|
on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Aldashev, Alisher (Kazakh-British Technical University of Almaty); Dietz, Barbara (Institute for Eastern European Studies, Regensburg) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we analyze economic and spatial determinants of interregional migration in Kazakhstan using quarterly panel data on region to region migration in 2008-2010. In line with traditional economic theory we find that migration is determined by economic factors, first of all income: People are more likely to leave regions where incomes are low and more likely to move to regions with a higher income level. As predicted by gravity arguments, mobility is larger between more populated regions. Furthermore, distance has a strong negative impact on migration, indicating high migration related costs and risks. Assuming that high migration costs are caused by poor infrastructure, investments in public and social infrastructure should facilitate regional income convergence in Kazakhstan and improve living standards in depressed regions. |
| Keywords: | interregional migration, Kazakhstan, gravity model |
| JEL: | J61 P36 R23 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6289&r=ure |
| By: | Gibbons, Steve (London School of Economics); McNally, Sandra (London School of Economics); Viarengo, Martina (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva) |
| Abstract: | Improving the educational attainment of disadvantaged students in urban schools is a priority for policy worldwide, but existing research is equivocal about the effectiveness of additional funding for achieving this objective. This study exploits anomalies in the spatial dimension of school funding policy in England to provide new evidence on this question. An "area cost adjustment" and other aspects of the formula that allocates central grants to Local Authorities (school districts) means that neighbouring schools with similar intakes, operating in the same labour market and facing the same prices for inputs can receive very different incomes. We find that these funding disparities give rise to sizeable differences in pupil attainment in national tests at the end of primary school. This shows that school resources have an important role to play in improving educational attainment. The results have direct implications for the current "Pupil Premium" policy in England. |
| Keywords: | urban schools, education, resources |
| JEL: | R0 I21 H52 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6281&r=ure |
| By: | Rebecca Tunstall |
| Abstract: | By some definitions, social housing, social housing tenants are necessarily socially excluded. In other terms, in 2000, social housing tenants were at greater risk of being socially excluded than owner occupiers and private renters on measures of income, employment, education, health, and housing and neighbourhood quality. However, by 2011, basic housing quality in social housing had overtaken that in home ownership, and slight reductions in social exclusion of social tenants in terms of income, employment, and neighbourhood quality at least disproved arguments of inevitable tenurial polarisation. There is evidence that housing and regeneration policies contributed to these changes, but the economy was also important, and population turnover is likely to have played a role. Finally, the gains of 2000-2011 may not be sustained. |
| Keywords: | Social housing, social exclusion, inequality, worklessness, housing quality, neighbourhood quality, participation |
| JEL: | D31 D63 H42 I38 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sticas:case153&r=ure |
| By: | Hyun Bang Shin |
| Abstract: | The rapid transformation of urban socio-spatial landscape in China has resulted in an increasing degree of frustration and discontent among local residents who face threats of demolition and eviction. This has given rise to sporadic protests by local residents who are often known as 'nail households', that is, persistent protesters who are fixed to the land and hold onto their dwellings in protest against unwilling eviction and demolition of their dwellings. The presence of these protesters provides an effective example of local residents' out cry in China. This paper is an attempt to critically re-visit the existing debates on local residents' property rights activism in urban redevelopment processes, and to discuss the extent to which it can be an effective strategy. The paper refers to the right-to-the-city debate to examine whose right counts in China's urban renewal contexts. It also makes use of empirical findings, both quantitative and qualitative, to examine how nail houses are received among local residents and migrants, and discusses the extent to which migrants can fit into local residents' struggle against the top-down imposition of neighbourhood transformation. The paper ultimately calls for the need to form a place-based alliance that enables urbanites including migrants to come together to launch an effective claim on their right to the city. |
| Keywords: | right to the city, property rights, urban renewal, nail houses, displacement, China |
| JEL: | I38 K42 O18 P26 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sticas:case156&r=ure |
| By: | Mynbaev, Kairat; Ibrayeva, Saniya |
| Abstract: | The housing market is special in that houses are immobile, costly and durable. In this paper we look at the determinants of prices of the housing market of Almaty. What affects the prices of houses and apartments? How was the housing market developing during the economic boom and after the financial crisis started? The paper starts with a review of the existing models. The theory indicates the size, quality and location as the main determinants. To apply the hedonic model, we collected a random sample of about 2,500 observations on housing units in seven districts of Almaty from newspaper advertisements. Those units were categorized by the number of rooms, quality, district, floor, etc. Some of those characteristics are nonnumerical and require dummy variables. With the data collected, we ran several regressions in Eviews. We have obtained valuation figures for different characteristics of housing units. The data clearly show existence of a bubble during 2006-2007. The regression results revealed the differences between different districts, dependence on the quality and floor. Among unexpected results are the facts that corner apartments and floor level have negative coefficients, perhaps because first-floor apartments are considered as potential commercial property or perhaps lower stories are preferred in general but the first storey is the least preferred. Some questions, such as valuation of luxury apartments or those in the north of the city remain unanswered because of lack of data. It would be also interesting to correlate housing prices with the interest rate on mortgages. A shorter version of this paper has been published as K. T. Mynbaev and S. Ibrayeva, Housing market of Almaty, Herald of the Kazakh-British Technical University, N 2 (17), 2011, 88-93. |
| Keywords: | housing market; hedonic analysis; real estate bubble; multiple regression |
| JEL: | R21 C01 |
| Date: | 2011–10–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:36683&r=ure |
| By: | Sidorov, Alexander |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the interplay between production, commuting and commuting and costs shapes the economy at intra-urban level. Specifically, we study how economic integration affects the internal stricture of cities and how decentralizing of production and consumption of goods in secondary employment centers allows firms located in a large city to maintain their performance. The main distinctive feature of the model is two-dimensional city structure with variable number of secondary business districts. Several new results in urban economics are established, which all agree with empirical evidence and some of them cannot be obtained in framework of the linear city model. |
| Keywords: | City structure; Secondary business centers; Commuting costs; Communication costs |
| JEL: | F12 R12 R14 |
| Date: | 2012–02–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:36696&r=ure |
| By: | Aida Caldera Sánchez |
| Abstract: | Chile has made good progress in improving housing conditions, but still around 10% of the population lives in either overcrowded houses, or of inadequate quality and/or with poor access to basic services. Improving further housing conditions of the poor is important for curbing poverty and reducing inequality. First, better targeting of housing subsidies will be essential to free resources for those truly in need. The government should also rethink subsidies, which are currently directed exclusively at ownership. Means-tested rental cash allowances coupled with more balanced tenant-landlord regulations would strengthen the rental market, thus enhancing residential mobility and potentially reducing segregation. Second, better enforcement of social housing quotas for new building projects coupled with investments in urban renewal and social services in poorer neighbourhoods and developing unused land in urban areas could also help to reduce inequalities. Third, effective thermal and energy standards for buildings would improve the quality of the housing stock, protect public health and reduce air pollution. Limiting construction in fault lines and risky coastal areas could also increase Chile’s resilience to natural disasters. Fourth, taxing housing so owing is not favoured over renting would reduce distortions and make the tax system less regressive. Finally, enhancing the responsiveness of housing supply to demand would ensure there is a good match between housing construction and demand, and avoid that public support gets capitalised into housing prices.<P>Principes fondamentaux pour améliorer le marché du logement au Chili<BR>Si les conditions de logement se sont bien améliorées au Chili, quelque 10 % de la population vit encore dans des habitations surpeuplées, de mauvaise qualité et avec un accès limité aux services de base. Il importe de poursuivre l’amélioration des conditions de logement des plus démunis pour endiguer la pauvreté et réduire les inégalités. Premièrement, il sera indispensable de mieux cibler les aides au logement afin de dégager des ressources pour ceux qui sont réellement dans le besoin. L’État devrait également repenser les subventions, qui ne s’adressent actuellement qu’aux propriétaires. En associant le versement aux locataires d’allocations sous condition de ressources et une réglementation plus équilibrée entre preneurs et bailleurs, on dynamiserait le marché locatif, renforçant par là-même la mobilité résidentielle et limitant probablement la ségrégation. Deuxièmement, une meilleure application des quotas de logements sociaux aux projets de construction et la mise en valeur des friches urbaines pourraient aussi contribuer à réduire les inégalités. Troisièmement, des normes thermiques et énergétiques efficaces pour les bâtiments amélioreraient la qualité du parc de logements, préserveraient la santé publique et diminueraient la pollution atmosphérique. En limitant les constructions sur les lignes de fracture et les zones côtières dangereuses, on pourrait également accroître la capacité du Chili à rebondir en cas de catastrophe naturelle. Quatrièmement, une fiscalité du logement qui ne favoriserait pas les propriétaires au détriment des locataires réduirait les distorsions et rendrait le système d’imposition moins régressif. Enfin, une meilleure capacité d’adaptation de l’offre à la demande de logements garantirait la bonne adéquation entre la construction et les besoins résidentiels et éviterait la capitalisation des aides publiques dans le prix des logements. |
| Keywords: | mortgage markets, housing market, housing policies, rental market, housing prices, housing subsidies, property taxation, rental allowances, prix des logements, marchés hypothécaires, marché du logement, politiques du logement, Marchés immobiliers, aide au logement, allocation logement |
| JEL: | E21 G21 H24 L74 R21 R38 R52 |
| Date: | 2012–02–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:943-en&r=ure |
| By: | H. Spencer Banzhaf; Omar Farooque |
| Abstract: | Understanding the spatial variation in housing prices plays a crucial role in topics ranging from the cost of living to quality-of-life indices to studies of public goods and household mobility. Yet analysts have not reached a consensus on the best source of such data, variously using self-reported values from the census, transactions values, tax assessments, and rental values. Additionally, while most studies use micro-level data, some have used summary statistics such as the median housing value. Assessing neighborhood price indices in Los Angeles, we find that indices based on transactions prices are highly correlated with indices based on self-reported values, but the former are better correlated with public goods. Moreover, rental values have a higher correlation with public goods and income levels than either asset-value measure. Finally, indices based on median values are poorly correlated with the other indices, public goods, and income. |
| JEL: | H4 R2 R30 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17809&r=ure |
| By: | Fabiano COMPAGNUCCI (IUAV - Venezia); Augusto CUSINATO (IUAV - Venezia) |
| Abstract: | The spatial implications of fordist and district-based patterns of development have had a profound effect on the debate about the role of the city. While the city is reputed to be the crucial provider of fixed social capital within the fordist model, its role seems more nuanced, if not disputable, when the district model prevails. This disregard for the city is probably due to (a) the fact that the revival of the debate on marshallian industrial districts (IDs) has placed strong emphasis on the agglomeration economies internal to the districts themselves, when not emphasising the burden of urban diseconomies; and (b) the countryside roots of most district pioneers. The quarrel was further fuelled with the advent of ICTs, and the feasibility of displacing productive phases at a global level. The paper argues that this is only the early part of the history. The advent of ICTs has had not only functional consequences but also an important impact on the internal organisation of firms and industry and on economic geography as a whole. It has also made knowledge and innovation the crucial drivers of the competitiveness of firms and local economic systems. The notion of knowledge has profoundly changed too, and the main change consists in the shift that is occurring within the industry itself from the ontological to the hermeneutical approach. According to this view, the main hypothesis is that the city is a crucial socio-spatial device for knowledge generation. The paper investigates this issue on both the theoretical and the empirical level by introducing a new analytical category - "Knowledge-creating services (KCS)". With reference to the Italian case, the outcomes corroborate the above hypothesis and open an original perspective on the relationships between the city and IDs in the knowledge age: the city is shown to be not only the gateway for functionally connecting IDs with the global market but also a true Knowledge-creating District. Within this new situation, a reassessment is needed of the relationships between IDs and the city, due to the misalignment that is likely to occur between competences in "producing" manufactured goods and knowledge. |
| Keywords: | city, industrial districts, knowledge economy |
| JEL: | O18 R11 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anc:wpaper:365&r=ure |
| By: | Pedro M. M. L. Garcês (ESGHT, Universidade do Algarve, Portugal); Cesaltina Pacheco Pires (CEFAGE-UE and Departamento de Gestão, Universidade de Évora, Portugal) |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the literature on new housing supply. The paper starts by summarizing the results of the empirical studies on housing supply, showing that overall these studies reject the hypothesis of a perfectly elastic housing supply and reveal that housing supply is negatively related with financial costs, inflation and sales delay while showing inconclusive results with respect to the construction costs. In addition, we review a recent branch of the literature on housing supply that uses strategic interaction models. There is evidence that the housing market is not well described by the perfect competition model. Thus, a deeper understanding of housing supply can be achieved by considering theoretical models that take into account the strategic interaction between land developers and by using data where the unit of analysis is the land developer. |
| Keywords: | Housing supply; price elasticity of supply, strategic interaction. |
| JEL: | R31 C72 E22 L85 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cfe:wpcefa:2011_18&r=ure |
| By: | Francesca Mameli; Simona Iammarino; Ron Boschma |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of regional sectoral diversity on regional employment growth in Italy over the period 1991-2001. Assuming that externalities may be stronger between industries selling similar products or sharing the same skills and technology (i.e. related industries), we analyze the role of different forms of sectoral variety at the Local Labour System (LLS) level. Our results show strong evidence of a general beneficial effect of a diversified sectoral structure but suggest also the need to differentiate the analysis between manufacturing and services. In particular, overall local employment growth seems to be favoured by the presence of a higher variety of related service industries, while no role is played by related variety in manufacturing. When looking at diversity externalities between macro-aggregates, the service industry is affected by related variety in manufacturing, while no evidence of externalities is found from tertiary sectors to manufacturing. |
| Keywords: | related variety, knowledge spillovers, agglomeration economies, regional growth, Italy |
| JEL: | D62 O18 O52 R11 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1203&r=ure |
| By: | Gilberto Turati (University of Torino); Daniel Montolio (Universitat de Barcelona & IEB); Massimiliano Piacenza (University of Torino) |
| Abstract: | The objective of the paper is to study the disciplining role of both market forces and regional governments own resources in the provision of educational services. The historical evolution of school regulation in Italy and Spain (in particular regarding the funding of private schools run by Roman Catholic Church, and the role of regional governments financing education) created different institutions in terms of both dimensions, private funds and regional governments funds. We take advantage of these institutional diversities to estimate the disciplining role of different sources of funds in the context of educational production function using PISA data. Our results provide support to these accountability drivers. Moreover, we find evidence on the role played by a national standardised test in providing adequate incentives to improve schools’ performance. |
| Keywords: | Public and private schools, accountability, fiscal federalism |
| JEL: | H75 I22 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2012/1/doc2011-44&r=ure |
| By: | Berliant, Marcus; Zenou, Yves |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to explore the structure of cities as a function of labor differentiation, gains to trade, a fixed cost for constructing the transportation network, a variable cost of commodity transport, and the commuting costs of consumers. Firms use different types of labor to produce different outputs. Locations of all agents are endogenous as are prices and quantities. This is among the first papers to apply smooth economy techniques to urban economics. Existence of equilibrium and its determinacy properties depend crucially on the relative numbers of outputs, types of labor and firms. More differentiated labor implies more equilibria. We provide tight lower bounds on labor differentiation for existence of equilibrium. If these sufficient conditions are satisfied, then generically there is a continuum of equilibria for given parameter values. Finally, an equilibrium allocation is not necessarily Pareto optimal in this model. |
| Keywords: | city structure; heterogeneous labor; transportation network; general equilibrium |
| JEL: | D51 R14 |
| Date: | 2012–01–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:36207&r=ure |
| By: | Selcuk, Cemil |
| Abstract: | The housing market exhibits a puzzling yet repetitive seasonal boom and bust cycle where prices and trade volume rise in summers and fall in winters. This paper presents a search model that analytically generates the observed deterministic cycle. |
| Keywords: | housing; search; thin and thick markets; seasonality |
| JEL: | D39 D83 D49 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:36225&r=ure |
| By: | Emanuela Marrocu; Raffaele Paci |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to assess the role played by creativity and other components of human capital on the process of economic growth for 257 regions in the 27 member countries of the European Union. We first decompose the regional human capital endowment to distinguish between the educational component (the share of individuals with a university degree) and the creativity component, which considers the actual occupations of individuals in specific jobs like science, engineering, education, arts and entertainment. We define three non overlapping categories of human capital (creative graduates, bohemians and non creative graduates) which are simultaneously included in a spatial model as determinants of regional growth measured by labour productivity. After extending the analysis to control for other relevant factors which may affect regional development, such as physical, technological and social capital, cultural diversity, industrial and geographical characteristics, we provide robust evidence on the growth enhancing effects of graduates, in particular for those of the creative category. |
| Keywords: | human capital; creativity; regional growth |
| JEL: | R11 J24 O40 C21 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cns:cnscwp:201202&r=ure |
| By: | Ruth Lupton; Martin Thrupp |
| Abstract: | This paper reports the accounts of fifteen headteachers of primary schools in one local authority in the South East of England, including headteachers of schools that are amongst the most advantaged five per cent of schools in England and those amongst the most disadvantaged twenty per cent. The headteachers reflect on the nature of the intakes and other local contextual factors, and their impact on day to day school processes and on decisions made about organization, curriculum and pedagogy. The findings give an insight into the extent of variation between schools and their capacity to respond to differing needs given budgetary constraints, performative pressures and the limits of professional knowledge. |
| Keywords: | schools, educational inequalities, deprivation, disadvantage, context |
| JEL: | I24 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sticas:case158&r=ure |
| By: | Glewwe, Paul; Hanushek, Eric; Humpage, Sarah; Ravina, Renato |
| Abstract: | Developing countries spend hundreds of billions of dollars each year on schools, educational materials and teachers, but relatively little is known about how effective these expenditures are at increasing studentsâ years of completed schooling and, more importantly, the skills that they learn while in school. This paper examines studies published between 1990 and 2010, in both the education literature and the economics literature, to investigate which specific school and teacher characteristics, if any, appear to have strong positive impacts on learning and time in school. Starting with over 9,000 studies, 79 are selected as being of sufficient quality. Then an even higher bar is set in terms of econometric methods used, leaving 43 âhigh qualityâ studies. Finally, results are also shown separately for 13 randomized trials. The estimated impacts on time in school and learning of most school and teacher characteristics are statistically insignificant, especially when the evidence is limited to the âhigh qualityâ studies. The few variables that do have significant effects â e.g. availability of desks, teacher knowledge of the subjects they teach, and teacher absence â are not particularly surprising and thus provide little guidance for future policies and programs. |
| Keywords: | Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:umciwp:120033&r=ure |
| By: | Carree, Martin; Kronenberg, Kristin |
| Abstract: | This study identifies and analyzes the effects of university/college graduates’ personal, household and employment characteristics as well as the attributes of their study, work and home locations on their college-to-work, college-to-residence, and commuting distances. The results illustrate that graduates are drawn to prospering regions with ample job opportunities, supposedly in order to advance their careers. They choose their places of residence so as to balance their commuting distances and the distances to their previous places of study. Residential amenities have a comparatively small effect on graduates’ locational choices, whereas they appear to value accessibility of the place of residence. |
| Keywords: | distance; migration; locational choice; commuting; college-to-work; college-to-residence |
| JEL: | R41 R23 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:36221&r=ure |
| By: | Brian M. Peterson |
| Abstract: | This paper develops and estimates a model to explain the behaviour of house prices in the United States. The main finding is that over 70% of the increase in house prices relative to trend during the increase of house prices in the United States from 1995 to 2006 can be explained by a pricing mechanism where market participants are ‘Fooled by Search.’ Trading frictions, also known as search frictions, have been argued to affect asset prices, so that asset markets are constrained efficient, with shocks to liquidity causing prices to temporarily deviate from long run fundamentals. In this paper a model is proposed and estimated that combines search frictions with a behavioural assumption where market participants incorrectly believe that the efficient market theory holds. In other words, households are ‘Fooled by Search.’ Such a model is potentially fruitful because it can replicate the observation that real price growth and turnover are highly correlated at an annual frequency in the United States housing market. A linearized version of the model is estimated using standard OLS and annual data. In addition to explaining over 70% of the housing bubble in the United States, the model also predicts and estimation confirms that in regions with a low elasticity of supply, price growth should be more sensitive to turnover. Using the lens of turnover, a supply shock is identified and estimated that has been responsible for over 80% of the fall in real house prices from the peak in 2006 to 2010. |
| Keywords: | Asset pricing; Business fluctuations and cycles |
| JEL: | E3 R2 R21 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bca:bocawp:12-3&r=ure |
| By: | Manuel Adelino; Antoinette Schoar; Felipe Severino |
| Abstract: | We show that easier access to credit significantly increases house prices by using exogenous changes in the conforming loan limit as an instrument for lower cost of financing and higher supply. Houses that become eligible for financing with a conforming loan show an increase in house values of 1.1 dollars per square foot (for an average price per square foot of 224 dollars) and higher overall house prices controlling for a rich set of house characteristics. These coefficients are consistent with a local elasticity of house prices to interest rates below 10. In addition, loan to value ratios around the conforming loan limit deviate significantly from the common 80 percent norm, which confirms that it is an important factor in the financing choices of home buyers. In line with our interpretation, the results are stronger in the first half of our sample (1998-2001) when the conforming loan limit was more important, given that other forms of financing were less common and substantially more expensive. |
| JEL: | D12 G10 R20 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17832&r=ure |
| By: | Monastiriotis, Vassilis; Kaplanis, Ioannis |
| Abstract: | Employment flexibility is commonly associated to greater labour mobility and thus faster cross-regional adjustments. The literature however offers very little hard evidence on this and quite limited theoretical guidance. This paper examines empirically the relationship between employment flexibility and cross-regional adjustment (migration) at the regional and local levels in the UK. Employment flexibility is associated to higher labour mobility (but only at a rather localised scale) and at the same time seems to reduce the responsiveness of migration to unemployment. This suggest that rising flexibility may be linked to higher persistence in spatial disparities, as intra-regional adjustments are strengthened while extraregional adjustments weakened. Keywords: Employment flexibility, regional migration, labour market adjustment JEL Codes: R11, R23, J08, J61 |
| Keywords: | Ocupació, Mercat de treball, Migració interna, 331 - Treball. Relacions laborals. Ocupació. Organització del treball, |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:urv:wpaper:2072/179671&r=ure |
| By: | José M. Albert (Universitat Jaume I); Nikolaos Georgantzis (Universidad de Granada); Jorge Mateu (Universitat Jaume I); José I. Silva (Universitat de Girona) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we analyze the spatial distribution of economic activity and labor market variables in Greece from 1980 to 2006. Using a distance-based method within a stochastic point process, we identify two periods with opposite trends regarding the concentration of economic activity in the Greek territory. First, twenty years (1980- 1999) of a moderately decreasing trend of agglomeration due to systematic e®orts by the Greek governments to decentralize the economic activity away from the capital. Second, a short period (2000-2006) of sharp increases in agglomeration, coinciding -in space and time- with the public and private investments for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. In the same period, a similar e®ect of a smaller size is observed on the concentration of the labor force, employment and unemployment. |
| Keywords: | Concentration, Olympic Games, D-function, L-function, K-function, point process, spatial economics. |
| JEL: | C15 C16 C21 L16 R10 R50 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jau:wpaper:2012/02&r=ure |
| By: | DÖRRY Sabine |
| Abstract: | In the past two decades, real estate has been transforming from owner-occupied utilities into (well-performing) financial products with high yield expectations from investors. In this regard, the main objective of the paper is to discuss two central processes, which not only materialise in urban space but, following their inherent economic logic, reinforce each other. First, the increased volatility of office markets in international financial centres is a result of the liberalisation of the international financial markets and has been creating places of capital ex-traction within those cities. Second, and on the contrary, municipalities face in-creasing restrictions on domains such as urban planning, forced by the necessity to attract private investors to boost the local economy, thus, retracting the po-litical space for manoeuvre with respect to the varied needs of their own inhabi-tants. |
| Keywords: | real estate office markets; financialisation; planning policy; Frankfurt am Main |
| JEL: | A14 P16 R11 R58 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:cepswp:2011-51&r=ure |
| By: | Maria A. Cunha-e-Sa; Sofia F. Franco |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effectiveness of urban containment policies to protect forestland from residential conversion and to increase the provision of forest public goods in the presence of irreversible investments and policy uncertainty. We develop a model of a single landowner that allows for switching between competing land uses (forestry and residential use) at some point in the future. Our results show that urban containment policies can protect (even if temporarily) forestland from being developed but must be supplemented with policies that influence the length and number of harvesting cycles if the goal is to increase nontimber benefits. The threat of a development prohibition creates incentives for preemptive timber harvesting and land conversion. In particular, threatened regulation creates an incentive to shorten rotation cycles to avoid costly land-use restrictions. However, it has an ambiguous effect on forestland conversion as the number of rotation cycles can also be adjusted to maximize the expected returns to land. Finally, in the presence of irreversibility, forestland conversion decisions should be done using real option theory rather than net present value analysis. JEL codes:Q23, R11, R14 |
| Keywords: | urban development, forest externalities, rotation cycles, urban conversion, UGB, Greenbelt |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unl:unlfep:wp563&r=ure |
| By: | Heger, Diana; Rinawi, Miriam; Veith, Tobias |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether the local infrastructure favours entrepreneurial activities. Besides the physical and knowledge infrastructure we take into account a county's broadband availability by building an index which accounts for county-related specificities. We find that broadband availability fosters entrepreneurial activities particularly in high-tech sectors for which efficient ways of knowledge transfer is crucial. -- |
| Keywords: | broadband provision,physical and knowledge infrastructure,local entrepreneurial activities |
| JEL: | O18 L26 R11 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:11081&r=ure |
| By: | Flores-Fillol, Ricardo; Nicolini, Rosella |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the conditions allowing the formation of aeropolitan areas as large industrial areas with a high concentration of commercial activities in the proximity of selected airports. We assume that firms deliver their production by plane and land competition takes place among service operators, firms and farmers. Service operators supply facilities that firms can absorb. Our framework identifies a unique land equilibrium characterized by the spatial sequence Airport - Industrial park - Rural area (A-I-R). Aerotropolis-type configurations are associated with the level of transport costs and the degree of intensity of facilities. Keywords: aerotropolis; facilities; bid-rent function. JEL Classification Numbers: L29; L90; R14. |
| Keywords: | Aeroports, Zones industrials, Geografia rural, 338 - Situació econòmica. Política econòmica. Gestió, control i planificació de l'economia. Producció. Serveis. Turisme. Preus, |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:urv:wpaper:2072/179625&r=ure |
| By: | Morten Henningsen and Tom Kornstad (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | While child welfare services of high quality are very important for many children, measuring quality is not a simple task. This paper presents a method for estimating differences in the quality of local child welfare services. We identify the contributions of municipalities to high school completion and employment of youth who have used child welfare services. By controlling for family background and by introducing non-users to eliminate common regional effects, we hope to eliminate effects that cannot be attributed to child welfare services. Our findings may then be interpreted as mainly quality differences between the child welfare services of different municipalities. According to our results there are substantial differences in the quality of local child welfare services in Norway, and large municipalities performed systematically better than smaller ones when the outcome is high school completion. |
| Keywords: | Child welfare; public services; high school graduation; labour market participation |
| JEL: | H75 I38 J13 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:681&r=ure |
| By: | Schimke, Antje; Teichert, Nina; Ott, Ingrid |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the contribution of local knowledge endowment to employment growth in nanotechnology firms. We exploit a unique data set focusing on firms operating in fields that apply nanotechnology. Our findings suggest that regions that offer knowledge can stimulate employment growth in smaller and younger firms. By contrast, being embedded into specialised regions might be counterproductive, especially for firms belonging to a particularly knowledge intensive sector and older firms. -- |
| Keywords: | employment growth,local knowledge endowment,general purpose technology,specialisation,nanotechnology,spillover |
| JEL: | D83 L25 O31 R11 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:kitwps:38&r=ure |
| By: | Gregory F. Branch; Eric A. Hanushek; Steven G. Rivkin |
| Abstract: | Although much has been written about the importance of leadership in the determination of organizational success, there is little quantitative evidence due to the difficulty of separating the impact of leaders from other organizational components – particularly in the public sector. Schools provide an especially rich environment for studying the impact of public sector management, not only because of the hypothesized importance of leadership but also because of the plentiful achievement data that provide information on institutional outcomes. Outcome-based estimates of principal value-added to student achievement reveal significant variation in principal quality that appears to be larger for high-poverty schools. Alternate lower-bound estimates based on direct estimation of the variance yield smaller estimates of the variation in principal productivity but ones that are still important, particularly for high poverty schools. Patterns of teacher exits by principal quality validate the notion that a primary channel for principal influence is the management of the teacher force. Finally, looking at principal transitions by quality reveals little systematic evidence that more effective leaders have a higher probability of exiting high poverty schools. |
| JEL: | H4 I2 J4 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17803&r=ure |
| By: | João Carlos Lopes; Tanya Araujo |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to further understanding the economic performance of Portuguese and Spanish regions, using a stochastic network approach. The empirical analysis is made at the territorial level of NUT 3 regions and covers the period 1995-2008. The performance of regions is based on GDP per capita at Purchasing Power Standards. The network analysis is based on a metric space built from the correlation coefficients between the log-difference of annual growth rates. The metric space and the corresponding topological coefficients are compared with the independent performance of randomly generated data. The metric space is graphically represented along the 3 dominant eigenvalues and the strongest connections are selected and represented in a network of Iberian regions. The main purpose of this research is to find the most relevant geographical and demographic determinants of regional development, namely a “border effect”, an “interiority (without border) effect”, a “coastal effect”, a “metropolitan effect” and an “ultra periphery effect”. |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ise:isegwp:wp042012&r=ure |
| By: | Grönqvist, Hans (Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University); Johansson, Per (IFAU, Uppsala University); Niknami, Susan (Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effect of income inequality on health for a group of particularly disadvantaged individuals: refugees. Our analysis draws on longitudinal hospitalization records coupled with a settlement policy where Swedish authorities assigned newly arrived refugees to their first area of residence. The policy was implemented in a way that provides a source of plausibly random variation in initial location. The results reveal no statistically significant effect of income inequality on the risk of being hospitalized. This finding holds also for most population subgroups and when separating between different types of diagnoses. Our estimates are precise enough to rule out large effects of income inequality on health. |
| Keywords: | Income inequality; Immigration; Quasi-experiment |
| JEL: | I10 J15 |
| Date: | 2012–02–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sofiwp:2012_004&r=ure |
| By: | Ajay K. Agrawal; Iain M. Cockburn; Alberto Galasso; Alexander Oettl |
| Abstract: | Large labs may spawn spin-outs caused by innovations deemed unrelated to the firm's overall business. Small labs generate demand for specialized services that lower entry costs for others. We develop a theoretical framework to study the interplay of these two localized externalities and their impact on regional innovation. We examine MSA-level patent data during the period 1975-2000 and find that innovation output is higher where large and small labs coexist. The finding is robust to across-region as well as within-region analysis, IV analysis, and the effect is stronger in certain subsamples consistent with our explanation but not the plausible alternatives. |
| JEL: | O31 R11 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17793&r=ure |
| By: | Fageda, Xavier; Flores-Fillol, Ricardo |
| Abstract: | An examination of the impact in the US and EU markets of two major innovations in the provision of air services on thin routes - regional jet technology and the low-cost business model - reveals significant differences. In the US, regional airlines monopolize a high proportion of thin routes, whereas low-cost carriers are dominant on these routes in Europe. Our results have different implications for business and leisure travelers, given that regional services provide a higher frequency of flights (at the expense of higher fares), while low-cost services offer lower fares (at the expense of lower flight frequencies). Keywords: air transportation; regional jet technology; low-cost business model; thin markets. JEL Classification Numbers: L13; L2; L93. |
| Keywords: | Línies aèries, Aviació comercial, 338 - Situació econòmica. Política econòmica. Gestió, control i planificació de l'economia. Producció. Serveis. Turisme. Preus, |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:urv:wpaper:2072/179624&r=ure |
| By: | Bianca Biagi; Maria Giovanna Brandano; Claudio Detotto |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that all else being equal, for the case of Italy, tourist areas tend to have a greater amount of crime that non-tourist ones in the long run. Following the literature of the economics of crime à la Becker (1968) and Enrlich (1973) and using a System GMM approach for the time span 1985-2003, we empirically test whether total crime in Italy is affected by tourist arrivals. Findings confirm the initial intuition of a positive relationship between tourism and crime in destinations. When controlling for the difference in the propensity to be victimized between tourists and residents, no relevant differences are found - the likelihood to be victimized is quite similar for the two groups. As a consequence, the main explanation of the impact of tourism on crime seems to be agglomeration and urbanisation effects. One can image that overcrowded cities give more opportunities to criminals to commit illegal activities regardless of the share of visitors and residents in destinations. |
| Keywords: | tourism; crime; externalities |
| JEL: | K00 D62 L83 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cns:cnscwp:201201&r=ure |
| By: | Martijn I. Dröes; Harry Garretsen; Walter J.J. Manshanden |
| Abstract: | This paper finds that homeowners could substantially reduce house price risk if they would reinvest their housing wealth in a market portfolio of houses. Free trade in the value of the house among homeowners would allow them to do so. To quantify the diversification benefits of free trade in house value, we estimate simple CAPM and APT models based on a detailed panel dataset of house price changes in the Netherlands. We find that about 92 to 96 percent of house price risk is diversifiable. In most cases, these diversification benefits outweigh the hedging effectiveness of house price futures. |
| Keywords: | house price risk, free trade, financial market, diversification, futures |
| JEL: | G10 G11 G15 R30 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:use:tkiwps:1203&r=ure |
| By: | Barbara Pistoresi; Valeria Venturelli |
| Abstract: | In this paper we investigate the relationship between finance and regional economic growth. The dataset consists of a panel of 53 regions belonging to three countries, Germany, Italy and Spain, for the period 1995-2008. To avoid a problem of endogeneity, we estimate a dynamic panel using the generalised method of moments (GMM). The results underline the important role played by bank lending in regional economic growth. The distinction between mutual and commercial credit suggests that both types of bank are important for regional growth but the role of mutual banks is greater in economically deprived areas [EDAs]. Similar results are obtained for the venture capital variable |
| Keywords: | regional economic growth, relationship lending, venture capital, economically deprived areas, dynamic panel techniques |
| JEL: | C21 G21 G24 O43 O57 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:depeco:0680&r=ure |
| By: | Mario J. Crucini; Mototsugu Shintani; Takayuki Tsuruga |
| Abstract: | Using micro price data across US cities, we provide evidence that both the volatility and persistence of deviations from the law of one price (LOP) are positively correlated with the distance between cities. A standard, two-city, equilibrium model with time-varying technology under homogeneous information can predict the relationship between the volatility and distance but not between the persistence and distance. To account for the latter fact, we augment the standard model with noisy signals about the state of nominal aggregate demand that are asymmetric across cities. We further establish that the interaction of imperfect information and sticky prices improves the fit of the model. |
| JEL: | D40 E31 F31 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17815&r=ure |
| By: | Yamamura, Eiji |
| Abstract: | This paper explores how individual preferences for income redistribution are influenced by social capital, which is measured by rates of participation in community activities. Individual-level data and place of residence data were combined to examine how social capital accumulated in residential areas influences an individual’s preference for income redistribution. After controlling for individual characteristics, I obtained the following key findings: people are more likely to prefer income redistribution in areas with higher rates of community participation. This tendency is more clearly observed in high-income groups than in low-income groups. This implies that one’s preference for income redistribution is influenced by psychological externalities. |
| Keywords: | Redistribution; Social capital; Inequality; Externality |
| JEL: | D63 H20 D30 Z13 |
| Date: | 2012–01–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:36181&r=ure |
| By: | Wrede, Matthias |
| Abstract: | Combining a spatial equilibrium model with a matching unemployment model, this paper analyzes the regional quality of life when wages, rents, and unemployment risk compensate for local amenities and disamenities. In particular, the paper shows for quasi-linear utility that the effects of any amenity on wages and unemployment rates are of opposite sign. Additionally, the wage rate and the labor market tightness increase and the unemployment ratio decreases in reaction to an increase in the level of an amenity if the amenity is marginally more beneficial to producers than to consumers per unit of land. Based on the model, quality of life of the unemployed in West German counties is estimated. -- |
| Keywords: | quality of life,unemployment,matching,mobility |
| JEL: | R12 R13 R14 H22 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwqwdp:012012&r=ure |
| By: | Arntz, Melanie; Gregory, Terry; Lehmer, Florian |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the determinants of gross labour flows in a context where modeling the migration decision as a wage-maximizing process may be inadequate due to regional wage rigidities that result from central wage bargaining. In such a context, the framework that has been developed by Borjas et al. (1992) on the selectivity of internal migrants with respect to skills has to be extended to allow migrants to move to regions that best reward their skills in terms of both wages and employment. The extended framework predicts skilled workers to be disproportionately attracted to regions with higher mean wages and employment rates as well as higher regional wage and employment inequalities. Estimates from a labour flow fixed effects model and a GMM estimator show that these predictions hold, but only the effects for mean employment rates and employment inequality are robust and significant. The paper may thus be able to explain why earlier attempts to explain skill selectivity in Europe within a pure wage-based approach failed to replicate the US results. -- |
| Keywords: | gross migration,selectivity,wage inequality,employment inequality |
| JEL: | R23 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:11074&r=ure |
| By: | Franta, Michal (Czech National Bank); Guzi, Martin (IZA) |
| Abstract: | We explore a potential source of human capital spatial disparities: the unequal access to tertiary education caused by the absence/presence of a local university. Because the entrance to a university is a sequential process in the Czech Republic we model both a student's decision to apply to a university and the admission process. Two possible sources of unequal access to university are distinguished: cost savings and informational advantages for those residing close to a university. Estimation results suggest that the presence of a university per se is not driving student's decision to apply. Further we find that information advantage due to university proximity plays a significant role in the admission process. However this advantage is specific to the field of study, and becomes stronger in the case of highly oversubscribed study fields. To equalize the chance of admission, policy makers should consider geographical expansion of the system of universities accompanied by the expansion of university programs. |
| Keywords: | human capital, spatial distribution, access to tertiary education |
| JEL: | I20 I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6285&r=ure |
| By: | Catherine Durose; Jonathan France; Ruth Lupton; Liz Richardson |
| Abstract: | Under the New Labour government, the neighbourhood emerged prominently as a site for policy interventions and as a space for civic activity, resulting in the widespread establishment of neighbourhood-level structures for decision-making and service delivery. The future existence and utility of these arrangements is now unclear under the Coalition government's Big Society proposals and fiscal austerity measures. On the one hand, sub-local governance structures might be seen as promoting central-to-local and local-to-community devolution of decision-making. On the other, they might be seen as layers of expensive bureaucracy standing in the way of bottom-up community action. Arguably the current value and future role of these structures in facilitating the Big Society will depend on how they are constituted and with what purpose. There are many local variations. In this paper we look at three case studies, in England, France and the Netherlands, to learn how different approaches to neighbourhood working have facilitated and constrained civic participation and action. Drawing on the work of Lowndes and Sullivan (2008) we show how the achievement of civic objectives can be hampered in structures set up primarily to achieve social, economic and political goals, partly because of (remediable) flaws in civic engagement but partly because of the inherent tensions between these objectives in relation to issues of spatial scale and the constitution and function of neighbourhood structures. The purpose of neighbourhood structures needs to be clearly thought through. We also note a distinction between 'invited' and 'popular' spaces for citizen involvement, the latter being created by citizens themselves. 'Invited' spaces have tended to dominate to date, and the Coalition's agenda suggests a fundamental shift to 'popular' spaces. However we conclude that the Big Society will require neighbourhood working to be both invited and popular. Citizen participation cannot always replace local government - sometimes it requires its support and stimulation. The challenge for local authorities is to reconstitute 'invited' spaces (not to abolish them) and at the same time to facilitate 'popular' spaces for neighbourhood working. |
| Keywords: | Big Society, local government, neighbourhood, neighbourhood management, community |
| JEL: | H70 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sticas:case154&r=ure |
| By: | Sebastian Klüsener (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Brienna Perelli-Harris (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Nora Elisa Sanchez Gassen (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the role of states and regions in shaping spatial patterns of non-marital fertility in Europe since 1960 using a dataset of 497 European subnational regions and smaller countries. Almost all regions registered substantial nonmarital fertility increases over the last 50 years. Prior research by Watkins (1991) has shown that in the first half of the 20th century states played a dominant role in drawing the demographic map of Europe. As a result, subnational regional variation decreased, while differences between countries increased. In this paper, we investigate whether states continue to play such a dominant role in delineating patterns of nonmarital fertility between 1960 and 2007. We find that variation in nonmarital fertility levels increased as a whole across Europe, and states continued to be important for determining these patterns. However, the role of states relative to regions declined in the latest period examined (1990 and 2007). Possible explanations for the changes include increased supranational integration, for example within the European Union, and decentralisation within states leading to increases in variation in subnational contextual conditions. |
| Keywords: | Europe, fertility, geography, nuptiality, spatial analysis |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2012-005&r=ure |
| By: | Riccardo Crescenzi (London School of Economics); Andrés Rodríguez-Pose (IMDEA Social Sciences) |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses recent developments in the literature on local and regional innovative performance in order to show how an 'integrated' conceptual framework based on the cross-fertilisation of different theories can serve as a foundation for the comparative analysis of territorial innovation dynamics in both developed and developing countries. The paper outlines a conceptual framework to explain the differences between innovation systems and their geography by drawing on elements of endogenous growth, new economic geography and regional innovation systems. This framework forms the basis of the subsequent analysis of the differences in innovative capacity between the European Union, the Unites States – as the leader system to be challenged – and China and India as emerging competitors for international technological leadership. The systematic analysis of a large body of empirical literature shows important differences between the spatial patterning of 'emerging' (China and India) and 'mature' (EU and US) innovation systems. |
| Keywords: | innovation systems; geography; endogenous growth; new economic geography; Europe; United States; China; India |
| Date: | 2012–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imd:wpaper:wp2012-02&r=ure |
| By: | Pedro Valadas Monteiro (Directorate of Agriculture and Fisheries for Algarve region and Research Centre for Spatial and Organizational Dynamics, University of Algarve); Teresa de Noronha (Faculty of Economics and Research Centre for Spatial and Organizational Dynamics, University of Algarve); Paulo Neto (Economics Department and Center for Advanced Studies in Management and Economics, University of Évora) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of the current paper is to provide a critical state-of-the-art review of current research on clusters and its correlation to innovation dynamics in small and medium-sized regions. In particular, we focus on the systematization of the main concepts and theoretical insights that are tributary to the cluster overview in terms of its relevance for the sustainability of the innovation processes, knowledge production and diffusion, which take place inside small and medium-sized regions. The present working paper takes into account the initial studies on English industrial districts (in the nineteenth century), passing through the Italian industrial districts (in the 70s and 80s of the twentieth century), until the modern theories of business clusters and innovation systems. These frameworks constitute the basis of an approach to endogenous development, which gives a central role to the interaction between economic actors, the society and the institutions and to the identification, mobilization and combination of potential resources within a particular geographical area. |
| Keywords: | Cluster; Innovation; Endogenous development; Territory. |
| JEL: | E23 D23 R12 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cfe:wpcefa:2011_24&r=ure |
| By: | Julia Beckhusen (U.S. Census Bureau); Raymond J.G.M. Florax (Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, Department of Spatial Economics, VU University and Tinbergen Institute.); Thomas de Graaff (Department of Spatial Economics, VU University Amsterdam); Jacques Poot (National Institute of Demographic and Economic Analysis, University of Waikato); Brigitte Waldorf (Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University) |
| Abstract: | Learning English is a potentially profitable investment for immigrants in the U.S.: while there are initial costs, the subsequent benefits include the ability to communicate with the majority of the population, potentially leading to better paying jobs and economic success in the new country. These payoffs are lessened if immigrants choose to live and work in ethnic enclaves where the necessity to communicate in English is weak. Ethnic enclaves are widespread and persistent in the U.S. This study uses data from the 2010 American Community Survey to examine the impact of residential and occupational segregation on immigrants’ ability to speak English. We allow for heterogeneity in the relationship between segregation and English language proficiency across ethnic groups and focus specifically on Mexican and Chinese immigrants. Our results show that immigrants in the U.S. who live and work among high concentrations of their countrymen are less likely to be proficient in English than those who are less residentially and occupationally segregated. The magnitude of the effect of segregation on language proficiency varies across immigrants’ birthplaces and other salient characteristics defining the immigration context. |
| Keywords: | U.S. immigration, language acquisition, ethnic enclaves, residential segregation, occupational segregation. |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J24 R23 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1203&r=ure |
| By: | Jason Allen; Robert Clark; Jean-François Houde |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of bank consolidation on mortgage rates in order to evaluate the extent to which mortgage markets are competitive. Mortgage markets are decentralized and so rates are determined through a search and negotiation process. The primary effect of a merger therefore is to reduce the number of partners available with whom to negotiate, although it can also change the characteristics of the product, and impact the search effort of consumers. Using a Canadian merger as a case study, we find that, overall, consolidation had little effect on rates suggesting that, on average, the mortgage market is fairly competitive. However, a decomposition of the aggregate treatment effect reveals important heterogeneity in the impact of the merger. We find that consumers gathering multiple quotes are affected by the merger, while those who do not search are not. These results suggest that market power originates in large part from the presence of asymmetric search costs. |
| Keywords: | Financial institutions; Financial services; Interest rates |
| JEL: | L1 G2 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bca:bocawp:12-4&r=ure |
| By: | Brida, Juan Gabriel; Del Chiappa, Giacomo; Meleddu, Marta; Pulina, Manuela |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates residents' preferences towards cruise tourism investment in their home port. The research uses data collected during the peak cruise season in 2011 at Messina, a port of call in Sicily, Italy. A generalized ordered logit analysis is run to analyse what factors influence the residents' preferences towards investment in cruise tourism. Positive and negative externalities produced by this economic activity, as well as socio-demographic and economic determinants are taken into account. Overall, the resource investment choice of residents in Messina was dependent upon: their income dependency on the cruise activity, their own personal cruise experience, family size, the expected increase in welfare (i.e. increase in public and private investment), whether they are affected by urban and rural gentrification and the value placed on community life style and heritage conservation. Nevertheless, residents would tend to decrease investments in cruise activity if they are female, retired or perceive the environment to be deteriorating. Implications for policy makers are drawn from the empirical findings. -- |
| Keywords: | Cruise port of call,positive and negative externalities,residents' support,generalized ordered logit |
| JEL: | C25 D62 L83 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:20125&r=ure |
| By: | Robert; Claudia Klaerding |
| Abstract: | Economic geographers have recently been confronted with attempts to constitute a new paradigm of evolutionary economic geography. The paper aims at advancing theoretical economic geography by reviewing its core critique and proposed solutions, particularly that of integrating the perspective of a geographical political economy. Although we sympathize with the identified shortcomings of an evolutionary economic geography we criticise the alternative approach for being too narrow and reductionist. In contrast, a relational economic perspective is argued to theorize the core weaknesses of EEG, namely power, social agency and particularly the interrelatedness of influences on different scales, more comprehensively. By combining evolutionary and relational approaches in certain respects we, furthermore, plead for an advancement of theoretical economic geography by engaged pluralism. |
| Keywords: | Evolutionary economic geography, sympathetic critique, relational perspective, engaged pluralism |
| JEL: | R11 N94 O14 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1202&r=ure |
| By: | E Miller; T Sahama; P Grace; Clevo Wilson (QUT); M Hefferan |
| Abstract: | Despite playing an extremely important role in shaping communities, the role and contribution of planners is not widely understood or acknowledged. At the same time, there is a shortage of planners in Australia, especially in non-urban areas. Thus, though an online survey of 185 rural and regional planners, this research explores their motivations, expectations and experiences. Most enjoyed and felt confident in their role, explaining that they valued the relaxed family orientated rural lifestyle and the varied nature of the planning work. Although they sometimes felt isolated, the non-urban location provided quicker progression to senior roles, the ability to engage directly with the community and to see the consequences of their decisions. Only half felt their education had prepared them well for their role, citing gaps in terms of computerised modelling, team leadership and conflict resolution skills. Their feedback centred on providing a more practical course, focussing more on regional planning, and encouraging urban and rural experience placements. As the first study to quantifiably explore rural and regional Australian planners perceptions of their role and challenges, the findings illustrate current experiences, key planning challenges, perceived educational gaps and future priorities. |
| Keywords: | Rural and regional planners; expectations; experiences; Australia |
| Date: | 2011–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qut:dpaper:276&r=ure |
| By: | Criscuolo, Chiara (OECD); Martin, Ralf (Imperial College London); Overman, Henry (London School of Economics); Van Reenen, John (CEP, London School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Business support policies designed to raise productivity and employment are common worldwide, but rigorous micro-econometric evaluation of their causal effects is rare. We exploit multiple changes in the area-specific eligibility criteria for a major program to support manufacturing jobs ("Regional Selective Assistance"). Area eligibility is governed by pan-European state aid rules which change every seven years and we use these rule changes to construct instrumental variables for program participation. We match two decades of UK panel data on the population of firms to all program participants. IV estimates find positive program treatment effect on employment, investment and net entry but not on TFP. OLS underestimates program effects because the policy targets underperforming plants and areas. The treatment effect is confined to smaller firms with no effect for larger firms (e.g. over 150 employees). We also find the policy raises area level manufacturing employment mainly through significantly reducing unemployment. The positive program effect is not due to substitution between plants in the same area or between eligible and ineligible areas nearby. We estimate that "cost per job" of the program was only $6,300 suggesting that in some respects investment subsidies can be cost effective. |
| Keywords: | industrial policy, regional policy, employment, investment, productivity |
| JEL: | H25 L52 L53 O47 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6323&r=ure |
| By: | Lucia Corno (University College London and Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM)) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the influence of peers on criminal behavior, using original data I collected by interviewing homeless people in Milan. Information on friends’ names was elicited, which allows to map each respondent’s network. Each individual was also asked to report his criminal status prior to becoming homeless. To estimate the causal effects of network size and of the share of criminal friends on (subsequent) criminal behavior, I rely on two instruments. The first is the share of rainy days since the individual has become homeless: rainfall fosters concentration of homeless individuals in sheltered places and increases the probability of meetings. The second instrument is the fraction of inmates released by Milan’s authorities during one’s period as homeless, which affects the supply of criminal potential friends. I find that the probability of arrest decreases by 16 percentage points with the network size, but it increases by 20 percentage points with the share of criminal friends in the group. |
| Keywords: | Peer effects, crime, homeless. |
| JEL: | J0 K42 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1204&r=ure |
| By: | Bezemer, Dirk J; Grydaki, Maria |
| Abstract: | Financial innovation during the Great Moderation increased the size and scope of credit flows in the US. Credit flows increased both in volume and with regard to the range of activities and investments that was debt-financed. This may have contributed to the reduction in output volatility that was the Great Moderation. We hypothesize that during the Great Moderation (i) growth in mortgage finance partly decoupled from fundamentals as measured by overall output growth and (ii) this allowed mortgages less to finance residential investment and more to finance spending on other GDP components. We document that the start of the Moderation coincided with a surge in bank credit creation (especially mortgage credit), a rise in property income, a rise in the consumption share of GDP, and a change in correlation (from positive to negative) between consumption and non-consumption GDP components (investment, export and government expenditure). In a multivariate GARCH framework, we observe unidirectional causality in variance from total output to mortgage lending before the Great Moderation, which is no longer detectable during the Great Moderation. We also find that bidirectional causality in variance of home mortgage lending and residential investment existed before, but not during the Great Moderation. Both these findings are consistent with a role for credit dynamics in explaining the Great Moderation. |
| Keywords: | great moderation; mortgage credit; multivariate GARCH; causality |
| JEL: | C51 C32 C52 E44 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:36356&r=ure |
| By: | Maria A. Cunha-e-Sa; Sofia F. Franco; Renato Rosa |
| Abstract: | This paper has developed a model of a single forest owner operating with perfect foresight in a dynamic open-city environment that allows for switching between alternative competing land uses (forest and urban use) at some point in the future. The model also incorporates external values of an even-aged standing forest in addition to the value of timber when it is harvested. Timber is exploited based on a multiple rotation model a la Faustmann with clear-cut harvesting. In contrast to previous models, our alternative land use to forest land is endogenous. Within this framework, we study the problem of the private owner as well as that of the social planner, when choosing the time to harvest, the time to convert land and the intensity of development. We also examine the extent to which the two-way linkage between urban development and forest management practices (timber production and provision of forest amenities) contributes to economic efficiency and improvements in non-market forest benefits. Finally, we consider policy options available to a regulator seeking to achieve improvements in efficiency including anti-sprawl policies (impact fees and density controls) and forest policies such a yield tax. Numerical simulations illustrate our analytical results. JEL codes: |
| Keywords: | Deforestation, Urban Development, Forest Management Practices, Anti-Sprawl Policies, Yield Taxes |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unl:unlfep:wp559&r=ure |
| By: | David Card (University of California-Berkeley); Christian Dustmann (University College London); Ian Preston (University College London) |
| Abstract: | There is strong public opposition to increased immigration throughout Europe. Given the modest economic impacts of immigration estimated in most studies, the depth of antiimmigrant sentiment is puzzling. Immigration, however, does not just affect wages and taxes. It also changes the composition of the local population, threatening the "compositional amenities" that natives derive from their neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces. In this paper we use a simple latent factor model, combined with data for 21 countries from the 2002 European Social Survey (ESS), to measure the relative importance of economic and compositional concerns in driving opinions about immigration policy. The ESS included a unique battery of questions on the labor market and social impacts of immigration, as well as on the desirability of increasing or reducing immigrant inflows. We find that compositional concerns are 2-5 times more important in explaining variation in individual attitudes toward immigration policy than concerns over wages and taxes. Likewise, most of the difference in opinion between more- and lesseducated respondents is attributable to heightened compositional concerns among people with lower education. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Economic Effects, Attitudes |
| JEL: | F22 J01 I31 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nor:wpaper:2012013&r=ure |
| By: | João Pereira (University of Évora, Department of Economics and CEFAGEUE); Aurora Galego (University of Évora, Department of Economics and CEFAGEUE) |
| Abstract: | TTypically, studies on regional wage differentials are based on OLS estimates and use Blinder (1973) and Oaxaca (1973) decomposition. Quantile regression is an alternative approach which allows for studying these differences across the whole wage distribution. In this study, the quantile regression framework is considered for the analysis of regional wage differences in Portugal. Our findings reveal significant differences in wage equations coefficients between regions for the various quantiles. Furthermore, we conclude that the regional wage differentials and the components explained by differences in endowments and differences in returns increase across the whole wage distribution. |
| Keywords: | Regions; Wage differentials; Quantile regression; Quantile-based decompositions. |
| JEL: | J31 J38 C21 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cfe:wpcefa:2011_25&r=ure |
| By: | Selcuk, Cemil |
| Abstract: | We develop an equilibrium search model of the housing market where sellers may become distressed as they are unable to sell. A unique steady state equilibrium exists where distressed sellers attempt fire sales by accepting prices that are substantially below fundamental values. During periods where a large number of sellers are forced to liquidate customers exhibit predation: they hold off purchasing and strategically slow down the speed of trade, which in turn causes more sellers to become distressed. From sellers' point of view liquidity disappears when it is needed the most. The model naturally suggests several proxies of liquidity. Interestingly, the expected time on the market, one of the most frequently used statistics in the literature, does a poor job within the context of fire sales and predation. |
| Keywords: | housing; random search; fire sales; predation; liquidity |
| JEL: | D39 D83 D49 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:36226&r=ure |
| By: | Elena Gennari (Bank of Italy); Giovanna Messina (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | An extensive literature analyses the impact of upper-tier transfers on the spending behaviour of lower level governments. According to the median voter framework, a transfer from the centre should act as a lump sum grant to residents and thus be spent by jurisdictions in the same proportion as residents are willing to spend their own money on public goods and services. But the actual local expenditure response to central government transfers is stronger than predicted by the theory, giving rise to the “flypaper effect”. Using the database on municipal accounts, and various other information sources, this work aims at assessing the size of the effect for Italian municipalities and the symmetry in the local expenditure response to central government transfers. Our dataset enables us also to investigate the role of some political factors. We find a sizeable effect and a remarkable asymmetric response of municipal expenditures to central government transfers as well as a significant role for political variables. |
| Keywords: | flypaper effect, intergovernmental transfers, fiscal federalism |
| JEL: | D72 H30 H72 H77 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_844_12&r=ure |