assessments should consider spatial and demographic disparities in cost allocation (i.e., equity) for any proposed pedestrian infrastructure asset management program. View the NCST Project Webpage |
| Keywords: | Engineering, Sidewalks, pedestrian infrastructure, lifecycle Infrastructure costs |
| Date: | 2022–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsdav:qt95f5j003&r=ure |
| By: | Varun Mittal; Laura P. Schaposnik |
| Abstract: | Through the reinterpretation of housing data as candlesticks, we extend Nature Scientific Reports' article by Liang and Unwin [LU22] on stock market indicators for COVID-19 data, and utilize some of the most prominent technical indicators from the stock market to estimate future changes in the housing market, comparing the findings to those one would obtain from studying real estate ETF's. By providing an analysis of MACD, RSI, and Candlestick indicators (Bullish Engulfing, Bearish Engulfing, Hanging Man, and Hammer), we exhibit their statistical significance in making predictions for USA data sets (using Zillow Housing data) and also consider their applications within three different scenarios: a stable housing market, a volatile housing market, and a saturated market. In particular, we show that bearish indicators have a much higher statistical significance then bullish indicators, and we further illustrate how in less stable or more populated countries, bearish trends are only slightly more statistically present compared to bullish trends. |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2210.10146&r=ure |
| By: | Treb Allen; Costas Arkolakis |
| Abstract: | What do recent advances in economic geography teach us about the spatial distribution of economic activity? We show that the equilibrium distribution of economic activity can be determined simply by the intersection of labor supply and demand curves. We discuss how to estimate these curves and highlight the importance of global geography – i.e. the connections between locations through the trading network – in determining how various policy relevant changes to geography shape the spatial economy. |
| JEL: | F1 R0 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30598&r=ure |
| By: | Joan Costa-i-Font; Cristina Vilaplana-Prieto |
| Abstract: | Individual preferences for ‘ageing in place’ (AIP) in old age are not well understood. One way to test the strength of AIP preference is to investigate the effect of health shocks on residential mobility to smaller size or value dwellings, which we refer to as ‘housing downsizing’. This paper exploits more than a decade worth of longitudinal data to study older people’s housing decisions across a wide range of European countries. We estimate the effect of health shocks on the probability of different proxies for housing downsizing (residential mobility, differences in home value, home value to wealth ratio), considering the potential endogeneity of the health shock to examine the persistence of AIP preferences. Our findings suggest that consistently with the AIP hypothesis, every decade of life, the likelihood of downsizing decreases by two percentage points (pp). However, the experience of a health shock partially reverts such culturally embedded preference for AIP by a non-negligible magnitude on residential mobility (9pp increase after the onset of a degenerative illness, 9.3pp for other mental disorders and 6.5pp for ADL), home value to wealth ratio and the new dwelling’s size (0.6 and 1.2 fewer rooms after the onset of a degenerative illness or a mental disorder). Such estimates are larger in northern and central European countries. |
| Keywords: | ageing in place, housing downsizing, health shocks at old age, Europe, residential mobility, mental degenerative mental illness, mental disorder |
| JEL: | I18 G51 J61 R31 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10022&r=ure |
| By: | Bisset, Jordan; Czarnitzki, Dirk; Doherr, Thorsten |
| Abstract: | We follow the migration patterns of European inventors and find evidence of a novel emigration determinant: policy uncertainty. We find that policy uncertainty raises the rate of inventor emigration by a notable magnitude. With a one standard deviation in the policy uncertainty of the home country, relative to the possible destination countries, the rate of inventor emigration increases by nearly 40%. Migrating inventors are subsequently exposed to lower levels of policy uncertainty in the destination country emphasising that uncertainty motivated the move. We conclude that these effects may have strong welfare implications at the aggregate level. |
| Keywords: | Out-Migration,Brain Drain,Uncertainty,Inventors |
| JEL: | J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:22044&r=ure |
| By: | Liwen Chen (East China Normal University); Bobby Chung (St Bonaventure University); Guanghua Wang (Nanjing Audit University) |
| Abstract: | Increased exposure to gender-role information affects a girl's educational performance. Utilizing the classroom randomization in Chinese middle schools, we find that the increased presence of stay-at-home peer mothers significantly reduces a girl's performance in mathematics. This exposure also cultivates gendered attitudes towards mathematics and STEM professions. The influence of peer mothers increases with network density and when the girl has a distant relationship with her parents. As falsification tests against unobserved confounding factors, we find that the exposure to stay-at-home peer mothers does not affect boys' performance, nor do we find that stay-at-home peer fathers affect girls' outcomes. |
| Keywords: | cultural transmission, gender identity, gender norms, role models |
| JEL: | I24 J16 Z13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2022-039&r=ure |
| By: | Ilse Lindenlaub; Ryungha Oh; Michael Peters |
| Abstract: | We study the importance of firm sorting for spatial inequality. If productive locations are able to attract the most productive firms, then firm sorting acts as an amplifier of spatial inequality. We develop a novel model of spatial firm sorting, in which heterogeneous firms first choose a location and then hire workers in a frictional local labor market. Firms' location choices are guided by a fundamental trade-off: Operating in productive locations increases output per worker, but sharing a labor market with other productive firms makes it hard to poach and retain workers, and hence limits firm size. We show that sorting between firms and locations is positive—i.e., more productive firms settle in more productive locations—if firm and location productivity are complements and labor market frictions are sufficiently large. We estimate our model using administrative data from Germany and find that highly productive firms indeed sort into the most productive locations. In our main application, we quantify the role of firm sorting for wage differences between East and West Germany, which reveals that firm sorting accounts for 17%-27% of the West-East wage gap. |
| JEL: | E20 E23 E24 E25 J30 J61 J63 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30637&r=ure |
| By: | Fenet Jima Bedaso; Uwe Jirjahn; Laszlo Goerke |
| Abstract: | We hypothesize that incomplete integration into the workplace and society implies that immigrants are less likely to be union members than natives. Incomplete integration makes the usual mechanism for overcoming the collective action problem less effective. Using data from the Socio-Economic Panel, our empirical analysis confirms a unionization gap for first-generation immigrants in Germany. Importantly, the analysis shows that the immigrant-native gap in union membership indeed depends on immigrants’ integration into the workplace and society. The gap is smaller for immigrants working in firms with a works council and having social contacts with Germans. Our analysis also confirms that the gap is decreasing in the years since arrival in Germany. |
| Keywords: | Union membership, migration, works council, social contacts with natives, years since arrival. |
| JEL: | J15 J52 J61 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trr:wpaper:202207&r=ure |
| By: | Scott W Hegerty |
| Abstract: | In the United States, large post-industrial cites such as Detroit are well-known for high levels of socioeconomic deprivation. But while Detroit is an exceptional case, similar levels of deprivation can still be found in other large cities, as well as in smaller towns and rural areas. This study calculates a standardized measure for all block groups in the lower 48 states and DC, before isolating "high-deprivation" areas that exceed Detroit's median value. These block groups are investigated and mapped for the 83 cities with populations above 250,000, as well as at the state level and for places of all sizes. Detroit is shown to indeed be unique not only for its levels of deprivation (which are higher than 95 percent of the country), but also for the dispersion of highly-deprived block groups throughout the city. Smaller, more concentrated pockets of high deprivation can be found in nearly every large city, and some cities below 20,000 residents have an even larger share of high-deprivation areas. Cities' percentages of high-deprivation areas are positively related to overall poverty, population density, and the percentage of White residents, and negatively related to the share of Black residents. |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2210.16155&r=ure |
| By: | Ali, Amjad; Audi, Marc; Al-Masri, Razan |
| Abstract: | This article has examined the role of environmental conditions and purchasing power parity in deciding the quality of life among big Asian cities. The study has constructed an index for quality of life with the help of housing, crime rates, death rate, average life expectancy, environmental degradation, and level of education. Quality of life has been selected as the dependent variable and the level of pollution, availability of health care facilities, local purchasing power, availability of groceries, level of democracy, cost of living, restaurants, level of traffic, and level of rents are selected explanatory variables. For empirical analysis, this study uses data for the years 2017, 2018, and 2019. The estimated results show that pollution has a negative and significant impact on the quality of life in the case of Asian cities. Local purchasing power has a positive and significant relationship with the quality of life in the cities of Asia. Groceries and democracy are very important parts of the daily life of human beings but they have insignificant impacts on the quality of life in Asian cities. Restaurants have a positive and significant impact on quality of life. This study finds that level of traffic and the level of rent have a negative and significant impact on the quality of life in the case of Asian cities. The overall results conclude that selected indicators play a significant role in determining the quality of life in Asian cities. |
| Keywords: | quality of life, environmental conditions, purchasing power parity |
| JEL: | E31 J17 R11 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:115166&r=ure |
| By: | Dessouky, Maged; Mahtab, Zuhayer |
| Abstract: | In major metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles County, ride-sharing systems can help reduce traffic congestion and increase the efficiency of the transportation system. This research project proposes three different solution approaches for solving the ride share routing problem with flexible pickup and drop-off points. The first is a dynamic programming-based route enumeration procedure that can be used to solve small-sized problems; the other two are branch and price-based heuristics for solving large problems. The researchers first provide a mixed integer nonlinear model for routing and pickup and drop-off points selection which they later decompose into a master and subproblem for solving. To validate the performance of their approaches and gather valuable insights about the ridesharing system, the researchers perform numerical experiments on a San Francisco Taxicab dataset. Results show that the approaches are efficient, solving instances with up to 300 nodes within 130 CPU seconds. For these datasets, incorporating flexible meeting points (i.e., pickup and drop-off points) can reduce the total travel time of the rideshare system by 18%. Sensitivity analysis shows that it can also decrease the time passengers wait time for rides by 43%. The methodologies in this study can help transportation planners design more efficient rideshare systems with less waiting, better passenger service, and less travel time. View the NCST Project Webpage |
| Keywords: | Engineering, rideshare, congestion, routing, branch and price, dynamic programming |
| Date: | 2022–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsdav:qt3107w642&r=ure |
| By: | Celia P. Vera (Universidad de Piura); Bruno Jiménez (Princeton University, CEDLAS & IIE-UNLP) |
| Abstract: | Peru is the second-largest recipient of Venezuelans worldwide. We combine newly available data on Venezuelans living in Peru and the Peruvian Household Survey to assess the impact of Venezuelan migration on natives’ wages and employment. The initial regression analysis exploits the variation in supply shifts across education-experience groups over time. It indicates that immigration in Peru had no adverse impact on native wages. However, the paper highlights that in Peru immigrants and natives with similar education and experience are likely to work in different occupations. The subsequent analysis based on occupational clustering confirms the null effect on wages and indicates that a 20% increase in immigrants decreases formal employment by 6%. We do not find evidence for changes in employment composition toward informality so that migration operates through the extensive margin of employment. We report evidence in favor of immigrants being a close substitute to the least productive natives, suggesting that firms substitute native formal labor for low-cost immigrant informal labor. |
| JEL: | J24 J31 J46 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dls:wpaper:0304&r=ure |
| By: | Wolf, Levi John (University of Bristol) |
| Abstract: | Local geographic statistical analysis has long been of interest to scientists. In many cases, local statistics have been developed to identify spatial outliers --- areas that are markedly dissimilar from their surroundings --- or spatial clusters --- areas of strong similarity. Research into local spatial statistics experienced a step-change in the mid 1990s, which provided a large class of generalized estimators for local statistical analysis. The local Moran statistic is one commonly used local indicator of spatial association, obtained directly from the estimator for the global Moran statistic. However, this statistic (and local indicators more generally) have traditionally been univariate statistics. New developments provide a fully multivariate statistic for local spatial analysis: the multivariate Geary ratio. However, new arguments are needed to obtain a multivariable Moran statistic that can account for exogenous variation in its understanding of the local structure for spatial data. To do this, we return to the Moran Scatterplot as the critical analytical artifact for Moran-style analysis. Extending this concept, we develop a new method directly from a multivariable ``Moran-form'' spatial regression. We show the theoretical and empirical properties of this statistic, and contrast them to existing methods. Finally, we show how its use can change interpretations in an empirical analysis of rent in Bristol, England. |
| Date: | 2022–10–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:kz5dq&r=ure |
| By: | Ortega, Josue; Klein, Thilo |
| Abstract: | How should students be assigned to schools? Two mechanisms have been suggested and implemented around the world: deferred acceptance (DA) and top trading cycles (TTC). These two mechanisms are widely considered excellent choices because they are strategy-proof, in addition to DA's no justified envy and TTC's Pareto optimality. We show theoretically and empirically that both mechanisms perform poorly with regard to two key desiderata such as efficiency and equality, even in large markets. In contrast, the rank-minimizing mechanism (RM) is significantly more efficient and egalitarian. It is also Pareto optimal for the students, unlike DA, and generates less justified envy than TTC. |
| Keywords: | school choice,inequality,efficiency,justified envy |
| JEL: | C78 D73 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:22046&r=ure |
| By: | Aaron Chalfin; Maxim N. Massenkoff |
| Abstract: | In 2015, for the first time in nearly forty years, the rate of motor vehicle fatalities for Black Americans exceeded that of white Americans. By 2020, the gap in death rates stood at 34%, accounting for approximately 4,000 excess deaths between 2014 and 2020. This disproportionate increase occurred in nearly all states, in rural as well as urban areas, and was shared by drivers of all ages and genders. We consider a variety of potential explanations for the emerging race gap including race-specific changes in time spent driving, the circumstances of driving, the quality of medical care for crash victims, decreases in other types of mortality, changes in policing, and risky driving behaviors such as speeding, driving without a seat belt and driving while intoxicated. We can rule out many of these factors as important contributors to the race gap, but find evidence for two of them. The first is opportunity: Relative to white Americans, Black Americans are spending more time in vehicles than they have in the past. Changes in time spent driving, while modest, likely explain an important share of the emergent race gap. The second is a relative increase in drug use, manifested by a quadrupling of the rate of overdose deaths among Black Americans after 2014. Increased drug use appears to have resulted in a concomitant increase in fatal crashes involving drivers under the influence of drugs. Finally, we consider whether the emerging race gap is explained by the so-called "Ferguson effect," the idea that police officers have pulled back from enforcement activity in recent years. On the one hand, traffic stops made by police officers do appear to have declined after 2014. However, the decline in traffic stops does not appear to be race-specific and there is little evidence of a broad increase in risky driving behaviors like speeding and driving without a seat belt. |
| JEL: | I0 K0 R49 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30636&r=ure |
| By: | Lisa B. Kahn; Lindsay Oldenski; Geunyong Park |
| Abstract: | We examine how the labor market effects of import competition vary across Black, Hispanic, and white populations. For a given level of exposure to imports from China, we find no evidence that minority workers are relatively more harmed than white workers in terms of their manufacturing employment. However, Hispanic workers are overrepresented in exposed industries and therefore face greater manufacturing employment losses relative to whites on net. In addition, they experienced relative losses in non-manufacturing employment, largely due to their lower educational attainment and baseline industry mix. Overall, the China shock increased the Hispanic-white employment gap by about 5%, though these effects were short lived. In contrast, Black workers are less likely to live in areas or work in industries facing import competition, resulting in less negative effects on manufacturing employment relative to whites. In addition, exposed Black workers experienced gains in non-manufacturing and overall employment with no measurable wage consequences, while white workers saw depressed employment rates due to the China shock. The lasting effects of import competition in exposed areas were driven by white workers, while the experience of Black workers suggests that movement into non-manufacturing jobs was possible. White workers did not take advantage of these opportunities, perhaps due to better safety nets or perceptions that the available jobs were poor substitutes for those lost in manufacturing. The China shock narrowed the Black-white employment gap by about 15%. While many recent labor market trends have exacerbated Black-white gaps, import competition is a modest offsetting force. |
| JEL: | F16 J15 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30646&r=ure |
| By: | Emilio Borghesan (University of Pennsylvania); Hugo Reis (Banco de Portugal and Catolica Lisbon SBE); Petra E. Todd (University of Pennsylvania) |
| Abstract: | High rates of grade retention are a matter of much controversy and debate worldwide. Although some students may learn more with extended classroom time, other students get discouraged and drop out of school. This paper develops and implements a dynamic value-added modeling approach for estimating grade retention effects in Portuguese high schools where over 40% of students were retained. The statistical model is derived from an education production function that describes how knowledge cumulates with sequential years of school attendance, including repeated grades. Model parameters are obtained using simulated method of moments applied to nationwide administrative test score data. The estimated model is used to simulate achievement in math and Portuguese under the existing grade retention and compulsory schooling policies and under alternative policies. Results show that the average impact of the current policy on 12th grade test scores of retained students is positive, 0.2 standard deviations in math and 0.5 s.d. in Portuguese. However, weend that the test score impacts are heterogeneous and roughly one third of students experience learning loss. Retention also signicantly increases school dropout, especially for male youth and older students. We compute policy-relevant treatment effects for retention's effects on lifetime earnings, taking into account retention's simultaneous effects on educational attainment, knowledge, and age of labor market entry, and we solve for the optimal retention policy that maximizes average lifetime earnings in the population. |
| Date: | 2022–11–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pen:papers:22-030&r=ure |
| By: | Sheng Cai; Lorenzo Caliendo; Fernando Parro; Wei Xiang |
| Abstract: | We develop a dynamic spatial growth model to explore the role of trade and internal migration in the process of spatial development and aggregate growth. Growth is shaped by the best global and local ideas that contribute to the local stock of knowledge. Global ideas diffuse more to locations that are relatively more exposed to international trade. Local ideas are diffused across space when workers move to another location. We embed the diffusion of ideas through trade and migration into a multi-country, multi-region framework with international trade, forward-looking dynamic migration decisions, and endogenous capital accumulation. We apply our framework to study the role of initial conditions, international trade, and internal migration on China’s spatial development and aggregate growth during the 1990s and 2000s. We find that initial conditions across space, idea diffusion, and capital accumulation play an important role in understanding the process of spatial development and aggregate growth in China. Changes in international trade costs and mobility restrictions during the 1990s and 2000s also contribute to aggregate growth, with large heterogeneity across space. |
| JEL: | F1 F10 F16 O1 O15 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30579&r=ure |
| By: | Jason Fletcher; Hans G. Schwarz; Michal Engelman; Norman Johnson; Jahn Hakes; Alberto Palloni |
| Abstract: | A rich literature shows that early life conditions shape later life outcomes, including health and migration events. However, analyses of geographic disparities in mortality outcomes focus almost exclusively on contemporaneously measured geographic place (e.g., state of residence at death), thereby potentially conflating the role of early life conditions, migration patterns, and effects of destinations. We use the newly available Mortality Disparities in American Communities (MDAC) dataset, which links respondents in the 2008 ACS to official death records and estimate consequential differences by method of aggregation; the mean absolute deviation of the difference in life expectancy at age 50 measured by state of birth versus state of residence is 0.58 (0.50) years for men and 0.40 (0.29) years for women. These differences are also spatially clustered, and we show that regional inequality in life expectancy is higher based on life expectancies by state of birth, implying that interstate migration mitigates baseline geographical inequality in mortality outcomes. Finally, we assess how state-specific features of in-migration, out-migration, and non-migration together shape measures of mortality disparities by state (of residence), further demonstrating the difficulty of clearly interpreting these widely used measures. |
| JEL: | I14 J0 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30572&r=ure |
| By: | Fenet Jima Bedaso (Institute for Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the EC, University of Trier); Uwe Jirjahn (University of Trier, GLO, and IZA); Lazlo Goerke (Institute for Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the EC, University of Trier, IZA Bonn and CESifo Muenchen) |
| Abstract: | We hypothesize that incomplete integration into the workplace and society implies that immigrants are less likely to be union members than natives. Incomplete integration makes the usual mechanism for overcoming the collective action problem less effective. Using data from the Socio-Economic Panel, our empirical analysis confirms a unionization gap for first-generation immigrants in Germany. Importantly, the analysis shows that the immigrant-native gap in union membership indeed depends on immigrants' integration into the workplace and society. The gap is smaller for immigrants working in firms with a works council and having social contacts with Germans. Our analysis also confirms that the gap is decreasing in the years since arrival in Germany. |
| Keywords: | Union membership, migration, works council, social contacts with natives, years since arrival |
| JEL: | J15 J52 J61 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iaa:dpaper:202203&r=ure |
| By: | Helms, Veronica E; Coleman-Jensen, Alisha; Gray, Regina; Brucker, Debra L |
| Abstract: | Using health survey data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) linked to Federal housing administrative data, household food insecurity was assessed among adults receiving housing assistance at the time of their NHIS interview during 2011 and 2012. |
| Keywords: | Food Security and Poverty |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersrr:327205&r=ure |
| By: | Viviana Celli (Department of Social Sciences and Economics, Sapienza University of Rome); Augusto Cerqua (Department of Social Sciences and Economics, Sapienza University of Rome); Guido Pellegrini (Department of Social Sciences and Economics, Sapienza University of Rome) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the long-term reaction of local labor markets (LLMs) to a mass layoff in a manufacturing plant. We adopt a non-parametric generalization of the difference-in-differences estimator expressly developed for time-series cross-sectional data and a new comprehensive dataset to gauge the long-run sectoral effects of this negative employment shock in Italy. We find that, on average, a mass layoff abruptly decreases industry employment by 22% and that this negative impact is persistent even eight years later. The shock has a negative and statistically significant effect only on the same industry of the affected LLM, while the rest of the local economy is, at most, mildly affected. These findings do not depend on the initial level of development and call for the policymakers’ intervention to design efficient employment policies aimed at reducing the social costs of a mass layoff at least for less dynamic economies. |
| Keywords: | mass layoff; local labor market; spillover effects; causal inference |
| JEL: | H53 J60 C14 |
| Date: | 2022–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:saq:wpaper:6/22&r=ure |
| By: | Benedict, Richard; Gurran, Nicole; Gilbert, Catherine; Hamilton, Carrie; Rowley, Steven; Liu, Sha |
| Abstract: | This research investigates models for engaging private sector investors and developers in financing or delivering social and affordable housing, across different market segments and tenures in Australia and internationally. It also identifies key existing and potential players, and financial, regulatory, or development barriers to wider participation. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, around 3,000 social and affordable dwellings were being produced per year, against an estimated annual need of around 36,000 homes. To meet the forecast demand, it is clear ‘hybridity’ of the housing system is essential, whereby social and affordable housing is increasingly financed, developed and managed by a combination of government, community-based and market providers, and cross-sector partnerships; no one sector can address the need alone. This study highlighted that a range of established and emerging affordable housing product types can be supported through collaboration with private not-for-profit and for-profit partners. These strategies include public private partnerships, mixed tenure developments, tax subsidies for affordable supply, home ownership schemes, build to rent and inclusionary planning mechanisms. These depend on different combinations of government subsidy, policy settings, and regulation, and are suitable for delivery across a variety of different development contexts. |
| Date: | 2022–10–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:9h6qj&r=ure |
| By: | Aleksandr Kazakov (Halle Institute for Economic Research); Michael Koetter (University of Magdeburg); Mirko Titze (University of Halle); Lena Tonzer (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | We use project-level information for the largest regional economic development program in German history to study whether government subsidies to firms affect quantity and quality of bank lending. We combine recipient firms under the Improvement of Regional Economic Structures program (GRW) with their local banks during 1998-2019. The modalities of GRW subsidies to firms are determined at the EU level. Therefore, we use it to identify bank outcomes. Banks with relationships to more subsidized firms exhibit higher lending volumes without any significant differences in bank stability. Subsidized firms, in turn, borrow more indicating that banks facilitate regional economic development policies |
| Keywords: | Government subsidies, Financial intermediation, Bank stability |
| JEL: | G21 G28 H25 |
| Date: | 2022–11–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20220078&r=ure |
| By: | Thomas Goda, Santiago Sánchez |
| Abstract: | Literature contends that the manufacturing sector is crucial for economic development, and it is conventional wisdom that exports drive manufacturing growth. However, it has not yet been established empirically whether the market size of export destinations is an important factor to explain diverging regional and sectorial manufacturing growth patterns. This article argues that accessing large external markets reduces transaction costs, increases expectations of economies of scale and fosters capital formation. To test this hypothesis, we construct a novel Relative Export Market Size (REMS) index that measures whether the share of sectoral exports that are destined to large economies in one region is higher than in other regions. Using a PVAR model, we verify the impact of the REMS index on value added, employment and capital accumulation of 129 manufacturing sectors in 23 regions in Colombia during the period 1992-2017. The obtained results show that exporting to larger markets has a positive impact on employment, capital formation and value added per capita of manufacturing sectors at a regional level. This finding indicates that exporting to the largest market of the world helps to develop competitive manufacturing sectors. |
| Keywords: | Export market size; manufacturing exports; trade; manufacturing growth; regional growth; industrialization |
| Date: | 2022–11–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000122:020531&r=ure |
| By: | Samuel Nocito (Department of Social Sciences and Economics, Sapienza University of Rome); Alessandra Venturini (Department of Economics and Statistics “Cognetti de Martiis”, University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | We investigate an Italian case study (project “Welcome-ED”) of cooperation between private institutions and local migrant centers - administratively defined as cooperatives, non-profit associations, and public educational centers - to promote the inclusion of migrants through the provision of a financial literacy course. We find that the course has effectively improved migrants’ financial literacy and it also mitigates initial differences in knowledge due to individual characteristics. Moreover, we find heterogeneous effects among different local center types with stronger improving effects for individuals coming from cooperatives and non-profit associations. This result strengthens the importance of the cooperation between private institutions, cooperatives, and local associations to achieve inclusion policy goals. |
| Keywords: | D14, L30, J15, P13. |
| JEL: | Q12 O12 C31 C3 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:saq:wpaper:10/22&r=ure |
| By: | Escamilla Guerrero, David; Lepistö, Miko; Minns, Chris |
| Abstract: | This paper uses newly digitized border crossing records from the early 20th century to study the destination choice of female and male French Canadian migrants to the United States. Immigrant sorting across destinations was strikingly different between women and men. Absolute returns to skill dominate in explaining sorting among men, while job search costs and access to ethnic networks were more important for single women. Married women were typically tied to a spouse whose labour market opportunities determined the joint destination, and were much less responsive to destination characteristics as a result. |
| Keywords: | migration; sorting; gender; Canada; United States |
| JEL: | J61 N31 N32 |
| Date: | 2022–11–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:wpaper:117260&r=ure |
| By: | Céline Bonnet (TSE-R - Toulouse School of Economics - UT1 - Université Toulouse 1 Capitole - Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Cécile Détang-Dessendre (CESAER - Centre d'Economie et de Sociologie Rurales Appliquées à l'Agriculture et aux Espaces Ruraux - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Dijon - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement); Valérie Orozco (TSE-R - Toulouse School of Economics - UT1 - Université Toulouse 1 Capitole - Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Elodie Rouviere (SADAPT - Sciences pour l'Action et le Développement : Activités, Produits, Territoires - AgroParisTech - Université Paris-Saclay - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | In 2019, obesity affected 17% of French adults. In this article, we use a unique data set that combines individual-level health and consumption data with living environment data (food, sports and health amenities). We develop a spatial econometric framework to address French health disparities in obesity prevalence across space. We find that regulations on fast food restaurant locations could be a policy instrument to counter the prevalence of obesity. We also establish the existence of spatial spillovers of sports and medical amenities on obesity. This new evidence points to the need to consider a wider context than just the immediate local environment in the fight against the obesity pandemic. |
| Keywords: | Health inequalities,Spatial patterns,Living environment |
| Date: | 2022–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03672491&r=ure |
| By: | Rui Esteves; Kris James Mitchener; Peter Nencka; Melissa A. Thomasson |
| Abstract: | Using newly digitized U.S. city-level data on hospitals, we explore how pandemics alter preferences for healthcare. We find that cities with higher levels of mortality during the Great Influenza of 1918-1919 subsequently expanded hospital capacity by more than cities experiencing less influenza mortality: cities in the top half of the mortality distribution increased their count of hospitals by 8-10 percent in the years after the pandemic. This effect persisted to 1960 and was driven by increases in non-governmental hospitals. Growth responded most in richer cities, exacerbating existing inequalities in access to healthcare. We do not find evidence that government-run hospitals or other types of city-level spending related to healthcare responded to pandemic intensity, suggesting that large health shocks do not necessarily lead to increased public provision of health services. |
| JEL: | I11 I14 J10 N32 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30643&r=ure |
| By: | Helmers, Viola; van der Werf, Edwin |
| JEL: | Q58 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc22:264118&r=ure |
| By: | Budjan, Angelika |
| JEL: | H54 J60 L94 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc22:264043&r=ure |
| By: | Lambert, Thomas |
| Abstract: | When it comes to the British Industrial Revolution of the 18th Century, much of the mainstream economics literature has tended to focus on how property rights, limitations on the crown or government, and changes in agricultural and manufacturing techniques have caused a great transformation in the nation’s economic formation. Marxian and other heterodox economics views acknowledge these developments but also emphasize the enclosure movement and the development of a class of people that becomes an exploited proletariat. Both sets of views acknowledge the role of the British government in facilitating the Industrial Revolution, but in doing a review for this paper, there is only a small amount of literature on how government investment and spending and the housing of workers may have helped to spur on or exist simultaneously with the revolution. This is especially true within heterodox schools of thought, and this paper aims to add to the heterodox economics literature by discussing how government investment and spending, and investment in housing, dramatically assist with surplus absorption during the Industrial Revolution, which in turn helps the British economy to achieve greater heights. Datasets that have been developed over the last 15 years or so can be used to illustrate this. Finally, by using the concept of the Baran Ratio, it can be shown that a significant portion of the nation’s economic surplus is absorbed by government spending and investment and housing investment, and much of this in turn would have helped private business investment and spending in absorbing as much of the surplus as possible. |
| Keywords: | Baran Ratio, government investment and spending, housing, Industrial Revolution, heterodox economics |
| JEL: | B50 B52 N13 N43 |
| Date: | 2022–10–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:115196&r=ure |
| By: | Belinda Storey; Sally Owen; Christian Zammit; Ilan Noy |
| Abstract: | How will the increased frequency of coastal inundation events induced by sea level rise impact residential insurance premiums, and when would insurance contracts be withdrawn? We model the contribution of localised sea level rise to the increased frequency of coastal inundation events. Examining four Aotearoa New Zealand cities, we combine historical tide-gauge extremes with geo-located property data to estimate the annual expected loss from this hazard, for each property, to establish when insurance retreat is likely to occur. We find that as sea level rise changes the frequency of inundation events, 99% of properties currently within 1% AEP coastal inundation zones can expect at least partial insurance retreat within a decade (associated with less than 10cm of sea level rise). Our modelling predicts that full insurance retreat is likely within 20 – 25 years, with timing dependent on the tidal range in each location, and, more intuitively, on the property’s elevation and distance from the coast. |
| Keywords: | insurance, retreat, sea level rise, SLR, climate change |
| JEL: | Q54 R38 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10017&r=ure |
| By: | Sebastián Fleitas; Matthew S. Jaremski; Steven Sprick Schuster |
| Abstract: | Building and Loan Associations (B&Ls) financed over half of new houses constructed in the U.S. during the 1920s but they lost their predominance within the following decades as they were pushed to convert into Savings and Loans (S&Ls). This study examines whether the U.S. government-insured Postal Savings System attracted funds away from B&Ls precisely when they needed them the most in the Great Depression. Annual town- and county-level data from 1920 through 1935 for 3 states show that the sudden rise in local postal savings was associated with local downturns in B&Ls. Using a panel vector autoregression, we find that postal savings significantly reduced the amount of money in B&Ls, yet B&Ls had no significant effect on postal savings banks. Alternatively, postal savings had no significant effect on commercial banks. The results suggest that this competitive dynamic prevented B&Ls from rebounding in the mid-1930s and helped contribute to Great Depression’s local real estate lending decline. |
| JEL: | G21 H42 N22 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30609&r=ure |
| By: | S. Borağan Aruoba; Ronel Elul; Ṣebnem Kalemli-Özcan |
| Abstract: | We quantify the role of heterogeneity in households' financial constraints in explaining the large decline in consumption between 2006 and 2009. Using household-level data, we show that in addition to a direct effect of changes in house prices, there are sizable indirect effects from general equilibrium feedback and bank health. About 60% of the aggregate response of consumption to changes in house prices is explained by ex-ante and ex-post financial constraints, where only a specific set of households face binding ex-post financial constraints as a result of declining house prices. We find a negligible wealth effect once we account for the role of heterogonous financial constraints. |
| JEL: | E0 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30591&r=ure |
| By: | Ellis-Soto, Diego; Chapman, Melissa; Locke, Dexter |
| Abstract: | Citizen science data has rapidly gained influence in urban ecology and conservation planning, but with limited understanding of how such data reflects social, economic, and political conditions and legacies. Understanding patterns of sampling bias across socioeconomic gradients is critical to accurately map and understand biodiversity patterns, and to generating representative and just environmental knowledge. In this study we explore how historic racially-explicit zoning policies (redlining) relate to biodiversity data collection across and within 195 metropolitan areas in the United States covering >30 million people across 38 states. We specifically look at birds, as they are the most widely studied group of animals, and hundreds of thousands of citizen scientists collect biodiversity data each year. We consistently find uneven bird observation sampling density across redlined areas, with so-called ‘desirable’ areas (i.e. historically white areas) having more than twice the density than areas redlined as ‘hazardous’. We further estimate the degree to which historically redlined areas are surveyed sufficiently and identify regions across all metro areas in need of enhanced bird surveying. After accounting for differences in vegetation, open space, and climate, we find significantly lower sampling density and sampling completeness in these redlined neighborhoods. Our results shed light on the importance of considering socio-political conditions in the interpretation of urban biodiversity estimates. We conclude by discussing specific policy implementations– such as the Justice 40 Initiative and propose a new EPA indicator – and opportunities in collaborating with bottom-up community and social justice organizations for a more representative understanding of biodiversity in urban areas. |
| Date: | 2022–06–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:ecoevo:ex6w2&r=ure |
| By: | Andres Rodriguez-Pose; Miquel Vidal-Bover; ; |
| Abstract: | Decentralisation has frequently been sold as a means to increase well-being and development. Yet, questions remain as to whether decentralisation improves economic performance. This is possibly because decentralisation processes have often led to “unfunded mandates†, that is a mismatch between the powers transferred to subnational tiers of government and the resources allocated to them. In this paper we analyse how unfunded mandates shape regional economic growth across 518 regions in 30 OECD countries over the period 1997-2018. There is a negative, statistically significant, and robust impact of unfunded mandates on economic growth. This effect is higher in more politically and less fiscally decentralised regions and in regions with a higher level of wealth. Unfunded mandates thus represent a serious drag on the potential positive economic effect of political decentralisation. Hence, for those benefits to materialise, better not more decentralisation —ensuring that finance follows function— should be pursued. |
| Keywords: | political decentralisation, fiscal decentralisation, unfunded mandates, economic growth, regions, OECD |
| JEL: | H70 H77 O47 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2221&r=ure |
| By: | Bartels, Lara; Kesternich, Martin |
| Abstract: | Cities are increasingly hold accountable for climate action. By demonstrating their proenvironmentality through own climate-related activities, they not at least aspire to encourage individual climate protection efforts. Based on standard economic theory there is little reason to assume that this is a promising strategy. Financed by taxpayers' money, cities' contributions are considered as substitutes that crowd-out private contributions to the same public good. Inspired by research on providing information on reference group behavior, we challenge this argument and conduct a framed-field experiment to analyze the impact of reference group information on the voluntary provision of a green public good. We investigate whether information on previous contributions by fellow citizens or the city affect individual contributions. We do not find statistical evidence that city-level information crowds-out additional individual contributions. A reference to fellow citizens significantly increases the share of contributors as it attracts subjects that are not per-se pro-environmentally oriented. |
| Keywords: | Voluntary provision of environmental public goods,Social Norms,Crowding-out,Willingness to pay,Framed-field experiment |
| JEL: | C93 C83 D9 H41 Q54 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:22040&r=ure |
| By: | Isidro Soloaga (Department of Economics - Universidad Iberoamericana Mexico City); Alejandra Villegas (Department of Economics - Universidad Iberoamericana Mexico City); Raymundo Campos (El Colegio de Mexico) |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes the factors that determine aspirations’ formation in young people. Using the Mexican Social Mobility Survey database, enriched with geographical and geostatistical information regarding neighborhood’s accessibility and aesthetic, we estimated generalized ordered probit models to assess the effects on income and educational aspirations of young people of sociodemographic variables, cognitive and non-cognitive skills, urban environment characteristics and accessibility to relevant opportunities. Our results point out that gender, skin color, cognitive and non-cognitive intelligence, household´s wealth, and parents’ expectations for their children are related with the children’s own income and schooling expectations. Also, having a better urban environment and better access to employment opportunities are related with higher income aspirations. |
| JEL: | D84 R00 |
| Date: | 2022–10–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smx:wpaper:2022006&r=ure |
| By: | Silvia Vannutelli |
| Abstract: | A classic problem in public finance is the over-expenditure of local governments in expectation of a bailout from higher-level administrations. While monitoring could mitigate agency problems, it can itself be rendered ineffective if auditors are corruptible. I evaluate whether limiting auditors' conflicts of interest improves effectiveness and affects the financial health of local governments. I exploit the staggered introduction of a reform that removed the control of auditors' appointment from local politicians and introduced a random assignment mechanism. I obtain four main findings. First, random matching severes auditors-mayors connections. Second, treated municipalities significantly improve their net surpluses and debt repayments, per national government objectives. Third, the fiscal improvement results from a sizeable increase in tax capacity. Fourth, treatment effects are a combination of selection, matching and incentive effects. These findings highlight the value of auditor independence and illustrate how changes in the organizational design of the state can improve government performance. |
| JEL: | D73 H11 H71 H72 H77 H81 H83 M42 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30644&r=ure |
| By: | Stuart Baumann; Margaryta Klymak |
| Abstract: | Many governments operate budgets that expire at the end of the fiscal year and rush to spend large amounts at this time. The scale and breadth of this heightened spending raises the possibility of government departments crowding out each other at the year-end while competing with one another for limited suppliers. This may exacerbate the extent of year-end spending spikes. We investigate this possibility using expenditures of all over seas embassies and offices of the UK. We leverage a unique setting where embassies share the UK fiscal year for their budgeting but operate in countries with varying fiscal years and local economic conditions. Our results show that: (1) in every country embassies spend more at the UK fiscal year-end than in the average month; (2) the extent of this extra spending is greater in countries that have a fiscal year that overlaps with the UK; (3) embassies spend more at the end of the fiscal years of local firms. |
| Date: | 2022–10–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:988&r=ure |
| By: | Diogo G. C. Britto; Alexandre Fonseca; Paolo Pinotti; Breno Sampaio; Lucas Warwar |
| Abstract: | We provide the first estimates of intergenerational income mobility for a developing country, namely Brazil. We measure formal income from tax and employment registries, and we train machine learning models on census and survey data to predict informal income. The data reveal a much higher degree of persistence than previous estimates available for developed economies: a 10 percentile increase in parental income rank is associated with a 5.5 percentile increase in child income rank, and persistence is even higher in the top 5%. Children born to parents in the first income quintile face a 46% chance of remaining at the bottom when adults. We validate these estimates using two novel mobility measures that rank children and parents without the need to impute informal income. We document substantial heterogeneity in mobility across individual characteristics - notably gender and race - and across Brazilian regions. Leveraging children who migrate at different ages, we estimate that causal place effects explain 57% of the large spatial variation in mobility. Finally, assortative mating plays a strong role in household income persistence, and parental income is also strongly associated with several key long-term outcomes such as education, teenage pregnancy, occupation, mortality, and victimization. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational mobility, inequality, Brazil, migration, place effects |
| JEL: | J62 D31 I31 R23 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10004&r=ure |
| By: | Michele Battisti; Ilpo Kauppinen; Britta Rude |
| Abstract: | This paper asks whether social movements taking place on Twitter affect genderbased violence (GBV). Using Twitter data and machine learning methods, we construct a novel data set on the prevalence of Twitter conversations about GBV. We then link this data to weekly crime reports at the federal state level from the United States. We exploit the high-frequency nature of our data and an event study design to establish a causal impact of Twitter social movements on GBV. Our results point out that Twitter tweets related to GBV lead to a decrease in reported crime rates. The evidence shows that perpetrators commit these crimes less due to increased social pressure and perceived social costs. The results indicate that social media could significantly decrease reported GBV and might facilitate the signaling of social norms. |
| Keywords: | Economics of gender, US, domestic abuse, public policy, criminal law, illegal behavior and the enforcement of law |
| JEL: | J12 J16 J78 K14 K42 O51 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ifowps:_381&r=ure |
| By: | Zhang, Huafeng (Centre for Land Tenure Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences); Holden, Stein T. (Centre for Land Tenure Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences) |
| Abstract: | Significant progress has been achieved in universal basic education in African countries since the late 1990s. This study provides empirical evidence on the within- and across-country variation in numeracy skills performance among children based on nationally representative data from eight African countries (DR Congo, The Gambia, Ghana, Lesotho, Sierra Leone, Togo, Tunisia, and Zimbabwe). We assess whether and to what extent children with disabilities lag in numeracy skills and how much it depends on their type of disabilities. More specifically, we explore whether disabled children benefit equally from better school system quality. The assessment is analysed as a natural experiment using the performance of non-disabled children as a benchmark and considering the different types of disabilities as random treatments. We first evaluate the variation in average numeracy skills in the eight African countries. They can roughly be divided into low- and high-numeracy countries. We apply Instrumental Variable (IV) methods to control the endogeneity of completed school years when assessing subjects’ school performance and heterogeneous disability effects. Children with vision and hearing disabilities are not especially challenged in numeracy skills performance. The low numeracy skills among physically and intellectually disabled children are mainly attributable to their limited school attendance. Children with multiple disabilities are constrained both by low school attendance and by poor numeracy skills return to schooling. The average differences in school performance across the high- versus low-numeracy skill country groups are larger than the within-group average differences for disabled versus non-disabled kids. This indicates that school enrolment and quality are crucial for children’s learning of numeracy skills, and that disabled children benefit equally from better school quality across these African countries. |
| Keywords: | Numeracy skills learning; across-country comparison; children with disabilities; disability types; disability effects; school enrolment; SDG; Africa |
| JEL: | I24 |
| Date: | 2022–11–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nlsclt:2022_010&r=ure |
| By: | Yoshida, Jun; Imoto, Tomoko; Kono, Tatsuhito |
| Abstract: | Human–wildlife conflicts occur in residential areas, causing human injuries and outbreaks of zoonotic diseases. Governments have implemented policies, such as extermination, and construction of animal deterrent fences. When wildlife has a high biological value, we face a trade-off between the benefits of wildlife conservation and human safety. This study proposes a new policy of growing crops preferred by wildlife, rather than crops for human consumption, in part of the farmland, thereby attracting wildlife to the converted field and preventing them from entering residential areas. Using an ecosystem-urban economics model, we compare multiple policies including the conversion policy in terms of social welfare, and show that, regardless of the wildlife value, the crop conversion policy can be the most efficient, and fences with land use regulation is the second most efficient policy. On the other hand, the commonly-used policy of extermination is not so effective because exterminating wildlife with a high biological value significantly reduces social welfare.Human–wildlife conflicts occur in residential areas, causing human injuries and outbreaks of zoonotic diseases. Governments have implemented policies, such as extermination, and construction of animal deterrent fences. When wildlife has a high biological value, we face a trade-off between the benefits of wildlife conservation and human safety. This study proposes a new policy of growing crops preferred by wildlife, rather than crops for human consumption, in part of the farmland, thereby attracting wildlife to the converted field and preventing them from entering residential areas. Using an ecosystem-urban economics model, we compare multiple policies including the conversion policy in terms of social welfare, and show that, regardless of the wildlife value, the crop conversion policy can be the most efficient, and fences with land use regulation is the second most efficient policy. On the other hand, the commonly-used policy of extermination is not so effective because exterminating wildlife with a high biological value significantly reduces social welfare. |
| Keywords: | Human–wildlife conflict; land use regulation; extermination; animal deterrent fence; ecosystem conservation; urban economics model |
| JEL: | Q28 R11 R14 |
| Date: | 2022–11–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:115375&r=ure |
| By: | Stefano Carattini; Béla Figge; Alexander Gordan; Andreas Löschel |
| 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 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10015&r=ure |
| By: | Emanuela Macrí; Giuseppe Migali |
| Abstract: | We run a randomized control trial in an Italian university to study the effect of test anxiety on a high stakes exam. We separate students in two groups and we expose them to two random treatments, silence and music, that influence their level of pre-test anxiety. We measure the variation of test anxiety by observing the difference in individual biomarkers collected before and after the treatments. We find that a reduction in the mean arterial pressure and systolic pressure improve females test scores, and the effect is much stronger if the treatment is silence. For males we do not find any significant effect. Hence, we conclude that test anxiety may help to explain gender differentials in performance. |
| Keywords: | Test anxiety, biomarkers, RCT, high stakes exam, gender difference |
| JEL: | I19 I20 I21 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lan:wpaper:365237216&r=ure |
| By: | Michela Maria Tincani; Fabian Kosse; Enrico Miglino |
| Abstract: | Exploiting the randomized expansion of preferential college admissions in Chile, we show they increased admission and enrollment of disadvantaged students by 32%. But the intended beneficiaries were nearly three times as many, and of higher average ability, than those induced to be admitted. The evidence points to students making pre-college choices that caused this divergence. Using linked survey-administrative data, we present evidence consistent with students being averse to preferential enrollment, misperceiving their abilities, and having social preferences towards their friends (although social preferences did not mediate the admission impacts). Simulations from an estimated structural model suggest that aversion to the preferential channel more than halved the enrolment impacts, by inducing some to forgo preferential admission eligibility, and that students’ misperceptions worsened the ability-composition of college entrants, by distorting pre-college investments into admission qualifications. The results demonstrate the importance of understanding high school students’ preferences and beliefs when designing preferential admissions. |
| Keywords: | preferential college admissions, experimental policy evaluation, subjective beliefs, dynamic choice model |
| JEL: | I20 D80 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10020&r=ure |
| By: | Ada Gonzalez-Torres |
| Abstract: | Local media struggles financially, yet policy-makers insist on its importance. Does local media matter? If so, why? Is it more relevant information, ethno-linguistic belonging, or, locality, helping coordinate behavior? I examine this in a high-stakes context, the Ebola epidemic in Guinea. I exploit quasi-random variation in access to distinct media outlets and the timing of a public-health campaign on community radio. I find that 13% of Ebola cases would have been prevented if places with access to neighboring community radio stations had their own. This is driven by radio stations' locality, not ethno-linguistic boundaries, and by coordination in socially-sanctioned behaviors. |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2210.15946&r=ure |
| By: | Kim Nguyen (Reserve Bank of Australia) |
| Abstract: | I examine whether and how local income inequality affects household debt and its composition using household panel data for Australia from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey. I find that middle-income households without liquidity and credit constraints tend to borrow more for non-residential investment purposes as local income inequality rises, suggesting that they are trying to close the income gap. They also appear to try to close the consumption gap by accumulating more car debt with a rise in local income inequality. Both findings are consistent with households 'keeping up with the Joneses', but unlikely to have implications for macrofinancial stability given that households taking on debt appear well resourced. |
| Keywords: | income; inequality; household debt; financial stability |
| JEL: | D1 D3 G5 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rba:rbardp:rdp2022-06&r=ure |