|
on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Gong, Yifan; Leung, Charles Ka Yui |
| Abstract: | In our evaluation of the housing expenditure share cap, a macroprudential policy, we discover the importance of modeling space. The spatial considerations allow households to sort into segmented housing markets based on income. Our model generates the observed negative relationship between housing expenditure share and income. More importantly, the cap policy causes a more considerable reduction in housing costs for low-income families than for high-income families in a spatial model. Depending on the assumption of households' preference, this mechanism leads to a minor increase or even a modest decrease in welfare inequality in a spatial model than in a spaceless model. |
| Keywords: | housing expenditure share, monocentric model of a city, spatial sorting, welfare inequality |
| JEL: | D04 R20 R30 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:118686&r=ure |
| By: | Carneiro, Pedro; Cruz-Aguayo, Yyannu; Salvati, Francesca; Schady, Norbert |
| Abstract: | We study the impact on learning of a child's rank in the classroom using a unique experiment from Ecuador. Within each school, students were randomly assigned to classrooms in every grade between kindergarten and 6th grade. Therefore, two students with the same ability can have different classroom ranks because of the (random) peer composition of their classroom. To isolate the impact of rank from other peer influences we include classroom fixed effects. Children with higher classroom rank at the beginning of the academic year have significantly higher math test scores at the end of that grade. Classroom rank in math, not language, drives our results. The impact of classroom math rank is larger for younger children, and grows substantially over time. Exogenous changes in classroom rank in math also improve executive function, child happiness, and teacher perceptions of student ability. |
| Keywords: | Classroom rank;Test scores;skills |
| JEL: | I20 |
| Date: | 2023–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:13091&r=ure |
| By: | Anthony Edo; Cem Özgüzel |
| Abstract: | This paper provides the first evidence on the regional impact of immigration on native employment in a cross-country framework. We show that the rise in the share of immigrants across European regions over the 2010-2019 period had a modest impact on the employment-to-population rate of natives. However, the effects are highly uneven across regions and workers, and over time. First, the short-run estimates show adverse employment effects in response to immigration, while these effects disappear in the longer run. Second, low-educated native workers experience employment losses due to immigration, whereas high-educated ones are more likely to experience employment gains. Third, the presence of institutions that provide employment protection and high coverage of collective wage agreements exert a protective effect on native employment. Finally, economically dynamic regions can better absorb immigrant workers, resulting in little or no effect on the native workforce. |
| Keywords: | Immigration;Employment;Labour Supply;Employment Dynamics |
| JEL: | F22 J21 J61 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cii:cepidt:2023-20&r=ure |
| By: | Enrico Rubolino; Tommaso Giommoni |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of taxation on the location choices of individuals and tax bases in Italy. We exploit some recent tax decentralization reforms, which granted regions and municipalities greater power in setting income tax rates across brackets. Combining granular micro-level data on tax residence transfers with tax rate variations both within and across locations, we show that taxation significantly shapes location decisions. The mobility response greatly varies across the income distribution, with higher responsiveness among top incomes. Yet, our estimates imply that revenue losses due to tax-induced mobility are small, making local redistribution feasible at least over the medium-run. |
| Keywords: | local income taxation, migration, tax decentralization |
| JEL: | H24 H71 J61 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10655&r=ure |
| By: | Bobby W. Chung (University of South Florida; Nanjing Audit University); Jian Zou (UIUC) |
| Abstract: | The recent controversial roll-out of the educative Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA) - a performance-based exam - raises the bar of initial teacher licensure and makes teacher recruitment difficult. We leverage the quasi-experimental setting of different adoption timing by states and analyze multiple data sources containing a national sample of prospective teachers and students of new teachers in the US. With extensive controls of concurrent policies, we find that the edTPA reduced prospective teachers in undergraduate programs, less-selective and minority-concentrated universities. Contrary to the policy intention, we do not find evidence that edTPA increased student test scores. |
| Keywords: | teacher licensing, edTPA, occupational licensing, teacher supply |
| JEL: | I28 J2 J44 K31 L51 |
| Date: | 2023–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usf:wpaper:2023-04&r=ure |
| By: | Matthew Klesta |
| Abstract: | Because of its topography, location, and coal mining legacy, eastern Kentucky has a long history of flooding. This report focuses on housing in the 13 counties declared federal disaster areas after the July 2022 flood. |
| Keywords: | affordable housing; Infrastructure; rural economy; natural disasters |
| Date: | 2023–09–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:c00034:96932&r=ure |
| By: | Nathan, Noah |
| Abstract: | I connect the political incentives of state leaders to the physical geometry of urban built environments. Drawing on a novel combination of street network data, archival maps, and satellite imagery, I test and refine classic claims that autocratic regimes seek to order urban space, rendering society more legible through the production of gridded streets. Backdating the construction of 1.5 million streets across a sample of African cities, I show that more ordered, gridded urban neighborhoods emerge under more autocratic post-colonial regimes. But rather than a conscious effort to increase society’s legibility through urban design, evidence on mechanisms is more consistent with urban order emerging as a side-effect of more general patronage strategies autocrats use to placate critical subsets of the urban population. The paper demonstrates that efforts to intervene on the built environment represent an underexplored element of both autocratic and urban politics in the developing world. |
| Date: | 2023–09–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:y4upa&r=ure |
| By: | Borger, Michael; Elacqua, Gregory; Jacas, Isabel; Neilson, Christopher; Westh Olsen, Anne Sofie |
| Abstract: | This paper studies school choice and information in the context of education markets in rural Haiti. Using a market level randomized control trial, we evaluate the aggregate effect of providing test score information on subsequent test scores, prices, and enrollment. After the intervention, we find that private schools have higher test scores, with an average increase of 0.3 standard deviations in treated markets. However, we are unable to detect significant changes to prices and market shares. These findings suggest that providing information in poor education markets can improve market efficiency and benefit children's welfare. |
| Keywords: | private schooling;information asymmetries;school choice;economic development;Haiti |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I22 I24 I25 I28 |
| Date: | 2023–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:12884&r=ure |
| By: | Cainelli, Giulio (University of Padua); Ciccarelli, Carlo (University of Rome "Tor Vergata" and CAGE); Ganau, Roberto (University of Padua and LSE) |
| Abstract: | We study how changes in the administrative hierarchy of a country affect development at the city level. We exploit the 1806 Napoleonic administrative reform implemented in the Kingdom of Naples as a historical experiment to assess whether district capitals endowed with supra-municipal administrative functions by law gained an urban development premium compared with non-capital cities. We assemble an original dataset combining historical data from 1648 to 1911, and rely on difference-in-differences and instrumental variable estimation strategies. We find that district capitals recorded a time-persistent population growth premium in the period 1828–1911, and experienced higher industrialization both before and after the Italian unification occurred in 1861, compared with non-capital cities. We explain our results through mechanisms related to public goods provision and transport network accessibility. |
| Keywords: | Napoleonic reforms; territorial administrative hierarchy; long-run development JEL Classification: H11, N13, O11, R11 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:673&r=ure |
| By: | Łukasz Byra (University of Warsaw, Faculty of Economic Sciences) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides two possible explanations for the mixed evidence regarding migration by low-skilled workers to generous welfare states. Using a model of unrestricted migration to a developed, destination country, which provides a direct and equal social benefit to all its residents, we study the impact of the benefit in a country on the size of its low-skilled immigrant population under the assumption that migration is driven by an international difference in returns to skills, employment opportunities in the destination country, and by the generosity of the benefit in that country. We find that the social benefit affects the size of the country’s low-skilled immigrant population not only directly, via the difference between the benefit and its cost in the form of taxation, but also via two indirect channels. The benefit incentivizes taking up low-skilled jobs among the destination country’s native residents, which adversely affects wages of low-skilled workers in that country, and it increases the risk of unemployment of low-skilled workers therein. Prospective low-skilled migrants view these side effects of the benefit as “stay away” factors. Simulation of the model based on 2018 data for EU-15 economies without Luxembourg highlights the importance of indirect channels in curtailing the inflow of low-skilled migrants to a generous welfare state. When only direct channels are accounted for, semi-elasticities of the size of the low-skilled immigrant population with respect to the social benefit are between 0.2 and 0.54. When indirect channels are allowed to play their roles, the positive relationship between the social benefit and low-skilled immigration is significantly reduced; the semi-elasticities range from 0.13 to 0.4. At the level of the model’s fundamentals, the variation in semi-elasticities between EU-15 countries is largely explained by differences in the size of the welfare state and in efficiency of the labor market across these countries. |
| Keywords: | Welfare migration, Migration by low-skilled workers, Skill formation in a destination country, Unemployment in a destination country |
| JEL: | F22 H31 J24 J64 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:war:wpaper:2023-24&r=ure |
| By: | Alicia Gómez-Tello (University of Valencia); María-José Murgui-García; María-Teresa Sanchis-Llopis |
| Abstract: | Over the last two decades a handful of very rich European regions have increased the gap separating them from the European average in terms of labour productivity. In this paper we extend a spatial version of the Mankiw, Romer and Weil model (MRW, 1992) as developed by Fischer (2011) to accommodate human capital spillovers linked to agglomeration. After modelling this specific spillover, we go on to test empirically whether its effect has been to stimulate labour productivity growth in those European regions with the greatest potential to benefit from agglomeration economies. The theoretical model leads to a cross-sectional spatial Durbin model specification. The empirical analysis is carried out for 121 European regions for the period 1995-2014. We find significant conditional b-convergence, positive impacts of investment in physical and human capital, and a negative impact of population growth. Our most notable result involves the specific spillover effect that enhances the impact of investment in human capital in the most highly agglomerated regions. We find this externality significant in explaining labour productivity growth and therefore also in increasing labour productivity disparities across European regions. |
| Keywords: | Human capital, labour productivity, spatial externalities, European region |
| JEL: | R |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inf:wpaper:2023.11&r=ure |
| By: | Foged, Mette; van der Werf, Cynthia |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether language classes raises refugees' language proficiency and improves their socio-economic integration. Our identification strategy leverages the opening, closing, and gradual expansion of local language training centers in Denmark, as well as the quasi-random assignment of the refugees to locations with varying proximity to a language training center. First, we show that refugees' distance from the assigned language training center is as good as random conditional on initial placement. Second, we show that a one-hour decrease in commuting time increases total hours of class attended by 46 to 71. Third, we use this novel identification strategy to show that 100 additional hours of language class increases fluency in the Danish language by 8-9 percent, post-language training human capital acquisition by 11-13 percent and improve the integration of the refugees in the communities where they were initially placed, as measured by the lower exit rates from those same communities and an almost 70 percent reduction in mobility to the largest, most immigrant-dense cities in Denmark. |
| Keywords: | Refugee Integration;Language Skills |
| JEL: | J60 J24 |
| Date: | 2023–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:12862&r=ure |
| By: | Danielle V. Handel; Eric A. Hanushek |
| Abstract: | Recent attention to the causal identification of spending impacts provides improved estimates of spending outcomes in a variety of circumstances, but the estimates are substantially different across studies. Half of the variation in estimated funding impact on test scores and over three-quarters of the variation of impacts on school attainment reflect differences in the true parameters across study contexts. Unfortunately, inability to describe the circumstances underlying effective school spending impedes any attempts to generalize from the extant results to new policy situations. The evidence indicates that how funds are used is crucial to the outcomes but such factors as targeting of funds or court interventions fail to explain the existing pattern of results. |
| Keywords: | school finance, evaluation |
| JEL: | I21 H40 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10664&r=ure |
| By: | Liwen Chen (East China Normal University); Bobby W. Chung (University of South Florida); Guanghua Wang (Nanjing Audit University) |
| Abstract: | Increased exposure to gender-role information affects a girl's educational performance. Utilizing the classroom randomization in Chinese middle schools, we find that the increased presence of stay-at-home peer mothers significantly reduces a girl's performance in mathematics. This exposure also cultivates gendered attitudes towards mathematics and STEM professions. Long exposure, dense network, and distant parent-daughter relationship enhance peer mothers' influences. As falsification tests against unobserved confounding factors, we find that the exposure to stay-at-home peer mothers does not affect boys' performance, nor do we find that stay-at-home peer fathers affect girls' outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Cultural transmission, Gender identity, Gender norms, Role models |
| JEL: | I24 J16 Z13 |
| Date: | 2023–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usf:wpaper:2023-03&r=ure |
| By: | Eric A. Hanushek; Lavinia Kinne; Pietro Sancassani; Ludger Woessmann |
| Abstract: | Decisions to invest in human capital depend on people’s time preferences. We show that differences in patience are closely related to substantial subnational differences in educational achievement, leading to new perspectives on longstanding within-country disparities. We use social-media data – Facebook interests – to construct novel regional measures of patience within Italy and the United States. Patience is strongly positively associated with student achievement in both countries, accounting for two-thirds of the achievement variation across Italian regions and one-third across U.S. states. Results also hold for six other countries with more limited regional achievement data. |
| Keywords: | patience, student achievement, regions, social media, Facebook |
| JEL: | I21 Z10 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10660&r=ure |
| By: | Duygu Buyukyazici; ; |
| Abstract: | Regional capabilities are considered the primary source of the industrial diversification process. Even so, the existing practice is somewhat reluctant to observe their exact nature. The present study explores one important dimension of regional capabilities, namely the gender gap in workplace skills, and considers it in accounting for the observed patterns of industrial diversification of regions. By constructing a gender skill gap indicator at the industry-region level, female-biased and male-biased skill gaps are analysed. The descriptive and empirical analyses document significant variations of the gender skill gaps across industries and regions. By employing piecewise logistic models, the study unfolds the contrasting impacts of the female-biased and male-biased skill gaps on the industrial diversification of regions. |
| Keywords: | Regional Capabilities; Gender; Diversification; Skill Gap; Industries |
| JEL: | J24 O18 R10 R23 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2319&r=ure |
| By: | Victor Lavy |
| Abstract: | School authorities, universities, and employers often schedule multiple tests on the same day or week, causing overlapping exam preparation and a dense testing schedule. This multitask learning can be intense, under pressure, and challenge the student’s mental and physical perseverance. As a result, it can compromise performance relative to a more ‘relaxed’ schedule. This paper examines the consequences of multitasking for test scores and cheating in exams and its implications for the ability and gender cognitive gap. The empirical context is high-stakes exit exams in Israel, done at the end of high school. I leverage the empirical setting on two natural experiments to estimate the causal effect of this multitasking learning. The first exploits random variation in the number of weekly tests—the second hinges on days with multiple exams versus days with a single exam. The results show several important regularities. First, the number of exams in a day or a week harms test performance. Second, these effects are evidenced for high and low-ability students, boys and girls. They are much more extensive for immigrants than natives. Third, the harm of such multitasking is larger in tests later in the schedule, daily or weekly. Fourth, these effects are larger in tests of STEM subjects. Fifth, dense exams schedule increase the likelihood of students behaving dishonestly in exams. |
| JEL: | I20 J0 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31699&r=ure |
| By: | Fernando M. Aragon, Hernan Winkler (Simon Fraser University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the long-term impact of the canon, a resource-based transfer, on local living conditions in Peruvian municipalities. We use the most recent data and several identification strategies with cross-section and panel data. We find no evidence of significant improvements in access to public services, poverty, or inequality. This negligible impact occurs, even though we do observe sizable increases in municipalities’ revenue, personnel, and equipment. We only observe some suggestive, albeit weak, evidence of increased infrastructure projects in local areas, such as the construction and repair of urban roads. |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sfu:sfudps:dp23-09&r=ure |
| By: | Anne Aguilera (LVMT - Laboratoire Ville, Mobilité, Transport - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - Université Gustave Eiffel); Laetitia Dablanc (LVMT - Laboratoire Ville, Mobilité, Transport - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - Université Gustave Eiffel); Alain Rallet (RITM - Réseaux Innovation Territoires et Mondialisation - Université Paris-Saclay) |
| Abstract: | Platform-based on-demand delivery services are rapidly developing in urban areas, especially in the food sector, raising new issues for urban planners, especially in the field of transport. Based on a survey of over 100 couriers conducted in 2018 in the municipality of Paris (France), this work aims at analyzing the profile, delivery activity and mobility practices of the couriers working for these platforms. The main objective is to show how mobility practices are shaped by the characteristics of digital work in the urban delivery sector, and to highlight new challenges for urban authorities and research. Compared to other studies, our work is based on quantitative data and distinguishes three categories of couriers, depending on whether they have another activity: students, people with another paid job, and people with no other paid or non-paid activity. Findings show that these three categories have different characteristics, regarding age, education, residential location, the intensity of delivery activity and the characteristics of mobility practices, especially regarding the transport modes used. The article ends with the discussion of a number of new challenges for both urban authorities and researchers regarding the sustainability of these new forms of digital work in urban delivery. |
| Keywords: | ON-DEMAND URBAN DELIVERY, COURIERS, PLATFORM, DIGITAL WORK, GIG WORK, MOBILITY PRACTICES, CITY LOGISTICS, PARIS |
| Date: | 2022–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03946497&r=ure |
| By: | Nicola Branson (SALDRU, University of Cape Town); Vimal Ranchhod (SALDRU, University of Cape Town); Emma Whitelaw (SALDRU, University of Cape Town) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates potential grade 12 learning losses in 2020 using applications and enrolment data from the University of Cape Town (UCT). Using difference-in-difference strategies, we find suggestive evidence of learning loss in the state National Senior Certificate (NSC) in 2020 among both applicants and enrolees. For enrolees, we observe lower first-year academic performance, as measured by Grade Point Average, among those who enrolled in 2021 and wrote the 2020 NSC, compared to students who enrolled in 2021 but wrote the NSC in before 2020. In the applications data, we observe a negative change in the relationship between a student’s grade 11 and grade 12 marks compared to pre-pandemic trends. Specifically, given grade 11 marks, we observe lower average NSC scores for students who wrote the NSC in 2020, compared to similar students in previous years. The effect appears to be driven by students at the lower end of the grade 11 academic performance distribution in the UCT data. Despite expectations that the impact of school closures in 2020 may have differed by school quintile, the UCT applications data indicate similar effects across school quintiles. This could potentially reflect the prioritisation of grade 12s during school closures, or the select sample of students who apply to UCT from under-resourced schools. The improved maths performance that we observe for writers of the 2020 NSC in the applications data was not expected, but this could reflect adjustments to individual NSC subjects. Overall, this study sheds light on the complexities of quantifying learning losses, particularly at the nexus of secondary and tertiary education, and prompts a need for ongoing investigation on the longer-term ramifications of learning losses (e.g. on performance at tertiary level over time and changes in the composition of who enrols). |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ldr:wpaper:301&r=ure |
| By: | Joan Monras; Jose G. Montalvo |
| Abstract: | Catalonia enacted a second-generation rental cap policy that affected only some municipalities and, within those, only units with prices above their “reference” price. We show that, as intended, the policy led to a reduction in rental prices, but with price increases at the bottom and price declines at the top of the distribution. The policy also affected supply, with exit at the top which is not compensated by entry at the bottom. We show that a model with quality differences in rental units rationalizes the empirical facts and allows us to compute the welfare consequences of the policy. |
| Keywords: | rental markets; rent control; housing supply |
| JEL: | D04 R21 R28 R31 |
| Date: | 2023–09–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedfwp:96942&r=ure |
| By: | William R. Dougan; Jorge Luis García; Illia Polovnikov |
| Abstract: | We offer a new analysis of a large-scale trial of an early-childhood education program that targeted premature, low-birthweight children. This targeting heavily oversampled twins, whose outcomes differed significantly from singletons’. Singletons’ gains in short-term cognition and age-18 non-cognitive skills were comparable to those of the Perry Preschool and Carolina Abecedarian Projects, supporting those programs’ scalability. For twins, however, the program generated smaller positive short-term gains and negative age-18 impacts. These outcome differences arise from differences in parents’ response to the program. A household production model suggests that the possibility of jointly supplying parenting to twins helps explain those differences. |
| JEL: | C93 H83 I28 J13 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31694&r=ure |
| By: | Ajzenman, Nicolás; Elacqua, Gregory; Jaimovich, Analia; Pérez-Nuñez, Graciela |
| Abstract: | Empirical results in economics often stem from success in controlled experimental settings, but often fail when scaled up. This study presents a behavioral intervention and a scalable equivalent aimed at reducing teacher shortages by motivating high school students to pursue an education degree. The intervention was delivered through WhatsApp chats by trained human promoters (humans arm) and rule-based Chatbots programmed to closely replicate the humans program (bots arm). Results show that the humans arm successfully increased high-school students demand for and enrollment in education majors, particularly among high-performing students. The bots arm showed positive but smaller and statistically insignificant effects. These findings indicate that a relatively low-cost intervention can effectively reduce teacher shortages, but scaling up such interventions may have limitations. Therefore, testing scalable solutions during the design stage of experiments is crucial. |
| Keywords: | Teachers;Teacher policy;teacher shortages;scale-up;behavioral;bots |
| JEL: | D91 I23 I25 |
| Date: | 2023–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:13010&r=ure |
| By: | Makram El-Shagi (Center for Financial Development and Stability at Henan University, and School of Economics at Henan University, Kaifeng, Henan); Kiril Tochkov (Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX, US) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the presence of regional heterogeneity in the response of inflation to changes in the output gap in China. We estimate the slope of the provincial Phillips curve for five different price indices using quarterly data over the period 2000-2022. The presence of regional heterogeneity is tested by comparing a fixed effects and a mean group specification. Our results indicate that the slope of the provincial Phillips curve in China is positive and significant for property prices and the producer price index (PPI), which is explained by their focus on non-tradables and goods specific to the local economy, respectively. Other price indices centered on tradables do not show significant sensitivity to provincial output shocks. Regional heterogeneity in the provincial slope is confirmed only in the case of the PPI with around 60% of provinces, including most coastal provinces, exhibiting a positive coefficient. Our findings point to the share of industry and the market power of industrial enterprises as significant contributors to the sensitivity of inflation to provincial demand shocks. Moreover, we show that a stronger market-orientation and a smaller role of the state in a given province are also positively associated with the slope of the Phillips curve. |
| Keywords: | Phillips curve, inflation, China, regional heterogeneity |
| JEL: | E31 |
| Date: | 2023–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fds:dpaper:202303&r=ure |
| By: | Stienen, Valentijn (Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management); den Hertog, Dick (Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management); Wagenaar, Joris (Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management); Zegher, J.F. |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tiu:tiutis:de5c3c6d-44ee-45cf-b207-c748ae918bd5&r=ure |
| By: | Francis Wong; Kate Pennington; Amir Kermani |
| Abstract: | Housing wealth comprises 40 percent of the net wealth of retirement-age Americans, 43 percent of whom have not yet paid off their mortgages. This report analyzes two research questions. First, we evaluate the extent to which Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) benefits advance economic security and racial equity among homeowners. Our use of linked administrative data facilitates a comparative analysis of economic well-being measures before and after homeowners became eligible for OASI benefits. Second, we analyze how racial disparities in job losses during working years contribute to racial differences in economic security at retirement, focusing particularly on exposure to distressed home sales. Utilizing confidential taxpayer microdata, we assess racial discrepancies in the incidence of job loss, distressed sales, and wealth destruction due to distressed sales. Our findings imply that racial/ethnic differences in wealth at retirement are at least partly attributable to differences in labor market experiences. In terms of policy implications, our findings provide support for policies that mitigate employment and income instability during working years. Such policies are likely to have effects that accumulate throughout the life cycle and can mitigate racial/ethnic differences in wealth at retirement. |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:tnotes:23-17&r=ure |
| By: | Erik Brynjolfsson (Stanford University and NBER); Catherine Buffington (U.S. Census Bureau); Nathan Goldschlag (U.S. Census Bureau); J. Frank Li (Stanford University); Javier Miranda (Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH), and Friedrich-Schiller University Jena); Robert Seamans (New York University) |
| Abstract: | We use data from the Annual Survey of Manufactures to study the characteristics and geography of investments in robots across U.S. manufacturing establishments. We find that robotics adoption and robot intensity (the number of robots per employee) is much more strongly related to establishment size than age. We find that establishments that report having robotics have higher capital expenditures, including higher information technology (IT) capital expenditures. Also, establishments are more likely to have robotics if other establishments in the same Core-Based Statistical Area (CBSA) and industry also report having robotics. The distribution of robots is highly skewed across establishments’ locations. Some locations, which we call Robot Hubs, have far more robots than one would expect even after accounting for industry and manufacturing employment. We characterize these Robot Hubs along several industry, demographic, and institutional dimensions. The presence of robot integrators and higher levels of union membership are positively correlated with being a Robot Hub. |
| Keywords: | robot, technology adoption, manufacturing, labor |
| Date: | 2023–10–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2023-014&r=ure |
| By: | Wolfgang Maennig (Chair for Economic Policy, University of Hamburg); Stefan Wilhelm (Chair for Economic Policy, University of Hamburg) |
| Abstract: | Adding to the extensive political and legal debates on data retention, this is the first study to analyse the impacts of data retention on crime prevention in Europe. Using an estimator that captures dynamic effects and is robust to heterogeneous treatment effects, we find a significant negative effect on aggregate crime rates. However, our findings indicate that a minimum of one year is required following the implementation of the obligations for a decline in crime rates to occur, indicating a gradual adjustment in delinquent behaviour. Moreover, distinct effects occur not only after the introduction of data retention laws but also when these laws are cancelled. In addition, we present evidence that the effects on aggregate crime rates are likely to be driven by changes in property crime rates and fraud, while violent crime rates remain unaffected. |
| Date: | 2023–10–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hce:wpaper:074&r=ure |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | Produced as part of the OECD Global Action “Promoting Social and Solidarity Economy Ecosystems” funded by the European Union, this paper explores the role of the social and solidarity economy (SSE) in implementing and complementing public systems for refugee protection, reception and integration. In particular, it reviews the different activities SSE entities can deploy in support of forcibly displaced populations, asylum seekers and refugees, along their journey from origin through to destination countries. Finally, it offers some policy considerations on how the SSE can help national and local governments identify win-win solutions for refugee and host communities. |
| Keywords: | asylum seekers, cooperative, forced displacement, local development, non profit, refugees, social and solidarity economy, social economy, social enterprise, social entrepreneurship, social innovation |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J61 L33 L31 |
| Date: | 2023–10–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:cfeaaa:2023/15-en&r=ure |
| By: | Tiffany S. Neman |
| Abstract: | Though unit nonresponse threatens data quality in both cross-sectional and panel surveys, little is understood about how initial nonresponse and later panel attrition may be theoretically or empirically distinct phenomena. This study advances current knowledge of the determinants of both unit nonresponse and panel attrition within the context of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) panel survey, which I link with high-quality federal administrative records, paradata, and geographic data. By exploiting the SIPP’s interpenetrated sampling design and relying on cross-classified random effects modeling, this study quantifies the relative effects of sample household, interviewer, and place characteristics on baseline nonresponse and later attrition, addressing a critical gap in the literature. Given the reliance on successful record linkages between survey sample households and federal administrative data in the nonresponse research, this study also undertakes an explicitly spatial analysis of the place-based characteristics associated with successful record linkages in the U.S. |
| Keywords: | Unit Nonresponse, Panel Attrition, Refusal, Noncontact, Interviewer Effects, Area Effects |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:23-44&r=ure |
| By: | David B. Cashin; Byron F. Lutz; William B. Peterman; David Ratner; Sarah Rodman |
| Abstract: | On the eve of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, state and local government (S&L) employment in the U.S. stood at 20 million. In the first three months of the pandemic, S&L payrolls plunged 1.5 million as social distancing reduced the need for many government services, such as in-person schooling, and S&L governments feared sharp revenue declines. |
| Date: | 2023–08–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfn:2023-08-04-2&r=ure |
| By: | Moritz Breul; ; |
| Abstract: | Regional strategies, such as smart specialization strategies, can set the course for future diversification. Despite its importance, surprisingly little is known about how the underlying policy-making process affects the direction of regional strategies, i.e., the priority areas that regions aim to promote. This article proposes a framework that allows to unpack the policy- making process of regional strategy development and link it to the policy outcomes. It highlights that only by considering features of this process, distributed across various actors with heterogenous interests and capabilities, can we explain why regions favor the promotion of certain types of path development over others. |
| Keywords: | Smart specialization, regional policy, regional diversification, regional transformation, regional strategies |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2320&r=ure |
| By: | Malte Jahn |
| Abstract: | A nonlinear regression framework is proposed for time series and panel data for the situation where certain explanatory variables are available at a higher temporal resolution than the dependent variable. The main idea is to use the moments of the empirical distribution of these variables to construct regressors with the correct resolution. As the moments are likely to display nonlinear marginal and interaction effects, an artificial neural network regression function is proposed. The corresponding model operates within the traditional stochastic nonlinear least squares framework. In particular, a numerical Hessian is employed to calculate confidence intervals. The practical usefulness is demonstrated by analyzing the influence of daily temperatures in 260 European NUTS2 regions on the yearly growth of gross value added in these regions in the time period 2000 to 2021. In the particular example, the model allows for an appropriate assessment of regional economic impacts resulting from (future) changes in the regional temperature distribution (mean AND variance). |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2309.10481&r=ure |
| By: | Brown, Austin; Rodriguez, Greg; Hoang, Tiffany; Safford, Hannah; Anderson, Gordon; Cohen D'Agostino, Mollie |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences |
| Date: | 2023–09–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsdav:qt4dc154zc&r=ure |
| By: | Marco Diana; Andrea Chicco |
| Abstract: | The spread of the coronavirus pandemic had negative repercussions on the majority of transport systems in virtually all countries. After the lockdown period, travel restriction policies are now frequently adapted almost real-time according to observed trends in the spread of the disease, resulting in a rapidly changing transport market situation. Shared micromobility operators, whose revenues entirely come from their customers, need to understand how the demand is affected to adapt their operations. Within this framework, the present paper investigates how different COVID-19 restriction levels have affected the usage patterns of shared micromobility. Usage data of two dockless micromobility services (bike and e-scooters) operating in Turin (Italy) are analyzed between October 2020 and March 2021, a period characterized by different travel restriction levels. The average number of daily trips, trip distances and trip duration are retrieved for both services, and then compared to identify significant differences in trends as restriction levels change. Additionally, related impacts on the spatial dimension of the services are studied through hotspot maps. Results show that both services decreased during restrictions, however e-scooters experienced a larger variability in their demand and they had a quicker recovery when travel restrictions were loosened. Shared bikes, in general, suffered less from travel restriction levels, suggesting their larger usage for work and study-related trip purposes, which is confirmed also by the analysis of hotspots. E-scooters are both substituting and complementing public transport according to restriction levels, while usage patterns of shared bikes are more independent. |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2309.16440&r=ure |
| By: | Barbashova, Natalia (Барбашова, Наталия) (The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration); Deryugin, Alexander (Дерюгин, Александр) (The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration); Komarnitskaya, Anna (Комарницкая, Анна) (The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration) |
| Abstract: | The research analyzes the practice of anticrisis support of the subnational level in foreign countries and Russia. The influence of the anticrisis budget policy of the federal center on the balance and sustainability of regional budgets in Russia is assessed. The features of the effectiveness of intergovernmental transfers and budget loans to sub-federal budgets are revealed. It is recommended to take into account the results obtained in the anticrisis support of the regions, as well as to introduce mechanisms that increase the flexibility of federal budget rules to the parameters of subnational finances. |
| Keywords: | ANTICRISIS POLICY, GOVERNMENT REGULATION MEASURES, SUPPORT OF SUBNATIONAL BUDGETS, EASING OF FISCAL RULES, REGIONAL BUDGET, LOCAL BUDGET, BUDGET BALANCE, BUDGET CREDITS, INTERGOVERNMENTAL TRANSFERS |
| JEL: | H12 |
| Date: | 2022–11–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:wpaper:w20220206&r=ure |
| By: | Darling, Wesley; Broader, Jacquelyn; Cohen, Adam; Shaheen, Susan PhD |
| Abstract: | Despite lower user costs, only 20% to 40% of transportation network company (TNC) users select a pooled, or shared, ride option. Why are existing TNC users not selecting the pooled option or using TNCs to connect to public transit, and what role do built environment features and incentives play in their decision? This study explores the factors that influence TNC user decisions through a multi-method approach comprising photovoice small group discussions and a workshop. Between March 2021 and May 2021, 15 San Francisco Bay Area TNC users shared photographs they took of TNC pick-up locations through two-to-three-person guided small group discussions. The photos revealed that users prefer waiting in retail or in well-lit, good-visibility locations. Participants’ primary concern was personal safety, particularly female users who may take additional precautions when walking to pick-up locations and waiting for and taking rides. In July 2021, 12 photovoice participants and 5 stakeholders provided feedback on key findings from the photography discussions. The pooling improvement strategies identified include the following: designated TNC stops with lighting and marked pick-up areas; enhanced in-app safety features; TNC partnerships with employers and retailers to incentivize riders; and mode transfer discounts for connecting TNCs to public transit. The findings suggest that safety related to the built environment plays an outsized role in a TNC user’s decision to pool or connect to public transit, and the out-of-vehicle portion of the TNC trip should be equally considered when developing policies to increase pooling. |
| Keywords: | Engineering |
| Date: | 2023–09–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsrrp:qt73f4d4bc&r=ure |
| By: | Elisa Failache (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía) |
| Abstract: | Distance to university has been shown as an important factor for students’ decisions to continue studying after secondary school and for their academic outcomes. Therefore, the generalized shift to online learning could have opened a window of opportunity for those students living in places lacking a university campus. Following a difference-in-differences strategy, I compare students that already lived in an area with or close to the university (control group) with students that live far away (treated). I take advantage of the institutional setting in Uruguay, where the public university is free and without entrance exam but with campuses only in half of the territory. The data come from administrative records for the period 2017-2021. Results show less adverse effects in terms of dropouts for the treated freshmen students of 2020 but no effects on other academic outcomes conditional on dropout. In addition, I find an enrollment increase in localities without university campuses for 2021. |
| Keywords: | online learning, difference-in- differences, internal migration, educational outcomes |
| JEL: | I22 I23 I24 |
| Date: | 2023–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulr:wpaper:dt-09-23&r=ure |
| By: | Andre, Jennifer (Urban Institute); Blavin, Fredric (Urban Institute); Braga, Breno (Urban Institute); Gangopadhyaya, Anuj (Urban Institute) |
| Abstract: | This study presents new evidence on the potential detrimental effects of hospital closures. We examine how hospital closures affect the likelihood of incurring medical debt. Hospital closures can increase market concentration by removing a competitor from the market. Closures can also have negative spillover effects on the local economy and affect the population's ability to pay their bills. We combine 2011-2020 consumer credit bureau data with information on hospital closures from 2014-2018 to assess the relationship between closures and medical debt. Using a stacked event study approach, we find that a closure that reduces hospital supply in a Hospital Referral Region (HRR) by 10 percent is associated with a 4 percent increase in the share of consumers with medical debt, with larger effects in HRRs that are urban and have higher rates of poverty. Moreover, we find that a hospital closure is associated with about a 6-8 percent increase in hospital market concentration. These findings suggest that the primary mechanism through which hospital closures affect medical debt is by reducing hospital competition in local markets. |
| Keywords: | medical debt, hospital closures, hospital competition |
| JEL: | I11 I14 I18 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16448&r=ure |
| By: | TAKAHASHI Ryo; IGEI Kengo; TSUGAWA Yusuke; NAKAMURO Makiko |
| Abstract: | Silent eating—no talking during mealtimes—was used as a measure to reduce the spread of infectious diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic because the emission of droplets during conversations was considered a risk factor for spreading the virus. Japan implemented silent eating during school lunchtimes in February 2020, and it remained in effect until November 2022. However, concerns have been raised regarding the potentially negative effects of the policy on children's well-being and educational attainment. More importantly, no study to date has examined its effectiveness in reducing the risk of COVID-19 outbreaks. This study aims to address this important knowledge gap by examining the impact of silent eating on the risk of COVID-19 outbreaks. In November 2022, the Japanese government announced that silent eating in public schools was no longer needed, triggering some schools to discontinue this measure while other schools continued its implementation. Utilizing this cancelation of the silent eating requirement as a natural experiment, we investigated whether silent eating was associated with a reduced risk of COVID-19 outbreaks. We measured the probability of class closures in public schools (the government’s guidelines required class closures when more than one child in a class was infected with COVID-19) by applying a Difference-in-Differences model with two-way fixed effects to panel data. We found no evidence that silent eating was associated with a reduced probability of class closures. Heterogeneity analysis also revealed that our findings did not vary by school characteristics. Our findings indicate that policymakers should be cautious about using silent eating at schools as a potential lever to control outbreaks of infectious diseases. |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:23068&r=ure |
| By: | Cazzuffi, Chiara; Pereira-López, Mariana; Rosales, Irving; Soloaga, Isidro |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of changes in local labor market concentration on two components of income inequality in Mexico: local wage shares and labor income inequal-ty. Combining data from the Economic Census and the Population and Housing Censuses, we analyze the mechanisms that drive the relationship between concentration and labor income inequality by considering heterogeneities across groups of workers (skilled and unskilled) and sectors. In line with previous studies for developed countries and with the emerging literature on monopsony power, we first show that a higher level of concentration is associated with reductions in skilled and un-skilled workers wages. Furthermore, the elasticities are relatively similar. Second, there is sectoral heterogeneity as, for manufacturing, unskilled workers' wages decrease more, while skilled workers do not exhibit any reduction. On the other hand, for services, the effects are similar for the two groups. Third, unionization plays a countervailing role against monopsony power, as in highly-unionized sectors, the effect of higher concentration on wages is null, and this is consistent with a higher level of bargaining power. Even though the effects of labor market concentration on inequality are not sizeable, the impact on wages for skilled and unskilled workers is significant. |
| Keywords: | Inequality;Monopsony;Labor markets |
| JEL: | J23 J31 J42 |
| Date: | 2023–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:13044&r=ure |
| By: | Cansu Oymak (Lancaster University, Economics Department, United Kingdom); Jean-François Maystadt (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES)) |
| Abstract: | Following the most dramatic migration episode of the 21st century, Turkey hosted the largest number of Syrian refugees in the world. This paper assesses the impact of the arrival of Syrian refugees on the Turkish children’s health, with a focus on height – a standard nutritional outcome. Accounting for the endogenous choice of immigrant location, our results show that Turkish children residing in provinces with a large share of refugees exhibit a significant improvement in their height as compared to those living in provinces with less refugees. Against other potential channels, a refugee-induced increase in maternal unemployment and the associated increase in maternal care seem to explain the observed positive effect on children’s health. |
| Keywords: | refugees, child health, anthropometric measures, labor market outcomes |
| JEL: | O15 I15 |
| Date: | 2023–09–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2023017&r=ure |
| By: | Rodrigo Ceni (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía); Maira Colacce (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía); Gonzalo Salas (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía) |
| Abstract: | The article evaluates the link between family movements and children’s socioemotional development. Using a longitudinal survey, we can track the number and role of household members and measure the children’s development. We identify the movements of household members during the first seven years of a child’s life. Our findings indicate that the entry of a new member into the household has a negative impact of approximately 0.2 to 0.3 standard deviations on externalizing and internalizing problems, particularly among low-educated households. These entries affect household life, undermining housing quality and limiting the mother’s ability to manage her time effectively. The limited access to maternity leave and breastfeeding working conditions do intensify these inequalities. By analyzing specific movements, we observe that the father’s long-lasting absence impacts externalizing problems. These results hold strong across different samples and specifications, and our study gains causal power by employing the Oster methodology. Despite the impacts on high- and low-educated households, their background plays a role in coping with stressful environments. In low-educated households, stabilization is not achievable even after several months, further exacerbating socioemotional problems. |
| Keywords: | family Instability, panel Data, inequality, socio-emotional development, Uruguay |
| JEL: | J12 J13 R20 |
| Date: | 2023–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulr:wpaper:dt-07-23&r=ure |
| By: | Damjanović, Milan; Lenarčič, Črt |
| Abstract: | This paper replicates and augments a multiple indicator approach of Schneider (2013) and Lenarčič and Damjanović (2015) of the aggregate house price misalignment indicator with the intention of showing the under- and over-valuation in house prices in Slovenia with respect to economic fundamentals. The updated indicator incorporates a subset of underlying indices that better appropriate the post-Covid period. The main findings are that during the 2004-2008 economic boom period the aggregate misalignment indicator clearly indicates a significant over-valuation in house prices in Slovenia. Similarly, another boom(-ish) period is also observed from 2020 on until the present day, but not to the same extent as before. On the other hand, during the second phase of the global financial crisis there was an abrupt correction in house prices. |
| Keywords: | House prices, under-valuation, over-valuation, multiple indicator approach, PCA. |
| JEL: | C43 E31 G12 R31 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:118489&r=ure |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | This policy paper explores the contribution of platform cooperatives to local development as an alternative model to conventional digital platforms. It considers their role in reducing potential negative effects of the digital transition on local communities and places, as well as the new opportunities they present to provide greater quality of life for local residents. The paper introduces the main features of platform cooperatives, explores their contributions to local development and identifies the challenges to their emergence and expansion. It then provides policy orientations that could support the development of platform cooperatives and enhance their contributions to local development.This paper was produced as part of the OECD Global Action on Promoting Social and Solidarity Economy Ecosystems, funded by the European Union’s Foreign Partnership Instrument. |
| Keywords: | cooperative, local development, non-profit, social and solidarity economy, social economy, social enterprise, social entrepreneurship, social innovation |
| JEL: | L33 L31 |
| Date: | 2023–10–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:cfeaaa:2023/14-en&r=ure |
| By: | Ivan T. Ivanov; Tom Zimmermann |
| Abstract: | We study the determinants of local governments’ reliance on bank loans using granular data from the Federal Reserve. Governments that are larger, rely on stable revenue sources, or have higher spending relative to revenues are more likely to borrow from banks. About a third of governments in the top revenue quintile have obtained bank loans since 2011, typically accounting for a fifth of their total debt. Declines in revenues, reductions in bond market access, agency rating downgrades, and relationships with financial advisers and underwriters all strongly predict higher bank loan reliance. While resemblance between bank loans and bonds is limited, loans afford governments significant financial flexibility not otherwise available in the municipal bond market. The frequent loan renegotiation and credit line use are both highly responsive to changes in credit quality, thereby tailoring debt contracts to changes in government fundamentals. |
| Keywords: | local government borrowing; debt heterogeneity; fiscal shocks |
| JEL: | H74 G21 G32 |
| Date: | 2023–07–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedhwp:96669&r=ure |
| By: | Arrizaga, Rubí; Clarke, Damian; Cubillos, Pedro P.; Ruiz-Tagle V., Cristóbal |
| Abstract: | Wildfires are increasing in frequency and intensity. We study the impact of exposure to wildfires on air pollutants and on human health in Chile, finding substantial impacts on both classes of outcomes. We use data on 15 wildfire seasons (2004-2018) matched with granular (intra-day) records of wind direction and air quality, as well as administrative records of all hospitalizations in the country. By combining the precise location of fires with wind direction at the moment in which fires occur, we estimate causal impacts of exposure to wildfires. We find considerable impacts. Exposure to a large wildfire (250 Ha) is observed to increase PM2:5 concentrations by 10% on average in municipalities up to 200km from the epicenter of the wildfire. These effects have appreciable impacts on rates of hospitalization. A one standard deviation increase in exposure to large wildfires is estimated to increase rates of respiratory hospitalizations by 0.75%, while the effect of exposure to the most extreme week of wildfires observed is estimated to increase hospitalizations by as much as a third. Effects are found to be particularly acute for infants, and to grow with the size of the exposure to wildfire (both in terms of duration and area burned). |
| Keywords: | natural disasters;Wildfires;Air pollution;human capital;Heal |
| JEL: | Q54 I18 R11 |
| Date: | 2023–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:12954&r=ure |
| By: | Mateo-Berganza Díaz, María Mercedes; Näslund-Hadley, Emma; Cabra, Margarita; Vélez Medina, Laura Felizia |
| Abstract: | In this article we experimentally evaluate Colombia’s Think Equal program, which teaches socioemotional skills to children ages 3 to 6. Given the context of COVID-19, the original design was adapted as a hybrid model, alternating in-person and remote instruction and engaging families in the implementation of the curriculum. We found that the program had positive effects on children’s prosocial behavior, self-awareness, and cognitive learning. The intervention also had an impact on education centers personnel (community mothers) and caregivers implementing the activities. Treated community mothers had higher levels of empathy, lower negative health symptoms, better pedagogical practices, and a closer relationship with the children’s caregivers compared with those in the control group. Treated caregivers had better stimulation practices and lower negative health symptoms compared with those in the control group. These findings suggest that a well-designed intervention has the potential to develop socioemotional skills in children at an early age and, at the same time, to develop capacities in those who implement the activities. Our results have important implications for the design, implementation, and evaluation of early childhood socioemotional learning programs and provide novel evidence about the challenges faced by interventions combining face-to-face and remote learning. |
| Keywords: | Preschool learning;socioemotional learning;early childhood development;parent engagement;randomized controlled trial |
| JEL: | C93 I20 I24 |
| Date: | 2023–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:12829&r=ure |
| By: | Yeon-Koo Che; Dong Woo Hahm; YingHua He |
| Abstract: | Inferring applicant preferences is fundamental in many analyses of school-choice data. Application mistakes make this task challenging. We propose a novel approach to deal with the mistakes in a deferred-acceptance matching environment. The key insight is that the uncertainties faced by applicants, e.g., due to tie-breaking lotteries, render some mistakes costly, allowing us to reliably infer relevant preferences. Our approach extracts all information on preferences robustly to payoff-insignificant mistakes. We apply it to school-choice data from Staten Island, NYC. Counterfactual analysis suggests that we underestimate the effects of proposed desegregation reforms when applicants' mistakes are not accounted for in preference inference and estimation. |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2309.14297&r=ure |
| By: | Philippe Adair; Shireen AlAzzawi; Vladimir Hlasny |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eru:erudwp:wp23-05&r=ure |
| By: | Stefanie A. Haller; Eoin T. Flaherty; Ragnhild Balsvik; Stefanie Haller |
| Abstract: | This paper replicates Poole (2013) using comprehensive Norwegian and Irish register data. Our results largely confirm the evidence documented in Poole for Brazil which suggests that when workers leave multinationals and are rehired at domestic establishments, the wages of their new coworkers who have already been present in the plant increase. However, unlike suggested in the original article there is little indication that these spillovers differ in a statistically significant way across various dimensions of heterogeneity for any of the three countries. |
| Keywords: | multinational firms, wage spillovers, worker mobility, replication |
| JEL: | F23 F61 J31 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10654&r=ure |
| By: | Duryea, Suzanne; Ribas, Rafael P.; Sampaio, Breno; Sampaio, Gustavo R.; Trevisan, Giuseppe |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the long-term impact on earnings of attending a tuition-free, top-quality university in Brazil. We identify the causal effect through a sharp discontinuity in an admission process based on test scores. If admitted, low-income students are found to increase their earnings by 26% ten years later. However, admission has a small and insignificant effect on high-income students. The difference between income groups is not explained by educational attainment, program choice, or selection into better-paying jobs. The evidence suggests that most low-income applicants, if not admitted, still graduate from college but with much lower returns to education. High-income applicants who just miss the cutoff, however, can find other opportunities such that earnings trajectories are unchanged. Our results underscore the role of affordable higher education in promoting social mobility. |
| Keywords: | College wage premium;Affordability;school quality;income groups |
| JEL: | H52 I23 I26 |
| Date: | 2023–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:12934&r=ure |
| By: | Jose Maria Barrero; Nicholas Bloom; Steven J. Davis |
| Abstract: | Full days worked at home account for 28 percent of paid workdays among Americans 20-64 years old, as of mid 2023, according to the Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes. That’s about four times the 2019 rate and ten times the rate in the mid-1990s that we estimate in time-use data. We first explain why the big shift to work from home has endured rather than reverting to pre-pandemic levels. We then consider how work-from-home rates vary by worker age, sex, education, parental status, industry and local population density, and why it is higher in the United States than other countries. We also discuss some implications of the big shift for pay, productivity, and the pace of innovation. Over the next five years, U.S. business executives anticipate modest increases in the share of fully remote jobs at their own companies and in the share of jobs with hybrid arrangements, whereby the employee splits the workweek between home and employer premises. Other factors that portend an enduring shift to work from home include the ongoing adaptation of managerial practices and further advances in technologies, products, and tools that support remote work. |
| JEL: | D13 D23 E24 J22 J31 M54 R3 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31686&r=ure |
| By: | Bottcher, Lucas; Chou, Tom; D'Orsogna, Maria Rita |
| Abstract: | The drug overdose crisis in the United States continues to intensify. Fatalities have increased five-fold since 1999 reaching a record high of 108, 000 deaths in 2021. The epidemic has unfolded through distinct waves of different drug types, uniquely impacting various age, gender, race and ethnic groups in specific geographical areas. One major challenge in designing effective interventions is the forecasting of age-specific overdose patterns at the local level so that prevention and preparedness can be effectively delivered. We develop a forecasting method that assimilates observational data obtained from the CDC WONDER database with an age-structured model of addiction and overdose mortality. We apply our method nationwide and to three select areas: Los Angeles County, Cook County and the five boroughs of New York City, providing forecasts of drug-overdose mortality and estimates of relevant epidemiological quantities, such as mortality and age-specific addiction rates. |
| Date: | 2023–09–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:yfdj5&r=ure |
| By: | Ben Jann (Institute of Sociology, University of Bern) |
| Abstract: | geoplot is a new command for drawing maps from shape files and other datasets. Multiple layers of elements such as regions, borders, lakes, roads, labels, and symbols can be freely combined and the look of elements (e.g., color) can be varied depending on the values of variables. Compared to previous solutions in Stata, geoplot provides more user convenience, more functionality, and more flexibility. In this talk I will introduce the basic components of the command and illustrate its use with examples. |
| Date: | 2023–09–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boc:lsug23:23&r=ure |
| By: | Roy, Ambika; Mukherjee, Anirban (University of Calcutta) |
| Abstract: | In presence of ethnic voting, violence is often used in India to dissuade ethnic minorities from voting. In this paper, we examine if violence against disadvantaged castes follows a pattern during an electoral cycle. More specifically, we want to see if crimes against the Scheduled Caste population in India is affected by it’s proximity to state assembly elections. For this we construct a district level panel of 466 districts, spread across 18 states from2007 to 2021 on crime and elections in India. Our baseline specification exploits a fixed effects model and finds that election years are marked by a statistically significant fall in caste violence, which is quite high in the year preceding the election. A heterogeneity analysis reveals that the effect is significantly enhanced in districts with a history of caste politics, especially where caste parties have more political power. Our findings also support the claim that an increase in political power leads to a greater degree of confrontation and conflict rather than its prevention. |
| Date: | 2023–09–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:bh2vk&r=ure |
| By: | Van Capellen, Hanne; De Weerdt, Joachim |
| Abstract: | Rural labor markets in Africa are frequently characterized by underemployment, with farmers unable to fully deploy throughout the year one of their most important assets—their labor. Using a nine-year panel data set on 1, 407 working-age adults from rural Malawi, we document changes in rural underemployment over this period and how they are associated with urbanization. Nearby urban growth results in increased hours worked in casual labor (ganyu) and in non-agricultural sectors, at the expense of work on the household farm. Improved urban access is also associated with a small increase in wage labor and, at the intensive margin, with hours supplied in household enterprises. We draw lessons from these results for policies, investments, and interventions to leverage urban growth for rural development. |
| Keywords: | MALAWI; SOUTHERN AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; rural population; underemployment; farmers; labour; urbanization; income; households; rural development |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:masspp:43&r=ure |
| By: | Peña, Jorge; Mullon, Charles; Lehmann, Laurent |
| Abstract: | Many social interactions happen indirectly via modifications of environmental variables, e.g. through the depletion of renewable resources or the secretion of functional compounds. Here, we derive the selection gradient on a quantitative trait affecting the dynamics of such environmental vari-ables that feedback on reproduction and survival in a patch-structured population that is finite, of con-stant size, and subject to isolation by distance. Our analysis shows that the selection gradient depends on how a focal individual influences the fitness of all future individuals in the population through modifications of the environmental variables they experience, weighted by the neutral relatedness be-tween recipients and the focal. The evolutionarily relevant trait-driven environmental modifications are formalized as the extended phenotypic effects of an individual, which quantify how a trait change in the individual in the present affects the environmental variables in all patches at all future times. When the trait affects reproduction and survival through some payoff function, the selection gradient can be expressed in terms of extended phenotypic effects weighted by scaled-relatedness coefficients. We show how to compute extended phenotypic effects, relatedness, and scaled-relatedness coefficients using Fourier analysis, allowing us to investigate a broad class of environmentally mediated social in-teractions in a tractable way. We illustrate our approach by studying the evolution of a trait controlling the costly production of some lasting commons (e.g. a common-pool resource or a toxic compound) that can diffuse in space. We show that whether selection favours environmentally mediated altruism or spite depends on the spatial correlation between an individual’s lineage and the commons originat-ing from its patch. The sign of this correlation depends on interactions between dispersal patterns and the commons’ renewal dynamics. More broadly, we suggest that selection can favour a wide range of social behaviours when these are mediated in space and time through environmental feedback. |
| Keywords: | Adaptive dynamics; Metacommunity; Extended Phenotype; Altruism; Spite |
| Date: | 2023–10–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:iastwp:128557&r=ure |
| By: | Roodman, David |
| Abstract: | This paper reanalyzes Khanna (2023), which studies labor market effects of schooling in India through regression discontinuity designs. Absent from the data are four dis-tricts close to the discontinuity; restoring them cuts the reduced-form impacts on schooling and log wages by 57% and 63%. Using regression-specific optimal band-widths and a robust variance estimator clustered at the geographic unit of treatment makes impacts statistically indistinguishable from 0. That finding is robust to varying the identifying threshold and the bandwidth. The estimates of general equilibrium effects and elasticities of substitution are not unbiased and have effectively infinite first and second moments. |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:i4rdps:70&r=ure |
| By: | Gilles Grolleau (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - UM - Université de Montpellier); Lisette L. Ibanez (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - UM - Université de Montpellier); Naoufel Mzoughi (ECODEVELOPPEMENT - Unité de recherche d'Écodéveloppement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | Environment-related decisions can be taken in situ or remotely. We discuss theoretically why and how this seemingly irrelevant factor, that is, the distance between the place of decision and the place where it is applied, affects the moral judgment by external third parties. We mobilize the out-group bias and the construal level theory to predict that distant decisions will be judged more severely than close equivalent ones. Using an experimental survey, we test whether an identical decision regarding an environmental wrongdoing is judged differently when observers are informed that the decision has been taken in situ or remotely. The findings support that the distance between decision centers and application places matters. An increase in spatial distance leads to a more severe judgment of an otherwise identical decision. We draw implications for business environmental strategy and suggest the existence of a liability of distance in the moral domain. |
| Keywords: | decisions, distance, moral judgment, environmental wrongdoings., CSR, sustainability |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03712726&r=ure |
| By: | Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes; Esther Arenas-Arroyo; Parag Mahajan; Bernhard Schmidpeter (Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz) |
| Abstract: | We examine how migrant workers impact firm performance using administrative data from the United States. Exploiting an unexpected change in firms' likelihood of securing low-wage workers through the H-2B visa program, we find limited crowd-out of other forms of employment and no impact on average pay at the firm. Yet, access to H-2B workers raises firms' annual revenues and survival likelihood. Our results are consistent with the notion that guest worker programs can help address labor shortages without inflicting large losses on incumbent workers. |
| Keywords: | guest workers, migrants, employment, firm dynamics, H-2B visa |
| JEL: | J23 F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jku:econwp:2023-10&r=ure |
| By: | Kristina McElheran; J. Frank Li; Erik Brynjolfsson; Zachary Krof; Emin Dinlersoz; Lucia Foster; Nikolas Zolas |
| Abstract: | We study the early adoption and diffusion of five AI-related technologies (automated-guided vehicles, machine learning, machine vision, natural language processing, and voice recognition) as documented in the 2018 Annual Business Survey of 850, 000 firms across the United States. We find that fewer than 6% of firms used any of the AI-related technologies we measure, though most very large firms reported at least some AI use. Weighted by employment, average adoption was just over 18%. Among dynamic young firms, AI use was highest alongside more-educated, more-experienced, and younger owners, including owners motivated by bringing new ideas to market or helping the community. AI adoption was also more common in startups displaying indicators of high-growth entrepreneurship, such as venture capital funding, recent innovation, and growth-oriented business strategies. Adoption was far from evenly spread across America: a handful of “superstar” cities and emerging technology hubs led startups’ use of AI. These patterns of early AI use foreshadow economic and social impacts far beyond its limited initial diffusion, with the possibility of a growing “AI divide” if early patterns persist. |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:23-48&r=ure |
| By: | Bobby W. Chung (University of South Florida) |
| Abstract: | In 2014, California lifted legal work status requirement for dozens of occupational licenses - a major obstacle for undocumented immigrants in the US to access professional jobs. This paper assesses its effects on the employment outcome of undocumented immigrants in California. Analysing likely undocumented immigrants in the American Community Survey, I find that the law increased their employment, particularly in lower-skill or blue-collar licensed occupations, and older or Hispanic workers. I also find the law did not crowd out documented or domestic workers. |
| Keywords: | Occupational licensing, Undocumented immigrants, Employment |
| JEL: | J15 J44 K37 |
| Date: | 2023–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usf:wpaper:2023-02&r=ure |
| By: | Dominik Jurek |
| Abstract: | Do patents facilitate market entry and job creation? Using a 2014 Supreme Court decision that limited patent eligibility and natural language processing methods to identify invalid patents, I find that large treated firms reduce job creation and create fewer new establishments in response, with no effect on new firm entry. Moreover, companies shift toward innovation aimed at improving existing products consistent with the view that patents incentivize creative destruction. |
| Keywords: | intellectual property rights, creative destruction, entry, job creation, Alice decision, natural language processing |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:23-45&r=ure |