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on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Lars Jagemann |
| Abstract: | As the rise in property prices and influx in urban areas continues, affordable housing is increasingly becoming a scarce commodity. The German housing allowance (so-called “Wohngeld”) represents one prominent measure of securing affordable housing as low-income households are eligible to receive rent subsidies subject to their place of residence and rent conditions. This paper aims to analyze the effects of the housing allowance on the affordability of renting units for transfer recipients. For this purpose, rent data is utilized to compute the rent burden before and after transfers of the housing allowance. The results indicate that the German housing allowance was effective in significantly reducing the rent burden for transfer recipients, particularly in dense regions in Germany. |
| Keywords: | Affordable Housing; Housing Allowance; Rent Burden |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2022–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:2022_157&r=ure |
| By: | Helfer, Fabienne (University of Fribourg); Grossmann, Volker (University of Fribourg); Osikominu, Aderonke (University of Hohenheim) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the short-run immigration effects on prices for owner-occupied housing and rents in Switzerland, exploiting regional variation at the level of 106 local labour markets ("Mobilité Spatiale" regions) and 26 cantons, respectively. We propose two empirical strategies that exploit the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons (AFMP) with the European Union (EU), enacted in 2002, as an exogenous shock to immigration. The first approach uses the AFMP reform within an instrumental variable approach, instrumenting current regional inflows of immigrants based on the historical distribution of immigrants across regions. The second conducts an event study of housing price changes before and after the reform, distinguishing between regions with historically high, medium, and low immigration from EU-15 countries. The analysis based on data at the level of local labour markets for the years 1985-2016 suggests that immigration triggered off by the AFMP reform substantially raises prices of single-family homes and of owner-occupied apartments. Estimates based on cantonal data for the years 1998-2016, suggest that immigration raises rental prices even more than prices of owner-occupied housing. |
| Keywords: | agreement on the free movement of persons, immigration, shift-share instrument, event study, house prices, rental rates |
| JEL: | F22 O18 R31 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15958&r=ure |
| By: | Radoslaw Trojanek |
| Abstract: | Using a micro-level dataset of over 5 million listings, house price indexes for Poland over the period 1996 to 2021 was constructed. The offer data for the biggest cities comes from two different sources. The earlier data were obtained from archival advertisements in photocopies, photographs or periodicals, then digitally reproduced and arranged in a database. The data from 2009 were collected from advertising portals (gratka.pl / otodom.pl) several times a quarter. The hedonic indices were determined for each city and then aggregated. The constructed index has some limitations but provides information on the housing market in Poland for much longer than officially published. |
| Keywords: | Hedonic methods; House price index; housing market; Poland |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2022–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:2022_111&r=ure |
| By: | Pin-Te Lin |
| Abstract: | This research examines whether most variation in house price changes is mainly driven by local or national factors. Employing a novel data containing both capital appreciation and income component in the U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas, results show that macroeconomic factors, absorbed by time fixed effects, account for 43% of the variation in capital gains and 2% of the variation in rental yields. Overall, the findings empirically support the prior literature assuming that the nature of housing markets is mainly local. The findings suggest a greater role of local factors for understanding cross-sectional income returns in housing markets. |
| Keywords: | housing; Local; National |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2022–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:2022_154&r=ure |
| By: | Francesco Mazzola |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how auction bidding formats affect U.S. mortgage foreclosure sales. Exploiting a staggered adoption of electronic bidding acrossadjoined counties in a “stacked” difference-in-differences design, I show that foreclosure auction success increases by 27%, and price discounts contract by42%. The effects are stronger in areas with more remote courthouses, and for properties in better conditions. Buyer composition of electronic foreclosureauctions shifts towards local non-professionals, who are less likely to buy-to-let and flip acquired properties ex-post. This evidence suggests that technologicalmodernizations in real estate markets can lead to better matching, deepen liquidity and foster financial inclusion. |
| Keywords: | Credit Market; Electronic Marketplace; Mortgage Foreclosures; Online Auction |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2022–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:2022_162&r=ure |
| By: | Marco Di Cataldo (Department of Economics, University Of Venice CÃ Foscari; Department of Geography and Environment, London School of Economics); Giulia Romani (Department of Economics, University Of Venice CÃ Foscari) |
| Abstract: | The availability of public education services can influence residential choices. Hence, policies aiming to ‘rationalise’ service provision by cutting on under- sized nodes of the public school network can induce population decline. This paper exploits an Italian education reform inducing a significant contraction of the school network to investigate the demographic and income effects of primary school closures. We assess whether school closures have an impact on households’ residential choices, on top and beyond preexisting negative population trends which motivate school closures. We address endogeneity by combining a Two-Way-Fixed-Effects model with an instrumental variable approach, constructing the IVs on the basis of institutional thresholds for school sizing adopted by some Italian regions. Our findings suggest that municipalities affected by school closures experience significant reduction in population and income. The effect is driven by peripheral municipalities located far away from economic centres, and distant from the next available primary school. This evidence indicates that school ‘rationalisation policies’, by fostering depopulation of peripheral areas, have an influence on the spatial distribution of households and income, thus affecting territorial disparities. |
| Keywords: | school closures, residential choices, education policy, core-periphery patterns, Italy |
| JEL: | H40 H52 R23 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ven:wpaper:2023:03&r=ure |
| By: | Alexander von Kulessa |
| Abstract: | Policies to reduce residential segregation through the supply of affordable housing in middle- or upper-class neighbourhoods or estates, so-called social mixing policies, have been on top of urban political agendas. Yet the achievements have been rather limited, at least regarding the cases of Greater London and Paris, analysed in this study. The paper probes the hypothesis that affordable housing supply suffers from a collective action problem where the outcome may rather reflect neighbourhood opposition, particularly by homeowners, than the general interest. The analysis draws on two novel multi-level datasets for Greater London and the ‘Métropole du Grand Paris’, covering the neighbourhood as well as the municipal level (2010-2018). |
| Keywords: | Affordable Housing; House Prices; housing; Segregation |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2022–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:2022_190&r=ure |
| By: | Baran, Cavit (Northwestern University); Chyn, Eric (University of Texas at Austin); Stuart, Bryan (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the impact of the First Great Migration on children. We use the complete count 1940 Census to estimate selection-corrected place effects on education for children of Black migrants. On average, Black children gained 0.8 years of schooling (12 percent) by moving from the South to North. Many counties that had the strongest positive impacts on children during the 1940s offer relatively poor opportunities for Black youth today. Opportunities for Black children were greater in places with more schooling investment, stronger labor market opportunities for Black adults, more social capital, and less crime. |
| Keywords: | Great Migration, human capital, education, place effect |
| JEL: | N32 J15 J24 H75 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15979&r=ure |
| By: | Abid Rehman (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics) |
| Abstract: | This knowledge brief aims to initiate discussion on developing vibrant rental markets by reviewing the rental housing regulation in Pakistan and learn the lessons from best practices from the developed world. As such, an effective and comprehensive rental housing policy is missing for mega cities of Pakistan. In the first step, this study analyzed the current demand for rental housing along with growth trends in demand in the megacities of Pakistan. In the second part, an overview of the basic framework of regulations, regulatory authorities, and enforcement capabilities is provided. From a policy perspective, it helps to understand the loopholes in the existing regulation that are hurdles to developing vibrant rental markets in urban areas of Pakistan. |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pid:kbrief:2022:92&r=ure |
| By: | Simon Burgess; Estelle Cantillon; Mariagrazia Cavallo; Ellen Greaves; Min Zhang |
| Abstract: | Most secondary schools in England are able to design the rules for which pupils have priority when the school is over-subscribed. This could be positive or negative for inclusivity, depending on schools’ choices. In this context, we study the detailed rules for each secondary school in England. Our main findings are that, first, geography (still) determines admission to most over-subscribed schools. This matters for social mobility, as some households are priced out of high performing schools due to higher property prices around the school.Second, despite explicit financial incentives, only a small minority of schools give priority to pupils eligible for the Pupil Premium, and this priority is meaningful only in a few dozen schools. Third, the few schools with ‘innovative’ admissions arrangements could inspire otherschools to implement feasible ‘tried and tested’ reforms. Free schools appear to be leading these ‘innovative’ admissions arrangements. Finally, in the complex system of multiple school types and diverse admissions arrangements, parents in some areas lack the required information to make informed school choices. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulb:ulbeco:2013/356676&r=ure |
| By: | Huh, Mungu (Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade) |
| Abstract: | The exodus of Korea’s population from the countryside to the capital Seoul and its suburbs, known in Korea as the sudokwon and referred to in this paper as the Seoul Capital Area (SCA), continues unabated to this day, particularly among the youth. The resulting increase in population density in the SCA threatens to undermine the region’s competitiveness, while other regions are left to struggle with a supply-demand mismatch in the job market and stagnating economic growth, all of which accelerate local extinction. Local extinction has also begun to spill out of rural communities over into the suburban and exurban areas outside the SCA, exacerbating the spatial Matthew effect of sorts between the populous SCA and the rest of the country. This reports defines a virtuous cycle mechanism for local (real) economies that can increase population growth as one of innovation, advanced industrialization, the clustering of high-value-added businesses, and local economic growth. And using this definition, the work introduces the Korean Local Extinction Index (K-LEI), which is designed to capture the reality facing local economies in South Korea. Based on a analysis using the K-LEI index, the study proposes a series of policy measures aimed at halting and reversing local extinction. These measures include the following: Incentives for businesses at different stages of local extinction, support for high-value-added industries to help strengthen industrial diversity based on existing (traditional) industrial infrastructure, and support for strengthening local colleges and universities and their functions in slowing local extinction. |
| Keywords: | Korea; local extinction; regional economics; balanced development; regional economic activity; population growth; population aging; K-LEI index; rural economies; rural economics; urban-rural divide |
| JEL: | R10 R11 R23 R28 R58 |
| Date: | 2022–10–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:kietrp:2022_023&r=ure |
| By: | Gu, Xin (Georgia Institute of Technology); Li, Haizheng (Georgia Tech) |
| Abstract: | We study peer effects in online training participation using unique data from a large-scale online teacher training program. The platform data allow us to observe the accurate duration of attendance for every individual-lecture pair. We classify peer groups as close peers, local peers, and global peers based on their relationships. By controlling for unobserved heterogeneity, we find positive effects of close and local peer appearance on trainees' joining a lecture and on their length of stay in the lecture. However, global peers generate a negative but economically insignificant impact. Peer effects differ by group and increase with the relationship closeness. Using the survey data, we investigate the mechanisms of peer influences and find that social interactions facilitate online peer effects. Peer pressure and reputation concerns also help explain our findings. Our results shed new light on how peer effects can be utilized to improve the effectiveness of online learning. |
| Keywords: | peer effects, online training |
| JEL: | I21 J24 M53 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15964&r=ure |
| By: | Andrew Bibler; Stephen B. Billings; Stephen Ross |
| Abstract: | School choice lotteries are an important tool for allocating access to high-quality and oversubscribed public schools. While prior evidence suggests that winning a school lottery decreases adult criminality, there is little evidence for how school choice lotteries impact non-lottery students who are left behind at their neighborhood school. We leverage variation in actual lottery winners conditional on expected lottery winners to link the displacement of middle school peers to adult criminal outcomes. We find that non-applicant boys are more likely to be arrested as adults when applicants from their neighborhood win the school choice lottery. These effects are concentrated among boys who are at low risk of being arrested based on observables. Finally, we confirm evidence in the literature that students who win the lottery decrease adult criminality but show that after accounting for the negative impact on the students who forego the lottery, lotteries increase overall arrests and days incarcerated for young men. |
| JEL: | I24 I26 K42 R29 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30936&r=ure |
| By: | Li, Haizheng (Georgia Tech); Liu, Zhiqiang (University at Buffalo, SUNY); Yang, Fanzheng (Central University of Finance and Economics Beijing); Yu, Li (Central University of Finance and Economics) |
| Abstract: | We present findings from an evaluation study of the Dual-Teacher program, a computer- assisted instruction program, that makes lecture videos and other teaching resources from an elite urban middle school available through the internet to schools in poor and remote areas in China. The unique design of the study allows us to not just estimate the effect of the program on student performance but distinguish the direct effect coming from students' exposure to the lecture videos in class and the indirect effect due to improved instruction quality of the local teacher who uses the lecture videos in lesson preparation. Using the difference-in-differences method, we find that the Dual-Teacher program improves student performance in math by 0.978 standard deviations over the three-year middle school education, of which 0.343 standard deviations are attributable to the indirect effect. We also find that the positive impacts of the program are cumulative and robust to student and teacher characteristics as well as a plethora of other considerations. From a policy perspective, our findings suggest that the Dual-Teacher program is an effective and low cost means to improve education outcomes in underserved areas and hence help close cross-region gaps in education. |
| Keywords: | computer-assisted instruction, computer-assisted learning, education policy, inequality |
| JEL: | I21 I24 I28 O15 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15944&r=ure |
| By: | Hannah Illing (Institute for Applied Microeconomics, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the labor market effects of out- and in-migration in the context of cross-border commuting. It investigates an EU policy reform that granted Czech citizens full access to the German labor market, resulting in a Czech commuter outflow across the border to Germany. Exploiting the fact that the reform specifically impacted the Czech and German border regions, I use a matched difference-in-differences design to estimate its effects on local labor markets in both countries. Using a novel dataset on Czech regions, I show that municipalities in the Czech border region experienced a decrease in unemployment rates due to the worker outflow, and a corresponding increase in vacancies. For German border municipalities, I find evidence for slower employment growth (long-term) and slower wage growth (short-term), but no displacement effects for incumbent native workers. |
| Keywords: | Out-Migration, In-Migration, Local Labor Markets |
| JEL: | J61 J15 R23 |
| Date: | 2023–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ajk:ajkdps:221&r=ure |
| By: | Hannah Illing |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the labor market effects of out- and in-migration in the context of cross-border commuting. It investigates an EU policy reform that granted Czech citizens full access to the German labor market, resulting in a Czech commuter outĆow across the border to Germany. Exploiting the fact that the reform speciĄcally impacted the Czech and German border regions, I use a matched difference-in-differences design to estimate its effects on local labor markets in both countries. Using a novel dataset on Czech regions, I show that municipalities in the Czech border region experienced a decrease in unemployment rates due to the worker outĆow, and a corresponding increase in vacancies. For German border municipalities, I Ąnd evidence for slower employment growth (long-term) and slower wage growth (short-term), but no displacement effects for incumbent native workers. |
| Keywords: | Out-Migration, In-Migration, Local Labor Markets |
| JEL: | J61 J15 R23 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2023_396&r=ure |
| By: | Mahdieh Yazdani; Maziar Raissi |
| Abstract: | The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the real estate market has been growing in recent years. In this paper, we propose a new method for property valuation that utilizes self-supervised vision transformers, a recent breakthrough in computer vision and deep learning. Our proposed algorithm uses a combination of machine learning, computer vision and hedonic pricing models trained on real estate data to estimate the value of a given property. We collected and pre-processed a data set of real estate properties in the city of Boulder, Colorado and used it to train, validate and test our algorithm. Our data set consisted of qualitative images (including house interiors, exteriors, and street views) as well as quantitative features such as the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, lot square footage, property age, crime rates, and proximity to amenities. We evaluated the performance of our model using metrics such as Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE). Our findings indicate that these techniques are able to accurately predict the value of properties, with a low RMSE. The proposed algorithm outperforms traditional appraisal methods that do not leverage property images and has the potential to be used in real-world applications. |
| Date: | 2023–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2302.00117&r=ure |
| By: | André Kurmann (Drexel University); Etienne Lale (University of Quebec in Montreal) |
| Abstract: | Social scientists have developed several schooling mode trackers to measure in-person, hybrid, and remote learning of students during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, we compare eight of the most popular trackers for the U.S. and uncover substantial temporal and geographical differences, due in large part to how the trackers define the three schooling modes. We then estimate a new measure of effective in-person learning (EIPL) that combines information on school learning mode with cell phone data on school visits. The new measure provides a single number of the fraction of time that students spent learning in person and is made publicly available for a large, representative sample of both public and private schools. Consistent with other studies, we find that a school’s share of non-white students and a school’s prepandemic grades and size is associated with less in-person learning during the 2020-21 school year. Notably, we also find that schools in more affluent localities with higher pre-pandemic spending and schools receiving more federal emergency funding provided lower EIPL. These results are explained in large part by regional differences, reflecting political preferences, vaccination rates, teacher unionization rates, and local labor conditions. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, School closures and reopenings, Effective in-person learning, Inequality |
| JEL: | E24 I24 |
| Date: | 2022–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bbh:wpaper:22-03&r=ure |
| By: | Bailey, Nick (University of Glasgow); livingston, mark; Chi, Bin |
| Abstract: | The suburbanisation of poverty has been noted in many advanced industrial nations including the UK. Theory focuses on economic and labour market restructuring combined with processes of market- and/or state-led housing change. This paper examines the contributions of housing and welfare reforms. In the UK, housing policy has driven low-income households increasingly to find accommodation in the private rental sector at the same time that welfare reforms have constrained the rents these households can afford. This paper traces the spatial consequence of these reforms, drawing on a novel combination of Government data and a database of private rental adverts. Up to 2011, the shift from social to private renting for low-income households was relatively neutral in its impacts on suburbanisation. Since then, low-income households in private renting have been increasingly pushed to less central locations as rents in more central areas have risen faster. The role played by housing and welfare policy in the suburbanisation of poverty needs wider consideration. |
| Date: | 2023–02–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:6gsjk&r=ure |
| By: | Chiemela Victor Amaechi |
| Abstract: | Over time, the need for shelter, called housing, has been a challenge for mankind. Hence housing techniques have been developed and advanced from ancient ways of using mud materials and other earth with good building properties that could be applied by the builder, civil engineer or architect. However, the question remains unanswered if mud housing, wooden housing and open glass buildings are architectural masterpieces for green buildings or simply views of sustainable real estate? This study looks at different newer related designs that have been considered, applied and successfully utilised in the built industry. Some key qualities of the building materials used are also identified and presented. Recommendations were made towards the frontiers in achieving green buildings globally for sustainable real estate. |
| Keywords: | Green Building; real estate; sustainability; Sustainable Real Estate |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2022–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:2022_257&r=ure |
| By: | Hershbein, Brad J. (Upjohn Institute for Employment Research); Stuart, Bryan (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how U.S. local labor markets respond to employment losses that occur during recessions. Following recessions from 1973 through 2009, we find that areas that lose more jobs during the recession experience persistent relative declines in employment and population. Most importantly, these local labor markets also experience persistent decreases in the employment-population ratio, earnings per capita, and earnings per worker. Our results imply that limited population responses result in longer-lasting consequences for local labor markets than previously thought, and that recessions are followed by persistent reallocation of employment across space. |
| Keywords: | local labor markets, recessions, employment rates, migration |
| JEL: | J21 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2023–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15984&r=ure |
| By: | Hall, Caroline (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); Lundin, Martin (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy) |
| Abstract: | The closing of schools and shift to remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the use of digital technology in education. Many schools today provide personal computers not only to older students, but also in primary school. There is little credible evidence on how one-to-one (1:1) computer programs affect learning outcomes among younger pupils. We investigate how 1:1 computer technology impacts student performance in primary school in Sweden, using data from an expansion of 1:1 programs that took place before the pandemic. Using a staggered difference-in-differences design, we examine impacts on student performance on standardized tests in language and math in 6th grade. We find no important effects on these learning outcomes on average, but a positive effect on test scores in Swedish and English among students with highly educated parents. Moreover, the results indicate a positive effect in Swedish in schools that received additional financial support for implementing 1:1 technology. Nevertheless, all positive impacts in subgroups appear to be rather small, amounting to 0.01–0.03 SD per semester of 1:1 exposure. |
| Keywords: | Technology; computers; one-to-one programs; student performance; |
| JEL: | I21 I24 |
| Date: | 2023–02–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2023_003&r=ure |
| By: | Ji Su Kim (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Soazic Elise Wang Sonne (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Kiran Garimella; André Grow (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Ingmar G. Weber; Emilio Zagheni (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | As online social activities have become increasingly important for people’s lives and well-being, understanding how migrants integrate into online spaces is crucial for providing a more complete picture of integration processes. We curate a high-quality data set to quantify patterns of new online social connections among immigrants in the United States. Specifically, we focus on Twitter, and leverage the unique features of these data, in combination with a propensity score matching technique, to isolate the effects of migration events on social network formation. The results indicate that migration events led to an expansion of migrants' networks of friends on Twitter in the destination country, relative to those of users who had similar characteristics, but who did not move. We found that male migrants between 19 and 29 years old who actively posted more tweets in English after migration also tended to have more local friends after migration compared to other demographic group, which indicates that migrants' demographic characteristics and language skills can affect their level of integration. We also observed that the percentage of migrants' friends who were from their country of origin decreased in the first few years after migration, and increased again in later years. Finally, unlike for migrants' friends networks, which were under their control, we did not find any evidence that migration events expanded migrants' networks of followers in the destination country. While following users on Twitter in theory is not a geographically constrained process, our work shows that offline (re)location plays a significant role in the formation of online networks. |
| Keywords: | America, World, immigrants, immigration, integration, social network |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2023-012&r=ure |
| By: | Francois-Xavier Ladant; Paolo Sestito; Falco J. Bargagli-Stoffi |
| Abstract: | Is it better to be first in a village than second in Rome, as Caesar claimed? Peer groups can impact later outcomes through two distinct yet related channels: the group's intrinsic quality and one's relative position within this group. The Italian public school setting is an advantageous quasi-laboratory to investigate this question. Using panel data on Italian students over 2013-2019, we compare the effect of a student's relative position in their peer group (class rank) to the effect of class quality in primary school on later academic outcomes. We design a new strategy to identify the rank effect by leveraging two sets of scores: grades on a national standardized test and grades on class exams. Standardized test grades are used to control for ability, alongside student fixed effects. Class grades are used to construct the class rank. We exploit the variation in rank coming from differences in teachers' grading pattern and offer evidence that our measure of rank is as good as random, once we control for our proxies for ability. We find that ranking at the top of the class compared to the bottom in primary school is associated with a gain of 8.1 percentiles in the national standardized grade distribution in middle school and 7.6 in high school. We further show that Caesar was misguided: the effect of a one standard deviation increase in rank amounts to 20% of the effect of a similar increase in class quality, conditional on the rank. Finally, using an extensive student survey, we establish that the rank effect is mediated through student sorting into better high schools and higher interest in academic subjects, self-esteem, peer recognition, and career prospects. |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2302.10026&r=ure |
| By: | Fumagalli, Laura; Rabe, Birgitta; Burn, Hettie |
| Abstract: | We explore whether teachers have different predictions for the examination performance of ethnic minority students relative to White British students. We exploit an exogenous change in assessment methods to compare grades based on teacher predictions to grades received through actual blindly marked examinations. Relative to White British students, teachers appear to have higher predictions for ethnic minority students’ examination performance in maths and lower predictions for ethnic minority students’ examination performance in English. These effects do not disappear when observable differences between groups and cohorts are accounted for, with differential teacher predictions of examination performance across ethnic groups remaining a convincing explanation of the results. |
| Date: | 2023–03–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2023-03&r=ure |
| By: | Zane Varpina (Stockholm School of Economics in Riga; Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies); Kata Fredheim (Stockholm School of Economics in Riga; Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies); Marija Krumina (Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies) |
| Abstract: | Data on migration flows suggest that young people are highly mobile. Yet, there are gaps in the evidence concerning the factors driving young people’s international migration in Latvia. Latvia is a potentially interesting case because of the high rate of migration from the country, but also because it is a complex ethnic and linguistic environment. Latvian and Russian speaking populations are shown to have diverse migration drivers, and this study addresses the differences in attitudes to studying and living abroad for adolescents at the time of school graduation. Literature suggests that Russian-speaking population have higher propensity to emigrate. We aim to contribute to the literature by exploring differences in migration intentions between Latvian and Russian speaking high school graduates. This study is based on individual-level survey data of secondary school graduates in Latvia in 2020, amidst COVID-19 pandemic. We analyse the strength of migration intentions from definitely not leaving Latvia to surely planning to emigrate. We conclude that Russian-speakers exhibit stronger intentions to emigrate compared Latvian-speaking youngsters, driven by wider networks and expected higher returns to their human capital abroad. |
| Date: | 2021–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bic:opaper:13&r=ure |
| By: | Nicola Fuchs-Schundeln (Goethe Universität Frankfurt and CEPR); Dirk Krueger (University of Pennsylvania, CEPR and NBER); Andre Kurmann (Drexel University); Etienne Lale (University of Quebec in Montreal); Alexander Ludwig (Goethe Universität Frankfurt, ICIR and CEPR); Irina Popova (Goethe Universität Frankfurt) |
| Abstract: | Using a structural life-cycle model and data on school visits from Safegraph and school closures from Burbio, we quantify the heterogeneous impact of school closures during the Corona crisis on children affected at different ages and coming from households with different parental characteristics. Our data suggests that secondary schools were closed for in-person learning for longer periods than elementary schools (implying that younger children experienced less school closures than older children), and that private schools experienced shorter closures than public schools, and schools in poorer U.S. counties experienced shorter school closures. We then extend the structural life cycle model of private and public schooling investments studied in Fuchs-Schündeln, Krueger, Ludwig, and Popova (2021) to include the choice of parents whether to send their children to private schools, empirically discipline it with data on parental investments from the PSID, and then feed into the model the school closure measures from our empirical analysis to quantify the long run consequences of the Covid-19 school closures on the cohorts of children currently in school. Future earnings- and welfare losses are largest for children that started public secondary schools at the onset of the Covid-19 crisis. Comparing children from the topto children from the bottom quartile of the income distribution, welfare losses are ca. 0.8 percentage points larger for the poorer children if school closures were unrelated to income. Accounting for the longer school closures in richer counties reduces this gap by about 1/3. A policy intervention that extends schools by 3 months (6 weeks in the next two summers) generates significant welfare gains for the children and raises future tax revenues approximately sufficient to pay for the cost of this schooling expansion. |
| Keywords: | Covid-19, school closures, inequality, intergenerational persistence. |
| JEL: | D15 D31 E24 I24 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bbh:wpaper:21-08&r=ure |
| By: | Marta Santamaría; Jaume Ventura; Ugur Yesilbayraktar |
| Abstract: | We use the new dataset of trade flows across 269 European regions in 24 countries constructed in Santamaría et al. (2020) to systematically explore for the first time trade patterns within and across country borders. We focus on the differences between home trade, country trade and foreign trade. We document the following facts: (i) European regional trade has a strong home and country bias, (ii) geographic distance and national borders are important determinants of regional trade, but cannot explain the strong regional home bias and (iii) the home bias is heterogeneous across regions and seems to be driven by political regional borders. |
| Date: | 2023–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1384&r=ure |
| By: | William N. Evans; Shawna Kolka; James X. Sullivan; Patrick S. Turner |
| Abstract: | Families in poverty face numerous barriers to establishing stable economic footing. This paper examines the effect of a holistic, individualized wrap-around service intervention on outcomes for low-income individuals. The intervention includes a detailed assessment, an individualized service plan, intensive case management administered by a two-person team with small caseloads, and temporary financial assistance used to overcome obstacles to self-sufficiency and incentivize behavior. We evaluate the intervention through a randomized controlled trial among participants seeking assistance at a local social service provider. Results indicate that the program improved labor market and housing outcomes two years after enrollment. Given the customized nature of the services, overall program effects might mask important heterogeneity. Exploratory analysis suggests the program helped employ participants who lacked employment but had stable housing, and that those without stable housing were helped in securing it. |
| JEL: | I30 I39 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30992&r=ure |
| By: | Ajmal Kakar (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics) |
| Abstract: | A 15-Minutes city is a model of urban development and urban mobility. This concept was initially developed by Professor Carlos (Moreno, 2021). And, the idea was promoted by Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo. The 15-Minute City is a city in which all residents can reach daily necessities within a short walk or bike ride from their homes (within 15 minutes of distance). (Carlos 2021), has identified six essential faction to be available within 15-minutes city. Including, living, work, commerce, health, education, and entertainment. FMC is working as a model of linking people to their neighborhood and localizing. In fact, it brings activities to neighborhood rather than pushing people to activities. And, based on some principals such as walkability, density, diversity and multiple use of resources (Pozoukidou & Chatziyiannaki, 2021) |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pid:kbrief:2022:68&r=ure |
| By: | Marius Klein; Ferdinand Rauch |
| Abstract: | We revisit the natural experiments of division and unification of Germany now that more time has passed and more data have become available. We show that local market access shocks are not symmetric in time. The negative shock to local market access following the division of Germany lead to a fast and strong downward adjustment of the size of West-German cities near the new border. In contrast, the positive shock of reunification did not lead to any change in their relative size, even three decades after the German reunification. |
| Keywords: | market access, iron curtain |
| JEL: | F15 J61 N94 R12 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10279&r=ure |
| By: | Fabio Cerina (University of Cagliari, CRENOS - University of Cagliari); Elisa Dienesch (IEP Aix-en-Provence - Sciences Po Aix - Institut d'études politiques d'Aix-en-Provence, AMSE - Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Alessio Moro (University of Cagliari); Michelle Rendall (Monash university, CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research - CEPR) |
| Abstract: | We document the emergence of spatial polarization in the U.S. during the 1980-2008 period. This phenomenon is characterised by stronger employment polarization in larger cities, both at the occupational and the worker level. We quantitatively evaluate the role of technology in generating these patterns by constructing and calibrating a spatial equilibrium model. We find that faster skill-biased technological change in larger cities can account for a substantial fraction of spatial polarization in the U.S. Counterfactual exercises suggest that the differential increase in the share of low-skilled workers across city size is due mainly to the large demand by high-skilled workers for low-skilled services and to a smaller extent to the higher complementarity between low- and high-skilled workers in production relative to middle-skilled workers. |
| Date: | 2023–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03788208&r=ure |
| By: | Lea Cassar; Mira Fischer; Vanessa Valero |
| Abstract: | Mindfulness-based meditation practices are becoming increasingly popular in Western societies, including in the business world and in education. While the scientific literature has largely documented the benefits of mindfulness meditation for mental health, little is still known about potential spillovers of these practices on other important life outcomes, such as performance. We address this question through a field experiment in an educational setting. We study the causal impact of mindfulness meditation on academic performance through a randomized evaluation of a well-known 8-week mindfulness meditation training delivered to university students on campus. As expected, the intervention improves students’ mental health and non-cognitive skills. However, it takes time before students' performance can benefit from mindfulness meditation: we find that, if anything, the intervention marginally decreases average grades in the short run, i.e., during the exam period right after the end of the intervention, whereas it significantly increases academic performance, by about 0.4 standard deviations, in the long run (ca. 6 months after the end of intervention). We investigate the underlying mechanisms and discuss the implications of our results. |
| Keywords: | performance, mental health, education, meditation, field experiment |
| JEL: | I21 C93 I12 I31 |
| Date: | 2022–11–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdp:dpaper:0002&r=ure |
| By: | Indaco, Agustín (Carnegie Mellon University); Ortega, Francesc (Queens College, CUNY) |
| Abstract: | Using a new composite climate-risk index, we show that population in high-risk counties has grown disproportionately over the last few decades, even relative to the corresponding commuting zone. We also find that the agglomeration is largely driven by increases in the (white) working-age population. In addition, we show that high-risk tracts have typically grown more than low-risk tracts within the same county, suggesting the presence of highly localized amenities in high-risk areas. We also document heterogeneous population dynamics along a number of dimensions. Specifically, population has been retreating from high-risk, low urbanization locations, but continues to grow in high-risk areas with high residential capital. The findings above hold for most climate hazards. However, we document that tracts with high risk of coastal flooding have grown significantly less than other tracts in the same county. |
| Keywords: | climate risk, agglomeration, migration |
| JEL: | J3 J7 |
| Date: | 2023–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15982&r=ure |
| By: | KAMEYAMA Yoshihiro |
| Abstract: | This study utilizes prefectural panel data for the 2014-19 period to examine whether inbound demand contributes to the productivity growth of local economies. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the destinations of inbound visitors gradually diffused to non-metropolitan regions, and a certain number of foreign visitors to Japan would visit many non-metropolitan destinations. With an increase in the number of foreign visitors to each region, IT-related factors, represented by cashless payments and reservation services through travel websites, have advanced throughout Japan. How did the agglomeration of tourism and the use of IT because of the dispersion of visitors to non-metropolitan areas of Japan affect local economies? In this study, the number of visitors to Japan is measured in terms of Tourism Market Potential (TMP), which is "the size of metropolitan and non-metropolitan (tourism) demand from foreign visitors to Japan, " and is used for the agglomeration effect. TMP does not measure the gross effect in terms of the simple scale of the number of visitors to Japan but rather the net effect, which includes accessibility from the origin to the destination. We then analyze how regional TMPs and IT-related factors affect productivity and wages in the prefectures. The estimation results indicate that both TMP- and IT-related factors have a positive impact on productivity and wages in the prefectures visited. |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:23009&r=ure |
| By: | Carole Gresse (DRM - Dauphine Recherches en Management - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Hugo Marin (DRM - Dauphine Recherches en Management - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Using data from a peer-to-business crowdlending platform that exploits an auction-driven system to fund corporate loans, we show that non-professional investors are subject to a geographical-proximity bias. They are more likely to win the auctions of borrowers located close to their place of residence notwithstanding that they are not better informed about their creditworthiness. Unexpectedly, this behavioral bias distorts the loan rate discovery processby increasing the cost of funding for borrowers. This adverse effect results from the greaterability of local investors to submit winning bids at an early stage. This ability is gained from their experience in previous auctions of geographically close borrowers. This suggests that the familiarity feeling stemming from geographical closeness strengthens investor attention, and thereby improves lenders' knowledge about the dynamics of the order flow in local borrowers' auctions. |
| Keywords: | peer-to-business crowdlending, crowdfunding, behavioral finance, loan performance, price discovery process |
| Date: | 2022–07–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03960132&r=ure |
| By: | Jonathan Gruber; Tuomas Kosonen; Kristiina Huttunen |
| Abstract: | We study the impacts of a policy designed to reward mothers who stay at home rather than join the labor force when their children are under age three. We use regional and over time variation to show that the Finnish Home Care Allowance (HCA) decreases maternal employment in both the short and long term. The effects are large enough for the existence of home care benefit system to explain the higher short-term child penalty in Finland than comparable nations. Home care benefits also negatively affect the early childhood cognitive test results of children, decrease the likelihood of choosing academic high school, and increase youth crimes. We confirm that the mechanism of action is changing work/home care arrangements by studying a day care fee reform that had the opposite effect of raising incentives to work – with corresponding opposite effects on mothers and children compared to HCA. Our findings suggest that shifting child care from the home to the market increases labor force participation and improves child outcomes. |
| JEL: | H31 J13 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30931&r=ure |
| By: | Hamann, Silke (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany); Niebuhr, Annekatrin (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany ; Univ. Kiel); Roth, Duncan (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany); Sieglen, Georg (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany) |
| Abstract: | "We estimate spatially heterogeneous effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on labour market dynamics in Germany until December 2021. While initially slightly larger in rural regions, adverse effects quickly become more pronounced and persistent in large agglomerations. We ascribe the larger impact of the pandemic in large agglomerations to two factors. First, a combination of a higher share of skilled workers and jobs suitable for working-from-home is positively related to an increased inflow rate into unemployment. We argue that spillover effects from reduced product market demand in large cities caused by changes in behaviour such as working-from-home or online shopping are a possible explanation. Second, a higher pre-crisis unemployment rate in large agglomerations is associated with a lower outflow rate out of unemployment. This might reflect the less favourable composition of unemployment in large cities which reduces the probability of transitions into employment during crises." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| JEL: | J23 J63 R23 |
| Date: | 2023–03–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:202303&r=ure |
| By: | Abdessalam El kadib (fsjes Agdal - Economie et Gestion - FSJES Rabat); Ghizlane Ouhakki (fsjes Agdal - Economie et Gestion - FSJES Rabat); Kaoutar Rais (fsjes Agdal - Economie et Gestion - FSJES Rabat) |
| Abstract: | The objective of this work is to analyse regional inequalities in terms of spending in Moroccan regions using the Exploratory Analysis of Spatial Data applied to Spending by the 12 regions over the period 2015-2019. The results obtained demonstrate the existence of a spatial autocorrelation not only at the global level but also at the local level, as well as a strong Heterogeneity in the distribution of wealth. Moreover, the results also show a specific character of polarisation, since enlargement led to a pattern of polarisation in the heart of the country, especially, the region of Casablanca-Settat and its peripheral regions. In addition, this study allowed us to identify the consequences of enlargement on Moroccan regional policy. |
| Abstract: | L'objectif de ce travail est d'analyser les disparités régionales en termes des dépenses dans les régions marocaines en utilisant l'Analyse Exploratoire des Données Spatiales appliquée aux dépenses des 12 régions sur la période 2015-2019. Les résultats obtenus prouvent l'existence d'une auto-corrélation spatiale non seulement au niveau global mais également au niveau local, ainsi qu'une forte hétérogénéité quant à la distribution des richesses. En outre, les résultats montrent un caractère spécifique de polarisation, puisque l'élargissement mène à un schéma de polarisation au coeur du royaume, particulièrement, la région de Casablanca-Settat et ses régions périphériques. Enfin, cette étude nous a permis de dégager les conséquences de l'élargissement sur la politique régionale marocaine. |
| Keywords: | regional policies regional disparities spending spatial autocorrelation spatial heterogeneity agglomeration spatial econometrics, Politique régionale disparités régionales dépenses autocorrélation spatiale hétérogénéité spatiale agglomération économétrie spatiale |
| Date: | 2022–12–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03911488&r=ure |
| By: | Fernanda Antunes |
| Abstract: | It has been documented in academic literature and grey literature that flexible workspace providers take office space in longer leases. The rationale is straightforward as one of their key profitability components relies on benefitting from the difference between their long-term rights to a space and their short-term offerings, also known as long-short space strategy. Using a dataset of 4, 687 leases in New York City extracted from Compstak over the period of 2011-2022, we analyse the overall lease term structure in different economic cycles and compare it with the lease term structure of flexible workspace providers. We also investigate the effects of flexible workspace providers as tenants on effective rents, as previous studies have demonstrated a significant difference in comparison to their peers. |
| Keywords: | Capitalisation rates; Coworking; Flexible workspace; Valuation |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2022–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:2022_32&r=ure |
| By: | Nikhil Malik; Emaad Manzoor |
| Abstract: | Machine learning algorithms are increasingly employed to price or value homes for sale, properties for rent, rides for hire, and various other goods and services. Machine learning-based prices are typically generated by complex algorithms trained on historical sales data. However, displaying these prices to consumers anchors the realized sales prices, which will in turn become training samples for future iterations of the algorithms. The economic implications of this machine learning "feedback loop" - an indirect human-algorithm interaction - remain relatively unexplored. In this work, we develop an analytical model of machine learning feedback loops in the context of the housing market. We show that feedback loops lead machine learning algorithms to become overconfident in their own accuracy (by underestimating its error), and leads home sellers to over-rely on possibly erroneous algorithmic prices. As a consequence at the feedback loop equilibrium, sale prices can become entirely erratic (relative to true consumer preferences in absence of ML price interference). We then identify conditions (choice of ML models, seller characteristics and market characteristics) where the economic payoffs for home sellers at the feedback loop equilibrium is worse off than no machine learning. We also empirically validate primitive building blocks of our analytical model using housing market data from Zillow. We conclude by prescribing algorithmic corrective strategies to mitigate the effects of machine learning feedback loops, discuss the incentives for platforms to adopt these strategies, and discuss the role of policymakers in regulating the same. |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2302.09438&r=ure |
| By: | Sönke Hendrik Matthewes; Guglielmo Ventura |
| Abstract: | Many countries consider expanding vocational curricula in secondary education to boost skills and labour market outcomes among non-university-bound students. However, critics fear this could divert other students from more profitable academic education. We study labour market returns to vocational education in England, where until recently students chose between a vocational track, an academic track and quitting education at age 16. Identification is challenging because self-selection is strong and because students' next-best alternatives are unknown. Against this backdrop, we leverage multiple instrumental variables to estimate margin-specific treatment effects, i.e., causal returns to vocational education for students at the margin with academic education and, separately, for students at the margin with quitting education. Identification comes from variation in distance to the nearest vocational provider conditional on distance to the nearest academic provider (and vice-versa), while controlling for granular student, school and neighbourhood characteristics. The analysis is based on population-wide administrative education data linked to tax records. We find that the vast majority of marginal vocational students are indifferent between vocational and academic education. For them, vocational enrolment substantially decreases earnings at age 30. This earnings penalty grows with age and is due to wages, not employment. However, consistent with comparative advantage, the penalty is smaller for students with higher revealed preferences for the vocational track. For the few students at the margin with no further education, we find merely tentative evidence of increased employment and earnings from vocational enrolment. |
| Keywords: | vocational education, returns to education, multi-valued treatment, instrumental variables |
| Date: | 2022–11–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cverdp:038&r=ure |
| By: | Stephen Machin; Sandra McNally; Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela |
| Abstract: | A very small number of young people enter youth custody between age 16 and 18 (about 4 in 1000 males), yet the consequences are severe. They spend an average of 7 months in youth custody and such incarceration has been related to negative outcomes in the longer term even if they can establish themselves in the labour market. In this paper, we evaluate whether there is a relationship between GCSE qualifications in English and maths and the probability of youth custody using administrative data in England. We are hindered in this because the majority of young people who end up in youth custody are not entered or fail their GCSEs in these subjects. Although regression results are consistent with educational achievement being a factor in why people end up in youth custody, they strongly suggest that both non-entry/low achievement and youth custody are correlated with severe vulnerabilities which are partially picked up by the explanatory variables available in administrative data (in particular indicators for special needs, disadvantage and being from some ethnic minority groups). Another interesting insight is that for many, problems only emerge (or at least become evident) in early or middle adolescence. |
| Keywords: | youth custody, school qualifications, crime, educational attainment, special needs |
| Date: | 2023–01–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepops:57&r=ure |
| By: | Mieko Fujisawa (Kanazawa University); Kazuhisa Takemura Author-Name-Kazuhisa (Waseda University); Yukihiko Funaki Author-Name-Yukihiko (Waseda University) |
| Abstract: | This study focuses on energy labels, which are set to be displayed mandatorily in Japanese real estate advertisements soon. In this study, we conducted eye-tracking experiments to identify effective design elements for energy labels. The novelty of this study lies in the fact that we not only collected data on reaction times and areas of interest(AOIs) using eye tracking, but also conducted a panel analysis controlling for individual effects by adding data from a questionnaire survey conducted after the experiment. Our findingsverifiedthat the display of energy labels in real estate advertisements is likely to lead to improved consumer understanding of energy conservation standards as learning effects.This suggestsrehearsal effects that invited availability heuristics by appearing repeatedly. Moreover, the results of the panel analysis suggest that design of energy labels are important on reaction time and number of round trips between the AOIs. We compared the two label designs in the experiment, the information in the European Union energy label was difficult to read and judge intuitively, and can conclude the rating scale label was more suitable for advertising and readers in Japan.As energy labels help with increased consumer awarenessregardingenergy standards of dwellings and energy saving, an early start to labeling is recommended. |
| Keywords: | energy label, eye-tracking, label design, response times, AOI, energy-saving policy |
| Date: | 2022–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wap:wpaper:2203&r=ure |
| By: | David C. Grabowski; Jonathan Gruber; Brian McGarry |
| Abstract: | Although debates over immigration remain contentious, one important sector served heavily by immigrants faces a critical labor shortage: nursing homes. We merge a variety of data sets on immigration and nursing homes and use a shift-share instrumental variables analysis to assess the impact of increased immigration on nursing home staffing and care quality. We show that increased immigration significantly raises the staffing levels of nursing homes in the U.S., particularly in full time positions. We then show that this has an associated very positive effect on patient outcomes, particularly for those who are short stayers at nursing homes, and particularly for immigration of Hispanic staff. |
| JEL: | I11 I18 J61 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30960&r=ure |
| By: | Stefano Basilico (University of Bremen, Faculty of Business Studies and Economics, and Gran Sasso Science Institute, Social Sciences); Nils Grashof (Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | Green innovations aim to improve and reduce the environmental impact of economic activities. Thus far, research focus on the positive trajectories of green transition. Recent studies focus also on the speed of transition and on its effects on economic outcomes. Continuing in this direction we focus on brown regions (i.e. specialized in fossil-fuel technologies) and the challenges that they face to become sustainable. Taking as example German Labour Market Regions we identify brown regions and measure their transition using an innovative approach based on Social Network Analysis and Knowledge Spaces. We find that the earlier a region transitioned to green technologies, the better it is for both its social and economic outcomes. Our findings imply that the transition of brown regions has effects on socio-economic outcomes not yet accounted for in the sustainability transition literature. |
| Keywords: | green transition, green technologies, knowledge spaces, network embeddedness, socio-economic development |
| JEL: | O32 O33 R11 |
| Date: | 2023–03–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2023-003&r=ure |
| By: | Tahir Andrabi; Natalie Bau; Jishnu Das; Naureen Karachiwalla; Asim Ijaz Khwaja |
| Abstract: | We estimate the equilibrium effects of a public-school grant program administered through school councils in Pakistani villages with multiple public and private schools and clearly defined catchment boundaries. The program was randomized at the village-level, allowing us to estimate its causal impact on the market. Four years after the start of the program, test scores were 0.2 sd higher in public schools. We find evidence of an education multiplier: test scores in private schools were also 0.2 sd higher in treated markets. Consistent with standard models of product differentiation, the education multiplier is greater for those private schools that faced a greater threat to their market power. Accounting for private sector responses increases the program's cost-effectiveness by 85% and affects how a policymaker would target spending. Given that markets with several public and private schools are now pervasive in low- and middle-income countries, prudent policy requires us to account for private sector responses to public policy, both in their design and in their evaluation. |
| JEL: | H44 H52 I22 I25 I28 O12 O15 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30929&r=ure |
| By: | Joshua Bosshardt (Federal Housing Finance Agency); Ali Kakhbod (University of California, Berkeley); Amir Kermani (University of California, Berkeley) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the costs and benefits of financial intermediaries on access to credit using confidential regulatory data on mortgages securitized by the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). We find evidence of lenders pricing for observable and unobservable default risk independently from the GSEs. We explain these findings using a model of competitive mortgage lending with screening in which lenders acquire information beyond the GSEs' underwriting criteria and retain a positive loss given default. The model shows that the discretionary behavior of lenders, relative to a counterfactual in which lenders passively implement the GSEs' underwriting requirements and price competitively, benefits some borrowers with high observable risk at the expense of the majority of borrowers. Finally, the model suggests that the observed differences between banks and nonbanks are more consistent with differences in their expected loss given default rather than screening quality. |
| Keywords: | mortgage lenders, underwriting risk, overlays, nonbanks |
| JEL: | G21 G23 |
| Date: | 2023–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hfa:wpaper:23-01&r=ure |
| By: | Costas Arkolakis; Federico Huneeus; Yuhei Miyauchi |
| Abstract: | We use new theory and data to study how firms endogenously form production networks across regions and countries. Supplier and buyer relationships form depending on firms' productivity and geographic location. We characterize the normative and positive properties of the spatial distribution of economic activity and welfare in general equilibrium. We calibrate the model using domestic and international firm-to-firm trade data from Chile. Both iceberg trade costs and search and matching frictions are important for aggregate trade flows and production networks. Endogenous formation of production networks leads to larger and more dispersed effects of international and intra-national trade cost shocks. |
| JEL: | F10 R13 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30954&r=ure |
| By: | Brunello, Giorgio; Esposito, Piero; Rocco, Lorenzo; Scicchitano, Sergio |
| Abstract: | We investigate whether classical studies in high school - that emphasize in Italy the study of ancient languages such as Latin and Greek - affect personality traits. Using Italian survey data, we compare individuals who did classical studies in high school with similar individuals who completed a more scientific academic curriculum. We find that having done classical studies does not affect conscientiousness and openness but increases neuroticism and self-reported unhappiness. |
| Keywords: | school choice, education, classical studies, Big-5, non-cognitive skills, personality traits |
| JEL: | I21 I26 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1242&r=ure |
| By: | Paul Ryan; Richard Taffler; Clare Branigan |
| Abstract: | We demonstrate how society-wide intergenerational transmission of trauma, ignored in economic models drove the Irish property bubble. Ireland’s ‘obsession’ with property owning is a psychic attempt, through repetition compulsion, to transcend the traumatic past and ‘inhabit’ an idealized pre-colonial fantasy land. We also explain why the property bubble is almost inevitably being re-enacted so soon with no apparent learning. |
| Keywords: | Asset pricing bubbles; Celtic Tiger; historic trauma; large group psychodynamics; social unconscious |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2022–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:2022_92&r=ure |
| By: | Hansen, Stephen (University College London); Lambert, Peter John (London School of Economics); Bloom, Nicholas (Stanford University); Davis, Steven J. (University of Chicago); Sadun, Raffaella (Harvard University); Taska, Bledi (Lightcast) |
| Abstract: | The pandemic catalyzed an enduring shift to remote work. To measure and characterize this shift, we examine more than 250 million job vacancy postings across five English-speaking countries. Our measurements rely on a state-of-the-art languageprocessing framework that we fit, test, and refine using 30, 000 human classifications. We achieve 99% accuracy in flagging job postings that advertise hybrid or fully remote work, greatly outperforming dictionary methods and also outperforming other machine-learning methods. From 2019 to early 2023, the share of postings that say new employees can work remotely one or more days per week rose more than three-fold in the U.S and by a factor of five or more in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the U.K. These developments are highly non-uniform across and within cities, industries, occupations, and companies. Even when zooming in on employers in the same industry competing for talent in the same occupations, we find large differences in the share of job postings that explicitly offer remote work. |
| Keywords: | remote work, hybrid work, work from home, job vacancies, text classifiers, BERT, pandemic impact, labour markets, COVID-19 |
| JEL: | E24 O33 R3 M54 C55 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15980&r=ure |
| By: | Francisco, Kris A.; Lim, Valerie L. |
| Abstract: | The air transport sector is important in facilitating economic growth and development. In a country made up of more than 7, 000 islands, air transportation serves as the fastest mode of connectivity within the country and the rest of the world. The direct impact of the air transport sector on the Philippine gross domestic product may appear small at 0.61 percent in 2019, but its enabling role for high-value industries such as trade, manufacturing, and tourism justifies the need to prioritize this sector. Having sufficient, well-functioning, and efficient air transport infrastructure is necessary to ensure maximum benefits to the economy. However, the country’s air transport infrastructure suffers from capacity and technical capability constraints. While the government recognizes the need to improve the country’s air transport infrastructure by providing new airports and improving existing facilities and technical capabilities, time is crucial, and huge investments are needed to catch up with the burgeoning demand for air travel. Comments to this paper are welcome within 60 days from the date of posting. Email publications@pids.gov.ph. |
| Keywords: | air transport sector;air transport policy;airports |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:dpaper:dp_2022-62&r=ure |
| By: | Du\v{s}an Knop; \v{S}imon Schierreich |
| Abstract: | We propose a novel model for refugee housing respecting the preferences of accepting community and refugees themselves. In particular, we are given a topology representing the local community, a set of inhabitants occupying some vertices of the topology, and a set of refugees that should be housed on the empty vertices of graph. Both the inhabitants and the refugees have preferences over the structure of their neighbourhood. We are specifically interested in the problem of finding housings such that the preferences of every individual are met; using game-theoretical words, we are looking for housings that are stable with respect to some well-defined notion of stability. We investigate conditions under which the existence of equilibria is guaranteed and study the computational complexity of finding such a stable outcome. As the problem is NP-hard even in very simple settings, we employ the parameterised complexity framework to give a finer-grained view on the problem's complexity with respect to natural parameters and structural restrictions of the given topology. |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2302.13997&r=ure |
| By: | Alessandro Barattieri (University of Quebec in Montreal); Patrice Borda (Université des Antilles); Alberto Brugnoli (University of Bergamo); Martino Pelli (University of Sherbrooke); Jeanne Tschopp (University of Bern) |
| Abstract: | We study the short-run, dynamic employment effects of natural disasters. We exploit monthly data for over 90 3-digits NAICS industries and 78 Puerto Rican counties over the period 1995-2017. Our exogenous measure of exposure to natural disasters is computed using the maximum wind speed recorded in each county during each hurricane. Using panel local projections, we find that after the "average" hurricane, employment and wages fall by 1% on average. The effects peak after six months and disappear within two years. Across industries, we find substantial heterogeneity in the employment responses. This heterogeneity can be partly explained by input-output linkages. |
| Keywords: | Natural Disasters, Employment, High-Frequency Data, Local Projections. |
| JEL: | Q54 E24 |
| Date: | 2021–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bbh:wpaper:21-06&r=ure |
| By: | Philip Du Caju; Guillaume Perilleux; François Rycx; Ilan Tojerow |
| Date: | 2022–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulb:ulbeco:2013/353475&r=ure |
| By: | Patrick Baylis; Severin Borenstein; Edward A. Rubin |
| Abstract: | The practice of standardizing the designation of time is a central device for coordinating activities and economic behaviors across individuals. However, there is nearly always conflict between an individual's goals of coordinating activities with others and engaging in those activities at their own preferred time. When time is standardized across large geographic areas, that tension is enhanced, because norms about the "clock times" of activities conflict with adapting to local environmental conditions created by natural or "solar" time. This tension is at the heart of current state and national debates about adopting daylight saving time or switching time zones. We study this conflict by examining how geographic and temporal variation in solar time within time zones affects the timing of a range of common behaviors in the United States. Specifically, we estimate the degree to which people shift their online behavior (through Twitter), their commute (using data from the Census), and their visits to businesses and other establishments (using foot traffic data). We find that, on average, a one-hour shift in the differential between solar time and clock time -- approximately the width of a time zone -- leads to shifting the clock time of behavior by between 9 and 26 minutes. This result shows that while adapting to local environmental factors significantly offsets the differential between solar time and clock time, the behavioral nudge and coordination value of clock time has the larger influence on activity. We also study how the trade-off differs across different activities and population demographics. |
| JEL: | Q40 Q5 |
| Date: | 2023–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30999&r=ure |
| By: | Carl Lieberman; Elizabeth Luh; Michael Mueller-Smith |
| Abstract: | Millions of people in the United States face fines and fees in the criminal court system each year, totaling over $27 billion in overall criminal debt to-date. In this study, we leverage five distinct natural experiments in Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin using regression discontinuity designs to evaluate the causal impact of such financial sanctions and user fees. We consider a range of long-term outcomes including employment, recidivism, household expenditures, and other self-reported measures of well-being, which we measure through a combination of administrative records on earnings and employment, the Criminal Justice Administrative Records System, and household surveys. We find consistent evidence across the range of natural experiments and subgroup analyses of precise null effects on the population, ruling out long-run impacts larger than +/-3.6% on total earnings and +/-4.7% on total recidivism. Failure to find changes in outcomes undermines popular narratives of poverty traps arising from criminal debt but argues against the use of fines and fees as a source of local revenue and as a crime control tool. |
| Keywords: | criminal justice, fines, deterrence, recidivism, labor market outcomes |
| JEL: | H72 J24 K42 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:23-06&r=ure |
| By: | Abhay Aneja; Michael Luca; Oren Reshef |
| Abstract: | Is there consumer demand to support Black-owned businesses? To explore, we investigate the impact of a new feature on a large online platform that made the race of a set of Black business owners salient to customers. We find that this feature substantially increased demand for Black-owned businesses - in the form of more calls to the restaurant, more delivery orders, and - using cell phone data from a different platform - more in person visits to the restaurant. New customers to Black-owned businesses were more likely to be White customers - suggesting demand among White restaurant goers for Black-owned businesses. The gains for Black-owned businesses vary across geographically fine-grained measures of racial prejudice: we observe larger gains in areas with less anti-Black bias, as measured by implicit association tests. We also find suggestive evidence that the effects are stronger in predominately White, Democratic-leaning areas. |
| JEL: | J0 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30932&r=ure |
| By: | Robert Lehmann; Ida Wikman |
| Abstract: | To date, only annual information on economic activity is published for the 16 German states. In this paper, we calculate quarterly regional GDP estimates for the period between 1995 to 2021, thereby improving the regional database for Germany. The new data set will regularly be updated when quarterly economic growth for Germany becomes available. We use the new data for an in-depth business cycle analysis and to estimate long-run growth dynamics. The business cycle analysis reveals large heterogeneities in the duration and amplitudes of state-specific fluctuations as well as in the degrees of cyclical concordance. Long-run trends are found to vary tremendously, with positive developments in economically strong regions and flat or even negative trends for economically much weaker states. |
| Keywords: | regional economic activity, mixed-frequency Vector Autoregression, regional business cycles, concordance, Bayesian methods |
| JEL: | C32 C53 E32 R11 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10280&r=ure |
| By: | Gil-Clavel, Sofia (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research); Mulder, Clara H. |
| Abstract: | Previous research on the relationship between geographical distance and the frequency of contact between family members has shown that the strength of family ties differs between Northern and Southern Europe. However, little is known about how family ties are reflected in peoples’ conversations on social media, despite research showing the relevance of social media data for understanding users’ daily expressions of emotions and thoughts based on their immediate experiences. This work investigates the question of whether Twitter use patterns in Europe mirror the North-South divide in the strength of family ties by analyzing potential differences in family-related tweets between users in Northern and Southern European countries. This study relies on a longitudinal database derived from Twitter collected between January 2012 and December 2016. We perform a comparative analysis of Southern and Northern European users’ tweets using Bayesian generalized multilevel models together with the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software. We analyze the association between regional differences in the strength of family ties and patterns of tweeting about family. Results show that the North-South divide is reflected in the frequency of tweets that are about family; that refer to family in the past versus in the present tense; and that are about close versus extended family. |
| Date: | 2023–02–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:c379h&r=ure |
| By: | Jonas Jessen; Sophia Schmitz; Felix Weinhardt |
| Abstract: | We study the local evolution of female labour supply and cultural norms in West Germany in reaction to the sudden presence of East Germans who migrated to the West after reunification. These migrants grew up with high rates of maternal employment, whereas West German families mostly followed the traditional breadwinner-housewife model. We find that West German women increase their labour supply and that this holds within households. We provide additional evidence on stated gender norms, West-East friendships, intermarriage, and child care infrastructure. The dynamic evolution of the local effects on labour supply is best explained by local cultural learning and endogenous child care infrastructure. |
| Keywords: | cultural norms, local learning, gender, immigration |
| JEL: | J16 J21 D1 |
| Date: | 2022–11–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdp:dpaper:0001&r=ure |
| By: | Higashi, Yudai (Okayama University); Sasaki, Masaru (Osaka University) |
| Abstract: | This study explores how the COVID-19 pandemic deteriorated the mismatch in the Japanese labor market. We first focus on differences in job flows and reservation wages by occupation and employment type, which differ according to the risk of infection. We next estimate the mismatch indices for local labor markets clustered in by occupations vulnerable and not vulnerable to COVID-19 using the method developed by Şahin et al. (2014). We find that the pandemic induced an overall mismatch, regardless of whether the occupations were vulnerable to infection. The mismatch for high-risk occupations was gradually eliminated in 2021, suggesting that the Japanese labor market adapted gradually but successfully to the new normal. However, the mismatch for low-risk occupations increased in 2021, indicating that labor mobility had been discouraged. |
| Keywords: | mismatch, O-NET data, COVID-19, labor market tightness, desired wage |
| JEL: | J61 J62 J63 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15917&r=ure |
| By: | Stephen Hansen; Peter John Lambert; Nicholas Bloom; Steven J. Davis; Raffaella Sadun; Bledi Taska |
| Abstract: | The pandemic catalyzed an enduring shift to remote work. To measure and characterize this shift, we examine more than 250 million job vacancy postings across five English-speaking countries. Our measurements rely on a state-of-the-art language-processing framework that we fit, test, and refine using 30, 000 human classifications. We achieve 99% accuracy in flagging job postings that advertise hybrid or fully remote work, greatly outperforming dictionary methods and also outperforming other machine-learning methods. From 2019 to early 2023, the share of postings that say new employees can work remotely one or more days per week rose more than three-fold in the U.S and by a factor of five or more in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the U.K. These developments are highly non-uniform across and within cities, industries, occupations, and companies. Even when zooming in on employers in the same industry competing for talent in the same occupations, we find large differences in the share of job postings that explicitly offer remote work. |
| JEL: | C55 E24 M54 O33 R3 |
| Date: | 2023–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31007&r=ure |
| By: | Fullard, Joshua |
| Abstract: | Using new data on teachers’ intentions to leave the profession, subjective expectations about labour market outcomes and a modified discrete-choice experiment we find that i) teachers are systematically misinformed about population earnings, and misinformation is correlated with attrition intentions; ii) non-pecuniary factors are the most cost-effective method of reducing teacher attrition; and iii) attrition intentions are more affected by reductions in workplace amenities than symmetric improvements, suggesting preventing cuts is more important that rolling out more generous benefits. Linking our survey data to teachers’ administrative records we provide the first evidence that teachers attrition intentions are strong predictors of actual behaviour. |
| Date: | 2023–03–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2023-01&r=ure |
| By: | Fatemeh Nazari (Kouros); Mohamadhossein Noruzoliaee (Kouros); Abolfazl (Kouros); Mohammadian |
| Abstract: | With the prospect of next-generation automated mobility ecosystem, the realization of the contended traffic efficiency and safety benefits are contingent upon the demand landscape for automated vehicles (AVs). Focusing on the public acceptance behavior of AVs, this empirical study addresses two gaps in the plethora of travel behavior research on identifying the potential determinants thereof. First, a clear behavioral understanding is lacking as to the perceived concern about AV safety and the consequent effect on AV acceptance behavior. Second, how people appraise the benefits of enhanced automated mobility to meet their current (pre-AV era) travel behavior and needs, along with the resulting impacts on AV acceptance and perceived safety concern, remain equivocal. To fill these gaps, a recursive trivariate econometric model with ordinal-continuous outcomes is employed, which jointly estimates AV acceptance (ordinal), perceived AV safety concern (ordinal), and current annual vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) approximating the current travel behavior (continuous). Importantly, the co-estimation of the three endogenous outcomes allows to capture the true interdependencies among them, net of any correlated unobserved factors that can have common impacts on these outcomes. Besides the classical socio-economic characteristics, the outcome variables are further explained by the latent preferences for vehicle attributes (including vehicle cost, reliability, performance, and refueling) and for existing shared mobility systems. The model estimation results on a stated preference survey in the State of California provide insights into proactive policies that can popularize AVs through gearing towards the most affected population groups, particularly vehicle cost-conscious, safety-concerned, and lower-VMT (such as travel-restrictive) individuals. |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2302.12225&r=ure |
| By: | Ajmal Kakar (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics); Qaisar Iqbal (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics) |
| Abstract: | The trend of Quetta Cafes (QCs) strongly relates to the drought in Balochistan; historical and climatological records prove drought is an indefinite natural issue for Balochistan. Moreover, the precipitation data reveals that 18 drought events with an interval of 3.3 years were recorded between 1950-2010, with the most significant and catastrophic drought, lasting 10 years, recorded between 1945-1955. |
| Keywords: | Quetta Cafes, Tea Cafes Chain, |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pid:wpaper:2022:13&r=ure |
| By: | Mirella Schrijvers; Niels Bosma; Erik Stam |
| Abstract: | The process of structural change is investigated in six European regions that were recently confronted with a severe decline in manufacturing jobs. Entrepreneurs are key actors in this process, as they are the agents driving creative destruction that is needed to transform the economy. The entrepreneurial ecosystem of each of the regions is analysed using ecosystem metrics and case study methods. Having a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem helps regions to be resilient to shocks, such as a decline in traditional industries or closures of large focal firms. Institutions, knowledge, and skilled labour play key roles in a successful economic transformation. Formal institutions can provide the leadership and investment needed to quickly adapt to shocks, as shown in the West Midlands (UK), Eindhoven (NL), and Oulu (Finland). The cases of Sofia, Bulgaria, and the Ruhr region, Germany, show however that a strong ecosystem does not guarantee a swift structural transformation. To explain these exceptions, it is important to consider the economic history and regional context. For example, a strong dependence on one industry or firm can create a lock-in effect that prevents resilience in the face of shocks. When diagnosing ecosystems to inform policies, it is therefore crucial to combine metrics with a thorough understanding of the regional context. |
| Keywords: | Structural change, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial ecosystem, regional diversity, economic resilience |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:use:tkiwps:2202&r=ure |
| By: | Margot Leclair (AMU - Aix Marseille Université, LEST - Laboratoire d'Economie et de Sociologie du Travail - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Encounters between materials and bodies matter throughout the creative process. This paper contends that creative work depends on these encounters generating and filling the atmosphere with affect. Based on an in-depth ethnography within a fashion design studio, the article empirically traces such affective encounters and corresponding atmospheres. In the studio, designing is performed through artefacts as well as experimental and collaborative gestures that inspire affective reactions and spark creative work. The creative body is part of a complex and atmospheric space where materials, bodies and external influences circulate via affective encounters and prompts. The analysis reveals the spatial and affective materiality of creativity and contributes to the recent interest in atmospheric organizational inquiry. |
| Keywords: | Creativity, affect, materiality, space, atmosphere, affective atmosphere |
| Date: | 2022–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03552332&r=ure |
| By: | Shujaat Farooq (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics); G. M. Arif (Ex-Joint Director, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad.) |
| Abstract: | COVID-19 has caused massive return migration around the globe. Current research investigates the adverse impacts of the pandemic on overseas migration— outflows and inflows. The key objective is to propose a policy framework for the successful reintegration of return migrants in the local labour market. The findings reveal that around 2 million overseas Pakistanis have been affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic, where 1.5 million could not go abroad, and another 0.3 to 0.4 million had to return from the Middle East. The reintegration measures for returnees were mainly made on a smaller scale, and most of the returnees lacked information on governmental support and follow-up mechanisms. Our proposed reintegration framework suggests that intending or potential migrants and their families must be educated about their reintegration or resettlement in their home communities when they plan for overseas employment. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, Overseas Migration, Pakistan, Reintegration, Return Migration |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pid:wpaper:2023:1&r=ure |
| By: | Danzer, Natalia (Free University of Berlin); Garcia-Torres, Sebastian (Freie Universität Berlin); Steinhardt, Max F. (Free University of Berlin); Stella, Luca (Free University of Berlin) |
| Abstract: | This study explores the relationship between women's representation in political power and school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a cross-country dataset in Europe, we document a striking negative relationship between the share of female members in national governments and school closures. We show that a one standard deviation increase in female members of national governments is associated with a reduction in the likelihood of school lockdowns by 24% relative to the average share of school closures. This result is robust to an extensive set of sensitivity checks. We attribute this pattern to a higher awareness of female politicians about the potential costs that school closures imply for families. |
| Keywords: | school closures, COVID-19, gender, political economy |
| JEL: | H52 I18 I20 J13 J16 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15975&r=ure |
| By: | Zane Varpina (Stockholm School of Economics in Riga; Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies); Kata Fredheim (Stockholm School of Economics in Riga; Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies) |
| Abstract: | During the Covid-19 pandemic, time had become legato, if not stationary for many. This included secondary school students who were about to finish high school and transition to a new phase in their life, be that work, higher education or other activities. Many feared they are missing out or lost opportunities. In this paper, we explore how Latvian secondary school graduates perceive their mobility opportunities and intentions using survey data gathered during years 2019, 2020 and 2021, i.e., the year before Covid-19 and during two years of pandemic. This will provide insight into Generation Z students’ plans for the future as well as how they adopt to a world that is freer of restrictions but not what it used to be. This paper aims to shed light on trajectories of graduates after they exit the high-school door. We present evidence on mobility plans of youngsters and allow quantitative estimation of loss of human capital towards Western European countries. |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bic:opaper:15&r=ure |
| By: | Carlsson, Magnus (Linnaeus University); Eriksson, Stefan (Uppsala University); Rooth, Dan-Olof (Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | Labor markets in advanced economies have undergone substantial change in recent decades due to globalization, technological improvements, and organizational changes. Due to these developments, oral and written language skills have become increasingly important even in less skilled jobs. Immigrants – who often have limited skills in the host country language upon arrival – are likely to be particularly affected by the increase in language requirements. Despite this increase in literacy requirements, little is known about how immigrants' language proficiency is rewarded in the labor market. However, estimating the causal effect of immigrants' language skills on hiring is challenging due to potential biases caused by omitted variables, reverse causality, and measurement error. To address identification problems, we conduct a large-scale field experiment, where we send thousands of fictitious resumes to employers with a job opening. With the help of a professional linguist, we manipulate the cover letters by introducing common second-language features, which makes the resumes reflect variation in the language skills of real-world migrants. Our findings show that better language proficiency in the cover letter has a strong positive effect on the callback rate for a job interview: moving from the lowest level of language proficiency to a level similar to natives almost doubles the callback rate. Consistent with the recent development that language proficiency is also important for many low- and medium-skilled jobs, the effect of better language skills does not vary across the vastly different types of occupations we study. Finally, the results from employer surveys suggest that it is improved language skills per se that is the dominant explanation behind the language proficiency effect, rather than language skills acting as a proxy for other unobserved abilities or characteristics. |
| Keywords: | labor migrants, language proficiency, language skills, human capital, field experiment |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J24 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15950&r=ure |
| By: | Zane Varpina (Stockholm School of Economics in Riga; Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies); Kata Fredheim (Stockholm School of Economics in Riga; Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies) |
| Abstract: | Russian invasion in Ukraine in 2022 has created the biggest refugee crisis in Europe since WWII. Close to 7 million people have left the country as of August 2022 and figures keep growing. Latvia has accommodated a mere 36 thousand of them, but it exemplifies other smaller countries in the refugee flows. Patterns and factors of asylee destination decisions for less popular destinations have not been explored making one wonder what makes refugees deviate from the mainstream migration flows. We explore why and how Ukrainian war-displaced people have chosen Latvia using the narratives of Ukrainian displaced people who arrived in Latvia in early stages of the conflict. Drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews with refugees in Latvia, we find that networks are the primary determinant of the choice to flee to Latvia. The closeness of kinship is not as important as the fact of having the contact as such, nor does it determine the level of support. Close or distant relatives and friends are the first instance to turn to for war-displaced civilians, while financial factors do not appear to be decisive. In the situation of acute displacement, the first asylee strategy is to seek support in kinship and other networks. |
| Date: | 2022–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bic:opaper:17&r=ure |
| By: | Ying Bai; Ruixue Jia; Runnan Wang |
| Abstract: | Can ideas mobilize people into collective action? We provide a positive answer to this question by studying how exposure to the Communist ideology shaped an individual’s choice to join the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during the party’s formative stage. The individuals we focus on are cadets at the Whampoa Military Academy, who subsequently fought in 20th-century China’s most important wars. Our identification strategy exploits the locality-time-content variation in the circulation of the New Youth magazine—the major platform to promote Communism after the Treaty of Versailles in 1919—as well as the variation in an individual’s location over time. By comparing the Whampoa cadets living in a locality with post-1919 New Youth available against those who had lived in the same locality but missed this channel, we demonstrate that the former were significantly more likely to join the CCP. In future political struggles, those whose party choice was more influenced by this ideology channel were less likely to quit the CCP and more likely to sacrifice their lives. Additionally, we document that family background cannot predict the party choice of these political pioneers but social networks can complement ideology exposure. |
| JEL: | D70 D71 D83 N45 O12 P30 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30947&r=ure |
| By: | Cyrus Samii |
| Abstract: | Community-driven reconstruction (CDR) is an approach to post-war reconstruction that gives discretion to local community councils in establishing priorities and overseeing the implementation of reconstruction and development activities. A series of methodologically exceptional studies has raised questions about whether CDR generates any meaningful impact beyond the short run, given that desired effects on social cohesion and collective action capacity have not been realized. This paper argues that such analyses either underplay or miss entirely three extraordinary successes of CDR. |
| Keywords: | Reconstruction, Collective action, Corruption, Governance, Infrastructure, community participation |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2023-26&r=ure |