|
on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Ernest Miguelez (World Intellectual Property Organization, Economics and Statistics Division, Geneva, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | The goal of this paper is to assess the influence of spatial mobility of knowledge workers on the formation of ties of scientific and industrial collaboration across European regions. Co-location has been traditionally invoked to ease formal collaboration between individuals and firms, since tie formation costs increase with physical distance between partners. In some instances, highly-skilled actors might become mobile and bridge regional networks across separate locations. This paper estimates a fixed effects logit model to ascertain precisely whether there exists a ‘previous co-location premium’ in the formation of networks across European regions. |
| Keywords: | inventors’ mobility, technological collaborations, co-location, European regions, panel data |
| JEL: | C8 J61 O31 O33 R0 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wip:wpaper:07&r=ure |
| By: | Tony Champion; Mike Coombes; Ian Gordon |
| Abstract: | This paper uses evidence from the (British) Longitudinal Study to examine the influence on occupational advancement of the city-region of residence (an escalator effect) and of relocation between city-regions (an elevator effect). It shows both effects to be substantively important, though less so than the sector of employment. Elevator effects are found to be associated with moves from slacker to tighter regional labour markets. Escalator effects, on the other hand, are linked with residence in larger urban agglomerations, though not specifically London, but also across most of the Greater South East and in second/third order city-regions elsewhere. Sectoral escalator effects are found to be particularly strong in knowledge-intensive activities, with concentrations of these, as of other advanced job types (rather than of graduate labour), contributing strongly to the more dynamic city-regional escalators. The impact of the geographic effects is found to vary substantially with both observed and unobserved personal characteristics, being substantially stronger for the young and for those whose unobserved attributes (e.g. dynamic human capital) generally boost rates of occupational advance. |
| Keywords: | Escalator region, labour migration, elevator effect, city-regions, social mobility, career progression |
| JEL: | J24 J61 J62 R23 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0139&r=ure |
| By: | Ghani, Ejaz; Goswami, Arti Grover; Kerr, William R. |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the impact of the Golden Quadrilateral highway project on the urban and rural growth of Indian manufacturing. The Golden Quadrilateral project upgraded the quality and width of 5,846 km of roads in India. The study uses a difference-in-difference estimation strategy to compare non-nodal districts based on their distance from the highway system. For the organized portion of the manufacturing sector, the Golden Quadrilateral project led to improvements in both urban and rural areas of non-nodal districts located 0-10 km from the Golden Quadrilateral. These higher entry rates and increases in plant productivity are not present in districts 10-50 km away. The entry effects are stronger in rural areas of districts, but the differences between urban and rural areas are modest relative to the overall effect. The productivity consequences are similar in both locations. The most important difference appears to be the greater activation of urban areas near the nodal cities and rural areas in remote locations along the Golden Quadrilateral network. For the unorganized sector, no material effects are found from the Golden Quadrilateral upgrades in either setting. These findings suggest that in the time frames that we can consider -- the first five to seven years during and after upgrades -- the economic effects of major highway projects contribute modestly to the migration of the organized sector out of Indian cities, but are unrelated to the increased urbanization of the unorganized sector. |
| Keywords: | Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Housing&Human Habitats,E-Business,Anthropology,Labor Policies |
| Date: | 2013–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6620&r=ure |
| By: | Fredrik Andersson; John C. Haltiwanger; Mark J. Kutzbach; Giordano Palloni; Henry O. Pollakowski; Daniel H. Weinberg |
| Abstract: | Research on effects of living in voucher-assisted and public housing to date has largely focused on short-term outcomes and data limitations and challenges of identification have been an obstacle to conclusive results. In contrast, this paper assesses effects of children’s housing on their later employment and earnings, uses national longitudinal data, and makes use of within-household variation to mitigate selection issues. We combine several national datasets on housing assistance, teenagers and their households, and the subsequent earnings and employment outcomes, such that we are able to follow1.8 million children aged 13-18 in 2000 in over 800,000 households within many different assisted and unassisted housing settings, controlling for neighborhood conditions, and examine their labor market outcomes for the 2008-2010 period. By focusing on within-family variation in subsidy treatment, we remove a substantial source of unobserved heterogeneity affecting both a child’s selection into housing and their later outcomes. OLS estimates show a substantial negative effect of housing subsidies on earnings and employment outcomes. However, using within-household variation to control for selection issues attenuates these effects, and results in positive effects for some demographic groups. The large sample size allows us to study to what extent results vary by gender and race/ethnicity, and we find strong evidence of heterogeneous effects. Children in Black households who have lived in voucher-supported housing and public housing often benefit in terms of positive subsequent economic outcomes. Girls raised in Black households derive a considerable positive effect on later earnings from having lived in voucher-supported housing, and a somewhat lesser effect from having lived in public housing. Boys raised in Black households fare relatively worse than girls; in contrast, girls in White households tend to have relatively worse outcomes than boys. |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:13-48&r=ure |
| By: | Sejeong Ha; Christian A. L. Hilber |
| Abstract: | We hypothesize that as the distance of a residential move increases, the cost of collecting information on the destination housing market rises, the amount and quality of information collected fall, and the chances of making an ill-informed housing purchase decision increases, reducing the likelihood of such a purchase. Since owning relative to renting is associated with a much larger financial commitment and much higher transaction costs, the propensity to own can be expected to decrease with the distance moved. Using data from the Survey of English Housing from 1993 to 2008, we document that, consistent with our prior, an increase in the distance moved by one standard deviation decreases the probability that a household owns the next home by 3.2 percentage points. |
| Keywords: | Residential mobility, distance of residential relocation, information cost, investment risk, homeownership, tenure choice |
| JEL: | J61 R21 R23 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0141&r=ure |
| By: | Alexander Klein; Tim Leunig |
| Abstract: | This paper examines Gibrat's law in England and Wales between 1801 and 1911 using a unique data set covering the entire settlement size distribution. We find that Gibrat's law broadly holds even in the face of population doubling every fifty years, an industrial and transport revolution, and the absence of zoning laws to constrain growth. The result is strongest for the later period, and in counties most affected by the industrial revolution. The exception were villages in areas bypassed by the industrial revolution. We argue that agglomeration externalities balanced urban disamenities such as commuting costs and poor living conditions to ensure steady growth of many places, rather than exceptional growth of few. |
| Keywords: | Gibrat’s law, city-size distribution, industrial revolution |
| JEL: | N93 R12 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:sercdo0140&r=ure |
| By: | Richard Murphy; Felix Weinhardt |
| Abstract: | We find an individual's rank within their reference group has effects on later objective outcomes. To evaluate the impact of local rank, we use a large administrative dataset tracking over two million students in England from primary through to secondary school. Academic rank within primary school has sizable, robust and significant effects on later achievement in secondary school, conditional on national test scores. Moreover we find boys gain four times more in later test scores from being top compared to girls. We provide evidence for a mechanism using matched survey data, which shows that rank affects an individual's self-concept. The paper discusses other potential channels but concludes that malleable non-cognitive skills such as confidence and belief in own ability are most likely to generate these results. We put forward a basic model where rank effects costs and effort allocation when faced with multiple tasks. We believe this is the first large-scale study to show large and robust effects of rank position on objective outcomes of that have consequences in the labour market. |
| Keywords: | Rank, non-cognitive skills, peer effects |
| JEL: | I21 J24 D01 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1241&r=ure |
| By: | Pradhan, Kanhu Charan |
| Abstract: | The unexpected increase in the number of census towns (CTs) in the last census has thrust them into the spotlight. Using a hitherto unexploited dataset, it is found that many of the new CTs satisfied the requisite criteria in 2001 itself; mitigating concerns of inflated urbanisation. The new CTs account for almost 30% of the urban growth in last decade, with large inter-state variations. They are responsible for almost the entire growth in urbanisation in Kerala and almost none in Chhattisgarh. Consequently, the estimated contribution of migration is similar to that in previous intercensal periods. Further, while some new CTs are concentrated around million-plus cities, more than four-fifths are situated outside the proximity of such cities, with a large majority not even near Class I towns, though they form part of local agglomerations. This indicates a dispersed pattern of in-situ urbanisation. A growing share of urban population in these CTs is thus being governed under the rural administrative framework, despite very different demographic and economic characteristics, which may affect their future growth. |
| Keywords: | Urbanisation; Urbanization; Census Town; Urban Growth; Urban India; in-situ urbanisation; Unacknowledged Urbanisation; New Towns; CTs; Urban Governance |
| JEL: | O18 N9 R5 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:41035&r=ure |
| By: | Karthik Muralidharan; Venkatesh Sundararaman |
| Abstract: | The large-scale expansion of primary schooling in developing countries has led to the increasing use of non-civil-service contract teachers who are locally-hired from the same village as the school, are not professionally trained, have fixed-term renewable contracts, and are paid much lower salaries than regular civil-service teachers. This has been a controversial policy, but there is limited evidence on the effectiveness of contract teachers in improving student learning. We present experimental evidence on the impact of contract teachers using data from an ‘as is’ expansion of contract-teacher hiring across a representative sample of 100 randomly-selected government-run rural primary schools in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. At the end of two years, students in schools with an extra contract teacher performed significantly better than those in comparison schools by 0.16σ and 0.15σ, in math and language tests respectively. Contract teachers were also much less likely to be absent from school than civil-service teachers (18% vs. 27%). Using the experimental variation in school-level pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) induced by the provision of an extra contract teacher, we estimate that reducing PTR by 10% using a contract teacher would increase test scores by 0.03σ/year. Using high-quality panel data over five years we estimate that the corresponding gain to reducing PTR by 10% using a regular civil-service teacher would be 0.02σ/year. Thus, in addition to finding that contract teachers are effective at improving student learning outcomes, we find that they are no less effective than regular civil-service teachers who are more qualified, better trained, and paid five times higher salaries. |
| JEL: | I21 M55 O15 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19440&r=ure |
| By: | Dagmar Špalková; Jiøí Špalek (Department of Public Economics, Masaryk University) |
| Abstract: | Choosing between rented housing and homeownership, the so called housing tenure choice, is a key decision made by each household. Therefore housing economists often seek an answer to the question which factors have an impact on this decision. The paper investigates potential tenure choice determinants using an econometric model based on the sample data. Results of the analysis, making use of the investigation of EU-SILC in the CR, have testified to the fact that tenure choice is affected by the factors similar to those in other countries – household income, marital status of the household head and household size (persons per household). By contrast, the influence of other demographic characteristics of the household head (gender or age) has not been confirmed. The econometric model has also made it possible to evaluate potential impact of these factors on housing related expenses of households. In addition to the logical influence of household income, tenure choice decisions are significantly influenced by household size and residence in Prague, particularly in the rented housing sector. |
| Keywords: | Housing, tenure, choice, expenditures, determinants |
| JEL: | D12 P36 R21 |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mub:wpaper:11&r=ure |
| By: | Steven G. Rivkin; Jeffrey C. Schiman |
| Abstract: | Many countries, American jurisdictions and charter schools have recently embraced longer school days or more time devoted to core academic classes. Recent research generally supports the notion that additional time raises achievement, though difficulties isolating an exogenous source of variation raise questions about the strength of much of the evidence. Moreover, it seems likely that the magnitude of any causal link between achievement and instruction time depends upon the quality of instruction, the classroom environment, and the rate at which students translate classroom time into added knowledge. In this paper we use panel data methods to investigate the pattern of instruction time effects in the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data. The empirical analysis shows that achievement increases with instruction time and that the increase varies by both amount of time and classroom environment. These results indicate that school circumstances are important determinants of the likely benefits and desirability of increased instruction time. |
| JEL: | I21 I24 I25 I28 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19464&r=ure |
| By: | Daniele Bianchi (Bocconi University, Department of Finance, Milan); Massimo Guidolin (Bocconi University, IGIER, and CAIR, Manchester Business School); Francesco Ravazzolo (Norges Bank and BI Norwegian Business School) |
| Abstract: | We use Bayesian methods to estimate a multi-factor linear asset pricing model characterized by structural instability in factor loadings, idiosyncratic variances, and factor risk premia. We use such a framework to investigate the key differences in the pricing mechanism that applies to residential vs. non-residential (such as office space, industrial buildings, retail property) real estate investment trusts (REITs). Under the assumption that the subprime crisis has had its epicentre in the housing/residential sector, we interpret any differential dynamics as indicative of the propagation mechanism of the crisis towards business-oriented segments of the US real estate market. We find important differences in the structure as well as the dynamic evolution of risk factor exposures across residential vs. non-residential REITs. An analysis of cross-sectional mispricings reveals that only retail, residential, and mortgage-specialized REITs were over-priced over the initial part of our sample, i.e., 1999-2006. Moreover, residential-driven real estate has structural properties that make it different from non-residential assets. |
| Keywords: | Multi-factor models, real estate, mispricing, real estate investment trusts |
| JEL: | G11 C53 |
| Date: | 2013–09–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bno:worpap:2013_22&r=ure |
| By: | Anita Ratcliffe (Department of Economics, The University of Sheffield); Stephanie von Hinke Kessler Scholdery (University of Sheffield) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of the London bombings on attitudes towards ethnic minorities, examining outcomes in housing and labour markets across London boroughs. We use a difference-in-differences approach, specifying `treated' boroughs as those with the highest concentration of Asian residents. Our results indicate that house prices in treated boroughs fell by approximately 2.3% in the two years after the bombings relative to other boroughs, with sales declining by approximately 5.7%. Furthermore, we present evidence of a rise in the unemployment rate in treated compared to control boroughs, as well as a rise in racial segregation. These results are robust to several `falsification' checks with respect to the definition and timing of treatment. |
| Keywords: | terrorism; racial prejudice; difference-in-differences |
| JEL: | J15 J71 R21 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shf:wpaper:2013013&r=ure |
| By: | McIntyre Stuart G (Department of Econimics, University of Strathclyde) |
| Abstract: | Becker (1968) and Stigler (1970) provide the germinal works for an economic analysis of crime, and their approach has been utilised to consider the response of crime rates to a range of economic, criminal and socioeconomic factors. Until recently however this did not extend to a consideration of the role of personal indebtedness in explaining the observed pattern of crime. This paper uses the Becker (1968) and Stigler (1970) framework, and extends to a fuller consideration of the relationship between economic hardship and theft crimes in an urban setting. The increase in personal debt in the past decade has been significant, which combined with the recent global recession, has led to a spike in personal insolvencies. In the context of the recent recession it is important to understand how increases in personal indebtedness may spillover into increases in social problems like crime. This paper uses data available at the neighbourhood level for London, UK on county court judgments (CCJ’s) granted against residents in that neighbourhood, this is our measure of personal indebtedness, and examines the relationship between a range of community characteristics (economic, socio-economic, etc), including the number of CCJ’s granted against residents, and the observed pattern of theft crimes for three successive years using spatial econometric methods. Our results confirm that theft crimes in London follow a spatial process, that personal indebtedness is positively associated with theft crimes in London, and that the covariates we have chosen are important in explaining the spatial variation in theft crimes. We identify a number of interesting results, for instance that there is variation in the impact of covariates across crime types, and that the covariates which are important in explaining the pattern of each crime type are largely stable across the three periods considered in this analysis. |
| Keywords: | Spatial econometrics; Theft crime; Personal debt default; Economic conditions |
| JEL: | R1 K42 C11 C21 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:str:wpaper:1320&r=ure |
| By: | Melissa Clark; Sheena McConnell; Jill Constantine; Hanley Chiang |
| Keywords: | Teacher effectiveness, teacher shortages, alternative routes to certification , Teach For America, Teaching Fellows programs, random assignment, impact evaluation |
| JEL: | I |
| Date: | 2013–09–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:7888&r=ure |
| By: | Lechner, Michael (University of St. Gallen); Wunsch, Conny (University of Basel); Scioch, Patrycja (OTTO Office GmbH & Co KG) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the link between variation in the supply of workers who participate in specific types of active labour market policies (ALMPs) and firm performance using a new exceptionally informative German employer-employee data base. For identification we exploit that German local employment agencies (LEAs) have a high degree of autonomy in determining their own mix of ALMPs and that firms' hiring regions overlap only imperfectly with the areas of responsibility of the LEAs. Our results indicate that in general firms do not benefit from ALMPs and in some cases may even be harmed by certain programs, in particular by subsidized employment and longer training programs. These findings complement the negative assessment of the cost-effectiveness of ALMPs from the empirical literature on the effects for participants. |
| Keywords: | subsidized employment programs, training programs, regional variation, program evaluation |
| JEL: | J68 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7614&r=ure |
| By: | Georgy Zadonsky (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration) |
| Abstract: | In January-October 2012, entities of all the forms of ownership built 476,500 apartments with the total floorspace of 40.1m sq. meters which amounts to 103.8% on the respective period of 2011. The ratio between the price of housing and households’ income in 2012 points to the fact that housing became less affordable both on the primary and secondary markets. The weighted average interest rate on mortgage housing loans (MHL) in rubles increased within a month from 11.4% as of December 1, 2011 to 12.4% as of November 1, 2012. The debt on MHL as a share of GDP increased to 4.11% as of October 1, 2012 which figure exceeds by 1.51 p.p. the highest pre-crisis value of the year 2008. |
| Keywords: | Real Estate, Russian Federation |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:wpaper:39&r=ure |
| By: | Cats, Oded (KTH); Koutsopoulos, Haris N. (KTH); Burghout, Wilco (KTH); Toledo, Tomer (Technion – Israel Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | Real-time information is increasingly being implemented in transit networks worldwide. The evaluation of the effect of real-time information requires dynamic modeling of transit operations and of passenger path choices. This paper presents a dynamic transit analysis and evaluation tool that represents time-tables, operation strategies, real-time information, adaptive passenger choices, and traffic dynamics at the network level. Transit path choices are modeled as a sequence of boarding, walking and alighting decisions that passengers undertake when carrying out their journey. The model is applied to the Metro network of Stockholm, Sweden area under various operating conditions and information provision scenarios, as a proof of concept. An analysis of the results indicates substantial path choice shifts and potential time savings associated with more comprehensive real-time information provision and transfer coordination improvements. |
| Keywords: | Real-time information; Public transport; Route choice; Simulation |
| JEL: | R40 |
| Date: | 2013–09–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ctswps:2013_028&r=ure |
| By: | Lucia Rizzica (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to estimate the effects of the expansion of tertiary education supply on the educational choices of young Italian high school graduates. A quasi-experimental setting given by the reform of the tertiary education system implemented in 2001 is exploited. The reform was embraced at different points in time and to different degrees: it created significant changes in local educational supply in certain provinces while being only marginally relevant in others. This geographical variation is exploited through a diff-in-diff strategy to estimate the impact of the increase in tertiary education supply on enrolment and the mobility decisions of high school graduates. Major gender differences emerge: the increase of local tertiary education supply generated a significant increase in female enrolment rates leaving unchanged those of males; men, on the other hand, switched from studying outside their province of residence to studying at the local university. These results would suggest the existence of a relationship of substitutability between studying away from home and studying at the local university for boys, but not for girls. |
| Keywords: | human capital, tertiary education, gender, evaluation of education reform |
| JEL: | H52 I23 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_181_13&r=ure |
| By: | Jesús Peiró-Palomino (Department of Economics, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain) |
| Abstract: | The number of contributions that have evaluated the convergence patterns across European regions using a wide variety of approaches is now substantial. However, if we focus on the most recent period (2003–2009), the number of contributions shrinks dramatically, and those considering the role of the intangible assets in the enlarged European Union are entirely yet to come. This article focuses on the convergence patterns of income per capita in 216 European regions during the period 1995–2009. Following the distribution dynamics approach, several conditioning schemes are considered, including geography and a set of intangible assets. Opposite to studies focused on earlier periods, the results suggest an intense process of convergence, especially in the most recent years. In addition, while the conditioning factors introduced in the analysis played a remarkable role at the beginning of the analyzed period (1995), facilitating convergence, their influence gradually decreases over time, indicating that regional convergence has obeyed to other forces in the latest years. |
| Keywords: | conditioning schemes, European regional convergence, income distribution dynamics, intangible assets |
| JEL: | C14 D30 O47 R11 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jau:wpaper:2013/11&r=ure |
| By: | Xiao, Yu; Fukuda, Daisuke |
| Abstract: | Recent studies show that traveler’s scheduling preferences compose a willingness-to-pay function directly corresponding to aggregate measurement of travel time variability under some assumptions. This property makes valuation on travel time variability transferable from context to context, which is ideal for extensive policy evaluation. However, if respondents do not exactly maximizing expected utility as assumed, such transferability might not hold because two types of potential errors: (i) scheduling preference elicited from stated preference experiment involving risk might be biased due to misspecification and (ii) ignoring the cost of misperceiving travel time distribution might result in undervaluation. To find out to what extent these errors matter, we reformulate a general scheduling model under rank-dependent utility theory, and derive reduced-form expected cost functions of choosing suboptimal departure time under two special cases. We estimate these two models and calculate the empirical cost due to misperceived travel time variability. We find that (i) travelers are mostly pessimistic and thus tend to choose departure time too earlier to bring optimal cost, (ii) scheduling preference elicited from stated choice method could be quite biased if probability weight- ing is not considered and (iii) the extra cost of misperceiving travel time distribution contributes trivial amount to the discrepancy between scheduling model and its reduced form. |
| Keywords: | travel time variability, scheduling delay, departure time choice, rank-dependent utility |
| JEL: | D61 D81 R41 |
| Date: | 2013–09–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:49737&r=ure |
| By: | Yann Algan; Thierry Mayer; Mathias Thoenig |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at studying how economic incentives influence cultural transmission. We do so in the context of naming decisions, a crucial expression of cultural identity. Our focus is on Arabic versus Non- Arabic names given by parents to their newborn babies in France over the 2003-2007 period. Our model of cultural transmission disentangles between three determinants: (i) vertical transmission of parental culture; (ii) horizontal influence from the neighborhood; (iii) economic penalty associated with names that sound culturally distinctive. Our identification is based on the sample of households being exogenously allocated across public housings dwellings. We find that economic incentives largely influence naming choices: In the absence of economic penalty, the annual number of babies born with an Arabic name would have been more than 50 percent larger. Our theory-based estimates allow us to perform a welfare analysis where we gauge the strength of cultural attachment in monetary units. We find that the vertical transmission of an Arabic name provides the same shift in parents’ utility as a 3% rise in lifetime income of the child. |
| Keywords: | Cultural transmission;Choice of first names |
| JEL: | D10 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cii:cepidt:2013-25&r=ure |
| By: | Georgy Zadonsky (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration) |
| Abstract: | In 12 months of 2012, the volume of mortgage housing loans (MHL) exceeded by 47.3% that in the same period of 2011 and amounted to Rb 904.6bn, despite the continued growth in the weighted average rate on MHL in rubles extended within a month. In November 2012, the weighted average rate amounted to 12.5%. In November 2012, the overdue debt as percentage of the outstanding debt on MHL in rubles decreased to 1.38%, while that on MHL in foreign currency increased to 15.35%. |
| Keywords: | Mortgage, Russian Federation |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:wpaper:40&r=ure |
| By: | Georgy Zadonsky (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration) |
| Abstract: | Though the lending rate on mortgage housing loans (MHL) in rubles increased from 11.4% as of December 1, 2011 to 12.7% as of January 1, 2013 the volume of mortgage housing lending in 2012 increased 32% and 44% as regards the number of loans (690,661 loans) and in money terms (Rb 1,029 trillion), respectively, as compared to 2011. As of January 1, 2013, the share of the debt on MHL without overdue payments as a percentage of the total amount of the debt on MHL increased by 1.87 p.p. as compared to January 1, 2012 and amounted to 95.93%. The share of MHL in foreign currency in the volume of the extended loans keeps decreasing and amounted to 1.42% in 2012. |
| Keywords: | Mortgage, Russian Federation |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:wpaper:41&r=ure |
| By: | Kim , Nam Seok (The Korea Transport Institute); Susilo , Yusak O. (KTH) |
| Abstract: | Using Poisson regression and negative binomial regression, this paper presents an empirical comparison of four different regression models for the estimation of pedestrian demand at the regional level and finds the most appropriate model with reference to the National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) 2001 data for the Baltimore (USA) region. The results show that Poisson regression seems to be more appropriate for pedestrian trip generation modeling in terms of x2 ratio test, Pseudo R2, and Akaike’s information criterion (AIC). However, R2 based on deviance residuals and estimated log-likelihood value at convergence confirmed the empirical studies that negative binomial regression is more appropriate for the over-dispersed dependent variable than Poisson regression. |
| Keywords: | Pedestrian; Trip generation; Poisson; Negative binomial; Regression |
| JEL: | O18 R41 |
| Date: | 2013–09–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ctswps:2013_022&r=ure |
| By: | Toledo, Tomer (Technion - Israel Institute of Technology); Cats , Oded (KTH); Burghout, Wilco (KTH); Koutsopoulos , Haris N. (KTH) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a transit simulation model designed to support evaluation of operations, planning and control, especially in the context of Advanced Public Transportation Systems (APTS). Examples of potential applications include frequency determination, evaluation of real-time control strategies for schedule maintenance and assessing the effects of vehicle scheduling on the level of service. Unlike most previous efforts in this area, the simulation model is built on a platform of a mesoscopic traffic simulation model, which allows modeling of the operation dynamics of large-scale transit systems taking into account the stochasticity due to interactions with road traffic. The capabilities of Mezzo as an evaluation tool of transit operations are demonstrated with an application to a real-world high-demand bus line in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area under various scenarios. The headway distributions at two stops are compared with field observations and show good consistency between simulated and observed data. |
| Keywords: | Simulation; Public transport; Operations; ITS |
| JEL: | R40 |
| Date: | 2013–09–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ctswps:2013_029&r=ure |
| By: | Melissa A. Clark; Hanley S. Chiang; Tim Silva; Sheena McConnell; Kathy Sonnenfeld; Anastasia Erbe; Michael Puma |
| Abstract: | The first large-scale, random assignment study of the effects of secondary school math teachers from Teach For America and the Teaching Fellows programs found they were as effective as, and in some cases more effective than, teachers receiving traditional certification. The study was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences. |
| Keywords: | Teach For America, Teaching Fellows, Secondary Math, Teacher Effectiveness, Teacher Preparation, Alternative Routes to Certification, Impact Evaluation, Random Assignment |
| JEL: | I |
| Date: | 2013–09–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:7890&r=ure |
| By: | Michael Wyrwich (School of Economics and Business Administration, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena) |
| Abstract: | Previous research on market economies characterized by stable framework conditions shows that several regional factors determine start-up activity. Not much is known about what drives entrepreneurship in unstable environments characterized by significant institutional changes that affect the availability of entrepreneurial opportunities. To fill this gap, this paper focuses on post- communist regions in which start-up activity was basically nonexistent under socialism but significantly more in evidence after the institutional shock of introducing a market economy. It is argued and shown that the allocation of talent into productive entrepreneurship is higher in areas abundantly endowed with individuals who have a relatively high ability to detect viable entrepreneurial opportunities, as indicated by their qualification, and in regions home to a population that is characterized by a high alertness toward opportunities, as indicated by remnants of an entrepreneurial culture that pre- dates socialism. How institutional context affects entrepreneurship over the course of transition is reflected by the negative relationship between urbanization and entrepreneurship that presumably has to do with ill-devised socialist urban planning policies. The regional application of the theory on institutions and entrepreneurship outlined in this paper shows that an entrepreneurial rebound after an adverse large-scale shock accompanied by massive structural change and economic dislocation is most pronounced in areas with a strong human capital basis and a regional culture that favors entrepreneurship. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, regional knowledge, transition |
| JEL: | L26 R1 P25 |
| Date: | 2013–09–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2013-037&r=ure |
| By: | Cats, Oded (KTH) |
| Abstract: | Transit systems exercise complex dynamics and evolve through the interaction of various agents. The analysis of transit performance requires emulating the dynamic loading of travellers and their interaction with the underlying transit system. Multi-agent simulations aim to mimic the emergence of global spontaneous order from numerous inter-dependent local decisions. This paper presents a framework for a multi-agent transit operations and assignment model which captures supply uncertainties and adaptive user decisions. An iterative day-to-day learning process consisting of a within-day dynamic network loading loop simulates the interaction between transit supply and demand. The model requires the development and integration of several modules including traffic simulation, transit operations and control, dynamic path choice model and real-time information generator. BusMezzo, a transit simulation model, is used as the platform for implementation. |
| Keywords: | Agent-based Simulation; Public Transport; Assignment; Operations |
| JEL: | R40 |
| Date: | 2013–09–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ctswps:2013_024&r=ure |
| By: | Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt; Kristoffer Moeller; Sevrin Waights; Nicolai Wendland |
| Abstract: | Provided there are positive external benefits attached to the historic character of buildings, owners of properties in designated conservation areas benefit from a reduction in uncertainty regarding the future of their area. At the same time, the restrictions put in place to ensure the preservation of the historic character limit the degree to which properties can be altered and thus impose a cost to their owners. We test a simple theory of the designation process in which we postulate that the optimal level of designation is chosen so as to Pareto-maximize the welfare of local owners. The implication of the model is that a) an increase in preferences for historic character should increase the likelihood of a designation, and b) new designations at the margin should not be associated with significant house price capitalization effects. Our empirical results are in line with these expectations. |
| Keywords: | Designation, difference-in-difference, RDD-DD, England, gentrification, heritage, property value |
| JEL: | H23 H31 R40 R58 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0143&r=ure |
| By: | De Borger, Bruno; Proost, Stef |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the political economy of pricing and investment for excludable and congestible public goods in a federal state. Currently, we observe a wide variety of practices, ranging from federal gasoline taxes and road investment to the local supply of -- and sometimes free access to -- libraries, parking spaces and public swimming pools. The two-region model we develop allows for spill-overs between regions, it takes into account congestion, and it captures both heterogeneity between and within regions. Regional decisions are taken by majority voting; decisions at the federal level are taken either according to the principle of a minimum winning coalition or through cooperative bargaining. We have the following results. First, when users form the majority in at least one region, decentralized decision making performs certainly better than centralized decision making if spill-overs are not too large. Centralized decisions may yield higher welfare than decentralization only if users have a large majority and the infrastructure in a given region is intensively used by both local and outside users. Second, if non-users form a majority in both regions, centralized and decentralized decision making yield the same socially undesirable outcome, with prices that are much too high. Third, both bargaining and imposing uniform price restrictions across regions improve the performance of centralized decisions. Fourth, the performance of decentralized supply is strongly enhanced by local self-financing rules; it prevents potential exploitation of users within regions. Self-financing rules at the central level are not necessarily welfare-improving. Finally, the results of this paper contribute to a better understanding of actual policy-making. |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ant:wpaper:2013020&r=ure |
| By: | Michael D. Carr; Arjun Jayadev |
| Abstract: | We examine patterns of indebtedness in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, focusing on the period surrounding the housing bubble and its aftermath (i.e. 1999-2009). Leverage increased most quickly among lower income households during this period. We findnd that leverage grew faster for households with lower relative income compared to other households in similar demographic groups. We also find that changes in leverage for a given household were strongly associated with lower relative income within a state, controlling for own income. A one standard deviation increase in relative income is associated with a 50 to 100 percent increase in the growth in leverage. Together, these findings provide evidence for the thesis that the rising indebtedness of households in the U.S is related to high levels of inequality, and that `Veblen effects' whereby relative income matters for individual well-being and decisions may contribute to rising household indebtedness. |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mab:wpaper:15&r=ure |
| By: | KURASHIMA Daichi; MIZUNAGA Masashi; ODAKI Kazuhiko; WATANABE Wako |
| Abstract: | By exploiting the correlation between the legal type of a property purchased as collateral and the loan to value (LTV), particularly the positive correlation between the use of the property as revolving collateral and LTV as a strong and valid instrumental variable, we identify the positive effect of LTV on the property price with the observed negative reverse causality. We also find that the effect of LTV on the property price is far greater when unleveraged property transactions purchased with 100% equity financing are excluded than when they are included. |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:13082&r=ure |
| By: | Koen Frenken; Elena Cefis; Erik Stam |
| Abstract: | We review the literature on clusters and their effects on entry, exit and growth of firms as well on the evolutionary dynamics underlying the process of cluster formation. Our extensive review shows that there is strong evidence that clusters promote entry, but little evidence that clusters enhance firm growth and firm survival. The emergence of clusters is best understood as an evolutionary process of capability transmission between parent firms and their spinoffs, rather than as an outcome of localisation economies that would increase the performance firms in clusters compared to firms outside clusters. From a number of open questions we distil various future research avenues stressing the importance of understanding firm heterogeneity and the exact mechanisms underlying localisation economies. |
| Keywords: | entry, exit, industrial cluster, localisation economies, product lifecycle, industry lifecycle, evolutionary economic geography, firm heterogeneity |
| JEL: | L10 L20 L26 R10 |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:use:tkiwps:1311&r=ure |
| By: | Walls, Margaret (Resources for the Future); Kousky, Carolyn (Resources for the Future); Chu, Ziyan (Resources for the Future) |
| Abstract: | Modern geographic information system (GIS) tools have allowed a more careful examination of how the physical characteristics of a property’s neighborhood and surrounding land uses are capitalized into property values. The ArcGIS Viewshed tool is a case in point: it identifies the cells in an input raster that can be seen from one or more observation points. In this study, we use the tool in a hedonic property value model that estimates a home’s sale price as a function of the percentage of its view that encompasses various “green” land covers—forest, farmland, and grassy recreational lands—as well proximity to such green spaces. We use 25 years of data from St. Louis County, Missouri, along with land cover data from 1992, 2001, and 2006, to estimate a property fixed-effects model. This approach, which minimizes the bias from omission of time-constant unobservable variables, is a methodological advance over some prior studies of the value of a view. We find that forest views negatively affect home prices, whereas farmland and grassy area views have positive effects (though only the farmland results are statistically significant). Proximity to each of these types of lands has value, however: more of each type in a close buffer around the property increases the property’s sale price. We hypothesize that our results are related to two factors: the topography of the study area and the fact that farmland has been converted to development over time, leading to a relative increase in its value. |
| Keywords: | hedonic pricing, view, open space, land cover, geographic information systems |
| JEL: | Q51 Q24 R0 |
| Date: | 2013–08–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-13-25&r=ure |
| By: | Cats, Oded (KTH); Nabavi Larijani, Anahid (KTH); Ólafsdóttir, Ásdís (KTH); Burghout, Wilco (KTH); Andreasson, Ingmar (KTH); Koutsopoulos, Haris N. (KTH) |
| Abstract: | Transit operations involve several inherent sources of uncertainty including dispatching time from the origin terminal, travel time between stops and dwell time at stops. Bus holding control strategies are among the prominent methods applied by transit operators in order to improve transit performance and level of service. The common practice is to regulate departures from a limited number of stops by holding buses until the scheduled time. An analysis of the performance of a high-frequency bus line in Stockholm based on Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) data shows that this control strategy is not effective in improving service regularity along the line. It also indicates that drivers adjust their speed based on performance objectives. Implications of a control strategy that regulates departures from all stops based on the headways from the preceding bus and the following bus were evaluated using BusMezzo, a transit operations simulation model. The results suggest that this strategy can improve service performance considerably from both passengers and operators perspectives. In addition, it implies cooperative operations as the decisions of each driver are interdependent of other drivers with mutual corrections. The difficulties in realizing the benefits of the proposed strategy in practice such as dispatching from the origin terminal, driver scheduling and compliance are discussed. The implications of several practical considerations are assessed by conducting a sensitivity analysis as part of the preparations to a field experiment designed to test the proposed control strategy. |
| Keywords: | Public transport; Operations; Simulation; Field experiment; Reliability |
| JEL: | R40 |
| Date: | 2013–09–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ctswps:2013_026&r=ure |
| By: | Simanti Bandyopadhyay (National Institute of Public Finance and Policy New Delhi) |
| Abstract: | The main objective of the paper is to propose a framework in which fiscal health conditions can be assessed and the main determinants affecting fiscal health can be identified, inspite of severe data constraints. The paper draws on big urban agglomerations in India as well as smaller cities as a sample and attempts to identify the difference, if any, in the main determinants for variations in fiscal health conditions across different size classes of cities. To compensate for the lack of statistical rigor in the estimations of expenditure needs and revenue capacities, we propose a framework which analyses the ratio of expenditure needs to revenue capacity by fitting an econometric model. It is a two-step method, in the first stage we estimate the expenditure need and revenue capacity separately by simple methods discussed above. In the second stage we take the ratio of expenditure need and revenue capacity as an indicator of financial performance of a ULB and fit an econometric model to explain the performance of ULBs on the basis of factors which are likely to affect the performance of the ULBs. We find that the role of the higher tiers of the government is important in bigger and smaller size class of cities in their financial management. However, for bigger cities we find that the own source revenues can also play an important role in bringing down the fiscal ratio. In the smaller ULBs the role of the demand indicators is not that prominent but the cost indicators play a relatively prominent role. In case of bigger agglomerations, the demand indicators are more prominent than the cost indicators. |
| Date: | 2013–09–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ays:ispwps:paper1319&r=ure |
| By: | Theresia Gunawan (Maastricht School of Management and Technical University of Eindhoven, the Netherlands); Jojo Jacob (United Nation University- Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU MERIT), the Netherlands); Geert Duysters (Tilburg University, the Netherlands) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the role of intra-cluster ties, extra-cluster ties, and entrepreneurial orientation in shaping firms’ innovative performance. We conduct our analysis on a primary data set of 120 SMEs in the Cibaduyut footwear-manufacturing cluster, Indonesia. We find that extra-cluster ties mediate the relationship between proactiveness and innovative performance. A combination of high extra-cluster ties and risk taking exert a positive impact on innovative performance. Surprisingly, we find that risk taking negatively moderates the influence of intra-cluster ties on innovative performance. Overall, the findings of this study point to the synergistic effects of entrepreneurial orientation and extra-cluster ties on innovative performance. |
| Date: | 2013–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msm:wpaper:2013/28&r=ure |
| By: | Cats, Oded (KTH); Loutos, Gerasimos |
| Abstract: | Waiting time uncertainty is one of the main determinants of public transport reliability and overall level-of-service. The dissemination of real-time information concerning vehicle arrivals is often considered an important measure to reduce unreliability. Moreover, the prediction of downstream vehicle trajectories could also benefit real-time control strategies. In order to adequately analyze the performance of real-time bus arrival information system, the generated predictions have to be compared against empirical bus arrival data. A conventional real-world bus arrival prediction scheme is formulated and applied on the trunk lines network in Stockholm. This scheme was found to systematically underestimate the remaining waiting time by 6.2% on average. Prediction error accuracy and reliability varies considerably over time periods, along the route and as a function of the prognosis horizon. The difference between passengers’ waiting time expectations derived from the timetable and real-time information is equivalent to 30% of the average waiting time. |
| Keywords: | Public transport; Real-time information; Reliability; Prediction |
| JEL: | R40 |
| Date: | 2013–09–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ctswps:2013_025&r=ure |
| By: | Alcalde, Jose (Universidad de Alicante, Departamento de Métodos Cuantitativos y Teoría Económica) |
| Abstract: | We explore the problem of distributing a group of indivisible objects, some of which incorporate a primitive assignment of use, or tenancy right. Within this framework we analyze the existence of rules always selecting an ex-ante efficient allocation, conditioned to a preservation of the tenancy rights. We realize that a probabilistic version of the Deferred Acceptance procedure (Gale and Shapley, 1962), is efficient and, from an ordinal point of view, superior to the randomized approaches of the Top Trading Cycles (Abdulkadiroglu and Sönmez, 1999) and the New House 4 mechanism employed in the MIT. |
| Keywords: | Correlated Priorities; Random Assignment; Serial Rule; Matching Markets; Ordinal Efficiency |
| JEL: | C78 D63 D70 |
| Date: | 2013–09–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:qmetal:2013_005&r=ure |
| By: | Cheti Nicoletti; Birgitta Rabe |
| Abstract: | We analyze the effect of school expenditure on children's test scores at age 16 by means of an education production model. By using unique register data of English pupils, we exploit the availability of test scores across time, subjects and siblings to control for various sources of input omission and measurement error bias. We overcome one of the main criticisms against the value-added model by proposing a novel method to control for the endogeneity of the lagged test. We find evidence of a positive but small effect of per pupil expenditure on test scores. |
| Keywords: | Education production function,cognitive achievements,child development JEL codes: I22, I24 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wchild:15&r=ure |
| By: | ITO Banri; XU Zhaoyuan; YASHIRO Naomitsu |
| Abstract: | This study empirically examines the role of agglomeration in enabling firms to begin exporting, using a large dataset of Chinese firms. Knowledge spillover caused by the agglomeration of exporters can reduce the initial cost of export, thereby lowering the "productivity cut-off" required to export. A parametric estimation of an export entry model indicates that the agglomeration of incumbent exporters contributes significantly to export participation, although its magnitude is limited. These spillover effects are generated not only by the agglomeration of exporting foreign invested firms (FIFs), but also, more importantly, by that of indigenous Chinese exporters. In fact, the agglomeration of exporting FIFs only contributes to the export entry of FIFs, yet has a negative impact on indigenous Chinese firms' export participation. |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:13081&r=ure |
| By: | Carlson , Annelie (VTI); Mellin , Anna (VTI) |
| Abstract: | In the debate of climate change and mitigation of greenhouse gases, the issue of energy use is closely related. Several political aims concern the need to reduce the overall energy demand in the society, where transportation is an important contributor. In the transport sector, major efforts have been concentrated on developing more fuel efficient engines and vehicles. However, the road infrastructure, its operation and maintenance also use energy and do have an effect on traffic fuel consumption and emissions. It is therefore important to also take the infrastructure into consideration when addressing the energy issue for traffic and use a broader perspective. The objective of this study is to estimate the total energy use in a life cycle perspective of a road infrastructure investment and the impact of different phases of the roads life time. How the results are related to the transport objectives is also addressed. A life cycle assessment method is used to evaluate an infrastructure investment, including construction, operation, maintenance and traffic during 60 years. A small community is used as a case study where a bypass has been built and the result show that this investment will increase the total energy use by approximately 60%, or 1 550 TJ compared to not building it. A major part of the increase is due to traffic, and since mostly fossil fuel is used there will also be an increase in greenhouse gas emissions. The result stipulates that the aspects of energy efficiency and reduction of greenhouse gases has not been accounted for in the planning or it has been considered as less important than other aspects, e.g. traffic safety and accessibility. |
| Keywords: | Life cycle assessment; Energy use; Road infrastructure and traffic |
| JEL: | R40 |
| Date: | 2013–09–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ctswps:2013_023&r=ure |