|
on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Adam Lavecchia; Philip Oreopoulos; Noah Spencer |
| Abstract: | This paper presents estimates of the causal effect of a comprehensive support program for low-income high school students on crime. The program, called Pathways to Education, bundles a number of supports including regular coaching, tutoring, group activities, free public transportation tickets and bursaries for postsecondary education. Our empirical strategy uses administrative data on high school enrollment linked to administrative court records and a difference-in-differences methodology that compares the evolution of crime outcomes of students living in the public housing communities where Pathways operates to similar public housing students who are ineligible for the program. We find that eligibility for Pathways reduces the likelihood of being charged with a crime at its Regent Park location by 6 percentage points (33 percent of the pre-treatment mean) and has no statistically significant effect at its Rexdale and Lawrence Heights locations. Our results suggest that the reductions in criminal activity are driven by the reduction of property crimes. |
| Keywords: | low-income youth, education and crime, youth programs |
| JEL: | I24 I26 I28 L31 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11676 |
| By: | Redding, Stephen J. |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews recent research in spatial economics. The field of spatial economics is concerned with the determinants and effects of the location of economic activity in geographic space. It analyses how geographical location shapes the economic activities per-formed by agents, their interactions with one another, their welfare, and the effects of public policy interventions. Research in this area has benefited from the simultaneous development of new theoretical techniques, new sources of geographic information systems (GIS) data, rapid advances in computing power, machine learning and artificial intelligence, and renewed public policy interest in infrastructure and appropriate policies towards places 'left-behind' by globalization and technology. Among the insights from this research are the role of goods and commuting market access in determining location choices; the conditions under which the location of economic activity is characterized by multiple equilibria; the circumstances under which temporary shocks can have permanent effects (hysteresis or path dependence); the heterogeneous and persistent impact of local shocks; the magnitude and spatial decay of agglomeration economics; and the role of both agglomeration forces and endogenous changes in land use in shaping the impact of transport infrastructure improvements. |
| Keywords: | cities; economic geography; regions; spatial economics |
| JEL: | F15 R10 R12 |
| Date: | 2024–11–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:126845 |
| By: | Hörnig, Lukas; Schäfer, Max |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we study the house price effects of local school choice opportunities among public primary schools using a rare and large-scale reform that abolished binding catchment areas in North RhineWestphalia, the largest German state with 18 million inhabitants. To estimate the reform's effect on valuations of houses, we compare houses with different local school choice sets, before and after the reform. We find that gaining access to a school within 2, 000 meters and with a higher transition rate to the academic track (relative to the initial neighborhood school) increases house prices by 1.5 percent. This effect is larger when the more attractive school is closer and diminishes as distance grows. The full reform effect materializes roughly five years after reform onset. |
| Keywords: | School choice, housing demand, real estate markets |
| JEL: | I28 R21 R3 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:311190 |
| By: | Bach, Maximilian; Klein, Thilo; McNamara, Sarah |
| Abstract: | Though the use of tracking policies to stratify students is commonplace, evi- dence concerning the effects of ability-based tracking on student performance is mixed. Using rich data from the Hungarian secondary school centralized assignment mechanism and a quasi-experimental framework, we find that at- tending the highest track noticeably improves standardized test scores and university aspirations two years post-match. Heterogeneity analysis finds this effect is independent of socioeconomic status, prior achievement, and parents' educational attainment, and we find only limited evidence of peer spillover effects in terms of academic ability. Given socioeconomic disparities in track placement, tracking may reinforce educational inequality. |
| Keywords: | education, school choice, tracking, centralized school admissions, student achievement, inequality of opportunity |
| JEL: | I21 I24 I28 E47 C26 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:312194 |
| By: | Serrati, Pablo Santiago |
| Abstract: | The link between residential and school segregation is widely recognized as a key to explaining urban inequalities. However, most studies have focused on countries of the global north. This paper outlines to identify to what extent socioeconomic residential segregation explains secondary school segregation in Buenos Aires (Argentina). Based on a linear programming method, the study proposes a hypothetical pupil allocation model that takes into account the capacity of schools and is used as an ideal typus to compare with the real socioeconomic school composition. Using a ‘decompose method’ of segregation differences to analyze the differences in segregation indices and a local segregation analysis, this paper finds that in a residential context with low segregation but high social inequalities, school segregation is a social mechanism that allows maintaining spaces of differentiation and distancing between groups. In discussion with the idea of a 'vicious circle of segregation', this article argues for the potential of a multi-domain approach to segregation, to understand how different domains work in articulated and complex ways to reinforce urban segregation. |
| Date: | 2023–03–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:ayx3q_v1 |
| By: | Daniel Brunstein (LISA - Laboratoire « Lieux, Identités, eSpaces, Activités » (UMR CNRS 6240 LISA) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Università di Corsica Pasquale Paoli [Université de Corse Pascal Paoli]); Georges Casamatta (LISA - Laboratoire « Lieux, Identités, eSpaces, Activités » (UMR CNRS 6240 LISA) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Università di Corsica Pasquale Paoli [Université de Corse Pascal Paoli]); Sauveur Giannoni (Università di Corsica Pasquale Paoli [Université de Corse Pascal Paoli], LISA - Laboratoire « Lieux, Identités, eSpaces, Activités » (UMR CNRS 6240 LISA) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Università di Corsica Pasquale Paoli [Université de Corse Pascal Paoli]) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the influence of Airbnb on property prices in Corsica. Leveraging machine learning techniques, we obtain more robust results than those achieved with conventional methods and uncover heterogeneous effects of Airbnb on property values. Our analysis reveals that a 1% increase in Airbnb listings leads to an average 0.21% rise in house prices. Interestingly, this effect is more pronounced in economically less developed regions, such as inland municipalities and remote seaside resorts, compared to traditionally popular tourist destinations and urban areas. |
| Keywords: | Short-term rental, Housing market, Machine learning, Heterogeneous effects |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04934630 |
| By: | Vieira, Renato. S.; Pereira, Rafael H. M.; Emanuel, Lucas; Alves, Pedro Jorge |
| Abstract: | Many cities worldwide provide fare subsidies to encourage transit ridership and mitigate the negative externalities associated with car use. Yet, there is limited evidence on the extent to which these policies promote shifts in transportation mode from automobiles to public transit, especially in cities from low-income countries. Here, we leverage a large-scale quasi-natural experiment to examine the causal impact of a fare-free transit policy on the travel behavior of older adults in a developing country with substantial public transit use. To identify the causal impact of free transit on travel behavior, we employ a regression discontinuity design that takes advantage of the Brazilian eligibility rule for free transit which is based on an age threshold that varies by sex and city. Drawing on data from 11 household travel surveys in seven metropolitan areas representing 25% of the Brazilian population, we compare the number of trips and travel times by transport mode, as well as vehicle ownership by individuals who are just above and just below the age thresholds for transit fare exemption. Our results show that fare-free transit increases transit ridership among older adults by approximately 9.4% (se = 4.0 p.p.) while making these trips shorter by 8.2%. However, this increase in transit usage results mainly from the substitution of walking trips, which decrease by 9.3% (se = 3.4 pp). We found no significant impact on car usage or vehicle ownership. These findings suggest that fare-free transit is not an effective policy to reduce private car use and its associated externalities, even in low-income contexts with high public transit usage. |
| Date: | 2025–02–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:pywm7_v1 |
| By: | Albouy, David (University of Illinois); Faberman, Jason (Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago) |
| Abstract: | We examine sorting behavior across metropolitan areas by skill over individuals' life cycles. We show that high-skill workers disproportionately sort into high-amenity areas, but do so relatively early in life. Workers of all skill levels tend to move towards lower-amenity areas during their thirties and forties. Consequently, individuals' time use and expenditures on activities related to local amenities are U-shaped over the life cycle. This contrasts with well-documented life-cycle consumption profiles, which have an opposite inverted-U shape. We present evidence that the move towards lower-amenity (and lower-cost) metropolitan areas is driven by changes in the number of household children over the life cycle: individuals, particularly the college educated, tend to move towards lower-amenity areas after having their first child. We develop an equilibrium model of location choice, labor supply, and amenity consumption and introduce life-cycle changes in household composition that affect leisure preferences, consumption choices, and required home production time. Key to the model is a complementarity between leisure time spent going out and local amenities, which we estimate to be large and significant. Ignoring this complementarity and the distinction between types of leisure misses the dampening effect child rearing has on urban agglomeration. Since the value of local amenities is capitalized into housing prices, individuals will tend to move to lower-cost locations to avoid paying for amenities they are not consuming. |
| Keywords: | urban amenities, sorting, migration, life-cycle dynamics |
| JEL: | J30 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17723 |
| By: | Bhattarai, Keshav; Adhikari, Ambika P. (Institute for Integrated Development Studies (IIDS)); Gautam, Shiva |
| Abstract: | Nepali government’s official delineation of several human settlements as new urban areas has been questionable because many important criteria such as urban infrastructure and services, open space, population density, and economic viability are not thoroughly analyzed while defining what is urban. Many settlements in Nepal officially defined as urban, often driven by political considerations, are operating in the rural framework forming ruralopolises. This paper analyzes various criteria needed for defining urbanization that are internationally accepted to assess Nepal’s official definition of urban settlements. Urban areas have been expanding in Nepal at the cost of agricultural, forest, and shrubland land uses. We found that using the road as the main variable but keeping agriculture, forest, and shrubland constant, a one percent increase in road length will lead to an increase in the geographical area of urban settlements by 0.47 percent. Spatial visualization of urban expansion and road network clearly indicates that new urban areas that are radiating from the established large urban centers are expanding along the road network on land that is relatively flat with less than 15◦slopes to the horizontal plane. In the mountainous region, undulated landscape, low-density population, and lack of road infrastructure, among other factors, have limited the expansion of urban areas. To develop a sustainable urban development plan, this paper detailed land use and land cover analyses of all seven provinces. Using 10 ×10 m sentinel satellite imagery, the paper presents analyses of land use and cover changes from 2017 to 2021. These years were chosen because rapid urbanization started after the promulgation of the new constitution in 2015. However, its implementation and state restructuring began only after 2017. The urban areas, as defined by the government, expanded rapidly in the Tarai and mid-Hills regions from 23 % in 2014 to 66.08 % in 2015. |
| Date: | 2023–07–21 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:gbwvk_v1 |
| By: | Vagliasindi, Maria |
| Abstract: | The COVID-19 pandemic has been posing unprecedented challenges for the transport sector. Urban travel has declined all over the world, but not uniformly for all modes; public transportation has taken the hardest blow. As a result, there has been a widespread reduction in public transport ridership: according to recent estimates, passenger numbers in cities around the world have been at the peak of the pandemic down 70 to 90 percent. This paper examines the short-run economic impact of the pandemic, as well as the generic and sector-specific restrictions that were adopted to control the outbreak of the pandemic, based on a rich database tracking on a daily basis public transport usage and traffic congestion. The analysis confirms the significant impact of sector-specific restrictions and broader lockdown measures in terms of reduction in urban mobility and congestion. The analysis finds that the spread of the disease itself had an economic impact distinct from that of the lockdown measures. There are also different results on the magnitude of impact of cross-sectoral vis-à-vis sectoral restrictions on urban mobility and congestion. Whereas the magnitude of the spread of the disease is higher than the overall stringency of the lockdown, the impact of restrictions of public transit has been much greater than the spread of the disease and acts indirectly as a disincentive to move on the road. More effective safety measures, such as those related to the use of facial covering, are associated with higher use of public transport and an increase in the likelihood of low congestion. There is no evidence of intermodal competition between public transportation and road transport. In particular, the expansion of car registration has not led to a decrease in public transport mobility, but it is significantly associated with an increase in traffic congestion, particularly in mega-cities. |
| Date: | 2023–03–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10351 |
| By: | Neumann, Uwe; Yasar, Serife |
| Abstract: | Traditional urban policy focuses mainly on redevelopment measures. Germany's Social City programme incorporates urban regeneration with support to local communities in deprived neighbourhoods. We use microdata on household characteristics from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and microdata on housing prices from the RWI GEO-RED to assess the policy effects on household income and housing markets. Drawing on propensity score matching, we find that household incomes among programme areas have not been affected. However, hedonic pricing models reveal significant effects on housing prices and rents. |
| Abstract: | Stadterneuerungsprogramme konzentrieren sich traditionell überwiegend auf die städtebauliche Sanierung. Das deutsche Programm "Soziale Stadt" verband die Stadterneuerung mit der Unterstützung der Bevölkerung und des lokalen Gemeinwesens in benachteiligten Stadtteilen. Wir verwenden Mikrodaten zu Haushaltsmerkmalen aus dem Sozio-oekonomischen Panel (SOEP) und Mikrodaten aus dem RWI GEO-RED, um die Auswirkungen der "Sozialen Stadt" auf Haushaltseinkommen, Mieten und Wohnungspreise in den Programmgebieten zu untersuchen. Mit Hilfe von Matching-Analysen stellen wir fest, dass die Haushaltseinkommen nicht beeinflusst wurden. Hedonische Preismodelle zeigen dagegen signifikant positive Auswirkungen auf Wohnungspreise und Mieten. |
| Keywords: | Segregation, urban policy, matching, hedonic pricing models |
| JEL: | C21 O18 R23 R31 R58 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:311300 |
| By: | Ahlfeldt, Gabriel M.; Szumilo, Nikodem; Tripathy, Jagdish |
| Abstract: | We quantify the housing-consumption channel in mortgage demand according to which households borrow more following house-price increases since housing and non-housing consumption are imperfect substitutes. To identify this channel, we take a structural approach to mortgage demand and supply, exploiting exogenous variation in house-price growth and a unique dataset with matched transaction-price and mortgage information. We estimate an elasticity of mortgage borrowing to house-prices of 0.82. Counterfactual analysis of the general-equilibrium of housing and mortgage markets shows that, sans housing-consumption channel, mortgage and house-price growth in the UK would have been 50% and 31% lower, respectively, since the 1990s. |
| Keywords: | house prices; mortgage demand; housing consumption; consumption channel; property taxes |
| JEL: | G11 G21 R21 |
| Date: | 2024–07–29 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:126802 |
| By: | Stokenberga, Aiga; Ivarsson Molina, Linda Ellin Maria; Fulponi, Juan Ignacio |
| Abstract: | The growth of e-commerce has the potential to reduce shopping-related travel but brings with it additional freight vehicle trips for the delivery of online orders to consumers. Understanding the overall net effect of e-commerce on urban trip intensity is essential for planning transport infrastructure and services. The paper analyzes how the growth of e-commerce is impacting mobility in Bogotá and Buenos Aires. The demand for e-commerce grew in both cities during the COVID-19 pandemic (2019–21), mostly among higher income groups. Despite the significant potential for replacing private vehicle trips, the analysis finds little evidence that the growth of e-commerce is having a significant substitution effect on shopping trips. Overall, e-commerce currently generates more traffic than it avoids in both Bogotá and Buenos Aires, and, thus, is very likely to continue to add to the road traffic in the two metropolitan areas in the near future. |
| Date: | 2023–06–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10485 |
| By: | D'Aoust, Olivia Severine; Galdo, Virgilio; Ianchovichina, Elena |
| Abstract: | The paper documents the evolution of territorial disparities in labor and location productivity in 14 countries in Latin America, using millions of observations from harmonized household surveys and censuses. Between the early 2000s and the late 2010s, most countries in the region experienced significant reductions in regional inequality as real labor incomes and location productivity premia converged at the first and second administrative levels. The leveling up reflected both the slowdown in productivity growth in affluent predominantly urban municipalities and the catchup of relatively poor, predominantly rural municipalities. Absolute convergence narrowed the labor income gaps with leading metropolitan areas, including the disparitites exploitable through migration, especially among the bottom 40 percent of households, as cities de-industrialized, yet continued to attract migrants. On the eve of the Covid-19 pandemic, income disparities with leading metropolitan areas remained high in nearly all countries, largely due to differences in educational attainment, but in a few countries, large differences in returns to endowments indicate potentially significant returns to migration to the leading metropolitan areas, especially for residents of relatively poor, remote regions. Rather than a clear rural-urban-metropolitan divide, in most countries the paper documents substantial overlap between the location-premia distributions of different types of second-level administrative areas and small differences between the average urban and rural place productivity premia. |
| Date: | 2023–06–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10480 |
| By: | Iimi, Atsushi |
| Abstract: | Transport connectivity is an important determinant of agglomeration economies and urbanization. However, measuring its impacts is a complex task when causality is considered. An important empirical challenge comes from potential endogeneity of infrastructure placement. To deal with the endogeneity problem, first, the paper constructs detailed georeferenced connectivity measurements based on micro shipping data collected over 10 years. Then, the system generalized method of moments regression is applied. Using unique data from the Caucasus and Central Asian countries, the paper estimates the impact of transport connectivity on agglomeration economies. It finds that agglomeration economies are significant and persistent in the region. Thus, the existing firm clusters are likely to continue growing. However, a constraint is also found. Large cities exhibit congestion diseconomies. Finally, the paper shows that the improvement of transport connectivity, especially local market accessibility, has a significant effect on agglomeration. By contrast, no clear evidence to support the impact of improved regional connectivity on agglomeration is observed yet. To take full advantage of agglomeration economies at the regional level, further efforts may be needed, for instance, toward increasing efficiency in transportation and logistics, improving the freight load, and/or reducing the time and costs of border crossing, which add to overall transport costs and times. |
| Date: | 2023–07–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10534 |
| By: | Xu, Wenfei |
| Abstract: | Mid-20th urban renewal in the United States was transformational for the physical urban fabric and socioeconomic trajectories of these neighborhoods and its displaced residents. However, there is little research that systematically investigates its impacts due to incomplete national data. This article uses a multiple machine learning method to discover 204 new Census tracts that were likely sites of federal urban renewal, highway construction related demolition, and other urban renewal projects between 1949 and 1970. It also aims to understand the factors motivating the decision to “renew” certain neighborhoods. I find that race, housing age, and homeownership are all determinants of renewal. Moreover, by stratifying the analysis along neighborhoods perceived to be more or less risky, I also find that race and housing age are two distinct channels that influence renewal. |
| Date: | 2023–05–13 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:bsvr8_v1 |
| By: | Pablo D. Fajgelbaum; Cecile Gaubert |
| Abstract: | We summarize recent methods to study optimal spatial policies. We center the discussion on policies that implement the optimal distribution of population in the presence of spatial spillovers, spatial transfers to optimally tackle redistribution between rich and poor regions, and optimal transportation investments. |
| JEL: | H21 H23 R12 R13 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33493 |
| By: | Piza, Caio; Furtado, Isabela Brandao; Amorim, Vivian De Fatima |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether providing financial education in elementary and middle school grades improves students' financial proficiency and actual behavior. It uses a cluster randomized control trial to evaluate a pilot program implemented in 101 Brazilian municipal schools in 2015. The findings show positive impacts on financial proficiency, mainly among middle school students, and suggestive evidence of improvements in short-term behavioral outcomes. However, the analysis indicates that the program did not impact students' school achievements in both the short and longer terms, which suggests that the program's effects were not strong enough to shift students' behavior decisions. |
| Date: | 2023–06–28 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10511 |
| By: | Andersen, Simon Calmar (Aarhus University); Michel, Bastien (Aarhus University); Nielsen, Helena Skyt (Aarhus University) |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of peer coaching separately from the effect of training on teachers' implementation of new teaching techniques. We conducted a preregistered field experiment involving 68 teachers and 1, 490 students in Denmark. Teachers in an active control group took part in a teaching program that introduced new teaching techniques. On top of the teaching program, the treatment group received coaching from peers. External observers, blinded to the treatment status, assessed teachers' use of the program techniques in the classroom. While we observe increased transfer to teachers' practices, the overall effects are mixed, calling for caution. |
| Keywords: | coaching, knowledge transfer, school teachers, field experiment |
| JEL: | I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17728 |
| By: | Vergara-Vidal, Jorge |
| Abstract: | The enormous everyday and cultural influence of the design carried out by the teams of the public agency Corporación de la Vivienda (CORVI) (Housing Corporation) in Chilean cities gives rise, in this text, to an approach to their period of greatest production as a unique creative moment which, guided by the idea of rationalisation of project decisions, collaborates centrally in the process of their standardisation. To this end, the information on the eighteen project typologies drawn up between 1966 and 1971 by these teams and contained in the document "Tipología de viviendas racionalizadas 1966-1972” (Rationalised housing typologies 1966-1972) is systematised. Not all of these designs were finally built, but their forms, materials, dimensions and programmes give an account of a synthesis of the housing built up to that time and of the similarities between them, which is understood as evidence of a process both typological and standardised, which delimits and symmetrises the structural and spatial aspects between the prototypes of social housing. |
| Date: | 2023–03–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:7wqmt_v1 |
| By: | Stokenberga, Aiga; Ivarsson Molina, Linda Ellin Maria; Fulponi, Juan Ignacio |
| Abstract: | The COVID-19 pandemic significantly changed mobility patterns in the Bogotá and Buenos Aires metropolitan areas, as shown by the differences between the October 2019, 2020, and 2021 indicator values derived from call detail record–based origin-destination matrices. The differences between 2019 and 2020 were more notable than between 2019 and 2021 on most mobility indicators, demonstrating a reversal of the pre-pandemic mobility habits. However, by late 2021, the return to pre-pandemic levels was still very partial in the case of public transport use (especially so in Buenos Aires), while in Bogotá the pandemic appeared to have induced a permanent—and increasing—shift to nonmotorized modes. Other mobility indicators that appear to have changed more permanently in Bogotá include the lower average distances traveled and the relatively higher importance of non-home-based mobility. In the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area, the key persistent changes include the lower overall trip generation rates and specifically peak-hour travel, and the higher relative weight of travel to work and school compared to other travel purposes. These findings are partly explained by the underlying policy and regulatory context in the two cities and are relevant for designing transport policy in the post-pandemic context, including in terms of public transport route and schedule planning, cycleway network expansion, and, more broadly, the leveraging of big data as a complement to traditional mobility surveys. |
| Date: | 2023–06–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10484 |
| By: | Alam, Muneeza Mehmood; Bagnoli, Lisa Serena; Kerzhner, Tamara |
| Abstract: | There is increasing recognition that deficiencies in the public transport system impact men and women differently. While transport systems have been shown to play a significant role in women’s participation in the labor force globally, this topic has been little explored in the Middle East and North Africa. This paper examines the effect of the spatial accessibility, availability, and safety of public transportation on women’s labor market outcomes in three capital cities in the Middle East and North Africa—Amman in Jordan, Beirut in Lebanon, and Cairo in the Arab Republic of Egypt. The analysis uses three types of data collected for each city in 2022, namely, household mobility surveys, transit network data, and built environment audits. The paper investigates how the spatial accessibility of jobs in each city, the availability of public transportation close to residential locations, and the safety of public transit stops affect the labor force participation of women and their likelihood of employment. The main findings are that: (a) accessibility, availability, and safety appear to impact women’s labor force participation differentially in each city, and these impacts also vary by income level; and (b) although accessibility, availability, and safety appear to impact women’s labor force participation, they have overall little impact on women’s employment probability. The paper takes these two findings to imply that: (a) a one-size-fits-all-women solution is not appropriate when designing public transport systems; and (b) although public transport plays a critical role in improving women’s access to employment opportunities, complementary actions are needed to translate these gains into gainful employment. |
| Date: | 2023–04–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10404 |
| By: | Patrinos, Harry Anthony |
| Abstract: | COVID-19 led to school closures and emergency remote learning systems. It is feared that students learned less when they were remote. This paper analyzes school closures during the pandemic using a unique data base. The determinants of the duration of school closures estimates were used to instrument school closures – stringency of lockdown and vaccination – and causally estimate the impact of duration on learning. It is estimated that for every week that schools were closed, learning levels declined by almost 1 percent of a standard deviation. This means that a 20 week closure, for example, would reduce learning outcomes by 0.20 standard deviation, almost one year of schooling. |
| Date: | 2023–04–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10420 |
| By: | Demombynes, Gabriel |
| Abstract: | This paper extends the concept of learning poverty to provide local-level estimates of the share of children at age 10 who can read and understand a simple text in Colombia. The learning poverty indicator combines the share of children who are out of school and thus schooling deprived with the share of those in school who are learning deprived based on reading tests. Local-level estimates illustrate the immense gaps in learning poverty across municipalities in Colombia in a readily interpretable form. Learning poverty rates in some Colombian municipalities are below 20 percent—the average among high-income countries—while in others, rates exceed 90 percent—the average in Sub-Saharan Africa. High learning poverty rates at the local level are associated with high levels of multidimensional poverty, a large population share of ethnic minorities, and a history of conflict. The paper also shows that the rate of learning deprivation is 60 percent is public schools versus 30 percent in private schools and that reports from school principals identify large gaps between public and private schools in educational inputs. These results highlight the need to enhance foundational skills in public schools in Colombia. |
| Date: | 2023–06–26 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10498 |
| By: | Sophia Shen; Xinyi Wang; Nicholas Caros; Jinhua Zhao |
| Abstract: | The overall impact of working from home (WFH) on transportation emissions remains a complex issue, with significant implications for policymaking. This study matches socioeconomic information from American Community Survey (ACS) to the global carbon emissions dataset for selected Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in the US. We analyze the impact of WFH on transportation emissions before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Employing cross-sectional multiple regression models and Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition, we examine how WFH, commuting mode, and car ownership influence transportation emissions across 141 MSAs in the United States. We find that the prevalence of WFH in 2021 is associated with lower transportation emissions, whereas WFH in 2019 did not significantly impact transportation emissions. After controlling for public transportation usage and car ownership, we find that a 1% increase in WFH corresponds to a 0.17 kilogram or 1.8% reduction of daily average transportation emissions per capita. The Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition shows that WFH is the main driver in reducing transportation emissions per capita during the pandemic. Our results show that the reductive influence of public transportation on transportation emissions has declined, while the impact of car ownership on increasing transportation emissions has risen. Collectively, these results indicate a multifaceted impact of WFH on transportation emissions. This study underscores the need for a nuanced, data-driven approach in crafting WFH policies to mitigate transportation emissions effectively. |
| Date: | 2025–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2503.00422 |
| By: | Shamsi, Javad |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how immigration reshapes political landscapes, centring on the influx of immigrants from the EU's 2004 enlargement and its implications for the UK. I use a new variation in exposure to immigration based on migrant flows across various industries coupled with the employment structure in each region. Addressing potential concerns of endogeneity, I introduce a novel shift-share IV design, harnessing the industry-specific flow of migrants to regions outside the UK within the pre-2004 EU. The findings reveal a significant impact on support for the right-wing UK Independence Party and the Brexit Leave campaign, accompanied by a decline in Labour Party support. Moreover, the research indicates that voters' social attitudes toward immigration become more adverse in response to immigration. Political parties, particularly Conservatives, are also observed to increasingly engage with the topic of immigration in constituencies most affected by immigration, typically marked by negative rhetoric. The paper reconciles these findings by highlighting how immigration shocks entrench immigration cleavage, realigning political conflict from traditional economic lines to new cultural dimensions. |
| Keywords: | immigration; political realignment; industry-specific migration; EU enlargement |
| JEL: | J15 D72 F22 J61 P16 |
| Date: | 2024–03–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:126828 |
| By: | Iqbal, Syedah Aroob; Patrinos, Harry Anthony |
| Abstract: | School closures induced by the COVID-19 pandemic led to concerns about student learning. This paper evaluates the effect of school closures on student learning in Uzbekistan, using a unique dataset that allows assessing change in learning over time. The findings show that test scores in math for grade 5 students improved over time by 0.29 standard deviation despite school closures. The outcomes among students who were assessed in 2019 improved by an average of 0.72 standard deviation over the next two years, slightly lower than the expected growth of 0.80 standard deviation. The paper explores the reasons for no learning loss. |
| Date: | 2023–06–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10474 |
| By: | Jedwab, Remi Camille; Barr, Jason |
| Abstract: | Despite the widespread prevalence and economic importance of tall buildings, little is known about how their patterns vary across space and time. This paper focuses on vertical real estate, aiming to quantify differences across major world regions over time (1950–2020). The paper exploits a novel database on the location, height (above 55 meters), and year of construction of nearly all the tall buildings in the world. It proposes a new methodology to estimate the extent to which some world regions build up more than others given similar economic and geographic conditions, city size distributions, and other features. The analyses reveal that many skylines may visually appear more prominent than they really are once all the tall buildings and core controls are included, which alters how regions are ranked in terms of tall building stocks. Using results by city size, centrality, height of buildings, and building function, the paper classifies world regions into different groups, finding that international tall building stocks are mostly driven by boring skylines of residential high-rises, and to a lesser extent exciting skylines of skyscrapers and supertall office towers. Finally, land use regulations and preferences, not historical preservation nor dispersed ownership, likely account for most of the observed differences. |
| Date: | 2023–03–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10365 |
| By: | Eva Coll-Martínez (IEP Toulouse - Sciences Po Toulouse - Institut d'études politiques de Toulouse, LEREPS - Laboratoire d'Etude et de Recherche sur l'Economie, les Politiques et les Systèmes Sociaux - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse - UT2J - Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès - UT - Université de Toulouse - Institut d'Études Politiques [IEP] - Toulouse - ENSFEA - École Nationale Supérieure de Formation de l'Enseignement Agricole de Toulouse-Auzeville); Carles Méndez-Ortega (Open University of Catalonia [Barcelona]) |
| Abstract: | Nowadays, due to the post-COVID-19 situation, teleworking has grown exponentially worldwide. In this context, and as the pandemic has moved into a less restrictive phase, the role of coworking spaces (CSs) has gained relevance. This chapter investigates the location patterns and characteristics of 599 coworking spaces in Spain as of 2021. Specifically, it examines the location factors, characteristics, and attractiveness of central and peripheral regions of these spaces. Data from CSs in Spain provided by the COST Action CA18214 is used. By analyzing features of the CSs, utilizing Geographical Information Systems and Kd functions of agglomeration, we confirmed that CSs are highly concentrated in specific urban areas of Spain where there are greater opportunities to meet customers and suppliers, access to human capital, proximity to key amenities, and good connections. |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04911140 |
| By: | Premkumar, Deepak (Public Policy Institute of California); Lofstrom, Magnus (Public Policy Institute of California); Hayes, Joseph (Public Policy Institute of California); Martin, Brandon (Public Policy Institute of California); Cremin, Sean (Public Policy Institute of California) |
| Abstract: | Racial disparities within the criminal justice system continue to be a pressing issue in the U.S. In this paper, we analyze data for almost four million stops by California's fifteen largest law enforcement agencies in 2019, examining the extent to which people of color experience searches, enforcement, intrusiveness, and use of force differently from white people. Black Californians are more likely to be searched than white Californians, but searches of Black civilians reveal less contraband and evidence. Black people are overrepresented in stops not leading to enforcement as well as in stops leading to an arrest. While differences in location and context for the stop significantly contribute to racial disparities, notable inequities remain after accounting for such factors. These disparities are concentrated in traffic stops. A notable proportion of which lead to no enforcement or discovery—suggesting that gains in efficiency and equity are possible. Through a "veil of darkness" analysis, we find evidence that racial bias may be a contributing factor to disparities in traffic stops for Black and Latino drivers. These findings suggest that traffic stops for non-moving violations deserve consideration for alternative enforcement strategies. |
| Keywords: | policing, racial disparities, racial bias, stops, searches, enforcement |
| JEL: | J15 K42 K14 H41 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17729 |
| By: | Bessudnov, Alexey |
| Abstract: | This study investigates ethnic differences in Key Stage 2 (KS2) reading and mathematical test scores among primary school pupils in state schools in England in 2007 and 2018. The aim is to assess the performance across ethnic categories and examine its evolution over the course of the study period. The analysis uses data from the National Pupil Database combining ethnicity information from school censuses with KS2 attainment data. KS2 reading and mathematical tests are taken by Year 6 pupils aged 10 to 11. Mean test scores are compared across ethnic categories, while the method of relative distribution is employed to evaluate performance in each ethnic category relative to the White British across the entire distribution of test scores. Between 2007 and 2018, the reading and maths test scores of British Bangladeshi, Black African, and Pakistani pupils improved relative to the White British group. In 2018, British Bangladeshi and Black African pupils performed at a similar or slightly higher level compared to their White British peers. The advantage in test scores in the two higher performing categories, British Indian and Chinese, further increased. Attainment in the other White category remained similar to the White British group. The test scores for the Black Caribbean and Mixed White and Black Caribbean categories tended to be concentrated in the lower part of the distribution. In 2018, the proportion of mixed and non-White pupils remained largely constant throughout the reading test score distribution, while in maths, a higher proportion of mixed and non- White pupils were found among high achievers compared to other parts of the distribution. The paper proposes potential explanations for these differences, which are related to the volume and characteristics of immigration to England. |
| Date: | 2023–04–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:5wvx2_v1 |
| By: | Heidmann, Laure; Neirac, Lucie; Andreu, Sandra; Conceiçao, Pierre; Eteve, Yann; Fabre, Marianne; Vourc'h, Ronan |
| Abstract: | In March 2020, schools in France closed for two months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data from the national assessments, we measure the impact of this unprecedented crisis on the learning of 800, 000 students who were in first grade during the school closures. We show that students' learning progress dropped after the lockdown by 10% standard deviation from a normal year in mathematics, and even more dramatically in French with a decrease of 15% standard deviation. The crisis exacerbated pre-existing inequalities since students from disadvantaged schools were the most affected. We also find that the effects are particularly strong in domains where the school plays a fundamental role in reducing social inequalities in early learning, namely reading and writing. |
| Date: | 2023–04–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:qn9a8_v1 |
| By: | Matthew Collin (EU Tax - EU Tax Observatory, PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Karan Mishra (EU Tax - EU Tax Observatory, PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Andreas Økland (NMBU - Norwegian University of Life Sciences) |
| Abstract: | This note addresses the significant concerns associated with anonymous real estate ownership in the United States, highlighting how a considerable amount of property, including residential real estate, is held via corporate entities that conceal the true owners. Analyzing data from three major US cities, New York, Miami and Boston, we reveal the limitations of current methods in accurately identifying foreign ownership and propose solutions for federal and state authorities to enhance transparency and understanding of the extent of cross-border real estate ownership. Without such measures, the enigma of anonymous ownership persists, obstructing our collective grasp of its breadth and implications. The fact that the size and scope of foreign investment in US real estate remains a mystery is not a data problem, but a policy one. |
| Date: | 2024–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-04941022 |
| By: | Stokenberga, Aiga; Escalante Hernandez, Cecilia Nallely; Dominguez Gonzalez, Karla; Espinet Alegre, Xavier; Becoulet, Malaika |
| Abstract: | Mobility of goods and people in rural Haiti is constrained by the sparce road network and low maintenance of existing infrastructure. These challenges are further exacerbated by frequent natural disasters, including seasonal floods and earthquakes of significant magnitudes. This study conducted household surveys, qualitative interviews with humanitarian and development organizations on the ground, and spatial and statistical analysis to understand the impact of the relative importance of various constraints to accessing schooling, health care, and livelihood opportunities in rural Haiti, especially focusing on the most marginalized population groups. The various data collected corroborate the conclusion that transport issues—travel time, flooded roads, and lack of continuously functioning public transport services, among others—are central in the local residents’ ability to access services and livelihood opportunities. At the same time, for many marginalized people, such as women and people living with a disability, other significant barriers are present, in terms of lack of affordability, inappropriate design of school and health care facilities, risk of assault, discrimination, and cultural norms. Living in a community where roads where damaged by the August 2021 earthquake is associated with reduced odds of having accessed needed health care or sold any of the produced agricultural harvest in the following months and with higher odds of children having missed school. Overall, the findings point to the need for a broad set of interventions—combining infrastructure and complementary policies—to allow everyone, including the most marginalized groups, to gain full access to health, education, and livelihood opportunities. |
| Date: | 2023–08–23 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10550 |
| By: | Sanchis-Guarner, Rosa; Montalbán, José; Weinhardt, Felix |
| Abstract: | Using administrative data, we estimate the effect of home broadband speed on student-level value-added test scores. Our headline estimate relies on jumps in connection quality between close neighbours that occur across thousands of invisible telephone exchange station catchment-area boundaries. We find that increasing speed by 1 Mbit/s increases test scores by 1.37 percentile ranks, equivalent to 5% of a standard deviation. School-level factors or broadband take-up cannot explain this. Instead, the positive effects are concentrated among high-ability and non-free-school-meal eligible students and result from more education-oriented internet use. Differences in ICT quality can thus lead to increasing education inequalities. |
| Keywords: | broadband; education; spatial regression discontinuity |
| JEL: | J24 I21 I28 D83 |
| Date: | 2024–02–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:126832 |
| By: | Machin, Stephen; Sandi, Matteo |
| Abstract: | Research studying connections between crime and education is a prominent aspect of the big increase of publication and research interest in the economics of crime field. This work demonstrates a crime reducing impact of education, which can be interpreted as causal through leveraging research designs (e.g., based on education policy changes) that ensure the direction of causality flows from education to crime. A significant body of research also explores in detail, and in various directions, the means by which education has a crime reducing impact. This includes evidence on incapacitation versus productivity raising aspects of education, and on the quality of schooling at different stages of education, ranging from early age interventions, through primary and secondary schooling and policy changes that alter school dropout age. From this evidence base, there are education policies that have been effective crime prevention tools in many settings around the world. |
| Keywords: | crime; education |
| JEL: | K42 |
| Date: | 2024–10–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:126801 |
| By: | Chen, Xiaoguang; Huang, Hanwei; Ju, Jiandong; Sun, Ruoyan; Zhang, Jialiang |
| Abstract: | We study infectious diseases in a spatial epidemiology model with forward-looking individuals who weigh disease environments against economic opportunities when moving across regions. This endogenous mobility allows regions to share risk and health resources, resulting in positive epidemiological externalities for regions with high R0s. We develop the Normalized Hat Algebra to analyze disease and mobility dynamics. Applying our model to US data, we find that cross-state mobility controls that hinder risk and resource sharing increase COVID-19 deaths and decrease social welfare. Conversely, by enabling "self-containment" and "self-healing, " endogenous mobility reduces COVID-19 infections by 27.6% and deaths by 22.1%. |
| Keywords: | sird model; spatial economy; endogenous mobility; basic reproduction number; normalized hat algebra; containment policies; Covid-19; coronavirus |
| JEL: | C61 D91 I12 I18 J61 R13 |
| Date: | 2024–02–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:126830 |
| By: | Baseler, Travis Andreas; Narayan, Ambar; Ng, Odyssia Sophie Si Jia; Sinha Roy, Sutirtha |
| Abstract: | People may avoid migrating if they cannot insure themselves against the risk of a bad outcome. Governments can reduce the consumption risk faced by migrants by allowing them to access social protection programs in the destination. This study randomly informed around 62, 000 households across 18 Indian states about a new program allowing migrants to collect their food ration across the country, together with information about practical barriers to using the program. Four months later, treated households held lower beliefs about food ration portability, and were less likely to migrate to cities. The findings indicate that food insecurity risk reduces urban migration. |
| Date: | 2023–08–22 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10549 |
| By: | Bredtmann, Julia; Otten, Sebastian; Vonnahme, Christina |
| Abstract: | We analyze whether teachers discriminate against ethnic minority students in terms of grading. Using comprehensive data on students in German primary and secondary schools, we compare students' scores in standardized, anonymously graded achievement tests with non-anonymous teacher ratings within a difference-in-difference (DiD) framework. We find that, on average, minority students receive lower grades than majority students in both German and Math. However, these differences are not due to discrimination in grading against minority students. Instead, performance gaps between minority and majority students are significantly reduced when being graded by the teacher compared to being assessed through the standardized test. We provide supporting evidence that this finding cannot be explained solely by the fact that minority students face higher barriers on the standardized test due to language difficulties. Rather, our results suggest that teachers have a positive evaluation bias towards ethnic minority students. |
| Abstract: | Wir untersuchen, ob Lehrkräfte bei der Notengebung gegenüber Schüler/innen mit Migrationshintergrund diskriminieren. Auf der Basis umfangreicher Befragungsdaten von Schüler/innen an Grundschulen und weiterführenden Schulen in Deutschland vergleichen wir die Ergebnisse der Schüler/innen in standardisierten, anonym bewerteten Leistungstests mit den nicht-anonymen Bewertungen der Lehrkräfte. Es zeigt sich, dass Schüler/innen mit Migrationshintergrund sowohl im Fach Deutsch als auch im Fach Mathematik im Durchschnitt schlechtere Noten erhalten als Schüler/innen ohne Migrationshintergrund. Diese Unterschiede sind jedoch nicht auf eine Diskriminierung von Schüler/innen mit Migrationshintergrund bei der Benotung zurückzuführen. Stattdessen zeigen unsere Ergebnisse auf Basis eines Differenz-in-Differenzen-Ansatzes (DiD), dass die Leistungsunterschiede zwischen Schüler/innen mit und ohne Migrationshintergrund deutlich geringer sind, wenn sie von der Lehrkraft benotet werden, als wenn sie durch einen standardisierten Test bewertet werden. Unsere Untersuchungen liefern Belege dafür, dass dieses Ergebnis nicht allein dadurch erklärt werden kann, dass Schüler/innen mit Migrationshintergrund aufgrund von Sprachschwierigkeiten beim standardisierten Test auf größere Hürden stoßen. Vielmehr finden wir Hinweise darauf, dass Lehrkräfte bei der Leistungsbewertung versuchen, bestehende Ungleichheiten auszugleichen und Schüler/innen mit Migrationshintergrund tendenziell bessere Noten geben. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, discrimination, grading bias |
| JEL: | F22 I24 J15 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:311201 |
| By: | Sven Damen; Matthijs Korevaar; Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh |
| Abstract: | Residential properties with the lowest rent levels provide the highest investment returns to their owners. Using detailed rent, cost, and price data from the United States, Belgium, and The Netherlands, we show that this phenomenon holds across housing markets and time. If anything, low-rent units hedge business cycle risk. We also find no evidence for differential regulatory risk exposure. We document segmentation of investors, with large corporate landlords shying away from the low-tier segment possibly for reputational reasons. Financial constraints prevent renters from purchasing their property and medium-sized landlords from scaling up, sustaining excess risk-adjusted returns. Low-income tenants ultimately pay the price for this segmentation in the form of a high rent burden. |
| JEL: | G1 G23 G5 R20 R31 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33470 |
| By: | Baciu, Dan Costa (Architektur Studio Bellerive) |
| Abstract: | This article explores the complex relationship between mobility, diversity, and perceived urban value by studying urban “chains of activities” that define city life. Introducing chains-of-activities-models (CHOAMs), we present a method for systematically analyzing how individuals move through the city and engage in a variety of urban activities. We also show that changing mobility options or the supply of activities can directly influence the ways people experience and the extent to which they value the urban environment. By facilitating rapid modeling and testing of scenarios, our research framework empowers urban planners, designers, and policymakers to envision cities as dynamic systems and leverage the relationship between mobility and diversity to optimize human-scale benefits. Through these insights obtainable through CHOAMs, the present article opens the door to a future of automated, proactive, and value-driven urban design. |
| Date: | 2025–02–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:wuyp9_v3 |
| By: | Evsyukova, Yulia; Rusche, Felix; Mill, Wladislaw |
| Abstract: | We assess the impact of discrimination on Black individuals' job networks across the U.S. using a two-stage field experiment with 400+ fictitious LinkedIn profiles. In the first stage, we vary race via AI-generated images only and find that Black profiles' connection requests are 13 percent less likely to be accepted. Based on users' CVs, we find widespread discrimination across social groups. In the second stage, we exogenously endow Black and White profiles with the same networks and ask connected users for career advice. We find no evidence of direct discrimination in information provision. However, when taking into account differences in the composition and size of networks, Black profiles receive substantially fewer replies. Our findings suggest that gatekeeping is a key driver of Black-White disparities. |
| Keywords: | Discrimination, Job Networks, Labor Markets, Field Experiment |
| JEL: | J71 J15 C93 J46 D85 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:312188 |
| By: | Barron, Boris; Hall, Matthew; Rich, Peter; Cohen, Itai; Arias, Tomas A. |
| Abstract: | The prevailing view is that White/Black segregation has experienced modest declines in recent decades, while White/Hispanic and White/Asian segregation have remained stable. This consensus is based on the assumption that segregation measures, such as the ubiquitous dissimilarity index, are free of systematic bias on city compositions, a property known as compositional invariance. This property is necessary because, while the Black population has remained stable in the U.S., the Hispanic and Asian populations have experienced significant growth. In this paper, we demonstrate that the assumption of compositional invariance for the dissimilarity index is fundamentally flawed and propose an easily-implementable adjustment factor to facilitate meaningful segregation comparisons of cities over space and time. The implications of this adjustment are stark: we find that White/Hispanic and White/Asian segregation have substantially decreased, with Hispanic segregation declining more rapidly than Black segregation. Our findings also highlight the exceptional nature of Black segregation, with the gap in their measured dissimilarity - after adjusting for compositional changes - persisting when compared to White segregation with other racial/ethnic groups. |
| Date: | 2023–02–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:q2s7c_v1 |
| By: | Saavedra Facusse, Trinidad Berenice; Inchauste Comboni, Maria Gabriela |
| Abstract: | This study uses the 2020 Census to explore the determinants of interstate migration in Mexico between 2015 and 2020 and the earnings gains from migration. The study analyzes both spatial characteristics (push and pull factors in the origin and destination states) and individual factors that influence the decision to migrate and where to migrate. Push and pull factors are assessed using a gravity-type model. Individual factors are analyzed using a multinomial regression model that accounts for migration reasons. Subsequently, the study measures the impact of internal migration on labor income. Earnings gains are estima ted using a double selection model that accounts simultaneously for the decisions to migrate and to work. Finally, the paper discusses some policy recommendations that could help leverage internal migration potential for improving women's labor market outcomes. |
| Date: | 2023–06–21 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10493 |
| By: | Behrer, Arnold Patrick; Bolotnyy, Valentin |
| Abstract: | Using data on the paths of all hurricanes in the Atlantic Basin from 1992 to 2017, this paper studies whether migration has served as a form of adaptation to hurricane risk. The findings show that on average hurricanes have little to no impact on county out-migration, with population-weighted exposure to hurricanes increasing slightly over the sample period. Counties with high economic activity see net in-migration in the years after a hurricane. Further, return migration likely plays a role in offsetting any out-migration in the year of the storm. The intensity of pre-hurricane migration between county pairs is a strong predictor of excess migration after a hurricane, suggesting that existing economic and social ties dominate in post-hurricane migration decisions. Given existing policies and incentives, the economic and social benefits that people derive from living in high-risk areas currently outweigh the incentive to adapt to future storms by relocating across counties. |
| Date: | 2023–07–27 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10528 |
| By: | Darling-Hammond, Sean (University of California, Los Angeles); Ho, Eric (McGraw Hill) |
| Abstract: | Scholastic punishment is harmful. A governmental review of 2013-14 data indicated that Black students were overrepresented among those experiencing punishment in a variety of contexts. In the intervening decade, new data has emerged, schools have implemented policies to reduce racial disparities, researchers have highlighted new methods of measuring disparities, and pundits have reignited debates about the degree and pervasiveness of disparities. Clarity is needed. Are Black students experiencing more exclusion and punishment than their peers? If so, of what kinds and in what contexts? This article responds by reviewing the most recent federal data, measuring Black overrepresentation across six types of punishment, three comparison groups, sixteen subpopulations, and seven types of measurement. We generate 1, 581 unique estimates of Black overrepresentation and find evidence that no matter how you slice it, Black students are overrepresented among those punished. We conclude with policy recommendations to reduce widespread and enduring racial disparities. |
| Date: | 2023–10–27 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:khtsa_v1 |
| By: | Hasan, Sacha; Yuan, Yingfang |
| Abstract: | Despite the accelerated digitalisation of social housing services, there has been a lack of focused attention to the harms that are likely to arise through the systemic inequalities encountered by minoritised ethnic (ME) communities in the UK. Within this context, we are employing an intersectional framework to underline the centrality of age to ME vulnerabilities including lack of digital literacy and proficiency in English in the access, use and outcomes of digitalised social housing services. We draw our findings from an interdisciplinary sentimental analysis of 100 interviews with ME individuals in Glasgow, Bradford, Manchester and Tower Hamlets for extracting vulnerabilities and assessing their intensities across different ME age groups, and a subsample of qualitative analysis of 21 interviews. This is to illustrate similarities and differences of sentimental analysis of these vulnerabilities between machine learning (ML) and inductive coding, offering an example for future ML supported qualitative data analysis approach in housing studies. |
| Date: | 2023–06–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:jtc8k_v1 |
| By: | Palm, Matthew; Allen, Jeff (University of Toronto); Farber, Steven |
| Abstract: | This study analyses shift work commuting. We ask: who works evening and night shifts, how do they commute, and how does working these shifts impact activity participation and wellbeing? We answer these questions using two national datasets. Our results offer four overarching findings. First, we find significant demographic differences along lines of race, poverty status, immigration, and household type, differences reflecting occupational segregation. Black, Filipino, South Asian, and Indigenous commuters are significantly overrepresented. Second, evening and night shift workers are more likely to commute as car passengers or by bus or walking. Third, we find limited evidence that shift workers make fewer overall trips throughout the day. Fourth, we find that while shift workers have significantly lower life satisfaction, auto ownership may ameliorate this impact. In light of these results, we conclude that improving the transport situation for shift-workers is essential to advancing both wellbeing and transportation justice. |
| Date: | 2023–03–14 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:uy96s_v1 |
| By: | Haibo Qin,; Zhongxuan, Xie; Li, Wenhan; Shang, Huping |
| Abstract: | Intellectualism is necessary for humankind to overcome major public crises, such as the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Focusing on the data of scientific literacy across 140 cities in China and by employing the ordinary least square method, we tested the effectiveness of “anti-pandemic efforts based on intellectualism.” The findings are: (1) Intellectualism works, and it can achieve results in the citizen coproduction promotion to fight against COVID-19. For every 1% increase in citizens with scientific literacy in the city, citizen coproduction increased by 14.2%. (2) The urban education level and local government ability positively moderates the effect of the citizens' anti-pandemic efforts using intellectualism. (3) The results present a certain degree of heterogeneity at various stages, regions, and cities of different scales. This study responds to the lack of research on intellectualism and co-production; further, it provides novel ideas for improving the effectiveness of citizens' participation in public crisis governance. |
| Date: | 2023–03–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:x893s_v1 |
| By: | Manning, Alan; Mazeine, Graham |
| Abstract: | Return migration is important, but how many migrants leave and who is poorly understood. This paper proposes a new method for estimating return migration rates using aggregated repeated cross-sectional data, treating the number of migrants in a group who arrived in a particular year as an unobserved fixed effect, and the observed number (including, importantly, observed zeroes) in the arrival or subsequent years as observations from a Poisson distribution. Compared to existing methods, this allows us to estimate return rates for many more migrant groups, allowing more in-depth analysis of the factors that influence return migration rates. We apply this method to US data and find a decreasing hazard, with most returns occurring by eight years after arrival, when about 13% of migrants have left. The return rate is significantly lower for women, those who arrive at a young age, and those from poorer; it is higher for those on non-immigrant visas for work or study. We also provide suggestive evidence that, conditional on their country of origin, those with lower education are more likely to return. |
| Keywords: | return migration |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2024–02–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:126831 |
| By: | Baez Ramirez, Javier Eduardo; Celik, Cigdem; Kshirsagar, Varun Sridhar |
| Abstract: | This paper combines official subnational and remote-sensed data to uncover the relationships between business cycles in Türkiye and the corresponding changes in economic activity at lower levels of spatial aggregation. The objective is to document changes in the nature of growth within and across business cycles, with a focus on understanding how sectoral changes interact with within-country remoteness during each phase. The paper shows that: (i) the significant growth between 2010 and 2017 was bookended by recessions in which gross domestic product per capita fell more sharply the closer a province was to one of the two largest cities; (ii) the two recessions differed in terms of their sectoral impacts, with manufacturing declines inversely related to remoteness during the first recession and positively related during the second; (iii) there were large increases in the construction sector’s gross value added during the post-2009 rebound—consistent with unprecedented increases in nighttime light luminosity—with growth positively related to remoteness; and (iv) changes in nigh ttime light luminosity are correlated with changes in physical activity: a 10 percent increase in nighttime lights is associated with a 3.5 percent increase in construction output and a 1.5 percent increase in manufacturing output. Together, the results suggest that recessions and recoveries that may appear to be similar at a macroeconomic scale may be driven by very different changes at more disaggregated spatial scales and have varied impacts on regional convergence. |
| Date: | 2023–08–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10553 |
| By: | Chlouba, Vladimir; Mukim, Megha; Zaveri, Esha Dilip |
| Abstract: | Existing research points to a possible link between slow-onset symptoms of climate change and migration. It is also known that rates of urbanization are fastest in some of the world’s poorest countries, which are incidentally also at greater risk of climate-induced migration. These separate findings suggest that slow-onset climate phenomena such as droughts have likely become a key driver of urbanization across much of the developing world. While intuitive, this link has not been convincingly established by extant research. This study examines the climate-urbanization nexus by constructing a novel measure of urban growth that uses remotely sensed information from the World Settlement Footprint dataset. Relying on panel data that cover the entire globe between 1985 and 2014, the paper shows that drought leads to faster urban growth. The results indicate that a hypothetical drought lasting 12 months is associated with a 27 percent increase in the average annual increment of built-up area. The paper leverages novel data from several Sahelian cities to illustrate that much of this growth takes the form of non-infill development that extends outward from previously built-up localities. |
| Date: | 2023–04–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10408 |
| By: | Antonietti, Roberto; Burlina, Chiara; Rodriguez-Pose, Andres |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we examine the effect of regional digital technology (including computing, communication equipment, software, and databases) on income distribution at the regional level. We aim to fill a gap in existing research by exploring the moderating role of formal and informal institutions —such as bonding and bridging social capital— in shaping how digital technology affects income inequality across European NUTS2 regions from 2006 to 2016. The results indicate that regions with greater access to digital technology are prone to higher levels of income inequality. However, this negative link is mitigated by strong formal and informal institutions, particularly through improved government effectiveness and bridging social capital. The findings are robust to potential endogeneity concerns, as demonstrated by the instrumental variable approach adopted. |
| Keywords: | digital technology; institutions; inequalities; European regions |
| JEL: | R11 O33 D02 R58 |
| Date: | 2025–04–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:127062 |
| By: | Rasch, Alexander (Chalmers University of Technology); Morando, Alberto; Thalya, Prateek |
| Abstract: | Electric scooters (e-scooters) are a relatively new and popular means of personal transportation in many cities. Unfortunately, they have been involved in crashes with other road users with whom they share the infrastructure. Crashes with motorized vehicles are particularly critical since they result in more severe injuries or even fatalities. While previous work has highlighted the consequences of failed interactions, we know little about how drivers interact with e-scooters and how to improve such interactions. In this paper, we conducted a test-track experiment to study how drivers negotiate a right turn at an intersection with an e-scooter. Using Bayesian regression, we modeled whether drivers yield to the e-scooter according to the projected post-encroachment time and approaching speed, and we were able to predict drivers’ intentions with an AUC of 0.94 and an accuracy of 0.82 in cross-validation. The model coefficients indicate that drivers yield less often when approaching the intersection at a higher speed or larger projected gap. We further modeled drivers’ braking timing (time-to-arrival) and strength (mean deceleration), yielding an RMSE of 1.42 s and 0.33 m/s^2^, respectively. Being a reference for driver behavior when interacting with an e-scooter rider, the model can be integrated into simulations and inform the development driver support system to warn drivers more effectively. |
| Date: | 2025–02–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:vbrm5_v2 |
| By: | Kelling, Claire; Haensch, Anna; Mendible, Ariana; Brooks, Spencer; Wiedemann, Alex; Aminian, Manuchehr; Hasty, Wade; Higdon, Jude |
| Abstract: | According to the 2020 US Census more than 60% of the US population lives in towns with fewer than 50, 000 residents, yet this is not in proportion with the research and public data surrounding policing, which focus on large and dense urban areas. One reason for this disparity is that studying small-town police departments presents unique obstacles. We present some of the challenges that we have encountered in studying small-town police activity such as data availability, quality, and identifiability, and our solutions to these challenges using computational tools. Finally, we give our recommendations in getting involved in this space based on our efforts to-date. |
| Date: | 2023–08–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:2gyuv_v1 |
| By: | González-Bustamante, Bastián (Leiden University); Aguilar, Diego |
| Abstract: | This article analyses the development of open e-government between 2019 and 2021 in Chile’s 345 municipalities. We aggregated an e-government index (EGi) to measure the provision of local digital services for citizens. We then combined this with indicators of transparency and access to public information to create an open e-government index (OEGi). Our empirical strategy is based on geospatial econometric analysis in two stages: first, we describe and georeference our index, estimating the level of spatial autocorrelation and then fit different econometric models to measure the impact of the degree of Internet use, socioeconomic dynamism and management capacity on the municipalities’ development of open e-government. Our main findings indicate that monetary poverty has a negative effect on the index, while the municipal government’s budget has a positive effect. |
| Date: | 2023–03–19 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:gt8a5_v1 |
| By: | Le, Daniel |
| Abstract: | The subject of ethnic return migration has garnered growing attention within the realm of international migration research. While much of the existing literature has centered on the movement of individuals returning from low-income to high-income nations, this paper illuminates the inverse trajectory by scrutinizing the trend of second-generation, Western-born Vietnamese migrants who return to their ancestral country of Vietnam. Drawing on 32 in-depth interviews from participants from 11 different Western countries, the current online ethnography explores the phenomenon of ethnic return migration of the second generation. Through an analysis of the interplay between the birth home and ancestral home, identity and belonging, this paper elucidates the factors that both encourage and obstruct the ethnic return migration of Western-born Vietnamese migrants. |
| Date: | 2023–08–18 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:ykjr9_v1 |
| By: | Klein, Nicholas J. (Conrell University); Basu, Rounaq; Smart, Michael J. (Rutgers University) |
| Abstract: | We examine how lower-income households in the United States acquire automobiles. Although car ownership plays a vital role in social and economic mobility in the US, transportation scholars know little about how low-income households obtain cars. Better understanding the pathways to car ownership can help policymakers and non-government actors design interventions to assist low-income households in acquiring and maintaining cars. Our research contributes to basic social science by illuminating the financial and quality of life effects of obtaining cars through various means. We use an online opt-in survey of adults from lower-income households to examine how and why they acquire cars and the effects of these different pathways to car ownership on finances and quality of life. We identify five pathways to car ownership. The most common pathway is to acquire a used car from a dealer (38% of our sample), followed by buying a used car informally (24%), purchasing a new car (17%), receiving a car as a gift (15%), and via a move-in with someone who has a car (5%). Respondents most often acquired a car for financial reasons and to increase accessibility. In contrast, the COVID-19 pandemic, life events, and built environment factors played a smaller role. Respondents reported that acquiring a car had a positive effect on their lives. Almost 90% of respondents said that acquiring the car was worth it, despite nearly half of the survey respondents experiencing financial hardship related to car ownership, operation, and maintenance. |
| Date: | 2023–02–27 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:7ex6z_v1 |
| By: | Nell, Andrew David; Herszenhut, Daniel; Knudsen, Camilla; Nakamura, Shohei; Saraiva, Marcus; Avner, Paolo |
| Abstract: | Urban transport is a major driver of global carbon dioxide emissions. Without strong mitigation policies, rapid urbanization, especially in developing countries, is expected to exacerbate the problem. There is a growing consensus on the fundamental role of carbon pricing for achieving reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. However, carbon pricing policies are frequently criticized and resisted for having adverse distributional impacts, which could hinder their implementation, particularly when implemented as a fuel levy—which would impact private vehicle usage but may also affect transit services such as buses. Currently, there is a lack of evidence that quantifies these negative impacts, especially on people’s ability to reach economic opportunities and services. To this end, this paper studies the impact of a uniform carbon price, as one of the most commonly discussed climate policies, on access to employment opportunities via transit services in Kinshasa and Rio de Janeiro. Reduced access to jobs would contribute to fragmented urban labor markets and thus lead to negative social outcomes. Unlike most previous studies, this study defines access as being constrained by both travel time and travel budget. The results indicate that fuel price increases (simulating increases induced by a carbon tax) reduce accessibility, but the effect is lower in more compact and walkable cities as well as in cities that have green transit options. The paper also shows that fuel price increases have spatially and socially disparate outcomes, with the lowest income communities not necessarily being the most affected, in part because even in the absence of carbon pricing, they are found to be priced out of using transit services. The results demonstrate the importance of strategies and investments, such as land use planning and decarbonized transit services, but also possibly complementary social protection programs (such as targeted subsidies, or even cash transfers), to mitigate the negative distributional consequences of carbon pricing policies. |
| Date: | 2023–03–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10341 |
| By: | Ahsan, Md. Nazmul; Emran, M. Shahe; Shilpi, Forhad J. |
| Abstract: | From 1965 to 1985, the number of schools doubled in developing countries, but little is known about their impacts on intergenerational educational mobility. This paper studies the effects of 61, 000 public primary schools constructed in the 1970s in Indonesia on intergenerational educational mobility, using full-count census data and a difference-in-differences design. The educational mobility curve is concave in most cases, and school expansion reduced the degree of concavity. Evidence on primary completion suggests contrasting effects across the distribution: relative mobility improved irrespective of gender in the uneducated households, but it worsened in the highly educated households. For completed years of schooling, there are striking gender differences, with strong effects on sons, but no significant effects on girls. This surprising finding reflects an unintended bottleneck at the secondary schooling level which created fierce competition among the Inpres primary graduates. The girls suffered an 8.5 percentage points decline in the probability of completing senior secondary schooling, while the boys reaped a 7.7 percentage points gain. The gender-based crowding out occurred across the board, suggesting mechanisms unrelated to family background such as low labor market returns for girls and gender norms in a patrilineal society. Available evidence on returns to education of girls rejects a labor market-based explanation. The authors test and find evidence consistent with gender norms as a mechanism by exploiting data from the “Matrilineal island” West Sumatra. In West Sumatra, girls are not crowded out at the secondary level; instead, boys face significant crowding out. |
| Date: | 2023–04–21 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10418 |
| By: | Assunção, Juliano; Carlquist Rabelo De Araujo, Rafael; Amorim Braganca, Arthur |
| Abstract: | Investments in transportation infrastructure can impact the environment beyond their immediate surroundings. This paper builds an interregional trade model to estimate the general equilibrium effects of changes in infrastructure on deforestation. Using panel data on the evolution of the transportation network in Brazil and land use data in the Amazon, the paper estimates the model and finds sizable effects of infrastructure on deforestation. Model simulations show that ignoring general equilibrium underestimates the impacts of deforestation by one-quarter. The paper also shows that the model can be used for evaluation of the deforestation induced by individual projects, which is an essential input for public policies. |
| Date: | 2023–04–19 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10415 |
| By: | Katz, Lindsay; Chong, Michael; Alexander, Monica |
| Abstract: | Patterns and trends in short-term mobility are important to understand, but data required to measure such movements are often not available from traditional sources. We collected daily data from Facebook’s Advertising Platform to measure short-term mobility across all states and provinces in the United States and Canada. We show that rates of short-term travel vary substantially over geographic area, but also by age and sex, with the highest rates of travel generally for males. Strong seasonal patterns are apparent in travel to many areas, with different regions experiencing either increased travel or decreased travel over winter, depending on climate. Further, some areas appear to show marked changes in mobility patterns since the onset of the pandemic. We used the traveler rates constructed from Facebook to adjust Covid-19 mortality rates over the period July 2020 to July 2021, and showed that accounting for travelers leads to on average a 3 per cent difference in implied mortality rates, with substantial variation across demographic groups and regions. |
| Date: | 2023–06–16 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:bev4p_v1 |
| By: | Melorango, Siivi; Shirgaokar, Manish |
| Abstract: | Transit in the U.S. is considered secondary to automobile travel; bus services are especially stigmatized. Facing declining ridership and overall diminished financial support, many agencies are confronted with making difficult choices about how to supply efficient and effective services. We analyze the 2019 National Transit Database focusing on U.S. agencies providing bus services. We study three measures each of efficiency (cost per vehicle revenue mile, fare revenues per unlinked passenger trip, and vehicle revenue miles per employee hours) and effectiveness (cost per unlinked passenger trip, unlinked passenger trips per vehicle revenue mile, and unlinked passenger trips per vehicle revenue hour). We focus on agency attributes, service characteristics, and operations and management plus capital spending. The research indicates that agencies could consider outsourcing services that are necessary but might otherwise be a drain on agency resources. Agencies should balance the efficiencies of higher speed bus service with more effective service. Planners, engineers, and stakeholders working with transit agencies need to be cautious about which outcomes to focus on if costs are to decrease, while efficiency and effectiveness of bus services are to increase. Specifically, outsourcing has differing impacts based on agency size. Our work underscores the importance of operations and management spending, coupled with strategic capital expenditure. |
| Date: | 2023–11–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:ub5zp_v1 |
| By: | Hauer, Mathew |
| Abstract: | The warnings of potential climate migration first appeared in the scientific literature in the late 1970s when increased recognition that disintegrating ice sheets could drive people to migrate from coastal cities. Since that time, scientists have modelled potential climate migration without integrating other population processes, potentially obscuring the demographic amplification of this migration. Climate migration could amplify demographic change – enhancing migration to destinations and suppressing migration to origins. Additionally, older populations are the least likely to migrate and climate migration could accelerate population aging in origin areas. Here, we investigate climate migration under sea-level rise (SLR), a single climatic hazard, and examine both the potential demographic amplification effect and population aging by combining matrix population models, flood hazard models, and a migration model built on 40 years of environmental migration in the US to project the US population distribution of US counties. We find that the demographic amplification of SLR for all feasible RCP-SSP scenarios in 2100 ranges between 8.6M - 28M [5.7M - 53M] – 5.3 to 18 times the number of migrants (0.4M - 10M). We also project a significant aging of coastal areas as youthful populations migrate but older populations remain, accelerating population aging in origin areas. As the percentage of the population lost due to climate migration increases, the median age also increases – up to 10+ years older in some highly impacted coastal counties. Additionally, our population projection approach can be easily adapted to investigate additional or multiple climate hazards. |
| Date: | 2023–07–25 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:24tjr_v1 |
| By: | Fijalkow, Yankel; Wilson, Yaneira |
| Abstract: | Today, whether condominiums or social housing, Parisian buildings are facing a series of renovation processes that allow us to deepen the quality of their construction. This renewal affects the social life of the buildings, which has been consolidated over the years. While a building is built by materials and populations, it is also the result of history, from its construction to its daily maintenance (or degradation). Our assumption is that people who have no control over their living space are likely to suffer more health problems, in most cases without knowing exactly why, due to a lack of knowledge about the causes or health literacy in their living space. The inability to adapt to their homes or to resolve these situations independently makes us wonder: How can residents' health be influenced by their ability to control their living space? To demonstrate this, we will explain the methodology we are using to understand how people feel affected by the tension between factors that generate satisfaction or dissatisfaction and that have different effects on physical and mental health. |
| Date: | 2023–07–19 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:jfum5_v1 |
| By: | Lynch, Catherine; Singh, Ashna; Zhang, Yan F. |
| Abstract: | The inability to afford a decent shelter has a detrimental effect on people’s lives, their well-being and productivity, and the broader economy. Given the pervasiveness of the problem on a global scale, housing affordability is increasingly taking center stage in public discourse. Yet, there is little agreement on the definition of housing affordability and how to measure it. This paper draws on academic literature and lessons from government housing programs to evaluate how accurately conventional measures differentiate affordability levels by income segment, household composition, and tenure. With the objective of more accurately measuring the affordability of housing at the household and aggregate levels, the paper recommends testing (i) a progressive housing Expenditure-to-Income ratio, calibrated by income segment, and (ii) a modified Residual Income Method that uses household expenditure instead of income as well as a simplified budget standard for non-housing expenses. Application of the latter methodology in urban Pakistan highlights a significant underestimation of housing unaffordability using conventional approaches, especially for the lowest income groups. Moreover, the case study indicates that conventional approaches to the measurement of affordability may not adequately reveal the differences in affordability across income segments and household compositions. |
| Date: | 2023–05–22 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10450 |
| By: | Hanming Fang; Ming Li; Long Wang; Zoe Yang |
| Abstract: | Using China's expansion of the high-speed rail system (HSR) as a quasi-natural experiment, we analyze the comprehensive vehicle registration data from 2010 to 2023 to estimate the causal impact of HSR connectivity on the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). Implementing several identification strategies, including staggered difference-in-differences (DID), Callaway and Sant'Anna (CS) DID, and two instrumental-variable approaches, we consistently find that, by alleviating range anxiety, the expansion of HSR can account for up to one third of the increase in EV market share and EV sales in China during our sample period, with effects particularly pronounced in cities served by faster HSR lines. The results remain robust when controlling for local industrial policies, charging infrastructure growth, supply-side factors, and economic development. We also find that HSR connectivity amplifies the effectiveness of charging infrastructure and consumer purchase subsidies in promoting EV adoption. |
| JEL: | L52 L53 O18 Q55 R41 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33489 |
| By: | Tanaka, Nobuyuki; Sondergaard, Lars M. |
| Abstract: | Too many children are not learning to read in the East Asia and Pacific region’s middle-income countries. In some countries in the region, such as the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and the Philippines, more than 90 percent of 10-year-olds cannot read and understand an age-appropriate text. To accelerate learning in these countries, better teaching will be needed. To improve teacher quality in the next 10 years, where should countries focus their attention On improving the teaching skills and content knowledge of their existing stock of teachers, on recruiting and better training new teachers, or on doing both This paper contributes to this discussion by addressing two policy questions: (i) will East Asia and Pacific’s middle-income countries need more or fewer teachers in the coming decade, and (ii) quantitatively, how important will the newly recruited teachers be (the flow) relative to the teaching workforce who have already been recruited (the stock) To answer these questions, the paper uses a simple model that projects the required number of primary school teachers in each of the East Asia and Pacific region’s 22 middle-income countries. The model is based on several factors, such as: (i) the size of future cohorts of children, (ii) the proportion of those cohorts who end up in school, (iii) the pupil-to-teacher ratio, and (iv) teacher attrition. Two key messages emerge with an important policy implication. First, significant heterogeneity exists across the 22 countries, with seven countries projected to need fewer teachers overall in the next 10 years relative to the teacher stock in 2020, while the rest will need to expand their teacher workforce. Second, despite this heterogeneity, in every East Asia and Pacific country, teachers who are already “in the system” are expected to constitute the majority of teachers still employed in 2030. In some countries, teachers who have already been recruited will constitute more than 70 percent of those who will be in schools in 2030. The findings has an important policy implication, namely: if countries want to improve the quality of teaching in schools, their primary focus in the next 10 years should be on improving the stock, that is, the quality of their current teacher workforce (through more and better teacher professional development). |
| Date: | 2023–06–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10479 |
| By: | Juskowiak, Piotr |
| Abstract: | In this article, I ask how Henri Lefebvre’s oeuvre can contribute to the foundations for a metromarxist theory of urban commoning. To provide an answer to this question I discuss three main areas in which his thinking about the common emerges – his anthropology, philosophy of the urban, and politics of autogestion. This allows me to emphasize the multidimensionality of the Lefebvre-minded commoning, which manifests itself not only at the level of local activism but also touches the dimensions of the production of subjectivity and the constitution of the urban. Read in this way, Lefebvre’s theory of urban commoning helps us to move beyond some of the limitations of the existing discussion of urban commons, as well as to make room for a more fruitful dialogue between urban scholars and autonomist Marxists. It also equips us with an alternative conceptual framework that potentially enhances post-Lefebvrian projects of direct urban democracy. |
| Date: | 2023–04–22 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:5gwbk_v1 |
| By: | Orozco Olvera, Victor Hugo; Rascon Ramirez, Ericka G. |
| Abstract: | In northern Nigeria, half of primary school-age children attend school, half of girls are married before turning 15, and one in five people can read a whole sentence. Conducted in rural, low literate communities governed by traditional norms, this paper presents the results of a cluster randomized controlled trial that tested community screenings to reshape parental aspirations and attitudes toward education, and as a reinforcing arm, the distribution of mobiles with engaging apps to teach 6-9-year-old children to read. Twelve months after the screenings, children were 42 percent less likely to be out of school, but as expected, their learning levels did not improve. In the communities that were provided the mobile reinforcer, literacy and numeracy skills increased by 0.46 and 0.63 standard deviation, respectively. The impacts of the combined intervention on school attendance and learning gains were similar for boys and girls. For non-targeted older siblings, the intervention increased learning by 0.34 and 0.47 standard deviation and reduced the likelihood of teenage pregnancy and early entrance into the labor market by 13 and 14 percent, respectively. The mechanisms behind these effects include improved parental aspirations and expectations, improved attitudes and social norms, higher self-efficacy beliefs of parents, and increased time for home learning activities. Relative to other educational investments that have been evaluated in developing countries, the combined intervention is highly effective and cost-effective. |
| Date: | 2023–04–18 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10413 |
| By: | Nakamura, Shohei; Abanokova, Ksenia; Dang, Hai-Anh H.; Takamatsu, Shinya; Pei, Chunchen; Prospere, Dilou |
| Abstract: | While urbanization has great potential to facilitate poverty reduction, climate shocks represent a looming threat to such upward mobility. This paper empirically analyzes the effects of climatic risks on the function of urban agglomerations to support poor households to escape from poverty. Combining household surveys with climatic datasets, the panel regression analysis for Chile, Colombia, and Indonesia finds that households in large metropolitan areas are more likely to escape from poverty, indicating better access to economic opportunities in those areas. However, the climate shocks offset such benefits of urban agglomerations, as extreme rainfalls and high flood risks significantly reduce the chance of upward mobility. The findings underscore the need to enhance resilience among the urban poor to allow them to fully utilize the benefits of urban agglomerations. |
| Date: | 2023–03–28 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10383 |
| By: | Momi Dahan |
| Abstract: | This study reveals that, over the past six decades, development towns have improved their socio-economic status both in terms of absolute mobility (compared to their past position) and relative mobility (progressing at a faster rate than other Jewish cities and towns). Between 1961 and 2019, economic mobility was evident in the narrowing gap between development towns and non-development towns (NDT) across five key economic development indicators: population size, median age, education level, income per capita, and ranking on a socioeconomic index. Despite this progress, development towns remain, on average, below the median socio-economic ranking. The empirical analysis also provides measures of absolute and conditional convergence. It demonstrates that the change in socio-economic rankings between 1961 and 2019 was more significant in localities that were ranked lower in 1961. The degree of conditional convergence was even more substantial when differences in the characteristics of the localities were accounted for. This paper shows that the two standard measures of immobility and convergence which appear in two separate literatures are in fact interconnected, representing two sides of the same coin. I speculate that the reduction in socioeconomic inequality between development towns and NDT can be attributed to factors such as free universal public education, Israel's advanced healthcare system, and cultural diffusion resulting from interactions with the host population. |
| Keywords: | development towns, mobility, economic convergence |
| JEL: | J62 N95 R11 R58 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11685 |
| By: | Brice Fabre (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, IPP - Institut des politiques publiques); Marc Sangnier (UNamur - Université de Namur [Namur], AMSE - Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses French data to simultaneously estimate the impact of two types of connections on government subsidies allocated to municipalities. Investigating different types of connection in a same setting helps to distinguish between the different motivations that could drive pork-barreling. We differentiate between municipalities where ministers held office before their appointment to the government and those where they lived as children. Exploiting ministers' entries into and exits from the government, we show that municipalities where a minister was mayor receive 30% more investment subsidies when the politician they are linked to joins the government, and a similar size decrease when the minister departs. In contrast, we do not observe these outcomes for municipalities where ministers lived as children. These findings indicate that altruism toward childhood friends and family does not fuel pork-barreling, and suggest that altruism toward adulthood social relations or career concerns matter. We also present complementary evidence suggesting that observed porkbarreling is the result of soft influence of ministers, rather than of their formal control over the administration they lead.✩ This paper was previously circulated under the titles ''What motivates French pork: Political career concerns or private connections?'' and ''The returns from private and political connections: New evidence from French municipalities''. We greatly appreciated comments and suggestions from three anonymous reviewers, the Editor, |
| Keywords: | Local favoritism, Distributive politics, Political connections, Personal connections |
| Date: | 2024–12–13 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04930928 |
| By: | Iimi, Atsushi |
| Abstract: | The recent global crises, such as the COVID-19 crisis, remind us of the importance of efficient transportation and logistics. Notably, however, even before the crises, some regions were already experiencing a gradual increase in freight costs, with more and more empty trucks observed. The paper recasts light on the question of how road freight costs are determined using large, unique shipping data from Eastern European and Central Asian countries. It finds that economies of scale are significant in both freight weight or load factor and distance. The elasticity with respect to freight weight is particularly high at about 0.3 to 1.0 in absolute terms. Thus, to contain trucking costs, it is important to maximize the load factor through freight consolidation at origins and destinations. The elasticity with respect to distance is relatively modest at 0.04 to 0.16 in absolute terms but still statistically significant, indicating that distance may not necessarily be a constraint on trade and regional integration. Trucking costs also decrease with driving speed, a proxy for efficiency of movements or road conditions. The elasticity is significant for food products (−0.03) and other consumer goods (−0.11). Finally, the paper finds that border crossing adds 3–4 percent to freight costs. |
| Date: | 2023–07–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10533 |
| By: | Breen, Casey |
| Abstract: | Owning a home has long been touted as a key component of the idealized "American Dream." Homeownership is associated with greater wealth and better health, but the causal impact of homeownership on health remains unclear. Using linked complete-count census and Social Security mortality records, we document Black-White disparities in homeownership rates and produce the first U.S.-based estimates of the association between homeownership in early adulthood and longevity. We then use a sibling-based identification strategy to estimate the causal effect of homeownership on longevity for cohorts born in the first two decades of the 20th century. Our results indicate homeownership has a significant positive impact on longevity, which we estimate at approximately 4 months. |
| Date: | 2023–04–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:7ya3f_v1 |
| By: | Lange, Martin; McNamara, Sarah; Schmidt, Philipp |
| Abstract: | The labor market integration of asylum seekers remains a contested issue. Using the EU-Labor-Force-Survey, we characterize the state of asylum seekers' labor market integration in Europe, and provide representative statistics on several dimensions of integration. We compare asylum seekers to natives and economic migrants and find that asylum seekers struggle to integrate across European states, exhibiting employment rates of 10 percentage points lower than that of natives, on average, as well as a notable gap in job-quality. Analyzing self-reported barriers to employment, we document that asylum seekers' lower employment rates and job-quality are likely the result of institutional hurdles. |
| Keywords: | asylum seekers, refugees, labor market integration |
| JEL: | F22 K37 J11 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:312191 |
| By: | World Bank; Bedoya Arguelles, Guadalupe; Dolinger, Amy; Dolkart, Caitlin Fitzgerald; Legovini, Arianna; Sveta Milusheva; Marty, Robert Andrew; Taniform, Peter Ngwa |
| Abstract: | During COVID-19, curfews spread like wildfire. Although their impact on curbing the spread of disease remains to be proven, curfews have the potential to bring about costs to society in multiple domains. This paper investigates the impact of curfews on road safety in an urban lower-middle-income setting. It shows that curfews lead to large reductions in crashes during the curfew hours when cars are off the road, but that these reductions can be fully offset by an increase in crashes during heavy traffic hours when people rush to get home before the curfew starts. These spillover effects result from a behavioral response to the curfew—increased driving speed—leading to higher crash rates. These findings forewarn that the use of curfews in future crises and pandemics should be carefully scrutinized and designed to minimize unintended negative effects. |
| Date: | 2023–04–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10393 |
| By: | Neumann, Uwe; Schmidt, Christoph M. |
| Abstract: | Inspired by the literature on social polarisation and residential segregation we draw on a probabilistic approach to pursue the evolution of household location preferences in West Germany. Using microdata from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) for the period 1984-2020 we demonstrate that structural economic change was accompanied by an increasing preference for residence in compact housing close to urban centres. Our analysis outlines that during the past two decades, intra-urban and urban-rural disparities by age and skills have begun to rise. Even for Germany, where segregation is moderate, any scenario suggesting neighbourhood-level convergence of living standards seems unlikely. |
| Abstract: | Anknüpfend an die Literatur über soziale Polarisierung und Segregation verfolgen wir mit Hilfe eines probabilistischen Ansatzes die Entwicklung der Standortpräferenzen von Haushalten in Westdeutschland. Anhand von Mikrodaten des Sozio-oekonomischen Panels (SOEP) für den Zeitraum 1984-2020 zeigen wir, dass der wirtschaftliche Strukturwandel mit einer zunehmenden Präferenz für das Wohnen in kompakten, zentrumsnahen Wohnungen einherging. Unsere Analyse verdeutlicht, dass in den letzten zwei Jahrzehnten die innerstädtischen und Stadt-Land-Unterschiede nach Alter und Qualifikation zugenommen haben. Selbst für Deutschland, wo die Segregation nur moderat ausgeprägt ist, erscheint eine Angleichung des Lebensstandards auf der Stadtteilebene unwahrscheinlich. |
| Keywords: | Household location, segregation, structural change, SOEP |
| JEL: | C25 R21 R23 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:311297 |
| By: | Vazquez, Emmanuel Jose; Winkler, Deborah Elisabeth |
| Abstract: | This study provides new evidence on the local labor market impacts of trade, differentiating between the employment, income, migration, and informality channels. It uses a unique dataset matching information on exports and imports from customs with indicators on employment and labor incomes for around 2, 000 Mexican municipalities over 2004–14. The analysis uses an instrumental variable approach that combines the initial structure of trade across municipalities with global trends in trade between low- and middle-income countries (excluding Mexico) and the United States by sector. First, the study finds that expanding exports per worker in Mexico’s municipalities increased labor force participation but not employment rates. Exports also raised total labor incomes but not average labor incomes, implying a growing labor supply. The results also find that export and import expansion increased immigration and lowered the rate of informal workers. Second, the analysis examines differences by geography and sectors. It finds that trade affected labor markets in the North through the income and migration channels and in the South through the employment and informality channels. Exports benefitted the total incomes of workers in both the manufacturing and service sectors but reduced informality only in manufacturing. Third, the study suggests a more favorable role of intermediate relative to final imports, driven by manufacturing imports. It also finds evidence for positive spillovers from global value chain participation through the employment and income channels. Finally, it examines how local policy mediates the labor market effects from trade, focusing on connectivity, labor market flexibility, and education spending. |
| Date: | 2023–02–28 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10332 |
| By: | Baldassarre, Alessio; Calà, Valerio Ferdinando; Carullo, Danilo; Dudu, Hasan; Fusco, Elisa Marie; Giacobbe, Pasquale; Orecchia, Carlo |
| Abstract: | The main goal of regional computable general equilibrium models is to analyze how different regions within a specific area react to certain shocks. Therefore, countries with high heterogeneity among regions, like Italy, constitute an interesting case study for regional computable general equilibrium model analysis. This paper presents the regional part of the new (recursive) dynamic single-country computable general equilibrium model called the Italian Regional and Environmental Computable General Equilibrium of the Department of Finance, based on the Mitigation, Adaptation and New Technologies Applied General Equilibrium model of the World Bank. A new regional social accounting matrix for Italy (20 regions at the Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics level) has been constructed. The social accounting matrix is used as input data to simulate the abolition of the regional tax on productive activities (regional business tax) through three different scenarios, focusing on the effects on gross domestic product, regional value added, and welfare. The results show that under the modeling assumptions, the complete abolition of the regional tax on productive activities would positively impact Italian economic growth and regional welfare. |
| Date: | 2023–03–29 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10387 |
| By: | Hoopes, John; Oshan, Taylor M. |
| Abstract: | The application of decentralized web technologies and design principles within GIScience remains underexplored. We examine potential pitfalls and opportunities at their intersection, and propose three pillars for a decentralized geospatial web: Proof-of-Location, Verifiable Geocomputation, and Peer-to-Peer Spatial Data Management. These technologies offer cryptographically robust ways to validate location claims, ensure tamper-resistant geospatial analyses, and empower user-centric data ownership, with potential for wide-ranging impact for individuals, governments and the private sector across many application domains. Although challenges remain, from platform immaturity to reputational stigma, these pillars may pave the way for more resilient, fair, and trustworthy geospatial ecosystems. |
| Date: | 2025–01–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:bg2uq_v1 |
| By: | Minni, Virginia Magda Luisa |
| Abstract: | How are wages set within a multinational firm? Combining cross-country data on wages and labor regulations with personnel records of a large multinational firm, I find that wage setting depends on the rank of the employee in the firm hierarchy. For managers, wages are set by the headquarters regardless of local labor market conditions. For factory workers, wages are adjusted according to country-specific wages and labor regulations. These results suggest that the multinational's internal labor market shields managers against changes in external market conditions, while the firm adapts to local labor markets for factory workers. |
| Keywords: | multinationals; firm wage-setting; inequality |
| JEL: | F23 J30 J31 M52 |
| Date: | 2024–01–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:126836 |
| By: | Bernini, Andrea; Bossavie, Laurent Loic Yves; Garrote Sanchez, Daniel; Makovec, Mattia |
| Abstract: | Conclusive evidence on the relationship between corruption and migration has remained scant in the literature to date. Using data from 2008 to 2018 on bilateral migration flows across European Union and European Free Trade Association countries and four measures of corruption, this paper shows that corruption acts as both a push factor and a pull factor for migration patterns. Based on a gravity model, a one-unit increase in the corruption level in the origin country is associated with a 11 percent increase in out-migration. The same one-unit increase in the destination country is associated with a 10 percent decline in in-migration. |
| Date: | 2023–09–13 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10566 |
| By: | Azevedo, Joao Pedro Wagner De; Cojocaru, Alexandru; Montalva Talledo, Veronica Sonia; Narayan, Ambar |
| Abstract: | The paper presents a first global investigation of the longer-term inequality implications of COVID-19 by examining the effect of school closures on the ability of children from different countries and backgrounds to engage in continued learning throughout the pandemic, and their implications for intergenerational mobility in education. The analysis builds on the data from the Global Database of Intergenerational Mobility, country-specific results of the learning loss simulation model using weekly school closure information from February 2020 to February 2022, and high-frequency phone survey data collected by the World Bank during the pandemic to assess the incidence and quality of continued learning during periods of school closures across children from different backgrounds. Based on this information, the paper simulates counterfactual levels of educational attainment and corresponding absolute and relative intergenerational educational mobility measures with and without COVID-19 impacts, to arrive at estimates of COVID-19 impacts. The simulations suggest that the extensive school closures and associated learning losses are likely to have a significant impact on both absolute and relative intergenerational educational mobility in the absence of remedial measures. In upper-middle-income countries, the share of children with more years of education than their parents (absolute mobility) could decline by 8 percentage points, with the largest impacts observed in the Latin America region. Furthermore, unequal access to continued learning during school closures across children from households of different socioeconomic backgrounds (proxied by parental education levels) leads to a significant decline in relative educational mobility. |
| Date: | 2023–03–27 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10381 |
| By: | Paul, Saumik; Raju, Dhushyanth |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effect of a local sectoral productivity shock on subnational structural transformation. The analysis is based on regional input-output tables constructed for 2004 and 2013 and available censuses of firms in 2003 and 2013 for Ghana. Based on the data, the analysis confirms the occurrence of a mining productivity shock. Between 2004 and 2013, mining grew dramatically as a share of gross domestic product. The mining shock occurred primarily in the south of Ghana with much larger increases in mining’s share in regional output, the number of mining firms, and mining employment than in the north of the country. The findings show that the mining productivity shock led to growing regional (north-south) differences in intersectoral linkages, with greater intermediate use of mining output and a larger sectoral total factor productivity ratio between mining and manufacturing in the south than in the north. Informed by international evidence of strong intersectoral linkages between mining and heavy manufacturing industries, the paper examines the performance of heavy manufacturing in response to the mining productivity shock. The elasticity of heavy manufacturing to mining employment growth is 50 percent larger in the south than in the north, generated by an increase in both average firm employment and the entry of new firms. These north-south differences are interpreted as possibly due to weak interregional production linkages. |
| Date: | 2023–05–16 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10446 |
| By: | Aya Aboulhosn; Cevat Giray Aksoy; Berkay Ozcan |
| Abstract: | Debates about immigration’s role in addressing population aging typically concentrate on immigrant fertility rates. Moreover, standard projections account for migration’s impact on overall population growth while largely overlooking how immigration might affect native fertility. In contrast, we show that forced immigration influences native fertility as well. We investigate this relationship by examining the influx of refugees into Türkiye following the onset of the Syrian civil war in 2011. Using two complementary instrumental variable strategies, we find robust evidence that native fertility increases in response to forced migration. This result holds across three distinct datasets and is further supported by a corresponding rise in subjective fertility measures, such as the ideal number of children. Additionally, we explore four potential mechanisms and document significant heterogeneity in fertility responses among different native subgroups. Our findings suggest that factors related to the labor market and norm transmission may help explain the observed increase in native fertility. |
| Keywords: | forced migration, fertility, refugees, social interactions |
| JEL: | J13 R23 F22 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11683 |
| By: | Klein, Nicholas J. (Conrell University); Basu, Rounaq; Smart, Michael J. (Rutgers University) |
| Abstract: | We examine transitions into and out of car ownership among low-income households. We use a novel online survey of U.S. residents to investigate why households lose access to a car, how long they are without a car, why they regain a car, and how these transitions affect their quality of life. We find that car ownership transitions are primarily motivated by economic security and insecurity. The median length of a car-less episode is 1.7 years, while black and Hispanic respondents experienced longer car-less episodes. Despite their precarious grasp on car ownership, respondents felt that owning a car was worth it. |
| Date: | 2023–05–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:ka6nr_v1 |
| By: | Faieta, Elena (University of Essex); Feng, Zhexin (University of Essex); Serafinelli, Michel (King's College London) |
| Abstract: | A quarter of the population in high-income countries lives in rural areas. However, existing empirical evidence on these areas in OECD countries is scarce. Over the past several decades, many rural areas have been declining. Nevertheless, it is unclear whether these struggling rural areas are representative of the broad experience of the universe of rural areas. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of employment evolutions for rural areas in Western Europe during the period 1970–2010. We first analyse 846 rural areas in France, Germany, Italy and the UK, and document large differences in overall employment growth across rural areas in all four countries. A sizable fraction of rural areas lost employment. However, employment in a significant number of rural areas grew during this period. The 90–10 percentile difference in decadal total employment growth of rural areas is 17.4 log points, representing an economically large difference. We then show, using data for Italy and the UK, that changes in the industry structure are fast in rural areas. The estimates also indicate that industry turnover is positively associated with employment growth. Moreover, the evidence shows that areas with stronger total employment growth exhibit stronger employment growth in the manufacturing of food and beverages. All conclusions are similar for rural remote areas. Taken together, our results lend support to the hypothesis that rural economies are not static entities; change is common in these areas, and employment evolutions often result from industry-level dynamics. |
| Keywords: | rural employment, spatial heterogeneity, industry turnover |
| JEL: | R12 R32 J21 R11 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17715 |
| By: | Marc Ivaldi (TSE-R - Toulouse School of Economics - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Walter Nunez (TSE-R - Toulouse School of Economics - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | Based on bike-sharing systems (BSS) data in Toulouse and Lyon, this study examines the impact of COVID-19 on relevant variables to BSS usage. Our findings indicate significant changes in longer travel distances, which would be explained by users who use the BSS at peak hours. Also, there is evidence of a higher willingness to use BSS under adverse weather conditions (such as rain and wind), less substitution with the public transport system in Lyon, and recovery and even a slight increase of BSS trips for Toulouse and Lyon, respectively. These results suggest long-term changes in user habits, offering an excellent opportunity to develop public policies to promote cycling further. |
| Keywords: | Bike-sharing system, Covid-19 effects, Long-term changes. |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04937733 |
| By: | Tom G\"orges; Magnus {\O}rberg Rove; Paul Sharp; Christian Vedel |
| Abstract: | How do transport infrastructures shape economic transformation and social change? We examine the impact of railway expansion in nineteenth-century Denmark on local population growth, occupational shifts, and the diffusion of ideas. Using a historical panel dataset and a difference-in-differences approach, we document that railway access significantly increased population growth and accelerated structural change. Moreover, railway-connected areas were more likely to establish key institutions linked to civic engagement and the cooperative movement. These findings suggest that improved market access was not only a driver of economic modernization but also a catalyst for institutional and cultural transformation. |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2502.21141 |
| By: | Yaqub, Ohid; Coburn, Josie; Moore, Duncan A.Q. |
| Abstract: | HIV/AIDS has been a major focus for research funders. The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) alone has spent over $70bn on HIV/AIDS. Such investments ushered in antiviral drugs, helping to reverse a rapidly growing HIV/AIDS pandemic. However, the idea that research can deliver unexpected benefits beyond its targeted field, in fact, predates HIV/AIDS to at least Vannevar Bush’s influential 1945 report. Cross-disease spillovers – research investments that yield benefits beyond the target disease – remains unexplored, even though it could inform both priority-setting and calculations of returns on research investments. To this end, we took a sample of NIH’s HIV grants and examined their publications. We analyzed 118, 493 publications and found that 62% of these were spillovers. We used Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms assigned to publications to explore the content of these spillovers, as well as to corroborate non-spillovers. We located spillovers on a network of MeSH co-occurrence, drawn from the broader universe of biomedical publications, for comparison. We found that HIV spillovers were unevenly distributed across disease-space, and often in close proximity to HIV (60% local; 40% remote). We further reviewed 1, 000 grant–publication pairs from a local sample and 1, 000 pairs from a remote sample. For local spillovers, a quarter seemed to be unexpected, on the basis of their grant description; for remote spillovers, that proportion increased to one third. We also found that the NIH funding institutes whose remits were most closely related to HIV/AIDS were less likely to produce spillovers than others. We discuss implications for theory and policy. |
| Date: | 2023–03–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:gcuhn_v1 |
| By: | Arora, Abhishek; George, Siddharth; Rao, Vijayendra; Sharan, MR |
| Abstract: | Governments across the world have increasingly devolved powers to locally elected leaders. This paper studies the consequences of local democracy, exploiting a natural experiment in Karnataka, India. Local elections were postponed in 2020, resulting in appointed administrators taking over governance in villages whose elected leaders completed their terms that year. This created quasi-random variation in the governance regime across villages. The paper brings together a rich set of administrative datasets—budgetary allocations from the universe of 6, 000 villages, more than a million public works projects, local bureaucratic attendance, welfare benefits, and a primary survey of more than 11, 810 households—to estimate the impacts of local democracy. The findings show that local democracy aligns spending more closely with citizen preferences, but these gains accrue more to men, upper castes, and other advantaged social groups. Elected leaders are more responsive to citizen needs and cause local bureaucrats to exert more effort. However, appointed administrators perform better on aspects of governance that are aligned with their specialized skills. Local democracy improves governance in some domains, but it has no overall impact on economic outcomes or effectiveness of COVID-19 management. |
| Date: | 2023–08–25 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10555 |
| By: | Yao, Koffi Yves; Kouakou, Auguste Konan; |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the essential role of migration and remittances in development across sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular focus on Côte d’Ivoire. It demonstrates that these financial flows help alleviate poverty and stabilise the economy in the short term while fostering long-term development through investments in human capital, entrepreneurship, and social protection. However, several challenges persist: excessive reliance on remittances may hinder local productivity, weaken exports, and increase import dependency. The paper recommends policies aimed at economic diversification, enhanced financial inclusion, reduced transfer costs, and better-coordinated migration policies to maximise the developmental benefits of remittances. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Remittances, Financing of Development |
| JEL: | F22 F24 O1 |
| Date: | 2025–02–13 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:123655 |
| By: | Karner, Alex; Pereira, Rafael H. M.; Farber, Steven |
| Abstract: | Transportation systems play a pivotal role in facilitating access to out-of-home activities, enabling participation in various aspects of social life. But because of budgetary and physical limitations, they cannot provide equal access everywhere; inevitably, some locations will be better served than others. This realization gives rise to two fundamental concerns in transportation equity research and practice: 1) accessibility inequality and 2) accessibility poverty. Accessibility inequalities may rise to the level of injustice when some socioeconomic groups systematically have lower access to opportunities than others. Accessibility poverty occurs when people are unable to meet their daily needs and live a dignified, fulfilling life because of a lack of access to essential services and opportunities. In this paper, we review two of the most widely used approaches for evaluating transport justice concerns related to accessibility inequality and accessibility poverty: Gini coefficients/Lorenz curves and needs-gap/transit desert approaches, respectively. We discuss how their theoretical underpinnings are inconsistent with egalitarian and sufficientarian concerns in transport justice and show how the underlying assumptions of these methods and their applications found in the transportation equity literature embody many previously unacknowledged limitations that severely limit their utility. We substantiate these concerns by analysing the equity impacts of Covid-19-related service cuts undertaken in Washington, D.C. during 2020. The paper also discusses how alternative methods for measuring transportation equity both better comport with the known impacts of such changes and are consistent with underlying moral concerns. |
| Date: | 2023–08–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:y246u_v1 |
| By: | Acuff, Christopher (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga) |
| Abstract: | Attempts to create consolidated city-county governments have persisted in recent decades, with many local government reformers touting this type of organizational change as a solution to a number of challenges in metropolitan areas. Overall, research in this area has generally shown no conclusive outcomes related to achieving greater efficiencies as measured by a reduction in expenditures. However, the 2014 consolidation of Macon-Bibb County, Georgia presents an opportunity to explore a substantively important case due to a mandated twenty percent reduction in expenditures over a five-year period. This analysis finds that while officials generally met their goal of reducing budgeted expenditures, an analysis of actual expenditures and questions pertaining to longer-term outcomes, including reductions in staffing, performance, and credit ratings may be a cautionary tale for similar efforts in the future. |
| Date: | 2023–11–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:as3pb_v1 |
| By: | Keil, M.; Loske, D.; Modica, T.; Klumpp, M. |
| Date: | 2024–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dar:wpaper:153239 |
| By: | González-Casado, Miguel A.; Gonzales, Gladis; Molina, Jose Luis; Sánchez, Angel |
| Abstract: | In this study, we present a method to uncover the fundamental dimensions of structural variability in Personal Networks (PNs) and develop a classification solely based on these structural properties. We address the limitations of previous literature and lay the foundation for a rigorous methodology to construct a Structural Typology of PNs. We test our method with a dataset of nearly 8, 000 PNs belonging to high school students. We find that the structural variability of these PNs can be described in terms of six basic dimensions encompassing community and cohesive subgroup structure, as well as levels of cohesion, hierarchy, and centralization. Our method allows us to categorize these PNs into eight types and to interpret them structurally. We assess the robustness and generality of our methodology by comparing with previous results on structural typologies. To encourage its adoption, its improvement by others, and to support future research, we provide a publicly available Python class, enabling researchers to utilize our method and test the universality of our results. |
| Date: | 2023–10–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:23efd_v1 |
| By: | Deininger, Klaus W.; Goyal, Aparajita |
| Abstract: | In coming decades, Africa’s urban populations will expand, and effects of climate change more keenly felt. In this context, land policies and institutions will be essential to allow urban dwellers to access productive jobs, breathe clean air, and live in decent housing; entrepreneurs, especially women, to leverage land for productive investment; and farmers to diversify, insure against shocks, and accumulate capital. Yet, many African land registries perform poorly, command little trust, and have failed to capitalize on opportunities to improve quality, relevance, and outreach via digital interoperability, use of earth observation, and connectivity. Reform examples and literature suggest that (i) regulatory and institutional reforms are key to building state capacity even in the absence of titling programs; (ii) title issuance in urban areas that aims to improve property tax collection, develop markets for long-term finance, and support infrastructure planning, financing, and construction will have higher returns than rural titling; (iii) issuance of digital georeferenced land use rights can help activate rural factor markets and, if linked to farmer registries, improve subsidy targeting and effectiveness; and (iv) demarcation and transparent decentralized management of public land is essential to attract investment, including climate finance without fueling corruption and manage disputes before they escalate into ethnic violence. |
| Date: | 2023–03–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10389 |
| By: | Siddharth, L.; Luo, Jianxi |
| Abstract: | Design and innovation processes primarily generate knowledge upon retrieving and synthesising knowledge of existing artefacts. Understanding the basis of knowledge governing these processes is essential for theoretical and practical advances, especially with the growing inclusion of Large-Language Models (LLMs) and their generative capabilities to support knowledge-intensive tasks. In this research, we analyse a large, stratified sample of patented artefact descriptions spanning the total technology space. Upon representing these descriptions as knowledge graphs, i.e., collections of entities and relationships, we investigate the linguistic and structural foundations through frequency distribution and motif discovery approaches. From the linguistic perspective, we identify the generalisable syntaxes that show how most entities and relationships are constructed at the term level. From the structural perspective, we discover motifs, i.e., statistically dominant 3-node and 4-node subgraph patterns, that show how entities and relationships are combined at a local level in artefact descriptions. Upon examining the subgraphs within these motifs, we understand that artefact descriptions primarily capture the design hierarchy of artefacts. We also find that natural language descriptions do not capture sufficiently precise knowledge at a local level, which can be a limiting factor for relevant innovation research and practice. Moreover, our findings are expected to guide LLMs in generating knowledge pertinent to domain-specific design environments, to inform structuring schemes for future knowledge management systems, and to advance design and innovation theories on knowledge synthesis. |
| Date: | 2025–02–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:ncqz3_v2 |
| By: | B Kis, Anna; Boxho, Claire Elise; Gaddis, Isis; Koussoube, Mousson Estelle Jamel; Rouanet, Lea Marie |
| Abstract: | As the COVID-19 pandemic led to a historic and widespread shutdown of schools across the world, including in Sub-Saharan Africa, there were general concerns that girls would be disproportionately affected. This study analyzes the effects of the pandemic on the school attendance of adolescent girls and boys in six African countries. The study uses individual-level data on children’s school attendance collected as part of high-frequency phone surveys. Contrary to expectations, the study reveals that there is no evidence to suggest that gender gaps widened during the pandemic. If anything, gender gaps appear to have narrowed in some countries. Further in-depth analysis shows that while being a descendent of the household head, having parents with at least primary education, and above-median household wealth were associated with a higher probability of school attendance among adolescents before the pandemic, these factors lost their salience in explaining school attendance in the aftermath of the pandemic. These results suggest that some traditionally protective forces were eroded during the COVID-19 crisis. |
| Date: | 2023–06–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10472 |