|
on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Wilhelmsson, Mats (Department of Real Estate and Construction Management, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | Churches are visible both in the city and in the countryside, and throughout history, the church has been central to both religious and administrative life. However, the role of the church has changed over time. We examine whether churches influence the housing market beyond their religious functions. Three questions are in focus: how churches are geographically distributed, whether proximity to a church affects housing prices, and whether this is linked to social cohesion, such as voter turnout. The study is based on more than 33, 000 housing sales in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2023, and uses a combination of hedonic pricing, geographically weighted regression, and propensity score matching. Data on church locations are obtained from OpenStreetMap and the Swedish National Heritage Board. The results show that proximity to a church is generally associated with higher housing prices (around 2-12%), especially within 250 metres. Proximity to cemeteries has a slightly higher impact on prices (around 10-13%). Hence, it suggests that churches and cemeteries are regarded as amenities or positive externalities. Overall, the results show that even in secularised societies, culturally charged places such as churches can have tangible economic value in the urban landscape. |
| Keywords: | Church; Cemeteries; Capitalisation; House Prices |
| JEL: | R14 R21 R31 Z12 |
| Date: | 2025–12–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:kthrec:2025_014 |
| By: | Paul Glewwe (University of Minnesota); David Raitzer (Asian Development Bank); Uttam Sharma (Integrated Development Studies); Kenn Chua (University of Minnesota); Milan Thomas (Asian Development Bank) |
| Abstract: | Although Asian economies have increased access to education, students’ learning often trails grade level expectations. In the Philippines, learning worsened through prolonged classroom closure during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Together with the Department of Education, we conducted a 42-school randomized controlled trial of computer-assisted instruction in remote areas of the country. The tested intervention consisted of digitized learning modules deployed on tablets that connected to school local Wi-Fi networks for junior high school students. The tablets were the main source of instruction for 2.5 months before schools reopened, after which they served as a supplement to, rather than a replacement for, in-person instruction. We find that the intervention increased student learning in mathematics, but not in English. For mathematics, we estimate intent-to-treat effects of 0.34 standard deviations of the distribution of test scores and average treatment-on-the-treated effects of 0.46 standard deviations for schools that ever used the digitized materials. Students with higher levels of “grit” at baseline benefit more from the intervention, as do those who have higher baseline test scores. The mathematics treatment-on-the-treated effect for schools that continued usage for a second year is 1.6 standard deviations, suggesting that those schools drove the observed impacts. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19 pandemic;computer-assisted instruction;EdTech;distance learning;remote schools |
| JEL: | I21 I24 J13 N35 O14 |
| Date: | 2025–12–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbewp:021834 |
| By: | Ulrich Roschitsch; Hannes Twieling |
| Abstract: | This paper shows that regional disparities in house price growth are more pronounced during house price busts than during booms. To explain this observation we construct a two-region currency union model incorporating a housing sector and extrapolative belief updating regarding house prices. To solve the model, we propose a new method that efficiently handles extrapolative belief updating in a wide class of structural models. We show that intensified extrapolation in busts and regional housing market heterogeneities jointly explain elevated regional house price growth dispersion in busts and muted dispersion in booms. Consistent with our theory, we provide empirical evidence that house price belief updating is indeed more pronounced in busts and we document that regional heterogeneities on the housing supply side affect regional house prices. Quantitatively, our model can match empirically observed elevated regional house price growth dispersion in busts. Moreover, we demonstrate that a monetary authority targeting house prices may reduce the volatility of output and prices as well as regional house price growth disparities. This policy is welfare-improving relative to an inflation-targeting benchmark. |
| Keywords: | Housing; Monetary policy; Monetary policy transmission |
| JEL: | E31 E32 E52 F45 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bca:bocawp:25-36 |
| By: | Omar Blanco-Arroyo (Universidad de Valencia, Spain); Vicente Esteve (Universidad de Valencia); María A. Prats (Universidad de Murcia, Spain and European Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we apply the methodology developed by Evripidou et al. (2022) to assess the co-explosivity of explosive processes between housing credit and housing prices in the Spanish economy from 1971 to 2024. Our Öndings highlight a signiÖcant pattern of co-explosivity: a stable bubble relationship emerges when housing credit precedes hous- ing prices. This co-explosivity is evident for lead times of 2 to 5 years, with the strongest relationship observed at a 4-year lead. These results suggest that credit dynamics drive housing price bubbles, emphasizing the importance of targeting creditís leading effect for effective policy and market interventions to mitigate real estate bubbles. |
| Keywords: | Housing market; Mortgages loans; Explosive behavior; Co-explosivity |
| JEL: | C22 E31 E44 E51 E51 G21 R31 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eec:wpaper:2515 |
| By: | Hiroki KONDO |
| Abstract: | This study examines how urban agglomeration is influenced by both family public goods, which has the advantage of proximity within a family, and human capital, which increases productivity with increasing proximity of residents within a city. In some cases, proximity advantages reinforce agglomeration forces, while in others, they work in the opposite direction and weaken them. When proximity advantages exist among family members, urban population density increases beyond what exists without such advantages. This situation discourages further migration of unskilled workers from more distant regions, thereby considerably dividing society. In these regions, families perpetually remain in the regions as unskilled workers, with lower substantial incomes. The analytical framework and findings of this study provide an important basis for evaluating several important policies. First, the model exhibits multiple human capital agglomeration patterns: a monocentric equilibrium and polycentric urban structure with multiple core cities. Among them, the polycentric equilibrium enhances overall economic welfare and mitigates persistent social disparities across regions and generations. Thus, Japan should promote such an urban structure by expanding the geographical and administrative scope of local governments, as proposed by the doshusei reform. Second, the study examines the impacts of social security systems that provide family public goods to the elderly. The fact that this also mitigates social gap by encouraging parents to invest more in their children’s education is also demonstrated in the study. |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:25120 |
| By: | Claude Diebolt; Joel Huesler |
| Abstract: | In 1685, Louis XIV’s revocation of the Edict of Nantes expelled some 200, 000 Huguenots—one of the most skill-selective forced migrations in early modern Europe. While their contributions to England, Prussia and the Dutch Republic are well documented, the economic losses borne by the French regions they left behind have remained surprisingly unmeasured, despite the Huguenots’ disproportionate role in textiles, luxury crafts, finance and international trade. This paper provides the first economy-wide, micro-quantitative estimate of the long-run cost of this exodus for France. Using a newly assembled parish-level panel of Protestant baptism registers (1570–1700) linked to the industrial censuses of 1839 and 1860, we trace how a seventeenth-century demographic shock shaped regional development nearly two centuries later. We uncover three core results. (1) A one-standard-deviation decline in Huguenot baptisms (≈–20%) led to enduring losses:–5.8% industrial employment, –4.4% establishments and–5.1% wages in 1839, with output deficits still visible in 1860. (2) These effects persisted remarkably: by 1860, industrial production remained 2.8% lower—about 480, 000 francs per arrondissement. (3) The impact hinged on institutional and intellectual complementarities: regions distant from universities, printing presses, commercial hubs or Parliaments suffered the deepest scars. Together, these findings show how the removal of a highly skilled minority durably reshaped France’s economic geography, leaving an imprint that lasted for nearly two centuries. |
| Keywords: | Huguenots; Forced migration; Human capital; Economic persistence; Industrialization; Regional development; Historical shocks; Microhistorical data; Skill-selective migration. |
| JEL: | N33 N34 J61 O15 R11 F22 C23 N93 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2025-48 |
| By: | Rivard, Alexandre; Beauvais, Edana; Merkley, Eric |
| Abstract: | Do non-financial motives drive opposition of new housing? Community furor over the Sen̓áḵw project in Vancouver, British Columbia highlights the potential importance of intergroup attitudes, like Indigenous resentment, in explaining opposition to new housing. Using a pre-registered survey and conjoint experiment conducted on 2, 000 adult Canadians, including an oversample of respondents in communities with large population of Indigenous residents, we show that Indigenous resentment is associated with opposition to housing development and beliefs that such development will harm neighbourhood character, worsen crime, and strain social services. Contrary to expectations, we do not find these associations to be stronger in communities with large populations of Indigenous peoples. Indigenous resentment also moderates the effect of certain characteristics of the development. Projects with Indigenous developers and those that are meant to house Indigenous people spark considerable opposition among the resentful and generate beliefs the housing development will lead to undesirable social consequences. Together, our results highlight the importance of intergroup attitudes in shaping housing attitudes. |
| Date: | 2025–12–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:npxha_v1 |
| By: | Kikuchi, Tatsuru |
| Abstract: | This paper tests whether demographic aging shocks propagate across Japanese municipalities through spatial and economic network channels. Using quarterly panel data on 4, 547 municipalities from 2018 to 2024, I apply the spatial treatment effect framework from \citet{kikuchi2024dynamical} and \citet{kikuchi2024stochastic}, extended with a Lévy–Brownian process \footnote{A temporal jump-diffusion process combining continuous Brownian motion with Lévy jumps.} to capture discontinuous crisis events alongside continuous evolution. The central finding contradicts conventional assumptions: aging shocks remain strictly localized with zero spillovers despite connected infrastructure and dense networks. Five analyses establish this result. Perturbative decomposition shows 99.82 percent of variation explained by direct effects. Treatment effect estimates (ATT=0.355pp, ATE=0.541pp) exclude spillover components. General equilibrium multipliers of 1.04 indicate minimal amplification. Stochastic uncertainty quantification reveals that while Lévy jumps raise crisis probability from 3 to 12 percent, tail risk remains localized. Temporal trends document increasing regional isolation. The absence of spillovers reflects fundamental isolation: Tokyo concentration, infrastructure decay, service withdrawal, and economic hollowing transform Japan's spatial structure from integrated to fragmented. Regional coordination policies are ineffective; local interventions are sufficient. |
| Keywords: | Population aging, demographic spillovers, regional isolation, spatial econometrics, Levy processes, Japan |
| JEL: | C14 C21 C31 C51 J11 R23 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:126742 |
| By: | A. DiLiberto; L. Giua; F. Schivardi; M. Sideri; G. Sulis |
| Abstract: | We study how managerial practices of school principals affect student performance and aspirations. For 2011 and 2015, we merge administrative data on Italian high school students with the management quality indices of their principals, constructed using the World Management Survey methodology. The frequent principals' turnover over this period allows us to causally interpret school-fixed-effect estimates. We find that management quality positively and substantially impacts standardized math and language tests and student desire to attend college. The comparison to pooled-OLS suggests that fixed effects correct for the downward bias arising from selection of better principals into more difficult schools. |
| Keywords: | management;School principals;Student outcomes |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cns:cnscwp:202518 |
| By: | Tiznado-Aitken, Ignacio; Singer, Matan; Morency, Catherine; Hassan, Howaida; Morissette, Samuel Duhaime; Verreault, Hubert; Palm, Matthew; Farber, Steven |
| Abstract: | Transport poverty is a complex, multidimensional issue that remains loosely defined and inadequately measured. Persistent challenges related to data quality, consistency, and comparability, highlighted by the European Commission, continue to limit effective policymaking. Despite increasing attention to equity in transport research and practice, most countries still lack standardized national datasets that can capture the scale and severity of transport poverty. This paper presents the design and implementation of the first large-scale survey on transport poverty and transport-related social exclusion worldwide, developed by the Mobilizing Justice Partnership across all of Canada. We describe a multi-phase process involving collaborative workshops, input from a community advisory group, a pilot study, and a robust data collection strategy, including a comprehensive sampling and weighting process. The resulting dataset, covering over 27, 000 respondents and openly available to researchers, decision-makers, and the public, offers extensive spatial and demographic coverage, enabling robust and policy-relevant analysis. A snapshot of findings reveals pronounced socioeconomic and demographic inequalities in Canada. Car ownership remains substantially lower among lower-income Canadians (under 70%) compared to higher-income groups (94%), while transit pass possession is more common among lower-income respondents. Approximately one in four participants experience modal dissonance, though its prevalence does not differ by income; instead, reasons behind this mismatch vary, with lower-income groups citing affordability constraints, whereas higher-income groups attribute mismatches to convenience and time considerations. Significant disparities in perceived safety were observed across gender, with non-binary individuals reporting the lowest levels of perceived safety, followed by women, and men reporting the highest. Satisfaction with transport conditions increases with age, with younger groups reporting consistently lower satisfaction. Racial disparities were evident in reported employment impacts, as Indigenous respondents and visible minorities were more likely to report declining job opportunities due to transport barriers. Housing affordability concerns were most acute among recent immigrants, who more frequently reported spending beyond their means on housing. Spatial analyses further demonstrate strong geographic variability in transport disadvantage, particularly in patterns of forced car ownership, suggesting the need for further exploration into the sociodemographic characteristics of this phenomenon, moving beyond solely built environment factors. Finally, accessibility to everyday destinations generally improves with city size, with larger metropolitan areas offering more consistent access than smaller towns and non-CMA areas. |
| Date: | 2025–12–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:j2pkm_v1 |
| By: | Hollandt, Nils Torben; Müller, Steffen |
| Abstract: | Spatial segregation of low- and high-wage workers is a persistent economic issue with broad social implications. Using social security data and an AKM wage decomposition, this paper examines spatial wage inequality in West Germany. Spatial inequality in log wages rose sharply between 1998 and 2008, mainly due to increased variance in worker pay premiums across regions (48%) and stronger positive spatial assortative matching of workers and establishments (40%), i.e. colocation. Changes in establishment wage premia are mostly unrelated to rising colocation whereas labor mobility even reduced it. Instead, growth in worker pay premiums among stayers was concentrated in regions where high-wage workers and high-wage establishments were overrepresented already in the 1990s and, thus, magnified pre-existing colocation leading to 'colocation without relocation'. Germany's rising trade surplus, especially with Eastern Europe, boosted stayers' worker pay premiums in those ex-ante high-wage regions and fully explains rising colocation. |
| Keywords: | assortative matching, colocation, international trade and wages, regionalmobility |
| JEL: | J31 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwhdps:333940 |
| By: | Chihaya, Guilherme Kenji; Mitchell, Jeffrey |
| Abstract: | In 2015, the Swedish police released a list of urban neighborhoods that it deemed ‘vulnerable’ (utsatta områden) with the intended purpose of reducing crime in those areas. We argue that this highly publicized list is a case of Spatial Marking, which refers to the institutionalization of positive or negative perceptions of a place via the enactment of a place-based intervention. Spatial marking leads to formal and informal rules dictating the differential treatment of communities largely based on racial composition, and should therefore be conceptualized as a structural determinant of health. In the case of the Swedish police list, we argue Spatial Marking amounts to the criminalization of entire neighborhoods, whose residents are subject to stigma and increased police interventions which should negatively impact the health of the people that live there. We assess this possibility with geo-located register data using a staggered difference in differences design to estimate the effect of being added to the police list across 9 health outcomes. Our results show that both the number of overdoses, babies born with low birth weights, and babies born out of pregnancies without adequate prenatal care increased as a result of being added to the police list. We find no evidence that of meaningful changes in the number of suicides, violent deaths, violent hospitalizations, or rates in mental health prescriptions. The analyses highlight how policing and criminalization, institutionalized through Spatial Marking can contribute to inequalities in health. |
| Date: | 2025–12–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:jxphb_v1 |
| By: | Konstantin A. Kholodilin |
| Abstract: | Between 1950 and 2023, the housing cost burden — approximated by the proportion of total household consumption expenditure spent on housing, water, electricity and fuel — has risen almost steadily in many countries around the world. First, this trend can be explained by substantial improvements in the quantity and quality of housing. In fact, in some countries (e.g., Germany), per capita floor space has more than doubled since 1950. In developed countries, the availability of toilets, hot water and electricity rose from less than 50% of dwellings to almost 100% over the same period. Second, the increase in the housing cost burden is due to the higher rate of increase in housing costs compared to total consumer expenditures. Low-income households are particularly affected by this trend. Compared to high-income households, they spend a larger share of their consumption on housing. Such a deterioration in housing affordability can negatively affect health and education by reducing the residual income that could have been spent on them. This, in turn, can lead to lower incomes for these households, preventing them from closing the income gap with higher-income households. Third, the growing housing cost burden may be the result of the retreat of the state from social policy, including the removal of the strong rent control that was installed in many countries (including all European states) during World War II and effectively froze housing rents. This study examines the impact of housing policies on housing inequality, focusing on affordability gaps across income groups. Using longitudinal data from 28 countries between 1981 and 2023, I analyze the impact of housing policies such as rent control, housing subsidies and social housing on housing cost burdens. My results show that tenant protection policies reduce the proportion of housing costs for both low- and high-income households, without affecting the gap between them. |
| Keywords: | Housing affordability, housing inequality, rent control, housing allowances, social housing |
| JEL: | C32 O18 R38 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp2147 |
| By: | Forsberg, Erika (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy) |
| Abstract: | Individuals working in larger labor markets tend to earn more than those working in smaller labor markets, but the reason for this is still unclear. This paper studies whether larger cities provide better occupational skill matches by combining machine learning techniques with data on individuals’ productive skills matched with employer data to construct a novel measure of match quality. I show that occupational skill-match quality is higher for individuals living in large local labor markets. Conditional on skills, differences in match quality explain around 30 percent of the city-size wage gap. The higher match quality in larger labor markets is related to a more diversified occupation structure and more learning possibilities in these markets. |
| Keywords: | Matching; Agglomeration; Occupational choice |
| JEL: | J24 J31 R12 R23 |
| Date: | 2025–12–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2025_024 |
| By: | Abdrakhmanova, Maria; Gluschenko, Konstantin |
| Abstract: | A spatially dispersed market for a tradable good is deemed integrated if there are no barriers to trade between its spatial segments (except for geographical barriers, namely distances between the segments). However, perfectly integrated markets are not a common case; real markets deviate to some extent from this ideal state. Therefore, estimating a degree of integration is more helpful then an answer of the type “all or nothing” (whether the market is integrated or not integrated). In an integrated market, price for a good is determined in the national market as a whole, not depending on demand in its spatial segments. Hence, a dependence of local price on local demand (controlling for transportation costs) indicates a deviation from perfect integration, and its “strength” can measure the degree of market integration. Based on this idea, we estimate the annual integration degrees of the US market for an aggregated good (grocery basket) over 15 years, 2001–2015. The spatial segments are cities; our sample covers 66 cities from 39 states of the US. The results suggest that the US market is not perfectly integrated; however, the integration degree of the US market is fairly stable over time. We also compare results for the US with results of a similar study for Russia. With a reservation that the empirical material is not fully comparable, we can conclude that the US market is integrated more strongly than the Russian market and that the integration degree in Russia is more volatile. |
| Keywords: | Spatial market integration Price dispersion Law of one price United States |
| JEL: | L81 R15 R19 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:126643 |
| By: | Maya-Jariego Isidro; Holgado-Ramos Daniel; Villar Onrubia Daniel (European Commission - JRC); Cachia Romina (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | "This technical report provides practical information on how school networks can be leveraged as a key enabling factor for successful digital education and training. Building networks is a medium and long-term process, which is facilitated when schools belong to the same institutional context and have a previous history of collaboration. In the initial phases of building a network of schools, it is practical to start with those most active teachers, who are especially motivated in the adoption of digital education. In this report, we show through different examples, how networks started by a small group of educational innovators are able to spread to the rest of the teaching staff and to different schools. The key factors in the structure and composition of school networks to facilitate educational digitalization are examined. The report discusses factors such as the readiness of both teachers and students to engage in digital education when planning its integration into teaching-learning activities. Visual network representation techniques, such as ""Netmap"" and ""Netmirror"", are also presented, which can facilitate awareness and behavioural change among teachers. Finally, the report presents a detailed guide on how to build networks that can harness the potential of regional and local networks to enable innovation and digitalisation of education." |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc143437 |
| By: | Sebastien Bourdin (Métis Lab EM Normandie - EM Normandie - École de Management de Normandie = EM Normandie Business School); Nicolas Jacquet (Métis Lab EM Normandie - EM Normandie - École de Management de Normandie = EM Normandie Business School) |
| Abstract: | This article examines how European cities and regions engage with circular economy (CE) strategies through the lens of territorial intermediation. Based on the analysis of 54 strategic planning documents, it identifies a range of local rationales – predominantly environmental – supporting CE commitments. The findings reveal a selective and often downstream-oriented framing of CE priorities. Local authorities assume three main roles in structuring circular transitions: promoter, facilitator and enabler, each operationalised through distinct policy instruments. Rather than following a uniform model, CE strategies take different forms depending on local priorities, challenges and development goals. The article contributes to the literature by clarifying how territorial intermediation mediates ecological transitions at the local scale. |
| Keywords: | Place-based ecological transition, Content analysis, Territorial strategies, Territorial intermediation, Local authorities, Circular economy |
| Date: | 2025–10–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05376815 |
| By: | Wiatt, Renee D. |
| Abstract: | Workforce development challenges are reshaping rural businesses and the communities they serve. Small businesses are vital anchors in rural areas, providing not only essential products and services but also serving as community gathering places that foster connection and local vitality. This article examines workforce statistics for rural and urban small businesses in the North Central Region (NCR) using data from the NCR-Stat: Small Business Survey (Wiatt et al., 2024). |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development |
| Date: | 2025–12–16 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ncrcrd:383710 |
| By: | reynolds, margaret; Ganguli, Rupa; Goodall, Zoë; Ralston, Liss; Nygaard, Christian A.; Burke, Terry |
| Abstract: | This research is the first critical analysis of the Australian private rental vacancy rate (RVR) — an important, but often unquestioned, housing market signal. It investigates the different methodologies, strengths and limitations of the measure, and how it is used and interpreted. Policymakers and developers commonly use RVRs to guide decisions about where and when to build housing, and for rental providers, they can be a signal to raise rents. A comprehensive understanding of this measure is therefore crucial, particularly during a housing crisis. Yet RVRs are provided only by commercial organisations, using methodologies that are often opaque and produce different outcomes. This research presents a detailed examination of this key housing market indicator to better inform decision-making in public and private sectors. |
| Date: | 2025–12–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:3xrh4_v1 |
| By: | Francisco Amaral (University of Zurich - Department Finance; Swiss Finance Institute); Steffen Zetzmann (University of Mannheim) |
| Abstract: | We study how energy price shocks transmit through segmented housing markets. Using German rental listings from 2015 to 2024, we show that higher energy prices are capitalized into rents only in high-rent segments, where elastic demand pressures landlords to reduce rents for inefficient units. In low-rent segments, characterized by less elastic demand and tight markets, rents do not adjust, leaving low-income households to bear the full increase in energy bills. As a result, total housing costs for low-income households rise three times more than for high-income households when energy prices increase, amplifying existing inequality. |
| Keywords: | Housing Markets, Energy Prices, Climate Change, Inequality |
| JEL: | R31 Q41 Q54 D31 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chf:rpseri:rp25101 |
| By: | Lemos, Sara (University of Leicester); Popov, Sergey V. (Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University) |
| Abstract: | No empirical evidence has ever been reported that the large inflow of accession immigrants – following the 2004 expansion of the European Union – led to a fall in wages or employment, or a rise in unemployment in the UK between 2004 and 2006. Given its unprecedented scale and pace – one of the largest UK immigration inflows on record – the lack of evidence of adverse effects is striking. This immigration shock was unexpectedly larger and faster – as well as more concentrated into areas and occupations – than anticipated, seemingly more akin to an exogenous supply shock than most immigration shocks. This means that there was less scope for anticipated labour market adjustments in the lead up to May 2004: adjustments which might have lessened any adverse impact of the shock. The initial heated debate about the striking lack of evidence of adverse effects gradually turned into a tenuous consensus that this large and fast shock was absorbed without substantial adverse effects on wages or employment. Exploiting rich but underused data from the Lifetime Labour Market Database (LLMDB) we estimate the effect of this immigration shock on wages, employment and unemployment of natives and previously existing immigrants in the UK. We confirm once again the finding of little evidence that the inflow of accession immigrants led to a fall in wages, a fall in employment, or a rise in unemployment of natives in the UK between 2004 and 2006. However, we uncover, for the first time, novel evidence of adverse employment and unemployment effects for low paid existing immigrants as a result of the accession immigration inflow. This is more severe for low paid immigrants and young low paid immigrants as well as for long term unemployed immigrants. |
| Keywords: | immigration; employment; wages; Central and Eastern Europe; UK |
| JEL: | J22 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdf:wpaper:2025/24 |
| By: | Poot, Jacques; Stillman, Steven |
| Abstract: | Many immigrants are overqualified in their first job after arrival in the host country. Education‐occupation mismatch can affect the economic integration of immigrants and the returns to education and experience. The extent of this problem has been measured in recent years by means of micro level data in Australia, North America and Europe. However, these papers have typically ignored the importance of allowing for heterogeneity, in particular by qualification level and years in the destination country. In this paper, we use micro data from the 1996, 2001 and 2006 New Zealand censuses to examine differences between each migrant’s actual years of education and the estimated typical years of education in the narrowly defined occupation in which they work. We find that migrants living in New Zealand for less than 5 years are on average overeducated, while earlier migrants are on average undereducated. However, once accounting for heterogeneity, we find that both overeducated and undereducated migrants become, with increasing years of residence in New Zealand, more similar to comparable native born. Convergence from overeducation is stronger than from undereducation. |
| Keywords: | International Relations/Trade, Labor and Human Capital |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:motuwp:292619 |
| By: | Vivas Flores, Alexis E.; Beatty, Timothy |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Labor and Human Capital, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea24:343954 |
| By: | Alessandro Bellocchi (Dipartimento di Economia, Società , Politica, Università di Urbino Carlo Bo, Italy); Chiara Lodi (Dipartimento di Economia, Società , Politica, Università di Urbino Carlo Bo, Italy); Giovanni Marin (Dipartimento di Economia, Società , Politica, Università di Urbino Carlo Bo, Italy; SEEDS, Italy; FEEM,); Giuseppe Travaglini (Dipartimento di Economia, Società , Politica, Università di Urbino Carlo Bo, Italy); Matteo Zavalloni (Dipartimento di Economia, Società , Politica, Università di Urbino Carlo Bo, Italy) |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of extreme hydrogeological events on local governments’ fiscal responses in Italy between 2016 and 2022, with a focus on how local public finances contribute to disaster resilience. Leveraging the staggered timing of disaster declarations and employing a difference-in-differences framework, we estimate dynamic treatment effects on revenue and expenditure of municipal governments. Our findings indicate that local governments of affected municipalities significantly increase total and capital expenditures in the aftermath of disasters, particularly in functions related to emergency management, environmental protection and economic development. These spending increases are primarily financed through capital revenues and transfers from higher levels of government, with no corresponding rise in current expenditures. To explore heterogeneity in fiscal responses, we develop a fiscal resilience index combining measures of debt servicing costs and tax autonomy. We find that municipal governments with both low debt burden and high tax autonomy exhibit the strongest and most persistent post-disaster financial adjustments. In contrast, municipal governments with high debt service obligations and limited tax autonomy exhibit weaker responses, reflecting a constrained capacity to mobilize financial resources. These results underscore the critical importance of fiscal space, beyond formal fiscal autonomy, in shaping local governments’ ability to respond to climate-related shocks. From a policy perspective, our findings highlight the need to strengthen institutional and financial mechanisms that enhance fiscal resilience and ensure timely access to recovery resources for municipal governments with limited capacity. |
| Keywords: | Fiscal resilience; Hydrogeological disasters; Municipal budgets |
| JEL: | H71 H72 H84 Q54 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:srt:wpaper:1625 |
| By: | Gautam, Ajay Kumar |
| Abstract: | COVID-19 presented unparalleled difficulties for financially disadvantaged renters, limiting their ability to pay for housing. The impact of this crisis on petty landlords, who often provide housing to these precarious renters, is unclear and requires investigation. Utilising data from a survey of 300 households, and focus group discussions (FGDs) with 100 petty landlords, primarily first-generation Scheduled Caste (SC) and Other Backward Class (OBC) owners, this case study examines the effects of the pandemic on petty landlords in urban villages in Delhi, India. The findings highlight the sedimentation of caste in informal rental market spaces: Firstly, it highlights the role of caste-based socio-economic factors in the emergence of petty landlords in relation to dominant caste landlords. Secondly, it examines the circumstances that led to financial strain among marginalised caste landlords during the pandemic and explores how their responses to this stress worsened existing housing challenges for vulnerable tenants. Thirdly, the study reveals that gender also played a significant role in shaping the experiences of petty landlords, with women outnumbering men as proxy landlords in this group. Lastly, the paper explores how state imposed eviction interventions brought the complexities of caste, class, gender and urban marginality to the forefront. |
| Keywords: | Covid-19; caste; India; petty landlords; rental economy; urban villages; coronavirus; COVID-19 |
| JEL: | R21 R31 Z13 R14 |
| Date: | 2024–12–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:126535 |
| By: | Akira SASAHARA |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a survey of empirical studies that examine the impact of immigration inflows on host-country economies. We first discuss existing studies analyzing how immigration affects labor-market outcomes such as wages, employment, and unemployment rates. Although an increase in labor supply due to immigration may, in the short run, put downward pressure on wages and raise unemployment, this article documents that existing empirical results do not necessarily support the theoretical result. We also review studies that highlight the mechanism of “task specialization, †in which native workers adjust their occupations in response to immigration by moving into tasks where they hold a comparative advantage, thereby limiting wage declines. In addition, we discuss existing studies investigating the effects of immigration on internal migration and human capital accumulation. The discussion covers both research focusing on Japan and other countries. Finally, we summarize the shift–share instrumental variable approach and outline its methodological challenges. |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:rpdpjp:25019 |
| By: | Gaurav Khanna; Carlos Medina; Anant Nyshadham; Daniel Ramos-Menchelli; Jorge Tamayo; Audrey Tiew |
| Abstract: | Neighborhoods are strong determinants of both economic opportunity and criminal activity. Does improving connectedness between segregated and unequal parts of a city predominantly import opportunity or export crime? We use a spatial general equilibrium framework to model individual decisions of where to work and whether to engage in criminal activity, with spillovers across the criminal and legitimate sectors. We match at the individual level various sources of administrative records from Medellín, Colombia, to construct a novel, granular dataset recording the origin and destination of both workers and criminals. We leverage the rollout of a cable car in an event study design, and show how access to transit lines reduces criminal participation and induces legitimate employment. We identify key parameters of the model, informing how changes in transportation costs causally affect the location and sector choices of workers and criminals. Our counterfactual exercises indicate that, when improving the connectedness of neighborhoods, overall criminal activity in the city is reduced, and total welfare is improved. *****RESUMEN: Los vecindarios son importantes determinantes tanto de las oportunidades económicas como de la actividad criminal. Mejorar la conectividad de vecindarios segregados y pobres, con el resto de la ciudad, importará oportunidades a esos vecindarios, o exportará crimen desde ellos? Nosotros utilizamos un modelo de equilibrio general para modelar las decisiones individuales de dónde trabajar y de si involucrarse en actividades criminales, incorporando efectos sobre los sectores criminal y legal. Construimos una novedosa base de datos a nivel individual con base en varios registros administrativos de Medellín, Colombia, que incluye el origen y el destino tanto de los empleados como de los criminales. Nosotros provechamos la construcción de varias líneas de cable del Metro de Medellín, y mostramos cómo el acceso a las estaciones conectadas por estos cables reduce la participación en actividades criminales e incrementa el empleo formal. También identificamos varios parámetros del modelo que nos permiten estimar, cómo los cambios en los costos del transporte, afectan de forma causal, la ubicación y la elección sectorial, de empleados y criminales. Nuestro ejercicio contrafactual indica que, cuando se mejora la conectividad de los vecindarios, la criminalidad total de la ciudad se reduce, y el bienestar total se incrementa. |
| Keywords: | urban transit infrastructure, crime, Medellín, spatial equilibrium, Infraestructura de transporte urbano, crimen, equilibrio espacial |
| JEL: | F14 J24 J46 K42 O17 R40 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdr:borrec:1334 |
| By: | David Ellerman |
| Abstract: | This paper surveys and generalizes the main valuation formulas used in real estate valuation and presents unified proofs. The results are otherwise scattered in obscure journals and books while the proofs are rarely available to researchers in the field. The material was originally developed so that it could be used by mathematically-trained appraisers and researchers in the former Soviet Union and in other transition economies that were starting their real estate valuation profession. Keywords: real estate valuations; six functions of one; Ellwood, Akerson, and Hoskold formulas; capitalization rate methods; amortization tables JEL: G12, R3 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2512.05736 |
| By: | Fu, Yufei; Boys, Kathryn A.; Cengiz, Ezgi |
| Keywords: | Marketing, Demand and Price Analysis, Agribusiness |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea24:343991 |
| By: | Voutilainen, Ville |
| Abstract: | The commercial real estate (CRE) market is an important source of financial stability risks, yet ownership structures remain opaque. This paper uses comprehensive Finnish register data to construct firm-level ownership network and identify owners of CRE firms. We document that government entities are the most important ultimate owners, holding about 10% of the sector's balance sheet. We show that government ownership predicts lower interest rate spreads on CRE bank loans, consistent with creditors perceiving such firms as less risky. Our results highlight the need to incorporate ownership structures into financial stability assessments and credit risk models. |
| Keywords: | CRE, networks, firm ownership, loan pricing, financial stability |
| JEL: | R33 G10 C63 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:bofrdp:333957 |
| By: | Nikolaos Koutounidis; Elena Loutskina; Daniel Murphy (-) |
| Abstract: | We study how household debt portfolios—aggregated at the ZIP code level—respond to local income shocks in the United States. We implement two separate identification strategies: (i) a Bartik-style instrument that shifts local earnings via national industry trends, and (ii) a novel instrument utilizing the timing and location of shale oil and gas well discoveries. Across both designs, positive income shocks are, on average, associated with deleveraging. This average, however, masks a sharp bifurcation in financial behavior. Deleveraging in total credit is driven by financially healthier households—those with higher credit scores, higher incomes, or lower leverage—who restrain the growth of credit-card and auto debt. In contrast, financially vulnerable households often treat the windfall as a gateway to new auto credit while still deleveraging credit-card and typically mortgage debt. Looking at mixed-profile households, we find strong mortgage leveraging among households with high income and high debt or low credit scores. These results show that the same income shock can trigger balance-sheet repair for some households and additional leverage for others—varying by both borrower type and debt category—underscoring substantial underlying heterogeneity and highlighting barriers to broad-based financial stability. |
| Keywords: | consumer credit, household debt, heterogeneity, income shocks, local labor demand |
| JEL: | D14 D15 G51 H31 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:25/1128 |
| By: | Wang, Haoying; Young, Michael |
| Keywords: | Resource/Energy Economics and Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea24:343990 |
| By: | Nixon, Elizabeth; Cluley, Robert; Le, Khai; Yin, Shian |
| Abstract: | How can we develop, strengthen and enact democratic voice in the governance of urban public space? While many agree that local communities need a right to the city, this paper explores a long-standing regulatory mechanism within English urban governance that enables - but rarely enacts - such a right. The Area of Special Control of Advertisements (ASCA) powers in the English planning system allow local authorities the legal capacity to prohibit almost all forms of outdoor advertising within a designated zone, thereby restricting corporate use of urban public space for profit. Using documents from a national census of local authorities, we conducted a critical discourse analysis of ASCA reviews which reveals how this right to the city is discursively sacrificed. We develop the concept of discursive contraction to describe the ways planning discourse recruits yet restricts the range of legitimate actors, meanings, and outcomes associated with public space regulation. Three discursive practices underpin the contraction that, in this case, delegitimizes, forecloses, and subsumes civic reservations: 1) invisible actors, active documents 2) consistency as a governing logic and 3) the urbanisation growth assumption. We conclude that, in an age of fragmented urban governance, discursive practices are an increasingly important mechanism of power that require renewed critical analysis. |
| Date: | 2025–12–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:u6qej_v1 |
| By: | Kadivar, Mohammad Ali; Khani, Saber; Vahabli, Danial (Stony Brook University); Abedini, Vahid; Barzin, Samira |
| Abstract: | What drives the uneven geographic spread of revolutionary episodes? While structural approaches emphasize pre-existing fault lines, contingency approaches highlight emergent processes. We synthesize these perspectives, arguing that specific triggers shape a revolutionary episode’s social geography by activating certain fault lines while leaving others dormant. Through a comparative analysis of three revolutionary episodes in Iran (2017–2022), each with a distinct trigger, we demonstrate how different triggers shape patterns of contention. Using event-history and spatial regression analysis of subnational protest data alongside socioeconomic and political variables, we show that a fuel price hike activated grievances in oil-producing areas, while a repressive event targeting a woman from an ethnic and religious minority mobilized protests in minority-populated districts. Our findings illustrate how triggers structure revolutionary mobilization, offering broader insights into the interaction between structural conditions and contingent events in contentious politics. |
| Date: | 2025–11–29 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:2y478_v1 |
| By: | Nobre, Francisco; Kitsos, Tasos; Tranos, Emmanouil; Donegani, Chiara Paola |
| Abstract: | We focus on the relationship between exposure to gambling shops and gambling-related harms. Gambling is now a public health concern, but its economic geography and associated harms are underexplored. We propose a framework that combines proximity and density, use data on gambling shops matched with surveys and measure the impact of gamblogenic environments on problem gambling using probit models and coarsened exact matching. Living closer to and in high densities of gambling shops, increases the likelihood of gambling and being a problematic gambler. The spatial distribution of gambling venues matters and calls for targeted interventions to mitigate harms. |
| Date: | 2025–12–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:uj6y8_v1 |
| By: | Mario L. Chacón |
| Abstract: | Can negotiated peace settlements promote fiscal capacity in post-conflict countries? We explore this question in the context of the 2016 peace agreement in Colombia, after which more than 6, 000 insurgents collectively demobilized and a series of peace zones was created. Leveraging the uneven implementation of the peace agreement programmes, we estimate their impact on fiscal outcomes using a 'difference-in-discontinuities' design. We find that municipalities selected to be recipients of programmes increased their local revenues compared to similar neighbouring non-eligible municipalities. |
| Keywords: | Peace, Fiscal capacity, Taxation, Real property, Colombia |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2025-100 |
| By: | Alyna Paul |
| Abstract: | Background: The co-occurrence of many refugees arriving in Germany in 2015 and 2016 and the increase in anti-refugee attitudes among Germans suggests an association. High levels of public concern about immigration, now again in 2025, emphasize the importance of identifying predictors of attitudes towards refugees in general. Aims: The objective is to test whether high regional shares of refugees (share variable) and large positive regional changes in the shares of refugees (change variable) tend to increase individuals’ negative attitudes towards refugees. Data: The analysis was based on representative individual-level and county-level panel data for 2016, 2018, and 2020 from Germany, provided by the SOEP and the INKAR. The target population consisted of adults living in Germany who had not changed counties and had not been refugees in 2015 or after. After listwise deletion, 30, 266 individuals with 61, 444 observations residing in 398 counties remained for analysis (MAge = 53.07 years, %Men = 49). Design: Attitudes towards refugees were estimated through an average score of five items concerning the expected cultural and economic risks or opportunities of refugee immigration. Apart from regional-level variables, several individual characteristics were included as predictors in the longitudinal and cross-sectional linear multi-level regression models.Findings: The longitudinal analysis indicated no relationship between regional share or change in the share of refugees and the individual attitudes towards refugees. Although the coefficients pointed in the expected direction, they were very small and only marginally statistically significant, with β11 = 0.023, 95%CI [0.001, 0.044] for the share variable and β12 = 0.011, 95%CI [−0.002, 0.024] for the change variable. The cross-sectional analysis showed that solely in 2020, the share variable was statistically significant, albeit marginally and unexpectedly negative. Thus, the small longitudinal effect was not even stable over time. Instead, education and whether someone had been socialized in East or West Germany were the strongest predictors of attitudes towards refugees. Conclusions: Negative attitudes towards refugees are independent of the actual regional share and change in the share of refugees. This indicates that restricting immigration would not reduce public concern or foster integration. |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp1231 |
| By: | Jacobs-crisioni Chris; Schiavina Marcello; Alessandrini Alfredo; Dijkstra Lewis (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission has produced long timeseries of global population by degree of urbanization, as well as for each city in the world. These long timeseries describe population changes by degree of urbanization, that is for cities, towns and semi-dense areas, and rural areas, as well as for individual cities from 1950 to 2100. They were produced as inputs for the 2025 UN World Urbanization Prospects report, complementing UN statistics on urban/rural population according to national definitions. The timeseries were obtained by combining three sources, namely rescaled GHS-POP grids for the period 1975-2020, supplemented with backcast population estimates for the period 1975-1950, and population grids projected by the CRISP model for the period 2020-2100. The report outlines the various sources and relevant inputs and shows a selection of results to characterize the data produced. |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc144219 |
| By: | Choi, Gun-woo |
| Abstract: | Persistent concerns surrounding student dropout and the allocation of local education finance grants have highlighted the need for more equitable, data-informed funding mechanisms. Although dropout prediction models have been developed, prior studies have primarily focused on identifying risk factors or improving predictive accuracy, with limited attention to connecting prediction outputs to fiscal decision-making. Current education welfare budgets in Korea are also heavily influenced by administrative discretion rather than data-driven needs. In contrast, the state of Nevada in the United States allocates student education funding using dropout prediction data. Against this backdrop, this study constructs a hypothetical formula that integrates predicted dropout data into the calculation and distribution of “dropout-related education funds” within the local education finance grant system. The proposed formula incorporates both the predicted number and proportion of dropout students; proportions are transformed into weights using a sigmoid function to mitigate the cliff effects observed in threshold-based allocations. By adjusting dropout scale weights and the quantile-based center of the sigmoid function, horizontal equity was evaluated using the Gini coefficient and the inverse McLoone Index, allowing for the identification of suitable parameter pairs. Simulation results showed that, at the provincial office level, the largest allocations would be made to Gyeonggi, Seoul, and Busan, while at the school level, Sejong, Jeju, and Daejeon exhibited higher average allocations. A permutation test comparing the proposed dropout-linked allocations with existing education welfare budgets revealed no statistically significant difference between the two distributions. School-level allocations were strongly correlated with the predicted number of dropout students but weakly correlated with predicted dropout rates. Overall, the proposed formula offers a novel approach to enhancing equity and transparency in dropout-related funding by directly linking educational data to fiscal policy and by reducing discontinuities in allocation. However, further work is required to determine total budget size, design implementation programs, and address sample-related limitations, underscoring the need for comprehensive administrative datasets and institutional refinement in future research. |
| Date: | 2025–12–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:edarxi:r4uw5_v1 |
| By: | Khanal, Nabin Babu; Elbakidze, Levan |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Resource/Energy Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea24:343889 |
| By: | Pardo, Pilar Andrea Quiroz; Janssen, David; Roosen, Inez; Hoving, Ciska (Maastricht University, Care and Public Health Research Institute) |
| Abstract: | Research suggests that transnational networks could have a beneficial effect on the health of the sender country by disseminating health innovations. This study investigates whether having a household member who has emigrated is related to teenage pregnancy in Colombia, a country with high teenage pregnancy rates (66.7 per 1000 women) and high levels of migration. To investigate the link between emigration and teenage pregnancy, this study performed a secondary analysis of the 2015 Colombia Demographic and Health Survey, a large and in-depth survey using the 2005 Colombian census as its sampling frame. A logistic regression was performed across all women aged 13 to 19 (n = 8526), modeling the relationship between having an emigrant household member and teenage pregnancy while controlling for household wealth and school attendance. The study found no such relationship. Instead, school attendance and wealth were both significantly associated with teenage pregnancy. The lack of a significant finding may stem from the fact that Colombian migration generally does not tend to flow to nations with higher quality healthcare and health information, or from the fact that those most at risk of teenage pregnancy were also the least likely to be exposed to migrants living in countries with access to better healthcare. Based on our findings, concentrating efforts on people living in impoverished communities is therefore recommended, as they face greater risks of and negative consequences from teenage pregnancy. |
| Date: | 2025–12–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:w37yk_v1 |
| By: | Fuad, Syed; Farmer, Michael C. |
| Keywords: | Political Economy, Public Economics, Institutional and Behavioral Economics |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea24:343965 |
| By: | Frederik von Waldow; Heike Link |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses determinants of pass-through for Germany’s 2022 temporary fuel discount at its implementation and subsequent termination. Based on a unique dataset of fuel station characteristics and prices, we employ a two-stage Regression Discontinuity in Time (RDiT) methodology to estimate spatial pass-through variation. Our findings indicate that horizontal and vertical market structures exert an asymmetric influence on tax pass-through. Competitive pressure enhances price responsiveness to tax reductions, whereas we find the opposite pattern for the tax increase. Furthermore, independence from upstream markets is associated with lower tax pass-through, indicating the presence of double marginalization. |
| Keywords: | gasoline prices, fuel taxation, spatial competition, tax pass-through, regression discontinuity in time |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwddc:dd116 |
| By: | Kyan Htoo; A Myint Zu |
| Abstract: | Labor migration is a pervasive feature of life in contemporary Myanmar, but has been the subject of only limited research to date. Furthermore, most of this work has focused on international migrants, leaving internal migration comparatively understudied. This brief addresses this gap by exploring the characteristics of migrants and migration in four townships (Kayan, Maubin, Nyaungdon, and Twantay) located close to Myanmar’s primate city, Yangon. For comparative purposes, a representative sample of 1102 households was interviewed in May 2016, in two groups of village tracts: an aquaculture cluster characterized by high concentrations of fish farms, and agriculture cluster, where crop farming is the predominant agricultural activity. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:fspmrh:291872 |
| By: | Parijat Maitra; Libertad González |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of early elective birth timing on children's health and educational outcomes, focusing on cognitive development as measured by elementary school grades. We exploit a natural experiment in Spain: the abrupt termination of a generous child benefit at the end of 2010, which led to a sharp increase in elective deliveries during the final week of December. Children born during this spike had slightly shorter gestation periods and lower birth weights (within the normal range), and experienced a higher incidence of respiratory disorders during infancy. We find that the affected cohort of children had significantly lower academic performance at age seven (in second grade), suggesting large persistent effects on cognitive development. Our results provide causal evidence on the medium-term costs of early elective deliveries, and underscore the link between neonatal health and human capital. |
| Keywords: | birthweight, education, family benefits, health |
| JEL: | I2 I1 J13 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1539 |
| By: | Shirshikova, Alina (ROA / Human capital in the region); Cörvers, Frank (RS: GSBE MORSE, RS: FdR Institute ITEM, RS: GSBE - MACIMIDE, ROA / Human capital in the region); Montizaan, Raymond (RS: GSBE UM-BIC, ROA / Labour market and training); Pfeifer, Harald (RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research, ROA / Labour market and training) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates whether the social, digital, and analytical skills of job applicants, as well as their knowledge about the profession, can mitigate ethnic disparities in entry-level positions in the labour market. We conducted a survey experiment among a large, nationally representative sample of German firms that hire apprentices. We asked recruiters to evaluate the probability of inviting fictitious applicants to a job interview based on randomised characteristics, including ethnicity, skill quality, gender, time of residence, and education level. Our results show heterogeneous effects of skills on ethnic discrimination. While social skills help alleviate discrimination, our results indicate that discrimination intensifies at higher levels of knowledge about the profession, implying greater disparities due to ethnic discrimination at the top of the skill distribution. We also found that the effect of skills differs depending on the ethnicity of the applicant. |
| JEL: | I24 J15 J23 J24 J71 |
| Date: | 2025–12–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umaror:2025002 |
| By: | Leandro De Magalhães; Thomaz M. F. Gemignani; Salomo Hirvonen |
| Abstract: | Political careers often include transitions between elected offices. Using complete electoral data for Brazil (1998-2014), we document office-to-office transitions and use a regression discontinuity design to estimate the advantage of winning office, both when re-running for the same office (incumbency advantage), and when contending for other offices as well (career advantage). We find a clear ranking. Winning a seat in the federal or state legislatures gives an incumbency advantage. Becoming a mayor gives no incumbency advantage. The career advantage is smaller across these three offices as runners-up outperform winners in other offices. For municipal councilors, results are reversed: an incumbency disadvantage, and a small but positive effect of winners outperforming runners-up in other offices. With an heterogeneity analysis, we show that sub-samples of candidates with no experience, less educated, with a lower share of the vote, and running in smaller municipalities explain the incumbency disadvantage for local councilors. |
| Date: | 2025–04–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bri:uobdis:25/803 |
| By: | Wan Suriatty Mazlan (Department of Monash University Foundation Year, Sunway College, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Author-2-Name: Pratiba Narayanasamy Author-2-Workplace-Name: Department of Monash University Foundation Year, Sunway College, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Author-3-Name: Mustafa Kamal Ariffin Author-3-Workplace-Name: Department of Monash University Foundation Year, Sunway College, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Author-4-Name: Author-4-Workplace-Name: Author-5-Name: Author-5-Workplace-Name: Author-6-Name: Author-6-Workplace-Name: Author-7-Name: Author-7-Workplace-Name: Author-8-Name: Author-8-Workplace-Name:) |
| Abstract: | " Objective - One approach to promoting active learning in higher education is the use of ClassPoint. Instructors could teach interactively without switching between multiple platforms when using ClassPoint. The use of ClassPoint in teaching Can Enhance active learning among learners and encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning. Methodology/Technique - Moreover, ClassPoint's ability to facilitate instant feedback and peer interaction fosters a collaborative learning atmosphere. Engaging in group discussions, problem-solving activities, and other interactive exercises that promote critical thinking and deeper comprehension of the subject matter would be possible. As such, there is a need to explore the effectiveness of using ClassPoint as a tool to enhance active learning among students pursuing higher education. This study was conducted among students enrolled in pre-university studies at a private higher-learning institution in the Klang Valley, Malaysia. ClassPoint was integrated into the teaching sessions to encourage greater collaboration and engagement. Finding - The study aims to create active learners by exploring the potential of ClassPoint as an interactive learning tool. In line with this aim, the study specifically sought to examine whether the use of ClassPoint impacts student engagement and participation in classroom activities, to explore students' perceptions of its effectiveness in promoting active learning, and to determine whether its integration influences students' retention and understanding of course material. These research questions guided the investigation and shaped the overall evaluation of ClassPoint's role in enhancing active learning within a pre-university context. The study was conducted with 131 students enrolled in pre-university studies at a private higher learning institution in the Klang Valley, Malaysia. Novelty - Our analysis showed that a well-designed interactive platform, such as ClassPoint, could successfully promote a more active learning environment across diverse higher education settings. We conclude that ClassPoint is beneficial in increasing student engagement in higher learning institutions. Type of Paper - Empirical" |
| Keywords: | ClassPoint, E-tools, Teaching and Learning, Pre-university |
| JEL: | A20 A21 I26 |
| Date: | 2025–12–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gtr:gatrjs:gjbssr670 |
| By: | Stefano M Iacus; Giuseppe Porro |
| Abstract: | We analyze a novel large-scale social-media-based measure of U.S. job satisfaction, constructed by applying a fine-tuned large language model to 2.6 billion georeferenced tweets, and link it to county-level labor market conditions (2013-2023). Logistic regressions show that rural counties consistently report lower job satisfaction sentiment than urban ones, but this gap decreases under tight labor markets. In contrast to widening rural-urban income disparities, perceived job quality converges when unemployment is low, suggesting that labor market slack, not income alone, drives spatial inequality in subjective work-related well-being. |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2512.05144 |
| By: | Hélène Bruffaerts; Rudi Vander Vennet (-) |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the effectiveness of a soft Loan-to-Value (LTV) limit as a borrower-based macroprudential tool. Our analysis is based on detailed loan-level data from a major Belgian bank, covering all new mortgage originations between 2016 and 2021. Using the 2020 Belgian LTV recommendations as a quasi-natural experiment, we analyze how a non-binding framework that allows tolerance margins affects mortgage lending behavior. We develop a hybrid approach combining machine-learning (ML) predictions of counterfactual treatment status with a difference-in-differences (DiD) and triple-differences (DDD) design. The ML model, trained on pre-policy data, identifies borrowers likely to exceed the 90% LTV threshold in absence of the reform, allowing consistent treatment classification across periods. Our results show that the introduction of a soft LTV limit leads to a significant decline in average LTV ratios and in the share of high-LTV loans (higher than 90%), with stronger effects among constrained borrowers. The adjustment occurs gradually, reflecting banks’ progressive adaptation to supervisory expectations rather than abrupt credit rationing. The reduction in leverage is primarily achieved through higher down payments, which leads to lower monthly repayments and thus lower credit risk. When focusing on the exceptions we find convincing evidence that banks especially favor first-time-buyers, since they remain significantly more present in the above 90% mortgage segment compared to non-FTB. Differences in age, savings, and income also lead to differentiated treatment effects, indicating that banks apply the soft limits in a risk-sensitive and targeted manner. These findings demonstrate that soft borrower-based measures can achieve prudential objectives similar to hard caps without exacerbating credit exclusion. From a policy perspective, the Belgian experience highlights that supervisory guidance can effectively curb excessive leverage while maintaining mortgage accessibility. |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:25/1125 |
| By: | Takumi Toyono (Waseda Institute of Social & Human Capital Studies (WISH), Waseda University); Haruko Noguchi (Faculty of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University; WISH;) |
| Abstract: | As natural disasters increase in frequency and severity globally and populations age rapidly, understanding how disasters affect informal care systems becomes critical for policy design in aging societies. This study examines the causal impact of disaster exposure on informal caregiving burdens and caregiver health, exploiting spatial variation in seismic intensity from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. Using difference-in-differences estimation applied to unique longitudinal survey data linked to administrative records, we provide the first empirical evidence distinguishing impacts across the intensive margin (existing caregivers) and extensive margin (new caregivers) — a theoretically important distinction grounded in household production theory that prior disaster-caregiving research has overlooked. We find that a 12 percentage point increase in the proportion of destroyed or damaged houses increases weekly care time by 8.5 hours (45.9% increase) among existing caregivers and raises care provision likelihood by 2.3 percentage points (19.5% increase) among new caregivers. Mental health deteriorates exclusively among new caregivers, with effects concentrated among female and less-educated caregivers. Two key mechanisms drive these effects: disrupted formal at-home care services, with an estimated elasticity of informal-to-formal care substitution near unity, and reduced employment among new caregivers. Our findings reveal substantial hidden welfare costs beyond standard disaster impact assessments and demonstrate that optimal policy responses must account for fundamental differences in household adjustment mechanisms across margins. The results have broad relevance for disaster preparedness planning in aging economies worldwide. |
| Keywords: | natural disaster, informal caregiving, caregiver health, intensive and extensive margins, long-term care |
| JEL: | I10 J14 Q54 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wap:wpaper:2528 |
| By: | Künn, Annemarie (RS: GSBE UM-BIC, ROA / Labour market and training); Hendrickx, Stef (RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research, ROA / Human capital in the region); Retz, Mariëlle (RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research, ROA / Office and Support) |
| Date: | 2025–12–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umarof:2025007 |
| By: | Matteo Gamalerio, Massimo Morelli, Margherita Negri |
| Abstract: | We show that policies using plurality rule to elect their policymakers are more likely to adopt more restrictive immigration policies than those using dual-ballot systems. Plurality rule provides stronger incentives for right-wing, anti-immigrant parties to run alone, as opposed to joining a coalition with other right-wing parties that offer a less restrictive immigration policy. We prove the result theoretically and empirically. Our theoretical results hold with sincere and strategic voters, with and without endogenous turnout, and can be extended to the comparison between plurality rule and proportional representation without majority bonuses in parliamentary elections. Empirically, we combine municipal-level data on migration-related expenditures and mayoral elections and establish causality using a regression discontinuity design. |
| Keywords: | Electoral Rules, Immigration, Salience |
| JEL: | D72 J24 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:baf:cbafwp:cbafwp25260 |
| By: | Roll, Michael; Abu Qdais, Hani Ahmad; Kornprobst, Tim Lukas; Abu Jabal, Hussein; Suleiman, Yaser |
| Abstract: | Solid waste management is one of the most pressing urban governance issues in low- and middle-income countries. Because waste volumes are increasing, the associated fiscal, environmental and health costs will also rise. The idea of working with informal waste workers to address this problem is often suggested but rarely implemented. Based on the case of Irbid, Jordan's second-biggest city, we show why it was successful there and draw recommendations for other municipalities. Irbid used an approach that combined what we call "frontloading trust" and "prioritising integration over training". First, the mayor and municipal managers invited informal waste worker representatives to a structured dialogue about waste management challenges in the city, about the role of informal workers, and about potential solutions. During this months-long process, they overcame class differences, stigma and distrust and agreed on how to work together in the future. Then, rather than requiring extensive prior training of informal workers, they started to work together, which allowed workers to show what they were able to contribute ("prioritising integration over training"). Based on this process, the municipality and informal worker representatives signed the first Memorandum of Understanding of its kind in Jordan, legalising the work of informal workers, providing them with official badges and safety equipment and piloting their integration into municipal sorting facilities. After only a few months, data showed that the integration of informal workers had reduced landfill waste, had saved the municipality a lot of money, had improved waste services for residents, and had increased respect, protection and income for informal waste workers. This case shows that challenges like urban waste management require not only technical but social and governance innovations that include rather than exclude informal workers, and that can thereby contribute to improved livelihoods for all concerned. |
| Keywords: | aste management, informal sector, waste workers, adptive reform, PDIA, Irbid, Jordan, urban governance, capacity building, integration |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:idospb:333600 |
| By: | Tood, Maribeth; Kerr, Suzi |
| Abstract: | Land cover and use are critical for climate change, water quality and use, biodiversity and soil conservation as well as important drivers of rural economic activity and the evolution of rural communities. The Land Use in Rural New Zealand (LURNZ) model is a simulation model that predicts overall shifts in land use at a national scale and then allocates those changes spatially. We create a new dataset that allows us to consider fine scale land cover and use on private rural land and land characteristics associated with those land covers and uses. Second, we produce some summary statistics on the land cover transitions that were observed from 1996 to 2002. We find some evidence that supports our simple model of the relationship between land use changes and observable land quality, and the use of Land Use Capability and slope in rules to simulate the location of changes in land use and cover and also identify some directions for future work. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:motuwp:292637 |
| By: | Alden, Chris; Ocquaye, Nathaniel |
| Abstract: | Contrary to the conventional notion that African agency outside of the state is marginal if not irrelevant, this paper argues that it is ‘local patrons’ in Africa who are actually the most powerful determinants of the success of Chinese enterprises in Africa. These ‘local patrons’ exact financial resources from the Chinese in exchange for their services as brokers between state officials. Specifically, their ‘informal connections’ to local state authorities enables them to insure the Chinese firms against official state prosecution/demands as well as facilitate related bureaucratic procedures. Using the case of the Chinese construction firms operating in Ghana, we will investigate the challenges experienced by Chinese firms entering into new markets and the strategies utilised by them to address and mitigate risk in their search for profit, chief amongst them the employment of ‘local patrons’ to serve as brokers with state officials. This relocation of agency, drawing from scholarship by Mohan, Lampert and Soule-Kohndou as well as the empirical materials based on substantive fieldwork, provides new insights into terms of engagement with local actors that form a bonded relationship facilitating integration of Chinese enterprises into the African political economy. |
| Keywords: | China-Africa; African agency; Chinese construction firms; local patrons; middlemen |
| JEL: | R14 J01 J1 |
| Date: | 2024–06–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:130391 |
| By: | Dijkstra Lewis (European Commission - JRC); Testori Giulia (European Commission - JRC); Hormigos Feliu Clara (European Commission - JRC); Kompil Mert (European Commission - JRC); Proietti Paola; Jacobs-crisioni Chris; Pigaiani Cristian (European Commission - JRC); Tucci Michele (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | This policy brief provides an overview of the main opportunities and challenges facing EU cities in support of the EU Agenda for Cities (2025). It covers demographic, economic, social and environmental issues as well as transport, and safety. |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc144683 |