|
on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Daisy J. Huang; Charles Ka Yui Leung; Baozhi Qu |
| Abstract: | Based on Chinese city-level data from 1999 to 2012 and controlling for geological, environmental, and social diversity, this study suggests that credit plays a significant role in driving up house prices after the Great Recession, whereas property prices only influence bank lending before 2008. Local amenities such as higher education, green infrastructure, healthcare, and climate also positively affect house prices. Moreover, the impacts of bank loans on housing prices tend to be related to the level of amenities, suggesting an integrated approach (i.e. combining macroeconomic and urban economic variables) of housing market for the future research. |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpr:wpaper:0928&r=ure |
| By: | Gianni Guastella; Frank van Oort |
| Abstract: | In agglomeration studies, the effects of various regional externalities related to knowledge spillovers remain largely unclear. To explain innovation clustering, scholars emphasize the contribution of Localized Knowledge Spillovers (LKS) and, specifically when estimating the Knowledge Production Function (KPF), of (interregional) research spillovers. However, less attention is paid to other causes of spatial heterogeneity. In applied works, spatial association in data is econometrically related to evidence of research spillovers. This paper argues that, in a KPF setting, omitting spatial heterogeneity might lead to biased estimates of the effect of research spillovers. As an empirical test, a spatial KPF is estimated using EU25 regional data, including a spatial trend to control for unexplained spatial variation in innovation. Accounting for geographical characteristics substantially weakens evidence of interregional research spillovers. |
| Keywords: | Generalized Additive Models, Knowledge Spillovers, Regional Innovation, European Union |
| JEL: | R12 R58 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1506&r=ure |
| By: | Gengyang Tu (Laboratoire d'Economie Forestière, INRA - AgroParisTech); Jens Abildtrup (Laboratoire d'Economie Forestière, INRA - AgroParisTech); Serge Garcia (Laboratoire d'Economie Forestière, INRA - AgroParisTech) |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses the value of urban green spaces, specifically peri-urban forests and their potential substitutes, for the local population on the basis of their residential choice. We applied a choice experiment (CE) that focuses on trade-offs between private housing characteristics and the environmental aspects of neighborhood. Individual willingness to pay (WTP) is estimated from a latent class model and a mixed logit model along with a WTP space approach. Our results show that green spaces provide both direct use value (recreation) and indirect use value (scenic views). We find that peri-urban forests and parks are not substitutes. However, ownership of a private garden reduces the WTP to live closer to an urban park. |
| Keywords: | Choice experiment, residential location, urban green spaces, latent class model, mixed logit model, willingness-to pay space |
| JEL: | Q26 Q51 C5 |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lef:wpaper:2015-02&r=ure |
| By: | Erik Hurst; Benjamin J. Keys; Amit Seru; Joseph S. Vavra |
| Abstract: | An integrated tax and transfer system together with factor mobility can help mitigate local shocks within monetary and fiscal unions. In this paper we explore the role of a new mechanism that may also be central to determining the welfare effects of regional shocks. The degree to which households can use borrowing to smooth location-specific risks depends crucially on the interest rate and how it varies with local economic conditions. In the U.S., the bulk of borrowing occurs through the mortgage market and is heavily influenced by the presence of government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). We empirically establish that despite large spatial variation in predictable default risk, there is essentially no spatial variation in GSE mortgage rates, conditional on borrower observables. In contrast, we show that the private market does set interest rates based in part on regional risk factors and postulate that the lack of regional variation in GSE mortgage rates is likely driven by political pressure. We quantify the economic impact of the national interest rate policy on regional risk by building a structural spatial model of collateralized borrowing to match various features from our empirical analysis. The model suggests that the national interest rate policy has significant ex-post redistributional consequences across regions. |
| JEL: | E02 G21 G28 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21007&r=ure |
| By: | Favara, Giovanni; Giannetti, Mariassunta |
| Abstract: | We provide evidence that lenders differ in their ex post incentives to internalize price-default externalities associated with the liquidation of collateralized debt. Using the mortgage market as a laboratory, we conjecture that lenders with a large share of outstanding mortgages on their balance sheets internalize the negative spillovers associated with the liquidation of defaulting mortgages and are thus less inclined to foreclose. We find that zip codes with higher concentration of outstanding mortgages experience fewer foreclosures, more renegotiations of delinquent mortgages, and smaller house prices declines. These results are not driven by prior local economic conditions, mortgage securitization or unobservable lender characteristics. |
| Keywords: | bank concentration; fire sales; foreclosures; house prices |
| JEL: | G01 G21 R31 R38 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10476&r=ure |
| By: | Daniel Avdic; Christian Bünnings |
| Abstract: | Indirect psychological effects induced by crime are likely to contribute significantly to the total costs of crime beyond the financial costs of direct victimization. Using detailed crime statistics for the whole of Germany and linking them to individual-level mental health information from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we analyze whether local crime rates affect the mental health of residents. We estimate that a one standard deviation increase in local violent crime rates significantly decreases individual mental well-being among residents by, on average, one percent. Smaller effects are found for property and total crime rates. Results are insensitive to migration and not isolated to urban areas, but are rather driven by less densely populated regions. In contrast to previous literature on vulnerability to crime, we find that men, more educated and singles react more to variation in violent crime rates in their neighborhoods. One potential explanation could be that those who are more fearful of crime have developed better coping strategies and, hence, react less to changes in crime. |
| Keywords: | Fear of crime, spillover effect, mental health, vulnerability, neighborhood effects, panel data |
| JEL: | C23 I18 K42 R23 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp737&r=ure |
| By: | Caterina Calsamiglia; Maia Güell |
| Abstract: | The Boston mechanism is a school allocation procedure that is widely used around the world. To resolve overdemands, priority is often given to families who live in the neighborhood school. We note that such priorities define some schools as being safer. We exploit an unexpected change in the definition of neighborhood in Barcelona to show that when allowing school choice under the BM with priorities: (1) the resulting allocation is not very different from a neighborhood-based assignment, and (2) important inequalities emerge beyond parents' naivete found in the literature. |
| Keywords: | school choice, Boston mechanism, priorities |
| JEL: | C78 D63 I24 |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:810&r=ure |
| By: | Tamara I. Petrova (National Research University Higher School of Economics.); Daniel A. Alexandrov (National Research University Higher School of Economics.) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the relationship between family and school characteristics, and student reading performance; and how these vary across countries with different levels of economic inequality and stratification. Economic inequality is measured with the Gini index and stratification by the distribution of students by reading achievements. Reading tests and questionnaire responses of 190,456 fourth-graders, their parents and 6,987 school administrators in 41 countries were analysed using multilevel analyses. Students with lack of early home literacy activities have better test scores in schools with higher average socioeconomic status (SES), and reading scores in countries with a high level of economic inequality. The higher the stratification level, the better student reading achievements, despite the stratification measure indicating the inequality of their distribution among schools |
| Keywords: | educational achievements, inequality, peer effects, PIRLS, school resources, segregation, socio-economic status |
| JEL: | I24 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:25edu2015&r=ure |
| By: | David Castells-Quintana (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | The link between urban concentration and economic growth at country level is not straightforward, as there are benefits as well as costs associated with urban concentration. Indeed, recent empirical evidence suggests different effects of urban concentration on growth depending on the level of development and the world region under analysis. This paper revisits the literature on urban concentration and economic growth to shed some light on these previous results. In particular, differences in the process of urbanisation, and in the quality of the urban environment itself, have been suggested as most likely defining the balance between benefits and costs from urban concentration, and are probably behind differences in the relationship between concentration and growth. However, empirical evidence in this regard remains very limited. The aim of the paper is to fill this gap by paying special and explicit attention to differences between world regions in terms of urban infrastructure, essentially access to basic urban services. The main contribution of the paper is to therefore provide empirical evidence on the role that the urban environment plays in the relationship between urban concentration and economic growth. |
| Keywords: | Agglomeration, urbanisation, urban concentration, infrastructure, congestion diseconomies, growth, Sub-Sahara Africa JEL classification:O1, O4, R1. |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ira:wpaper:201506&r=ure |
| By: | Dooruj Rambaccussing |
| Abstract: | This paper introduces a State Space approach to explain the dynamics of rent growth, expected returns and Price-Rent ratio in housing markets. According to the present value model, movements in price to rent ratio should be matched by movements in expected returns and expected rent growth. The state space framework assume that both variables follow an autoregressive process of order one. The model is applied to the US and UK housing market, which yields series of the latent variables given the behaviour of the Price-Rent ratio. Resampling techniques and bootstrapped likelihood ratios show that expected returns tend to be highly persistent compared to rent growth. The ltered expected returns is considered in a simple predictability of excess returns model with high statistical predictability evidenced for the UK. Overall, it is found that the present value model tends to have strong statistical predictability in the UK housing markets. |
| Keywords: | Price-Rent Ratio, Present Value, State Space |
| JEL: | R31 C32 |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dun:dpaper:285&r=ure |
| By: | Blöndal, Sölvi (Dept. of Economic History, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | The main purpose of this paper has been to establish whether housing and rent prices share a common trend in the long run. And thus, to determine whether there were speculative bubbles in the Stockholm housing market during the period 1875-1930. This period offered an excellent opportunity for such an investigation due to limited regulation in the housing market. Finally, a newly generated data on Stockholm housing prices from 1875 and data on Stockholm rent prices have given us rare insight into the Stockholm housing market. After applying the statistical procedure of testing for cointegration, we have concluded that Stockholm housing and rent prices share a common trend, i.e. that they return to a long run equilibrium after experiencing an exogenous shock. More specifically, the results indicate a 22% movement back towards equilibrium following a shock to the model, one period later, i.e. one year later. Therefore, we conclude that during the period 1875-1930 there was no indication of a speculative bubble in the Stockholm housing market. |
| Keywords: | housing market; cointegration; economic history |
| JEL: | N93 N94 |
| Date: | 2015–03–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:suekhi:0016&r=ure |
| By: | Hidalgo-Cabrillana, Ana (Departamento de Análisis Económico (Teoría e Historia Económica). Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.); Lopez-Mayan, Cristina (Departamento de Economía Aplicada. Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | Using data from a Spanish assessment program of fourth-grade pupils, we analyze to what extent using certain teaching practices and materials in class is related to achievement in maths and reading. We distinguish using traditional and modern teaching styles. As a novelty, we measure in-class work using two different sources of information -teacher and students. Our identification strategy relies on between-class within-school variation of teaching styles. We find that modern practices are related to better achievement, specially in reading, while traditional practices, if anything, are detrimental. There are differences depending on the source of information: the magnitude of coefficients is larger when practices are reported by students. These findings are robust to considering alternative definitions of teaching practices. We obtain heterogeneous effects of teaching styles by gender and type of school but only when using students' answers. Our findings highlight the importance of the source of information, teacher or students, to draw adequate conclusions about the effect of teaching style on achievement. |
| Keywords: | Students and teacher reports; Test scores; Teacher quality; Modern and traditional teaching. |
| JEL: | I20 I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uam:wpaper:201502&r=ure |
| By: | Calem, Paul S. (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia); Lambie-Hanson, Lauren (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia) |
| Abstract: | Home appraisals are produced for millions of residential mortgage transactions each year, but appraisals are rarely below the transaction price. We exploit a unique data set to show that the mortgage application process creates an incentive to substitute the transaction price for the true appraised value when the latter is lower. We relate the frequency of information loss (appraisals set equal to transaction price) to market conditions and other factors that plausibly determine the degree of distortion. Information loss in appraisals may increase the procyclicality of housing booms and busts. |
| Keywords: | Information; Mortgage; Regulation; Appraisal |
| JEL: | D81 G14 G21 G28 L85 |
| Date: | 2015–03–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedpwp:15-11&r=ure |
| By: | Anne Brink Nandrup (Department of Economics and Business, Aarhus University, Denmark) |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to the class size literature by analyzing whether short-run class size effects are constant across grade levels in compulsory school. Results are based on administrative data on all pupils enroled in Danish public schools. Identification is based on a government-imposed class size cap that creates exogenous variation in class sizes. Significant (albeit modest) negative effects of class size increases are found for children on primary school levels. The effects on math abilities are statistically different across primary and secondary school. Larger classes do not affect girls, non-Western immigrants and socioeconomically disadvantaged pupils more adversely than other pupils. |
| Keywords: | Class size, regression discontinuity, compulsory schooling, literacy, test scores |
| JEL: | I21 I28 C31 |
| Date: | 2015–02–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aah:aarhec:2015-07&r=ure |
| By: | Charlotte Senftleben-König (Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin); Hanna Wielandt (Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin) |
| Abstract: | During the last decades, wage inequality in Germany has considerably increased both within and across regions. Building on concepts of the task-based approach, this paper studies whether and to what extent these developments are driven by technological change. We present novel evidence that technological change is positively related to intra-regional wage inequality. This is driven by increases in the compensation for non-routine cognitive tasks that are prevalent at upper percentiles of the wage distribution combined with decreases in the compensation for non-routine manual tasks, which are located at lower percentiles. Because there exists substantial variation in the degree of technology exposure across German regions, technological change can also explain part of the rise in inter-regional wage inequality. Creation Date: 2014-12 |
| Keywords: | Spatial Changes, Wage Inequality, Job Tasks, Technological Change |
| JEL: | J31 O33 R23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdp:wpaper:2014008&r=ure |
| By: | Leppälä, Samuli (Cardiff Business School) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a Cournot oligopoly model with R&D spillovers both within and across industries. The aim is to provide an appropriate theoretical foundation for three different hypotheses regarding the impact of the local production structure on innovation and output, as well as addressing mixed empirical results in this area. Both the effective R&D and total industry output are shown to increase with the variety of industries, which is aligned with Jacobs externalities. With respect to the concentration, the outcome is more ambiguous, where it depends on the variety, both spillover rates, and the R&D efficiency. If the variety is limited, then partial support is given to both Marshall-Arrow-Romer externalities in the case of effective R&D, and to Porter externalities in the case of the total industry output. The use of a relative rather than an absolute measure of variety is also shown to be important. |
| Keywords: | concentration; innovation; knowledge spillover; regional economy; variety |
| JEL: | O33 R11 L13 |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdf:wpaper:2015/3&r=ure |
| By: | Peggy Bechara; Lea Eilers; Alfredo R. Paloyo |
| Abstract: | Using a uniquely assembled panel dataset, we estimate the impact of neighborhood and peer effects on female labor supply. Nonrandom sorting and unobserved heterogeneity at the individual and neighborhood levels make recovering these impact parameters more complicated in the absence of (quasi-)experimental variation in neighborhood attributes. Our estimation strategy rests on using a hedonic pricing model to control for neighborhood-level unobserved heterogeneity and using a fixed-effects approach to account for the correlation induced by individual time-invariant unobservables. The results suggest that women’s participation behavior is significantly associated with peer and neighborhood attributes. The extensive margin is driven by the average female employment rate; the intensive margin is driven by the average share of fulltime employed females in the neighborhood. These relationships are stronger in the subsample of mothers. However, these statistically significant associations do not survive when we control for individual time-invariant unobservable heterogeneity. |
| Keywords: | Neighborhood effects; female labor supply; social interactions; peer effects |
| JEL: | R23 J13 J22 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0535&r=ure |
| By: | Charlotte Senftleben-König (Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin) |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses the spillover effects of public sector employment on private sector employment at the level of local labor markets in Germany between 2003 and 2007. I find that public sector employment has sizable crowding out effects on the private sector. The results suggest that 10 additional jobs in the public sector destroy 8 jobs in the private sector. I further show that public sector employment has an impact on the structure of the private sector. By raising wages in the private sector, public sector employment crowds out employment in the tradable sector. In contrast, employment in nontradable industries is largely unaffected. Creation Date: 2014-12 |
| Keywords: | Local labor markets, public sector employment, local multiplier effects |
| JEL: | H70 R12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdp:wpaper:2014010&r=ure |
| By: | de Melo Gioia; Machado Alina; Miranda Alfonso |
| Abstract: | We present evidence on the impact on students' math and reading scores of one of the largest deployments of an OLPC program and the only one implemented at a national scale: Plan Ceibal in Uruguay. We have unique data that allow us to know the exact date of laptop delivery for every student in the sample. This gives us the ability to use days of exposure as a treatment intensity measure. Given that there is some variation in the date of laptop delivery across individuals within the same school, we can identify the effect of the program net of potential heterogeneity in the rate schools gain improvements on students' achievement over time independently of the OLPC program. Our results suggest that in the first two years of its implementation the program had no effects on math and reading scores. The absence of effect could be explained by the fact that the program did not involve compulsory teacher training and that laptops in class were mainly used to search for information on the internet. |
| Keywords: | technology, education, impact evaluation. |
| JEL: | I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdm:wpaper:2014-22&r=ure |
| By: | Maria Antonella Mancino (University of Western Ontario); Salvador Navarro (University of Western Ontario); David A. Rivers (University of Western Ontario) |
| Abstract: | We study the determinants of youth crime using a dynamic discrete choice model of crime and education. We allow past education and criminal activities to affect current crime and educational decisions. We take advantage of a rich panel dataset on serious juvenile offenders, the Pathways to Desistance. Using a series of psychometric tests, we estimate a model of cognitive and social/ emotional skills that feeds into the crime and education model. This allows us to separately identify the roles of state dependence, returns to experience, and heterogeneity in driving crime and enrollment decisions among youth. We find small effects of experience and stronger evidence of state dependence for crime and schooling. We provide evidence that, as a consequence, policies that affect individual heterogeneity (like social/emotional skills), and those that temporarily keep youth away from crime, can have important and lasting effects even if criminal experience has already accumulated. |
| Keywords: | Crime; Education; Youth |
| JEL: | I21 K42 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwo:hcuwoc:20151&r=ure |
| By: | Caterina Calsamiglia; Chao Fu; Maia Güell |
| Abstract: | An important debate centers on what procedure should be used to allocate students across public schools. We contribute to this debate by developing and estimating a model of school choices by households under one of the most popular procedures known as the Boston mechanism (BM). We recover the joint distribution of household preferences and sophistication types using administrative data from Barcelona. Our counterfactual policy analyses show that a change from BM to the Gale-Shapley student deferred acceptance mechanism would create more losers than winners, while a change from BM to the top trading cycles mechanism has the opposite effect. |
| Keywords: | school choice, Boston mechanism, Gale-Shapley mechanism, Top Trading Cycles mechanism, priorities |
| JEL: | C78 I24 D63 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:811&r=ure |
| By: | Paula Herrera-Idárraga (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana); Enrique López-Bazo (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona); Elisabet Motellón (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses Colombian micro-data to analyze the role of education and informality on regional wage differentials. Our hypothesis is that apart from differences in the endowment of human capital across regions, regional heterogeneity in the incidence of informality is another important source of regional wage inequality in developing and emerging countries. This is confirmed by the evidence from Colombia, which in addition reveals remarkable heterogeneity across territories in the wage return to individuals’ characteristics. Regional heterogeneity in returns to education is especially intense in the upper part of the wage distribution. In turn, heterogeneity in the informal pay penalty is more relevant in the lower part. |
| Keywords: | Regions, Wage differentials, Quantile-based decompositions, Formal/Informal Jobs, Economic Development JEL classification: C21, J31, J38. |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ira:wpaper:201509&r=ure |
| By: | Charlotte Senftleben-König (Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin); Hanna Wielandt (Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the polarization of employment and wages in Germany between 1979 and 2006, focusing on the role of technological progress. We exploit spatial variation in the exposure to technological progress which arises due to initial regional specialization in routine task-intensive activities. We show that the occupational structure of labor markets that were particularly susceptible to computerization has polarized, as employment shifted from middle-skilled, routine clerical and production occupations to less-skilled non-routine manual and service occupations. We find this shift to be the main driver of employment polarization at the lower tail of the wage distribution. Occupational shifts are gender-specific, with gains in service employment being exclusively realized by female employees. We further show that technological change contributes to a dispersion of the wage structure, as employment gains in services are accompanied by significant wage losses. Creation Date: 2014-11 |
| Keywords: | Job Tasks, Polarization, Technological Change, Service Occupations, Regional Labor Markets |
| JEL: | J24 J31 J62 O33 R23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdp:wpaper:2014007&r=ure |
| By: | Fabian Wahl (University of Hohenheim) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the effect of participative political institutions (PPIs) that emerged in many central European cities from the late 13th century. The empirical analysis of the paper is based on newly compiled long-run data for the existence of different types of PPIs in 104 cities in the Holy Roman Empire. The effect of both an overall index of participativeness of political institutions as well as of the individual PPIs is tested empirically. When pooled over all periods and observations, there seems to be a significant positive overall effect of PPIs in the German-speaking area but not in the Low Countries. The study founds considerable spatial and temporal heterogeneity in the effect of PPIs. Furthermore, the effect of different types of PPIs differs substantially and in general seems to be short-lived. That is, the results show that the positive initial effect of some PPIs declined the longer they existed and over time. |
| Keywords: | Medieval Period, Early-Modern Period, Central Europe, City Development, Political Institutions, Early Democracy, Guilds |
| JEL: | N44 N94 O10 R11 H11 D72 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0073&r=ure |
| By: | Ma, Chunbo; Polyakov, Maksym; Pandit, Ram |
| Abstract: | Using a large sample of property sales data and high-resolution aerial maps, this study provides the first empirical estimate of the price premium of properties with photovoltaic (PV) panels in Australia. We use three model specifications to control for spatial heterogeneity and correlation as well as price dynamics over time. Results from hedonic models, repeated sales models and hybrid models have all shown strong evidence that PV panels contribute a 2.34 to 4.12 percent premium to properties prices. This suggests that PV investments are, on average, over-capitalized into property prices during our sample period, which we argue is largely a reflection of changing policy parameters regarding feed-in tariffs. Greater premium is found in localities with a larger share of votes for the Green Party and Australian Labor Party in 2008 State Election and votes for no daylight saving in 2009 State Referendum, registered Prius hybrid vehicles and college graduates and postgraduates. The results have significant implications for property owners, builders, financial institutions, PV retailers, and policy makers. |
| Keywords: | Hedonic, Repeated Sales, Solar Panels, Photovoltaic, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, O18, Q42, R21, |
| Date: | 2015–03–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uwauwp:199230&r=ure |
| By: | Armando J. Garcia Pires; José Pedro Pontes |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we develop a Listian model of economic development. The economy consists of a primary sector and a potential industrial sector that can arise via industrialization. Industrialization however depends on if the primary sector specializes on the primary product, which can lead to a division of labor between the primary and the industrial sector. In this case, the industrial sector will use a modern technology to produce industrial goods. If such does not occur, the primary sector continues to produce all goods with a traditional technology of production. In addition, the industrial sector has to decide if it concentrates production in one location or if it disperses production in two locations. We show that the level of transport costs matters for division of labor and for the degree of manufacturing agglomeration if and only if the refinement of the primary input is strong, i.e., if the raw material loses a lot of weight through industrial transformation. Otherwise, if the industrial process is not so much “weight-losing”, industrialization can begin with a decentralized symmetric spatial pattern independently of the transport costs level. |
| Keywords: | Friedrich List; Economic Development; Industrial Agglomeration; Division of Labor. |
| JEL: | O14 R11 R30 |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ise:isegwp:wp032015&r=ure |
| By: | Andrea Lassmann (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Peter Egger (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effect of sharing a common native language on international trade. Switzerland hosts three major native language groups which adjoin countries sharing the same native majority languages. In regions close to the internal language border the alternate major language is taught early on in school and not only understood but spoken by the residents. This setting allows for an assessment of the impact of common native rather than spoken language on transaction-level imports from neighbouring countries. Our findings point to an effect of common native language on extensive rather than on intensive margins of trade. |
| Keywords: | Common native language, Culture, International trade, Regression discontinuity design, Quasi-randomised experiments |
| JEL: | C14 C21 F14 R12 Z10 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kof:wpskof:15-374&r=ure |
| By: | Jingquan, Li; Chan, Ching-Yao; Zhou, Kun; Zhang, Wei-Bin |
| Abstract: | This report documents a research effort to understand the current practice and issues associated with Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) planning and deployment. It reviewed the design options incorporated into existing BRT deployments across California and the nation. The project team interviewed practitioners of California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) Districts and transit agencies to understand the BRT project approval decision-making process, the impacts of BRT implementation and the Measures of Effectiveness (MOEs) for transit and non-transit system performance. The studies revealed that though Caltrans and transit agencies do use a similar set of MOEs for the evaluation of BRT projects, the emphasis and parametric assumptions for the MOEs may be different and can influence the results of the evaluation. Other evaluation criteria and factors must be considered. This study concluded that a systematic approach needs to be developed and taken in the BRT planning process. |
| Keywords: | Engineering, Bus rapid transit, measures of effectiveness, evaluation, traffic congestion, California Department of Transportation |
| Date: | 2015–03–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsrrp:qt90z0n86b&r=ure |
| By: | Sandra Schaffner; Barbara Treude |
| Abstract: | Since ethnic clustering is common in Germany, a better understanding of its effects on the integration of immigrants could be important for integration policies, especially in the light of rising immigration and a skilled worker shortage. Yet, both economic theory and empirical research for other countries cannot give a clear-cut answer to whether clustering is benefi cial or detrimental for immigrants’ integration. In this paper, the effect of residential clustering on the labour market outcome of first-generation immigrants in Germany is analysed empirically. It, thus, contributes to the literature by extending it to Germany on which hardly any research has been conducted. For the analysis, two measures for labour market integration are used: the employment probability and wage levels. In order to control for the endogeneity of the location decision, a two-step strategy is used, combining a control function and an instrumental variable (IV) approach. The results suggest a negative enclave effect on both employment and wages, that is even larger when sorting is taken into account. |
| Keywords: | Ethnic enclaves; residential clustering; labour market integration; migrants; wage differentials |
| JEL: | J61 J64 J31 R23 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0536&r=ure |
| By: | Dix Carneiro,Rafael; Kovak,Brian K. |
| Abstract: | This paper empirically studies the dynamics of labor market adjustment following the Brazilian trade reform of the 1990s. The paper uses variation in industry-speci?c tari? cuts interacted with initial regional industry mix to measure trade-induced local labor demand shocks and examines regional and individual labor market responses to those one-time shocks over two decades. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the analysis does not ?nd that the impact of local shocks is dissipated over time through wage-equalizing migration. Instead, it ?nds steadily growing e?ects of local shocks on regional formal sector wages and employment for 20 years. This ?nding can be rationalized in a simple equilibrium model with two complementary factors of production, labor and industry-speci?c factors such as capital, that adjust slowly and imperfectly to shocks. Next, the paper documents rich margins of adjustment induced by the trade reform at the regional and individual levels. Workers initially employed in harder hit regions face continuously deteriorating formal labor market outcomes relative to workers employed in less a?ected regions, and this gap persists even 20 years after the beginning of trade liberalization. Negative local trade shocks induce workers to shift out of the formal tradable sector and into the formal nontradable sector. Non-employment strongly increases in harder hit regions in the medium run, but in the longer run, non-employed workers eventually ?nd re-employment in the informal sector. Working age population does not react to these local shocks, but formal sector net migration does, consistent with the relative decline of the formal sector and growth of the informal sector in adversely a?ected regions. |
| Keywords: | Economic Theory&Research,Regional Economic Development,Labor Markets,Labor Policies,Emerging Markets |
| Date: | 2015–03–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7205&r=ure |
| By: | Michael Amior |
| Abstract: | The skill gap in geographical mobility is entirely driven by workers who report moving for a new job. A natural explanation lies in the large expected surplus accruing to skilled job matches. Just as large surpluses ease the frictions which impede job search in general, they also help overcome those frictions (specifically moving costs) which plague cross-city matching in particular. I reject the alternative hypothesis that mobility differences are driven by variation in the moving costs themselves, based on PSID evidence on self-reported willingness to move. Evidence on wage processes also supports my claims. |
| Keywords: | Internal migration, job search, education, skills |
| JEL: | J24 J61 J64 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1338&r=ure |
| By: | Olga Zeveleva (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the discursive construction of co-ethnic migration in German society. Taking a biographical study on ethnic Germans from the former Soviet Union as a starting point, the author traces co-ethnic immigrant pathways in German society and analyzes the legal frameworks, institutions, and organizations encountered by these migrants. The author employs a critical discourse analysis approach to texts relating to a camp where newly arriving immigrants live and undergo registration. The article proposes a new way of researching discursive construction, using biographical interviews as a starting point for identifying “localities of discourse” which are important to the group in question. Such an approach allows us to find relevant sources of discourse in a way that is grounded in empirical material, and subsequently to account for which discourses are appropriated by members of certain social groups, such as co-ethnic migrants. The article thus builds a bridge between biographical sociology and critical discourse analysis, using the former as a point of departure for framing the selection of materials for implementing the latter. The article makes a methodological contribution by introducing the concept “locality of discourse” as a bridge between biographical sociology and critical discourse analysis. The author also makes an empirical contribution by examining a border transit camp in Germany as a “locality of discourse” and showing how the camp informs our understanding of the place of co-ethnic migrants in German society |
| Keywords: | co-ethnic migration, repatriation, German migration policy, critical discourse analysis, borders. |
| JEL: | Z |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:61/soc/2015&r=ure |