|
on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | MOSSAY, Pascal (Department of Economics, University of Reading, UK; Université catholique de Louvain, CORE, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium); PICARD, Pierre M. (CREA, Université du Luxembourg; Université catholique de Louvain, CORE, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we study social interactions between two populations of individuals living in a city. Agents consume land and benefit from intra- and inter-group social interactions. We show that in equilibrium segregation arises: populations get separated in distinct spatial neighborhoods. Two- and three-district urban structures are characterized. For high population ratios or strong inter-group interactions, only a three-district city exists. In other cases, multiplicity of equilibria arises. Moreover, for sufficiently low population ratios or very weak inter-group interactions, all individuals agree on which spatial equilibrium is best. |
| Keywords: | social interaction, segregation, multiple centers, urban districts |
| JEL: | R12 R14 R31 |
| Date: | 2013–05–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cor:louvco:2013019&r=ure |
| By: | Rebecca A. London; Sebastian Castrechini; Katie Stokes-Guinan; Lisa Westrich; Martha Bleeker; Susanne James-Burdumy |
| Keywords: | Playworks, Schools, U.S. Cities, Education |
| JEL: | I |
| Date: | 2013–05–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:7780&r=ure |
| By: | Francisco Gallego |
| Abstract: | I investigate the effects of voucher-school competition on educational outcomes. I test whether voucher-school competition 1) improves student outcomes and 2) has stronger effects when public schools face a hard budget constraint. Since both voucher school competition and the degree of hardness of the budget constraint for public schools are endogenous to public school quality, I exploit (i) the interaction of the number of Catholic priests in 1950 and the institution of the voucher system in Chile in 1981 as a potentially exogenous determinant of the supply of voucher schools and (ii) a particular feature of the electoral system that affects the identity of the mayors of different counties (who manage public schools) as a source of exogenous variation in the degree of hardness of the public schools budget constraints. Using this information, I fnd that: 1) an increase of one standard deviation of the ratio of voucher-to-public schools increases tests scores by just around 0.10 standard deviations; and 2) the effects are significantly bigger for public schools facing more binding minimum enrollment levels. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ioe:doctra:429&r=ure |
| By: | Kyriakopoulou, Efthymia (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Xepapadeas, Anastasios (Dept of International and European Economic Studies, Athens University of Economics and Business) |
| Abstract: | Environmental conditions and pollution levels have been proven to affect firms' and households’location decisions in various ways. In this paper, we study the optimal and equilibrium distribution of industrial and residential land in a given region. Industries produce a single good using land and labor and generate emissions of a pollutant, and households consume goods and residential land and dislike pollution. The trade-off between the agglomeration and dispersion forces, in the form of industrial pollution, environmental policy, production externalities, and commuting costs, determines the emergence of industrial and residential clusters across space. We also show that the joint implementation of a site-specific environmental tax and a site-specific labor subsidy can reproduce the optimum as an equilibrium outcome.<p> |
| Keywords: | Agglomeration; land use; spatial policies; pollution; environmental tax; labor subsidy |
| JEL: | H23 R14 R38 |
| Date: | 2013–05–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0566&r=ure |
| By: | Galit Cohen-Blankenstain (Harvard University); Peter Nijkamp (Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam); Kees van Montfort (Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | This paper offers both a conceptual and an operationalmodel that aims to map out the causes and implicationsof ICT perceptions and views of urban policy makersand/or administrative officials (denoted as urban frontliners). This is followed by the presentation of an opera-tional path model, viz. a linear structural equations model(Lisrel). The model serves to describe and test the rela-tionships between perceptions of the city, policy makers'beliefs about ICT and the associated urban ICT policy.According to the model, respondents that perceive theircity as having many urban functions (e.g., commercialcentre, service centre, higher education centre) have moreawareness to various ICT tools and are likely to consider amultiplicity of ICT measures as relevant to their city. Re-spondents that consider their city as having severe bottle-necks (e.g., traffic congestion, housing shortage) are lesslikely to think of ICT measures and ICT -related goals asrelevant to their city, nor that the municipality impactssignificantly on ICT in the city. Furthermore, respondentsthat perceive their city as suffering from many socio-economic problems (unemployment, ageing population,industrial decline and so on), are likely to consider manyICT tools as relevant to their city, although they have a lowawareness of the specific tools to be deployed. Finally,respondents who believe that ICT will affect significantly(and positively) the city and its administration, tend to at-tach a high municipal influence on ICT, and consider manyICT initiatives as relevant to their city. |
| Keywords: | ICT; perceptions; Lisrel model; urban decisionmakers |
| JEL: | R00 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:2003023&r=ure |
| By: | Goodness C. Aye (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria); Mehmet Balcilar (Department of Economics, Eastern Mediterranean University, Famagusta, North Cyprus,via Mersin 10, Turkey); Adel Bosch (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria); Rangan Gupta (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the housing-output growth nexus in South Africa by accounting for the time variation in the causal link with a bootstrapped rolling Granger non-causality test. We use quarterly data on real gross domestic product, real house prices, real gross fixed capital formation and number of building plans passed. Our data span 1971Q2-2012Q2. Using full sample bootstrap Granger causality tests, we find a uni-directional causality from output to number of building plans passed; a uni-directional causality from real house price to output and a bi-directional causal link between residential investment and output. However, using parameter stability tests, we show that estimated VARs are unstable, thus full-sample Granger causality inference may be invalid. Hence, we use a bootstrap rolling window estimation to evaluate Granger causality between the housing variables and the growth rate. In general, we find that the causality from housing to output and, vice versa, differ across different sample periods due to structural changes. Specifically speaking, house price is found to have the strongest causal relationship with output compared to residential investment and number of building plans passed, with real house price showing predictive ability in all but one downward phase of the business cycle during this period. |
| Keywords: | House price, residential investment, number of building plans, GDP, bootstrap, time varying causality |
| JEL: | C32 E32 R31 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pre:wpaper:201323&r=ure |
| By: | Goensch, Iris |
| Abstract: | When parents in Senegal decide upon primary school enrollment of their children, they might consider future returns to education. These future benefits in turn heavily depend on a child's prospects to attend secondary school. If private returns to primary schooling are very low and secondary schooling is costly but yields higher returns, the incentive to send children to primary school might be low for poor families. Based on a new household survey from urban and rural northern Senegal, this paper reassesses the puzzling results of Filmer (2007) according to which the availability of secondary schools does not affect primary school participation in Senegal. The empirical results confirm that secondary school availability does not play a role for the average child. Distance to the next secondary school matters only for the two highest wealth quintiles. Instead, the availability of primary schools and household wealth are important determinants of primary school enrollment. To shed further light on this surprising result, the paper discusses various reasons why the distance to the nearest secondary school might not be a very good proxy of a child's prospect of secondary school attendance. -- |
| Keywords: | development,education,enrollment rates,logistic regression,West Africa |
| JEL: | C25 I21 O15 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zeudps:63&r=ure |
| By: | Debra Lipson; Denise Hoffman; Matthew Kehn |
| Keywords: | Non-Elderly Disabled, NED, Housing Choice Voucher Program, Disability |
| JEL: | I J |
| Date: | 2013–03–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:7771&r=ure |
| By: | Philip Arestis; Ana Rosa Gonzalez |
| Abstract: | Recent episodes of housing bubbles, which occurred in several economies after the burst of the United States housing market, suggest studying the evolution of housing prices from a global perspective. We utilize a theoretical model for the purposes of this contribution, which identifies the main drivers of housing price appreciation—for example, income, residential investment, financial elements, fiscal policy, and demographics. In the second stage of our analysis, we test our theoretical hypothesis by means of a sample of 18 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries from 1970 to 2011. We employ the vector error correction econometric technique in terms of our empirical analysis. This allows us to model the long-run equilibrium relationship and the short-run dynamics, which also helps to account for endogeneity and reverse-causality problems. |
| Keywords: | Empirical Modeling; Housing Market; Vector Error Correction Modeling; OECD Countries |
| JEL: | C22 R31 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_764&r=ure |
| By: | David SAHN; Catalina HERRERA |
| Abstract: | We analyze the socio-economic determinants of youth decision to internally migrate in Senegal. Young people undertake mostly rural-to-rural and urban-to-urban migrations and over half of them are temporary migrants. Using multinomial logit models, we estimate the role of household and community characteristics during childhood in later youth migration decisions. We find that these determinants are heterogeneous by gender and destination. The higher the fathers' education the more (less) likely are their daughters to move to urban (rural) areas. Young individuals, who spend their childhood in better off households, are more likely to move to urban areas. Also, the presence of younger siblings increases the propensity of moving to rural areas. Access to primary schools during childhood decreases the likelihood of migrating to urban areas for both men and women. |
| Keywords: | Internal migration, senegal, youth, multinomial logit |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdi:wpaper:1433&r=ure |
| By: | David G. Blanchflower; Andrew J. Oswald |
| Abstract: | We explore the hypothesis that high home-ownership damages the labor market. Our results are relevant to, and may be worrying for, a range of policy-makers and researchers. We find that rises in the home- ownership rate in a U.S. state are a precursor to eventual sharp rises in unemployment in that state. The elasticity exceeds unity: a doubling of the rate of home-ownership in a U.S. state is followed in the long-run by more than a doubling of the later unemployment rate. What mechanism might explain this? We show that rises in home-ownership lead to three problems: (i) lower levels of labor mobility, (ii) greater commuting times, and (iii) fewer new businesses. Our argument is not that owners themselves are disproportionately unemployed. The evidence suggests, instead, that the housing market can produce negative ‘externalities’ upon the labor market. The time lags are long. That gradualness may explain why these important patterns are so little-known. |
| JEL: | J01 J6 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19079&r=ure |
| By: | Torben Klarl (University of Augsburg, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Bootstrapping methods have so far been rarely used to evaluate spatial data sets. Based on an extensive Monte Carlo study we find that also for spatial, cross-sectional data, the wild bootstrap test proposed by Davidson and Flachaire (2008) based on restricted residuals clearly outperforms asymptotic as well as competing bootstrap tests, like the pairs bootstrap. |
| Keywords: | Spatial econometrics, Paired bootstrap, Wild bootstrap, Parameter inference |
| JEL: | C18 C21 R11 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aug:augsbe:0322&r=ure |
| By: | Olivier Filatriau (CREST); Denis Fougère (CREST and CNRS); Maxime To (CREST and Sciences Po) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we measure the effect of entering preelementary school at age 2 rather than 3 in France. Our identification strategy relies on ratios between the number of young children and the capacity of preelementary schools observed at the very local level. This information allows us to solve the endogeneity issue due to the potential correlation between unobserved determinants of early enrollment decision and children achievement. We measure this effect on schooling achievement in primary and lower secondary schools. We show that early enrollment in preelementary school improves cognitive and noncognitive skills at age six, and both literacy and numeracy from the third to the ninth grades. |
| Keywords: | Schooling decision, Preschool, Human capital, Cognitive and noncognitive skills |
| JEL: | I21 J13 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crs:wpaper:2013-10&r=ure |
| By: | Marasteanu, I. Julia; Jaenicke, Edward C. |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper to provide added insight into clustering as it pertains to the United States organic sector. I identify clusters of United States certified organic operations by showing how a formal definition of spatial clusters can emerge from an estimated model that accounts for spatial dependency. I also analyze how county-level variables impact the distribution of certified organic operations while controlling for spatial autocorrelation. My results indicate that the spatial distribution of certified organic operations displays statistically significant spatial autocorrelation as well as spatial heterogeneity. The results also indicate that county-level factors related to policy, economics, demographics, and land assets impact the distribution of certified organic operations. As research on firm and industry agglomeration, in general, typically finds that clustering benefits economic development, the results of this paper provide motivation for further research on the formation and impact of clustering in the U.S. organic sector. |
| Keywords: | Organic Agriculture, Industry Agglomeration, Agribusiness, Spatial Econometrics, Agricultural Commodity Markets, Production Economics, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Crop Production/Industries, Industrial Organization, |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149551&r=ure |
| By: | Jane Fortson; Susanne James-Burdumy; Martha Bleeker; Nicholas Beyler; Rebecca A. London; Lisa Westrich; Katie Stokes-Guinan; Sebastian Castrechini |
| Keywords: | Playworks, School Climate, Academic Learning, Student Social Skills and Behavior |
| Date: | 2013–03–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:7779&r=ure |
| By: | Semih Tumen; Tugba Zeydanli |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the link between job satisfaction and home ownership. We explicitly focus on the effect of a transition from non-ownership to ownership on the self-reported job satisfaction scores. In other words, we concentrate on the change in job satisfaction response for individuals observed right before and after the transition. Utilizing the panel feature of the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), we find that transition to ownership reduces job satisfaction within a year following the purchase|controlling for observed variation and unobserved heterogeneity. The reduction in job satisfaction is sharper when the purchase is financed through a mortgage. We also test if this pattern persists over years. We show that the initial reduction in job satisfaction is more than doubled within three years after the transition for both categories of ownership. We conclude that home ownership may be a constraint for the career prospects of the employed workers, since it reduces mobility and forces them to become more dependent on the local labor market conditions. These concerns are deeper in case of a debt-financed ownership. |
| Keywords: | Home ownership ; job satisfaction ; BHPS ; panel data ; fixed effects |
| JEL: | J28 R21 C23 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcb:wpaper:1322&r=ure |
| By: | Peter Z. Schochet; Hanley S. Chiang |
| Abstract: | This article addresses likely error rates for measuring teacher and school performance in the upper elementary grades using value-added models applied to student test score gain data. Using formulas based on ordinary least squares and empirical Bayes estimators, error rates for comparing a teacher’s performance to the average are likely to be about 25 percent with three years of data and 35 percent with one year of data. Corresponding error rates for overall false positive and negative errors are 10 percent and 20 percent, respectively. The results suggest that policymakers must carefully consider likely system error rates when using value-added estimates to make high-stakes decisions regarding educators. |
| Keywords: | Value-Added Models, Performance Measurement Systems, Student Learning Gains, False Positive and Negative Error Rates |
| JEL: | I |
| Date: | 2013–04–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:7762&r=ure |
| By: | Toole, Andrew; Low, Sarah |
| Keywords: | patent, regional development, inventors, Community/Rural/Urban Development, R11, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149013&r=ure |
| By: | Frédéric LESNE (TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL) |
| Abstract: | The role of school fees in achieving both allocative and productive efficiency in the delivery of primary education has been a subject of intense debate. Building on a simple model that makes explicit the role of school fees in determining the optimal level of parental participation to school governance, this paper contributes to the debate by evaluating empirically the relationship between fees, participation and the accountability framework in public primary schools in Madagascar. The results show evidence that schools requiring parents to pay more fees experience a higher degree of parental participation. While results are consistent with the theoretical model, the empirical analysis provides evidence that school fees increase participation beyond their effect on the power relationship between the community and the school authorities. The model hypothesis that school fees modify the accountability framework, which leads to more productive participation efforts, is challenged by alternative explanations. One of them is that participation aims not to increase education quality but rather to decrease the amount of fees requested by the school. |
| Keywords: | education, school governance, accountability, school fees |
| JEL: | I21 D71 H31 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdi:wpaper:1434&r=ure |
| By: | André DE PALMA (Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan); Moez KILANI (Université Charles de Gaulle - Lille, EQUIPPE); Michel DE LARA (Université de Paris-Est, CERMICS); Serge PIPERNO (Université de Paris-Est, CERMICS) |
| Abstract: | We propose a method to compute an equilibrium solution for the monocentric city model with traffic congestion, and to quantify the impact of cordon tolls on social surplus. The focus of this paper is on the comparison of road pricing of one and two cordons, with the no toll and first-best situations as benchmarks. We find that a one-cordon toll yields a social efficiency of 63% with respect to first-best, and that an optimal two-cordon toll increases the efficiency to 73%. Both policies have a positive impact on CO2 emissions because they reduce the average length of trips and reduce the road size. |
| Keywords: | monocentric model, cordon toll, acceptability of road pricing |
| JEL: | R21 R41 R48 |
| Date: | 2011–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvre:2011027&r=ure |
| By: | Jeanne Lafortune; José Tessada |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the dynamic effect of networks on location and occupation decisions of immigrants to the United States between 1900 and 1930. We compare the distributions of immigrants both by intended and actual state of residence to counterfactual distributions constructed by allocating the national-level flows according to the distribution of previous immigrants and to measures of demand for occupations at the state level. Our results are consistent with migrants using ethnic networks as a transitory mechanism while they learn about their new labor markets and not with other hypotheses that do not account for the dynamic patterns we document. |
| JEL: | F22 J61 N31 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ioe:doctra:427&r=ure |
| By: | Kristoffersen, Jannie H. G. (Aarhus University); Smith, Nina (Aarhus University) |
| Abstract: | Behavioral problems are important determinants of school outcomes and later success in the labor market. We analyze whether behavioral problems affect girls and boys differently with respect to school outcomes. The study is based on teacher and parent evaluations of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) of about 6,000 children born in 1990-92 in a large region in Denmark. The sample is merged with register information on parents and students observed until the age of 19. We find significant and large negative coefficients of the externalizing behavioral indicators. The effects tend to be larger when based on parents' SDQ scores compared to teachers' SDQ scores. According to our estimations, the school outcomes for girls with abnormal externalizing behavior are not significantly different from those of boys with the same behavioral problems. A decomposition of the estimates indicates that most of the gender differences in Reading and Math cannot be related to gender differences in behavioral problems. The large overall gender gap in Reading seems mainly to be the result of gender differences between children without behavioral problems living in 'normal families', i.e. families which are not categorized as low-resource families. |
| Keywords: | gender differences, education, behavior |
| JEL: | J16 I29 I19 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7410&r=ure |
| By: | Alex Fenton |
| Abstract: | This paper considers techniques for measuring the prevalence of income poverty within small areas, or "neighbourhoods", in Britain. The ultimate purpose is applying such statistics to investigating how the micro-spatial distribution of poverty within cities and regions changes over time as a consequence of political decisions and economic events. In the paper, some general criteria for small-area poverty measures are first set out, and two broad methods, poverty proxies and modelled income estimates, are identified. Empirical analyses of the validity and coverage of poverty proxies derived from UK administrative data, such as social security benefit claims, are presented. The concluding section assesses a new poverty proxy that will be used within a wider programme of analysis of the spatial distributional effects of tax and welfare changes and of economic trends in Britain from 2000 to 2014. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between the proxy values and other local poverty measures in different kinds of places. These suggest that the proxy is an adequate, albeit imperfect,tool for investigating changes in intra-urban distributions of poverty. |
| Keywords: | Small-area poverty estimates, small-area estimation, poverty proxies, poor neighbourhoods, deprivation indices |
| JEL: | I32 I38 R23 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sticas:/173&r=ure |
| By: | Peter Arcidiacono; Esteban Aucejo; Andrew Hussey; Kenneth Spenner |
| Abstract: | This paper examines sorting into interracial friendships at selective universities. We show significant friendship segregation, particularly for blacks. Indeed, black friendships are no more diverse in college than in high school despite the colleges blacks attend having substantially smaller black populations. We show that part of the reason for the segregation patterns is large differences in academic background coupled with students being more likely to form friendships with those of similar academic backgrounds. Within a school, stronger academic backgrounds make interracial friendships with blacks less likely and friendships with Asians more likely. These results suggest that affirmative action admission policies at selective universities which drive a wedge between the academic characteristics of different racial groups may result in increased within school segregation. |
| Keywords: | Minorities, college, friendship, race |
| JEL: | K10 J15 I20 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1219&r=ure |
| By: | Georgarakos, Dimitris; Haliassos, Michael; Pasini, Giacomo |
| Abstract: | Debt-induced crises, including the subprime, are usually attributed exclusively to supply-side factors. We examine the role of social influences on debt culture, emanating from perceived average income of peers. Utilizing unique information from a household survey representative of the Dutch population, that circumvents the issue of defining the social circle, we consider collateralized, consumer, and informal loans. We find robust social effects on borrowing, especially among those who consider themselves poorer than their peers; and on indebtedness, suggesting a link to financial distress. We employ a number of approaches to rule out spurious associations and to handle correlated effects. -- |
| Keywords: | Household Finance,Household Debt,Social Interactions,Mortgages,Consumer Credit,Informal Loans |
| JEL: | G11 E21 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cfswop:201205&r=ure |
| By: | Nicholas Beyler; Martha Bleeker; Susanne James-Burdumy; Jane Fortson; Rebecca A. London; Lisa Westrich; Katie Stokes-Guinan; Sebastian Castrechini |
| Keywords: | Playworks, Play, Physical Activity, Recess |
| JEL: | I |
| Date: | 2013–05–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:7781&r=ure |
| By: | Tsangyao Chang (Department of Finance, Feng Chia University, Taichung, Taiwan); Tsung-pao Wu (Department of Finance, Feng Chia University, Taichung, Taiwan); Rangan Gupta (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria) |
| Abstract: | This study applies the Sequential Panel Selection Method (SPSM) to investigate the time-series properties of provincial house prices for entire, large, medium, and small middle-segments of South Africa. Quarterly time-series data were collected from nine provinces in South Africa for different house-size categories over the period of 1978.Q1 to 2012.Q4. Whereas other panel-based unit root tests are joint tests of a unit root for all members of a panel and are incapable of determining the mix of integrated of order zero (I(0)) series and integrated of order one (I(1)) series in a panel setting, the SPSM proposed by Chortareas and Kapetanios (2009) can clearly identify how many and which series in the panel are stationary processes by classifying a whole panel into a group of stationary and non-stationary series. The empirical results from several panel-based, as well as standard pure time-series, unit root tests, indicate that house prices for the nine provinces studied here are either stationary or non-stationary. However, results from the SPSM using the panel-version of the Kapetanios et al. (KSS, 2003) test with a Fourier function unequivocally indicate that house prices are stationary for the 9 provinces under study. Our test results have important economic and policy implications for South Africa. |
| Keywords: | House Prices, Panel KSS Unit Root Test, Sequential Panel Selection Method, Non-Stationary |
| JEL: | C23 R21 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pre:wpaper:201324&r=ure |
| By: | Ivan Savin (DFG Research Training Program "The Economics of Innovative Change", Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the Max Planck Institute of Economics); Abiodun Egbetokun (DFG Research Training Program "The Economics of Innovative Change", Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the Max Planck Institute of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper extends the existing literature on strategic R&D alliances by presenting a model of innovation networks with endogenous absorptive capacity. The networks emerge as a result of bilateral cooperation over time between firms occupying different locations in the knowledge space. Social capital is ignored, and firms ally purely on the basis of knowledge considerations. Partner selection is driven largely by absorptive capacity which is itself influenced by cognitive distance and investment allocation between inventive and absorptive R&D. Cognitive distance between firms changes as a function of the intensity of cooperation and innovation. Within different knowledge regimes, we examine the structure of networks that emerge and how firms perform within such networks. Our model replicates some stylised empirical results on network structure and the contingent effects of network position on innovative performance. We find networks that exhibit small world properties which are generally robust to changes in the knowledge regime. Second, subject to the extent of knowledge spillovers, certain network strategies such as occupying brokerage positions or maximising accessibility to potential partners pay off. Third and most importantly, absorptive capacity plays an important role in network evolution: firms with different network strategies indeed differ in the build-up of absorptive capacity. |
| Keywords: | absorptive capacity, agent-based modeling, cognitive distance, dynam- ics, innovation, knowledge spillovers, networks |
| JEL: | C61 C63 D83 D85 L14 O33 |
| Date: | 2013–05–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2013-022&r=ure |
| By: | Raouf Boucekkine (GREQAM - Aix-Marseille School of Economics); Carmen Camacho (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne); Giorgio Fabbri (EPEE - Université d'Evry-Val-d'Essonne) |
| Abstract: | We study the optimal dynamics of an AK economy where population is uniformly distributed along the unit circle. Locations only differ in initial capital endowments. Spatio-temporal capital dynamics are described by a parabolic partial differential equation. The application of the maximum principle leads to necessary but non-sufficient first-order conditions. Thanks to the linearity of the production technology and the special spatial setting considered, the value-fonction of the problem is found explicitly, and the (unique) optimal control is identified in feedback form. Despite constant returns to capital, we prove that the spatio-temporal dynamics, induced by the willingness of the planner to give the same (detrended) consumption over space and time, lead to convergence in the level of capital across locations in the long-run. |
| Keywords: | Economic growth, spatial dynamics, optimal control, partial-differential equations. |
| JEL: | C60 O11 R11 R12 R13 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:13047&r=ure |
| By: | Wuebker, Robert; Schulze, William; Kräussl, Roman |
| Abstract: | Venture capital (VC) investment has long been conceptualized as a local business, in which the VC's ability to source, syndicate, fund, monitor, and add value to portfolio firms critically depends on their access to knowledge obtained through their ties to the local (i.e., geographically proximate) network. Consistent with the view that local networks matter, existing research confirms that local and geographically distant portfolio firms are sourced, syndicated, funded, and monitored differently. Curiously, emerging research on VC investment practice within the United States finds that distant investments, as measured by exits (either initial public offering or merger & acquisition) out-perform local investments. These findings raise important questions about the assumed benefits of local network membership and proximity. To more deeply probe these questions, we contrast the deal structure of cross-border VC investment with domestic VC investment, and contrast the deal structure of cross-border VC investments that include a local partner with those that do not. Evidence from 139,892 rounds of venture capital financing in the period 1980-2009 suggests that cross-border investment practice, in terms of deal sourcing, syndication, and performance indeed change with proximity, but that monitoring practices do not. Further, we find that the inclusion of a local partner in the investment syndicate yields surprisingly few benefits. This evidence, we argue, raises important questions about VC investment practice as well as the ability of firms to capture and lever the presumed benefits of network membership. -- |
| Keywords: | Venture Capital,Internationalization,Networks |
| JEL: | E20 E65 N14 O52 P52 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cfswop:201215&r=ure |
| By: | Christian Dustmann (Department of Economics, and Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), University College London); Anna Okatenko (Department of Economics, and Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), University College London) |
| Abstract: | Using a simple theoretical model, we show that the level of migration costs relative to wealth determines the form of the relation between income and migration intentions, which can be monotonically decreasing, increasing, or inverse U-shaped. Using unique individual level data, covering three geographic regions—sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America—we show that migration intentions do indeed respond to individual wealth, and that the patterns differ across the country groups studied in a manner compatible with the predictions of our model. Further, contentment with various dimensions of local amenities plays an important role for migration decisions. |
| Keywords: | Migration and Wealth Constraints, Migration Intentions, Local Amenities |
| JEL: | O15 R23 J61 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1313&r=ure |
| By: | Martin Daniel Siyaranamual (Department of Economics, Padjadjaran University) |
| Abstract: | Successful minimisation of the gap between hypothetical and actual be-haviours requires to consider the dimension of individual social interaction in the decision process. While this dimension has been acknowledged to play an important role in the construction of private good preferences, however, in the context of public good, the role of social interaction has not been adequately examined. Therefore, to shed a light on the role of social interaction in shaping preferences toward public good, I conduct a contingent valuation (CV) study in which the respondents are enabled to have social interactions prior their willingness to pay (WTP) elicitation question. And in order to do this, I construct a sampling design where respondents are divided into three different groups, namely treated, untreated, and control groups. The respondents in the treated and untreated groups were allowed to interact/discuss with each other, within and across groups, prior to the WTP elicitation question. I find that treated and untreated respon-dents with social interactions have higher and significant likelihood to purchase the public good relatively to control respondents. While those who did not have interaction have a lower WTP for the improvement of waste management. |
| Keywords: | Social interactions, Contingent valuation, Bandung, Solid waste manage-ment |
| JEL: | Q51 R11 R22 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unp:wpaper:201312&r=ure |
| By: | Margaret Hargreaves; Russell Cole; Brandon Coffee-Borden; Diane Paulsell; Kimberly Boller |
| Abstract: | This article outlines a mixed methods approach to systems change evaluation and offers a case study of how this approach has been used to evaluate the development of system infrastructure supporting the implementation, spread, and sustainability of evidence-based home visiting projects. The approach combined systems concepts (boundaries, relationships, perspectives, ecological levels, and dynamics) and qualitative methods (project site visits, telephone interviews, reviews of project documents, and logic models) with quantitative methods (a web-based partner survey to measure the projects' system properties and contextual dynamics) to assess how these system factors were associated with the projects' infrastructure development. |
| Keywords: | Systems Theory, Mixed Methods, Intervention Research, Evaluation Case Study, Home Visiting |
| JEL: | I |
| Date: | 2013–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:7769&r=ure |
| By: | Abdessalam, A. H. Ould; Kamwa, Eric |
| Abstract: | In this paper, the authors analyze the behavior of local governments on capital taxation when the financial choices in terms of a public good quality are done by a central planner. More specifically, they ask the question whether a local government has an interest to tax the mobile factor in addition to the tax on representative households or not. The authors show, through a comparison of social welfare given the strategies chosen by the locals governments, that whatever the quality of the public good and its cost is, a local government always has an interest to tax the mobile factor. This leads to a Nash-equilibrium in dominant strategy in their model. -- |
| Keywords: | tax competition,public goods,taxation,quality,welfare |
| JEL: | D00 H20 H41 H70 H71 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:201331&r=ure |
| By: | Esteban Aucejo |
| Abstract: | The sizable gender gap in college enrolment, especially among African Americans, constitutes a puzzling empirical regularity that may have serious consequences on marriage markets, male labor force participation and the diversity of college campuses. For instance, only 35.7 percent of all African American undergraduate students were men in 2004. Reduced form results show that, while family background covariates cannot account for the observed gap, proxy measures for non-cognitive skills are crucial to explain it. Moreover, a sequential model of educational attainment indicates that males have actually higher preferences for education than females after controlling for latent factors (i.e. cognitive and non-cognitive skills). The model also shows that cognitive skills strongly affect the decision to move from one school level to the next, especially after finishing high school, but cannot account for disparities between genders. On the contrary, the substantial differences in the distribution of non-cognitive skills between males and females make these abilities critical to explain the gender gap in educational attainment across and within races. |
| Keywords: | Gender Gap, College Enrollment, Non-cognitive Skills, Cognitive Skills, Race |
| JEL: | I2 J15 J16 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1220&r=ure |
| By: | Anja Köbrich León |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp553&r=ure |
| By: | Colombelli Alessandra; Krafft.Jackie; Quatraro Francesco (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | The paper analyzes the effects of the properties of firms’ knowledge base on the survival likelihood of firms. Drawing upon the analysis of the patterns of co-occurrence of technological classes in patent applications, we derive the coherence, variety and cognitive distance indexes, accounting respectively for technological complementarity, differentiation and (dis)similarity in the firms’ patent portfolios. The results of our analysis are in line with the previous literature, showing that innovation enhances the survival likelihood of firms. In addition, we show that the search strategies at work in the development of firms’ knowledge base matter in reducing the likelihood of a failure event. Knowledge coherence and variety appear to be positively related to firms’ survival, while cognitive distance exerts a negative effect. We conclude that firms able to exploit the accumulated technological competences have more chances to be successful in competing durably in the market arena, and derive some policy implications concerning the role of public intervention in the orientation of search efforts in local contexts. |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:labeco:201209&r=ure |
| By: | James J. Heckman; Lakshmi K. Raut |
| Abstract: | This paper formulates a structural dynamic programming model of preschool investment choices of altruistic parents and then empirically estimates the structural parameters of the model using the NLSY79 data. The paper finds that preschool investment significantly boosts cognitive and non-cognitive skills, which enhance earnings and school outcomes. It also finds that a standard Mincer earnings function, by omitting measures of non-cognitive skills on the right hand side, overestimates the rate of return to schooling. From the estimated equilibrium Markov process, the paper studies the nature of within generation earnings distribution and intergenerational earnings and schooling mobility. The paper finds that a tax financed free preschool program for the children of poor socioeconomic status generates positive net gains to the society in terms of average earnings and higher intergenerational earnings and schooling mobility. |
| JEL: | I21 J24 J62 O15 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19077&r=ure |
| By: | Mauro Mastrogiacomo |
| Abstract: | We examined the mortgage interest tax relief (MIR) system in the Netherlands and reforms to this system, based on answers to direct questions in survey data for the period 2010-2012. As well as tracking individuals over time and at strategic moments in the process of the policy reform, this unique data set allowed us to isolate the effect of policy uncertainty on precautionary savings and, therefore, on consumption. We found that policy uncertainty alone could increase household buffers in the form of net worth. We estimate that this uncertainty ex ante induces households to increase their net worth by around 6% (EUR 8,000 on average). Although a MIR reform could mitigate this effect on accumulated savings, we also show that reforms that are not credible ex post could exacerbate rather than mitigate the effect on precautionary savings. |
| Keywords: | precautionary savings; income uncertainty; mortgage interest policy reform |
| JEL: | D12 D91 E21 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dnb:dnbwpp:380&r=ure |
| By: | Enrique López-Bazo (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona); Elisabet Motellón (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses firm-level data for each of the Spanish NUTS2 regions to estimate the effect of product and process innovations on firm’s export performance. It shows that the firm’s propensity to innovate and its export activity vary substantially across regions. Remarkably, results prove that the effect of innovation on exports is far from regionally uniform. The gap in the propensity to export between innovative and non-innovative firms, conditional to other sources of firm heterogeneity, is shown to be particularly wide in regions with high extensive margin of exports. However, differences in the propensity to innovate do not originate regional disparities in the share of sales abroad by exporting firms. Consequently, stimulate firm’s innovation in the less innovative regions can be an effective tool to increase the share of exporting firms. |
| Keywords: | export propensity, export intensity, product and process innovations, Spanish regions, firm heterogeneity. JEL classification: F14, R10. |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aqr:wpaper:201305&r=ure |
| By: | Hélène Maisonnave; Ramos Mabugu; Margaret Chitiga; Véronique Robichaud |
| Abstract: | In a first for South Africa, we draw on literature on infrastructure productivity to model dynamic economywide employment impacts of infrastructure investment funded with different fiscal tools. According to the South African investment plan, the policy will affect the stock of infrastructure as well as the stock of capital of some private and public sectors. Increased government deficit financed infrastructure spending improves GDP and reduces unemployment. However, in the long term, the policy reduces investment and it is not sustainable for South Africa to let its deficit grow unabated. Increased investment spending financed by tax increases has contrasting implications on unemployment. In the long run, unemployment decreases for all types of workers under one of the scenarios. In the short run, only elementary occupation workers benefit from a decrease in unemployment; for the rest, unemployment rises. Findings have immediate policy implications in various policy modelling areas. |
| Keywords: | Employment, dynamic CGE model, infrastructure scale up, externalities, South Africa |
| JEL: | D58 D92 H54 H59 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:lacicr:1310&r=ure |
| By: | Santiago Fernandez de Lis, Saifeddine Chaibi, Jose Felix Izquierdo, Felix Lores, Ana Rubio and Jaime Zurita; Saifeddine Chaibi; Jose Felix Izquierdo; Felix Lores; Ana Rubio; Jaime Zurita |
| Abstract: | In this document, the main characteristics of the mortgage markets regulation in developed countries will be analyzed, trying to extract implications in terms of the resilience of the different systems during this crisis. The note is organized in four sections, covering the most relevant issues of (i) the mortgage product, (ii) the financial entities that offer these products, (iii) the client to whom these products are sold and (iv) the relationship between mortgage regulation and macroprudential oversight. |
| Keywords: | mortgage, regulation, developed countries, loan-to-value, responsible lending, tax, covered bonds |
| JEL: | G21 R21 R31 E62 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bbv:wpaper:1317&r=ure |
| By: | Bilotkach, Volodymyr; Fageda, Xavier, 1975-; Flores-Fillol, Ricardo |
| Abstract: | Several airline consolidation events have recently been completed both in Europe and in the United States. The model we develop considers two airlines operating hub-and-spoke networks, using different hubs to connect the same spoke airports. We assume the airlines to be vertically differentiated, which allows us to distinguish between primary and secondary hubs. We conclude that this differentiation in air services becomes more accentuated after consolidation, with an increased number of flights being channeled through the primary hub. However, congestion can act as a brake on the concentration of flight frequency in the primary hub following consolidation. Our empirical application involves an analysis of Delta s network following its merger with Northwest. We find evidence consistent with an increase in the importance of Delta s primary hubs at the expense of its secondary airports. We also find some evidence suggesting that the carrier chooses to divert traffic away from those hub airports that were more prone to delays prior to the merger, in particular New York s JFK airport. Keywords: primary hub; secondary hub; airport congestion; airline consolidation; airline networks JEL Classi fication Numbers: D43; L13; L40; L93; R4 |
| Keywords: | Aeroports -- Direcció i administració, Aviació comercial, Línies aèries, Oligopolis, Trusts industrials, 338 - Situació econòmica. Política econòmica. Gestió, control i planificació de l'economia. Producció. Serveis. Turisme. Preus, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:urv:wpaper:2072/211632&r=ure |
| By: | Min, Hokey; Lambert, Thomas |
| Abstract: | Abstract Due to mounting fiscal pressures over the last few years, the federal government as well as many state and municipal governments in the United States (U.S.) have had to re-examine their transportation policies and programs. Tax increases and/or spending cuts which aim to trim budget deficits are major preoccupations of most policy makers and legislative bodies nowadays. With regard to the task of building new or rehabilitating bridges, highways, and toll gates, cost-benefit analysis and economic impact studies are often undertaken by various government entities to rank and prioritize spending in the hopes of maximizing fiscal efficiency and road usage benefits. Since most highway construction and maintenance expenditures are absorbed by state governments, it is mostly up to state policy makers to decide transportation priorities. However, no research to date has been conducted to evaluate the comparative efficiency of state road provision to commuters and shippers. Such research would be useful to a state government’s budgetary allocation and spending plans. This paper is one of the first to assess and rank the comparative efficiency of all 50 states in the U.S. by using data envelopment analysis and then to explain variations in efficiency ratings by using Tobit regression analysis. |
| Keywords: | Keywords: data envelopment analysis, Tobit regression, road provisions, toll pricing, mass transit |
| JEL: | R4 R52 |
| Date: | 2013–04–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:47196&r=ure |
| By: | Zeynep Erdogan (Tilburg University); Joyce P. Jacobsen (Department of Economics, Wesleyan University); Peter Kooreman (Tilburg University) |
| Abstract: | If the type of work undertaken while young affects either development of human capital or preferences, then early work experiences may have measurable effects on later life outcomes. This paper examines whether or not having a job as a teenager, and whether or not it is a childoriented job, causes differences in labor market behavior among young adults. While the effects we find are complex and sometimes hard to interpret, they suggest that work in 10th grade has a positive causal effect on later labor market outcomes and delays family formation, but to a lesser extent when jobs were child-oriented. |
| Date: | 2012–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wes:weswpa:2012-005&r=ure |
| By: | Whitacre, Brian E.; Shideler, David W.; Williams, Randi |
| Abstract: | This paper adds to the recent literature on state-level incentive programs by evaluating the Quality Jobs Program in Oklahoma, which provides cash payments to businesses relocating to or expanding in the state. 70 communities across the state had a business that received QJ funding between 1994 and 2004, and we use multivariate regressions and matching techniques to compare their growth rates between 1990 and the 2005-09 ACS. The results provide no evidence that the QJ program contributed to growth among Oklahoma communities, but do provide limited evidence that, in comparison to otherwise similar Kansas communities, the program may have resulted in higher levels of income growth. |
| Keywords: | Incentive program, Matching, Oklahoma Quality Jobs, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Public Economics, H25, R00, |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:149567&r=ure |