|
on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Rosa Sanchis-Guarner (Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics & the CESifo Research Network) |
| Abstract: | An inflow of immigrants into a region impacts house prices in three ways. For a fixed level of local population, housing demand rises due to the increase in foreign-born population. In addition, immigrants can influence native location decisions and induce additional shifts in demand. Finally, changes in housing supply conditions can in turn affect prices. Existing reduced form estimates of the effect of immigration on house prices capture the sum of all these effects. In this paper I propose a methodology to identify the different channels driving the total effect. I show that, conditional on supply, total changes in housing demand can be decomposed into the sum of direct immigrant demand and indirect demand changes from relocated population. The size and sign of the indirect demand effect depends on the impact of immigration on native mobility. I use Spanish data during the period 2001-2012 to estimate the different elements of the decomposition, applying an instrumental variables strategy to obtain consistent coefficients. The results show that overlooking the impact of immigration on native location induces a sizeable difference between the total and the immigrant demand effects, affecting the interpretation of the estimates. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, housing, Spain, instrumental variables |
| JEL: | J61 R12 R21 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2017-14&r=ure |
| By: | Knut Are Aastveit (Norges Bank & Centre for Applied Macro and Petroleum Economics, BI Norwegian Business School); André K. Anundsen (Norges Bank) |
| Abstract: | The responsiveness of house prices to monetary policy shocks depends on the nature of the shock – expansionary versus contractionary – and on local housing supply elasticities. These findings are established based on a panel of 263 US metropolitan areas. We test and find supporting evidence for the hypothesis that expansionary monetary policy shocks have a larger impact on house prices when supply elasticities are low. Our results also suggest that contractionary shocks are orthogonal to supply elasticities, as implied by downward rigidity of housing supply. A standard theoretical conjecture is that contractionary shocks have a greater impact on house prices than expansionary shocks, as long as supply is not perfectly inelastic. For areas with high housing supply elasticity, our results are in line with this conjecture. However, for areas with an inelastic housing supply, we find that expansionary shocks have a greater impact on house prices than contractionary shocks. We provide evidence that the direction of the asymmetry is related to a momentum effect that is more pronounced when house prices are increasing than when they are falling. |
| Keywords: | House prices, Heterogeneity, Monetary policy, Non-linearity, Supply elasticities |
| JEL: | E32 E43 E52 R21 R31 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2018-08&r=ure |
| By: | Foote, Christopher L. (Federal Reserve Bank of Boston); Loewenstein, Lara (Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland); Willen, Paul S. (Federal Reserve Bank of Boston) |
| Abstract: | The application of information technology to finance, or “fintech,” is expected to revolutionize many aspects of borrowing and lending in the future, but technology has been reshaping consumer and mortgage lending for many years. During the 1990s computerization allowed mortgage lenders to reduce loan-processing times and largely replace human-based assessment of credit risk with default predictions generated by sophisticated empirical models. Debt-to-income ratios at origination add little to the predictive power of these models, so the new automated underwriting systems allowed higher debt-to-income ratios than previous underwriting guidelines would have typically accepted. In this way, technology brought about an exogenous change in lending standards, which helped raise the homeownership rate and encourage the conversion of rental properties to owner-occupied ones, but did not have large effects on housing prices. Technological innovation in mortgage underwriting may have allowed the 2000s housing boom to grow, however, because it enhanced the ability of both borrowers and lenders to act on optimistic beliefs about future house-price growth. |
| Keywords: | Mortgage underwriting; housing cycle; technological change; credit boom; |
| JEL: | D53 G21 L85 R21 R31 |
| Date: | 2018–12–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedcwp:1816&r=ure |
| By: | Federico Curci (Universidad Carlos III); Federico Masera (University of New South Wales) |
| Abstract: | In the post World War II period, most U.S. cities experienced large movements of population from the city centers to the suburbs. In this paper we provide causal evidence that this process of suburbanization can be explained by the rise of violent crime in city centers. We do so by proposing a new instrument to exogenously predict violent crime. This instrument uses as time variation the U.S. national levels of lead poisoning. Cross-sectional variation comes from a proxy for soil quality, which explains the fate of lead in soil and its subsequent bioavailability. Using data for more than 300 U.S. cities, results show that the increase in violent crime from the level in 1960 to its maximum in 1991 decreased the proportion of people living in city centers by 15 percentage points. This increase in crime moved almost 25 million people to the suburbs. As a result of suburbanization, we find that people remaining in the city center are more likely to be black people, consistent with the “white flight" phenomenon. We then demonstrate that this suburbanization process had aggregate effects on the city. Exploiting a spatial equilibrium model, we determine that violent crime had externalities on productivity and amenities. |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2018-09&r=ure |
| By: | Dorothée Brécard (LEAD - Laboratoire d'Économie Appliquée au Développement - UTLN - Université de Toulon); Rémy Le Boennec (VeDeCom - VEhicule DEcarboné et COmmuniquant et sa Mobilité, LGI - Laboratoire Génie Industriel - EA 2606 - CentraleSupélec); Frédéric Salladarré (CREM - Centre de recherche en économie et management - UNICAEN - Université de Caen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - UR1 - Université de Rennes 1 - UNIV-RENNES - Université de Rennes - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, LEMNA - Laboratoire d'économie et de management de Nantes Atlantique - IEMN-IAE Nantes - Institut d'Économie et de Management de Nantes - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises - Nantes - UN - Université de Nantes - IUML - FR 3473 Institut universitaire Mer et Littoral - UM - Le Mans Université - UA - Université d'Angers - UN - Université de Nantes - ECN - École Centrale de Nantes - UBS - Université de Bretagne Sud - IFREMER - Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | In this empirical article, we analyze the extent to which accessibility and environmental variables are capitalized in apartment prices in Nantes Métropole, France. Using a sample of 5,590 transactions in 2002, 2006, 2008 from the Perval database, we estimate a spatial hedonic price model that takes into account spatial autocorrelation and spatial heterogeneity. Special attention is also paid to the construction of environmental quality variables (noise exposure , air pollution). We find that apartment prices depend positively on proximity to Nantes city centre but that the public transport network (urban or non-urban) has no significant influence. Noise reduction is valued, but only at low or marginal levels of significance. Last, air quality does not significantly influence apartment prices. These results can be related to good accessibility and environmental quality in Nantes Métropole which probably makes households less sensitive to these issues than in other geographical contexts. This seems to provide little support for sustainable urban mobility plans favoring better accessibility, unless public authorities also target the greater awareness of the use of virtuous modes of transport. |
| Keywords: | noise exposure,air quality,spatial econometrics,hedonic price model,accessibility |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01916489&r=ure |
| By: | Arnaud Chevalier; Benjamin Elsner; Andreas Lichter; Nico Pestel |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the impact of immigration on public policy setting. As a natural experiment, we exploit the sudden arrival of eight million forced migrants in West Germany after World War II. These migrants were on average poorer than the West German population, but unlike most international migrants they had full voting rights and were eligible for social welfare. Using panel data for West German cities and applying difference-in-differences and an instrumental variables approach, we show that local governments responded to this migration shock with selective and persistent tax raises as well as shifts in spending. In response to the inflow, farm and business owners were taxed more while residential property and wage bill taxes were left unchanged. Moreover, high-inflow cities significantly raised welfare spending while reducing spending on infrastructure and housing. Election data suggest that these policy changes were partly driven by the political influence of the immigrants: in high-inflow regions, the major parties were more likely to nominate immigrants as candidates, and a pro-immigrant party received high vote shares. We further document that this episode of mass immigration had lasting effects on people’s preferences for redistribution. In areas with larger inflows in the 1940s, people have substantially higher demand for redistribution more than 50 years later. |
| Keywords: | Migration; Taxation; Spending; Welfare state |
| JEL: | J61 H25 |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucn:wpaper:201814&r=ure |
| By: | Miquel-Àngel Garcia-López (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | I investigate the effect of highways on residential sprawl in European cities between 1990 and 2012. I find that a 10% increase in the stock of highways (km) causes a 0.4% growth in the residential land area, a 1.7% growth in the number of residential lots, and a 0.7% growth in the percentage of undeveloped land surrounding residential land over 20 years. At the regional level, only the effect on residential area is smaller in Northwestern cities than in Mediterranean and Eastern LUZs. I also explore the impact on population growth a la Duranton and Turner (2012) and find significant positive effects. Jointly, land and population results show a negative effect of highways on the intensity of use of land. As a whole, these results confirm that highways expand cities with more fragmented residential developments surrounded by undeveloped land and reducing the overall city density. |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2018-02&r=ure |
| By: | Roberto Evangelio (Infrastructure Victoria); Simon Hone (Aither); Moses Lee (Infrastructure Victoria); David Prentice (Infrastructure Victoria) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides the first estimates of the effects of parks on house prices within Victoria. We estimate hedonic regressions of house prices on the distance to six types of parks as well as a wide range of other amenities that may impact on house prices. We find that moving from the median to the first percentile of distances from a park is associated with increased property prices of up to $86,000. Parks are more likely to have a positive effect on house prices in regional Victoria than in Melbourne, where we speculate that for some types of parks, congestion or other types of negative externalities may be present. The current guidelines for cost-benefit analysis for transport projects do not include values for amenity effects. So the results of this work can be used to construct estimates of the amenity value of a park for a rapid cost benefit analysis. |
| Keywords: | Cost-Benefit Analysis, Parks, Amenity, Hedonic Regressions, Australia, Victoria |
| JEL: | C21 D61 D62 R00 |
| Date: | 2018–12–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inv:tpaper:201804&r=ure |
| By: | Andres Gomez-Lievano; Oscar Patterson-Lomba |
| Abstract: | The distribution of employment across industries determines the economic profiles of cities. But what drives the distribution of employment? We study a simple model for the probability that an individual in a city is employed in a given urban activity. The theory posits that three quantities drive this probability: the activity-specific complexity, individual-specific knowhow, and the city-specific collective knowhow. We use data on employment across industries and metropolitan statistical areas in the US, from 1990 to 2016, to show that these drivers can be measured and have measurable consequences. First, we analyze the functional form of the probability function proposed by the theory, and show its superiority when compared to competing alternatives. Second, we show that individual and collective knowhow correlate with measures of urban economic performance, suggesting the theory can provide testable implications for why some cities are more prosperous than others. |
| Date: | 2018–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1812.02842&r=ure |
| By: | Alberto Vesperoni; Paul Schweinzer |
| Abstract: | We propose a simple model of distribution of economic activity across cities of endogenous size and number determined by individual incentives in the tradition of threshold models of social interaction. The individuals populating our model are endowed with idiosyncratic entrepreneurial creativity the realization of which requires urban agglomeration linked to a crowding cost. As the latter is higher in cities of larger size, this leads to a trade-off between productivity and congestion. While our focus on distributive aspects comes at the cost of highly stylized behavior, we aim to provide a tractable framework to think about the interlinkages between various measures of urban development which became increasingly available through accessible data sets. Our predictions include an U-shaped relationship between the well-known measures of urbanization and urban primacy, a hypothesis that we test empirically using World Bank data. |
| Keywords: | agglomeration, urbanization, development |
| JEL: | C70 D71 O18 Q56 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7326&r=ure |
| By: | Rafael González-Val (Universidad de Zaragoza & IEB) |
| Abstract: | We study the US city size distribution over space. This paper makes two contributions to the empirical literature on city size distributions. First, this study uses data from different definitions of US cities in 2010 to study the distribution of cities in space, finding significant patterns of dispersion depending on city size. Second, the paper proposes a new distance-based approach to analyse the influence of distance on the city size distribution parameters, considering both the Pareto and lognormal distributions. By using all possible combinations of cities within a 300-mile radius, results indicate that the Pareto distribution cannot be rejected in most of the cases regardless of city size. Placebo regressions validate our results, thereby confirming the significant effect of geography on the Pareto exponent. |
| Keywords: | Space, city size distribution, distance-based approach, Pareto distribution, Zipf’s law, lognormal distribution |
| JEL: | C12 C14 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2017-18&r=ure |
| By: | Michela Carlana; Eliana La Ferrara; Paolo Pinotti |
| Abstract: | We study the educational choices of children of immigrants in a tracked school system. We first show that immigrant boys in Italy enroll disproportionately into vocational high schools, as opposed to technical and academically-oriented high schools, compared to natives of similar ability. Immigrant girls, instead, choose similar schools as native ones. We then estimate the impact of a large-scale, randomized intervention providing tutoring and career counseling to high-ability immigrant students. Male treated students increase their probability of enrolling into the high track to the same level of natives, also closing the gap in terms of grade retention. There are no significant effects on immigrant females, who exhibit similar choices and performance as native ones in absence of the intervention. Increases in academic motivation and the resulting changes in teachers’ recommendation regarding high school choice explain a sizable portion of the effect, while the effect of increases in cognitive skills is negligible. Finally, we find positive spillovers on immigrant classmates of treated students, while there is no effect on native classmates. |
| Keywords: | tracking, career choice, immigrants, aspirations, mentoring |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:don:donwpa:111&r=ure |
| By: | Christoph Eder; Martin Halla |
| Abstract: | The East-West gap in the German population is believed to originate from migrants escaping the socialist regime in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). We use newly collected regional data and the combination of a regression discontinuity design in space with a difference-in-differences approach to document that the largest part of this gap is due to a massive internal migration wave 3 years prior to the establishment of the GDR. The timing and spatial pattern of this migration movement suggest that the dominant motive was escaping physical assault by the Soviet army and not avoiding the socialist regime. The gap in population has remained remarkably sharp in space and is growing. |
| Keywords: | Institutions, wartime violence against civilians, regional migration, World War II, Germany, spatial distribution, regional economic activity |
| JEL: | N44 N94 R23 R11 R12 J61 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jku:econwp:2018_17&r=ure |
| By: | Adalid, Ramón; Falagiarda, Matteo |
| Abstract: | We propose a method to decompose net lending flows into loan origination and repayments. We show that a boom in loan origination is transmitted to repayments with a very long lag, depressing the growth rate of the stock for many periods. In the euro area, repayments of the mortgage loans granted in the boom preceding the financial crisis have been dragging down net loan growth in recent years. This concealed an increasing dynamism in loan origination, especially during the last wave of ECB’s non-standard measures. Using loan origination instead of net loans has important implications for understanding macroeconomic developments. For instance, the robust developments in loan origination in recent times explain the strengthening in housing markets better than net loans. Moreover, credit supply restrictions during the crisis are estimated to be smaller. Overall, there is a premium on using loan origination and repayments in economic models, especially after large booms. JEL Classification: E17, E44, G01, D14 |
| Keywords: | amortisation rate, housing markets, loan repayments, new lending |
| Date: | 2018–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20182211&r=ure |
| By: | Vives Coscojuela, Cecilia |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effect of home-owners' migration costs on unemployment in an economy where workers move both for work- and non-work-related reasons. To this end, a search model with heterogeneous locations is developed and calibrated to the US economy. Both the employment and unemployment exit rates are endogenous. Migration costs imply that home-owners quit their jobs less often than renters and find jobs at a higher rate. Consistent with the empirical evidence, the model predicts that home-owners have a lower unemployment rate than renters. |
| Keywords: | unemployment, labour, mobility, home, ownership |
| JEL: | J61 J64 R23 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehu:ikerla:30207&r=ure |
| By: | Aliza N. Husain; David A. Matsa; Amalia R. Miller |
| Abstract: | Using a 40-year panel of all public school teachers and principals in New York State, we explore how female principals affect rates of teacher turnover—an important determinant of school quality. We find that male teachers are about 12% more likely to leave their schools when they work under female principals than under male principals. In contrast, we find no such effects for female teachers. Furthermore, when male teachers request transfers, they are more likely to be to schools with male principals. These results suggest that opposition from male subordinates could inhibit female progress in leadership. |
| JEL: | J16 J45 J71 K31 M51 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25263&r=ure |
| By: | Chang Liu; Wei Xiong |
| Abstract: | Since the 1990s, China's real estate market has experienced a dramatic and long-lasting boom across China. This boom has led to substantial concerns in both academic and policy circles that the rising housing prices might have developed into a gigantic housing bubble, which might eventually burst and damage China’s financial system and economy. Motivated by this concern, this paper reviews the historical development of China’s real estate market, describes the real estate boom, and discusses its links to households, local governments, firms and the financial system. |
| JEL: | R21 R28 R3 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25297&r=ure |
| By: | Pierre-Philippe Combes (Univ Lyon & CNRS & GATE-LSE UMR 5824 & Sciences Po & Centre for Economic Policy Research); Gilles Duranton (Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania & Center for Economic Policy Research, the Spatial Economic Centre at the LSE, and the Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis); Laurent Gobillon (PSE-CNRS & Centre for Economic Policy Research & Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)) |
| Abstract: | We propose a new nonparametric approach to estimate the production function for housing. Our estimation treats output as a latent variable and relies on the firstorder condition for profit maximisation with respect to nonland inputs by competitive house builders. For parcels of a given size, we compute housing by summing across the marginal products of nonland inputs. Differences in nonland inputs are caused by differences in land prices that reflect differences in the demand for housing across locations. We implement our methodology on newlybuilt singlefamily homes in France. We find that the production function for housing is reasonably well, though not perfectly, approximated by a CobbDouglas function and close to constant returns after correcting for differences in user costs between land and nonland inputs and taking care of some estimation concerns. We estimate an elasticity of housing production with respect to nonland inputs of about 0.80. |
| Keywords: | Housing, production function |
| JEL: | R14 R31 R32 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2017-07&r=ure |
| By: | Mathieu Bunel; Samuel Gorohouna; Yannick L’Horty; Pascale Petit; Catherine Ris |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tep:teppwp:wp18-06&r=ure |
| By: | Graziella Bertocchi; Marianna Brunetti; Anzelika Zaiceva |
| Abstract: | Using rich Italian data for the period 2006-2014, we document sizeable gaps between native and immigrant households with respect to wealth holdings and financial decisions. Immigrant household heads hold less net wealth than native, but only above the median of the wealth distribution, with housing as the main driver. Immigrant status reduces the likelihood of holding risky assets, housing, mortgages, businesses, and valuables, while it increases the likelihood of financial fragility. Years since migration, countries of origin, and the pattern of intermarriage also matter. The Great Recession has worsened the condition of immigrants in terms of wealth holdings, home ownership, and financial fragility |
| Keywords: | immigrants, household finance, wealth, financial portfolios, Great Recession. |
| JEL: | F22 G11 D14 E21 J15 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:recent:137&r=ure |
| By: | Stöver, Britta |
| Abstract: | This paper quantifies and compares the direct and indirect effects of labour demand generated by each university location in Lower Saxony. The results are classified in order to identify regional patterns. The applied method is based on three components: the importance, the dynamics and the interdependence of the university related labour market in relation to the other economic sectors. The importance of the university locations for their respective local economy and in comparison with each other is assessed by an indicator. The dynamic and change of the importance of the different university locations is shown using a shift-share analysis. Both measures can be applied for a classification and spatial clustering of different types of university locations. Additionally, input-output-based employment multipliers are estimated to display the interaction of the university locations with the local economy. The results can be summarised in the identification of three differing regions. The south-east of Lower Saxony is characterised by big, established, well integrated university locations with low dynamics. Adjacent, smaller university locations have difficulties to emerge of the shadows of the dominant locations. In the western part of Lower Saxony can be found small to big university locations with growing importance and continuous development potential. The university locations in the north east are small to medium sized and rather unimportant for the local as well as the total labour market. |
| Keywords: | Regional Input-Output table; employment multiplier; spatial analysis; classification; (in)direct employment effects; universities |
| JEL: | I23 J48 R12 R15 |
| Date: | 2018–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:han:dpaper:dp-646&r=ure |
| By: | Felipe Carozzi (London School of Economics); Luca Repetto (Uppsala University) |
| Abstract: | We study distributive politics inside cities by analysing how local governments allocate investment projects to voters across neighbourhoods. In particular, we ask whether politicians use investment to target their own supporters. To this aim, we use detailed geo-located investment data from Plan E, a large fiscal stimulus program carried out in Spain in 2009-2011. Our empirical strategy is based on a close-elections regression-discontinuity design. In contrast to previous studies – which use aggregate data at the district or municipal level – we exploit spatial variation in both investment and voter support within municipalities and find no evidence of supporter targeting. Complementary results indicate that voters may be responding to investment by increasing turnout. Overall, our findings suggest that distributive politics only play a minor role inside the city. |
| Keywords: | Political economy, distributive politics, partisan alignment, local governments |
| JEL: | H70 R53 D72 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2017-09&r=ure |
| By: | Sönke Hendrik Matthewes |
| Abstract: | This study estimates mean and distributional effects of early between-school ability tracking on student achievement. For identification, I exploit heterogeneity in tracking regimes between German federal states. After comprehensive primary school, about 40% of students are selected for the academic track and taught in separate schools in all states. The remaining students, however, are either taught comprehensively or further tracked into two different school forms depending on the state. I estimate the effects of this tracking on students’ mathematics and reading test scores with a difference-in-difference-in-differences estimator to eliminate unobserved heterogeneity in achievement levels and trends between states. I find substantial achievement gains from comprehensive versus tracked schooling at ages 10–12. These average effects are almost entirely driven by low-achievers. I do not find evidence for negative effects of comprehensive schooling on the achievement of higher performing students. My results show that decreasing the degree of tracking in early secondary school can reduce inequality while increasing the efficiency of educational production. |
| Keywords: | Tracking, student achievement, inequality, triple differences |
| JEL: | I24 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1775&r=ure |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | The concept of megaregions is increasingly put forward among academics and policy makers as a new scale of economic co-ordination and social organisation. A megaregion is most commonly understood as an economic unit that comprises an agglomeration of cities and its less dense hinterlands, which are linked through infrastructure, economic connections, settlement patterns and land use, topography, an environmental system or a shared culture and history that together shape a common interest for the wider region. While there is an extensive literature on the potential benefits of a megaregion, work has been more limited in terms of identifying megaregions in an international context. This paper introduces an approach to delineate potential megaregions in the OECD. |
| Keywords: | mean-shift algorithm, Megaregions, new economic geography, urban geography |
| JEL: | O18 R10 R12 |
| Date: | 2018–12–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:govaab:2018/04-en&r=ure |
| By: | Lucia Bombieri (Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Migration floods have dramatically increased in frequency and numbers over the past two decades. The phenomenon is continually changing in characteristics and populations affected by it. The challenges they are posing are evolving, as well, and they demand a difficult shift in the host communities. The focus of this paper is on the key role teachers play in facilitating or impeding integration. We collected data in Italy among 5th-grade students (10-11 y.o.) observing how teachers' instructions and arised empathy can modulate the likeability, ingroup/outgroup identification and acculturation expectations toward a fictional immigrant peer. Results are still under processing, but at this preliminary stage the impact of both teachers and empathy seems to be confirmed, even though at different extents. Implications, limitations and future directions will be discussed. |
| Keywords: | teacher's role, immigration, empathy, integration |
| JEL: | I00 I24 J15 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:6709516&r=ure |
| By: | David R. Agrawal (University of Kentucky & CESifo); Dirk Foremny (Universitat de Barcelona & Institut d’Economia de Barcelona (IEB)) |
| Abstract: | A recent Spanish tax reform granted regions the authority to set income tax rates, resulting in substantial tax differentials. We use individual-level information from Social Security records over a period of one decade. Conditional on moving, taxes have a significant effect on location choice. A one percent increase in the net of tax rate for a region relative to others increases the probability of moving to that region by 1.7 percentage points. Focusing on the stock of top-taxpayers, we estimate an elasticity of the number of top taxpayers with respect to net-of-tax rates of 0.85. Using this elasticity, a theoretical model implies that the mechanical increase in tax revenue due to higher tax rates is larger than the loss in tax revenue from the out-flow of migration. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Taxes, Mobility, Rich, Fiscal Decentralization |
| JEL: | H24 H31 H73 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2018-06&r=ure |
| By: | John Polesel (The University of Melbourne); Mary Leahy (The University of Melbourne) |
| Abstract: | The links between tracked secondary schooling and social selection form part of a complex narrative regarding educational inequality in European schools. The relative contribution of family and school to unequal educational outcomes has dominated educational debates across the continent for more than fifty years. This article contributes to this debate by focussing on students in the final year of schooling in northern Italy. It asks whether there are social differences in enrolments and aspirations across the three different types of schools. It also considers whether aspirations can be linked to differences in levels of family support or to school-related factors. To examine these links, we consider four main ways of conceptualising aspirations and propose an approach that draw on theories explaining preference formation and choice. |
| Keywords: | Education. Schools. Inequality. Social selection |
| JEL: | I24 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:6708773&r=ure |
| By: | Morgan Kelly; Cormac Ó Gráda |
| Abstract: | Although urban growth historically depended on large inflows of migrants, little is known of the process of migration in the era before railways. Here we use detailed data for Paris on women arrested for prostitution in the 1760s, or registered as prostitutes in the 1830s and 1850s; and of men holding identity cards in the 1790s, to examine patterns of female and male migration. We supplement these with data on all women and men buried in 1833. Migration was highest from areas of high living standards, measured by literacy rates. Distance was a strong deterrent to female migration (reflecting limited employment opportunities) that falls with railways, whereas its considerably lower impact on men barely changes through the nineteenth century. |
| Keywords: | Migration; Gravity; Prostitution |
| JEL: | N |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucn:wpaper:201810&r=ure |
| By: | Henderson, Dylan; Roche, Neil |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the policy mix for broadband infrastructure deployment, and asks what role is there for coordination agents. While research has begun to examine coordination of policy, analysis has largely focused on organization and structures. This paper seeks to develop this further by examining the informal role that coordination actors play in managing synergies and tensions in the policy mix. The research highlights shared synergies in policy objectives for broadband deployment at multiple levels of governance – EU, UK, regional and local authority. Tensions, however, are found in the deployment process at the regional level, as broadband policy objectives interact with those for highways and planning agendas. In seeking to manage these tensions it highlights three coordination roles – champion, troubleshooter and monitor - and shows how these help to address conflicts and tensions that emerge. While the research suggests such tensions are impossible to fully eliminate, the findings show how the work of these informal actors helps to mediate their effects and support the deployment of broadband. These findings are drawn from an in-depth study of broadband policy in Wales between 2012 and 2017, including interviews with the policy community, analysis of news articles and review of policy documentation. |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse18:184944&r=ure |
| By: | König, Michael; Rogers, Tim |
| Abstract: | We study the coevolutionary dynamics of knowledge creation and diffusion with the formation of R&D collaboration networks. Differently to previous works, we do not treat knowledge as an abstract scalar variable, but rather represent it as a multidimensional portfolio of technologies. Over time the composition of this portfolio may change due innovations and knowledge spillovers between collaborating firms. The collaborations between firms, in turn, are dynamically adjusted based on the firms' expectations of learning a new technology from their collaboration partners. We show that the interplay between knowledge diffusion, network formation and competition across sectors can give rise to a cyclical pattern in the collaboration intensity, which can be described as a damped oscillation. This theoretical finding recapitulates the novel observation of oscillations in an empirical sample of a large R&D collaboration network over several decades. Finally, we apply our findings to describe how an effective R&D policy can balance subsidies for entrants as well as R&D collaborations between incumbent firms. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; network formation; R&D networks; technology cycles |
| JEL: | D85 L24 O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13307&r=ure |
| By: | Hansjörg Blöchliger (OECD); Olivier Durand-Lasserve (OECD) |
| Abstract: | Russia is a federation of more than 80 regions spanning across a huge territory. Natural resource endowment, inherited industrial specialization, remoteness and climate conditions contribute to large regional disparities. This paper presents an empirical framework model for assessing determinants of regional growth in Russia between 2004 and 2015 with an extension to include sub-national fiscal policies. Baseline results show convergence rates of regional GDP per capita in line with the 2% “iron law of convergence” between countries. Capital investment, and public investment in particular, is a stronger driver of regional growth than in most OECD countries. Natural-resource rich regions are growing faster, and oil price shocks have little economic impact in these regions, pointing at Russia’s centralized tax and transfer system. Subnational current government expenditure is associated with lower growth and slower regional convergence, suggesting low sub-national spending efficiency. There is also weak evidence that sub-national investment yields higher returns than federal government investment. Transfers have mixed effects depending on their nature. Budget equalization grants tend to slow regional growth as they reduce incentives to improve spending efficiency. On the other hand earmarked matching grants tend to spur growth and convergence as they direct resources towards more productive spending. |
| Keywords: | empirical growth model, fiscal federalism, public investment, Regional convergence |
| JEL: | H72 O47 P25 R12 R50 |
| Date: | 2018–12–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1523-en&r=ure |
| By: | Crudu, Federico; Neri, Laura; Tiezzi, Silvia |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of overweight family members on weight outcomes of Italian children aged 6 to 14 years. We use an original dataset matching the 2012 cross sections of the Italian Multipurpose Household Survey and the Household Budget Survey. Since identification of peer effects within the family is well known to be a difficult challenge, we implement our analysis on a partially identified model by means of valid inferential procedures recently introduced in the literature and based on standard Bayesian computation methods. We find evidence of a strong, positive effect of both overweight peer children in the family and overweight adults on children weight outcomes. The impact of overweight peer children in the household is larger than the impact of adults. |
| Keywords: | Children obesity; peer effects within the family; partial identification; confidence sets. |
| JEL: | C15 C21 C35 I12 |
| Date: | 2018–04–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:90360&r=ure |
| By: | Dauth, Wolfgang; Findeisen, Sebastian; Moretti, Enrico; Südekum, Jens |
| Abstract: | In most countries, average wages tend to be higher in larger cities. In this paper, we focus on the role played by the matching of workers to firms in explaining geographical wage differences. Using rich administrative German data for 1985-2014, we show that wages in large cities are higher not only because large cities attract more high-quality workers, but also because high quality workers are significantly more likely to be matched to high-quality plants. In particular, we find that assortative matching-measured by the correlation of worker fixed effects and plant fixed effects-is significantly stronger in large cities. The elasticity of assortative matching with respect to population has increased by around 75%in the last 30 years. We estimate that in a hypothetical scenario in which we keep the quality and location of German workers and plants unchanged, and equalize within-city assortative matching geographical wage inequality in Germany would decrease significantly. Overall, assortative matching magnifies wage differences caused by worker sorting and is a key factor in explaining the growth of wage disparities between communities over the last three decades. If high-quality workers and firms are complements in production, moreover, increased assortative matching will increase aggregate earnings. We estimate that the increase in within-city assortative matching observed between 1985 and 2014 increased aggregate labor earnings in Germany by 2.1%, or 31.32 billion euros. We conclude that assortative matching increases earnings inequality across communities, but it also generates important efficiency gains for the German economy as a whole. |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13347&r=ure |
| By: | Benoît Desmarchelier (CLERSE - Centre Lillois d’Études et de Recherches Sociologiques et Économiques - UMR 8019 - Université de Lille - ULCO - Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Faridah Djellal (CLERSE - Centre Lillois d’Études et de Recherches Sociologiques et Économiques - UMR 8019 - Université de Lille - ULCO - Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Faïz Gallouj (CLERSE - Centre Lillois d’Études et de Recherches Sociologiques et Économiques - UMR 8019 - Université de Lille - ULCO - Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This article is dedicated to a consideration of the tertiarisation of innovation networks. While the concept of traditional innovation network (TIN) has been the object of an extensive literature, new expressions of the innovation network appear in a service and sustainable development economy: in particular Public Private Innovation Networks in Services (PPINSs), Public Service Innovation Networks (PSINs) and Public Service Innovation Networks for Social Innovation (PSINSIs). They reflect the rise to prominence of market and non-market services and of the public-private relationship in collaborative innovation. This article investigates and compares these different expressions of innovation networks. In particular, it sheds light on the different roles played by public services in each of them. |
| Keywords: | market services,public services,networks,innovation |
| Date: | 2018–09–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01934282&r=ure |
| By: | Emma Galli (Department of Social and Economic Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome (IT).); Ilde Rizzo (Department of Economics and Business, University of Catania (IT).); Carla Scaglioni (DiGiES, Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria (IT).) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we aim at assessing whether transparency is spatially determined at local level. To this end we use a new composite indicator (CTI) built by Galli et al. (2017) for a large sample of Italian Municipalities and control for several factors (socio-economic, fiscal and politico-institutional), which according to the literature affect transparency. Our preliminary results suggest that there is a statistically significant transparency clustering across the Italian municipalities, which follows a dichotomic pattern, i.e. either very low or very high. The empirical analysis shows that spatial dependence matters and similarities in transparency behaviour mainly occur among small Municipalities where citizens’ political participation is likely to be greater and the single ballot electoral system strengthens the incentives for government accountability. |
| Keywords: | Transparency, local governments, spatial dimension, determinants. |
| JEL: | K2 K4 H3 H7 |
| Date: | 2018–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:saq:wpaper:6/18&r=ure |
| By: | Richard Akresh; Daniel Halim; Marieke Kleemans |
| Abstract: | In 1973, the Indonesian government began one of the largest school construction programs ever. We use 2016 nationally representative data to examine the long-term and intergenerational effects of additional schooling as a child. We use a difference-in-differences identification strategy exploiting variation across birth cohorts and regions in the number of schools built. Men and women exposed to the program attain more education, although women’s effects are concentrated in primary school. As adults, men exposed to the program are more likely to be formal workers, work outside agriculture, and migrate. Households with parents exposed to the program have improved living standards and pay more government taxes. Education benefits are transmitted to the next generation. Increased parental education has larger impacts for daughters, particularly if mothers are exposed to school construction. Intergenerational results are driven by changes in the marriage partner’s characteristics, with spouses having more education and improved labor market outcomes. |
| JEL: | I2 J13 J62 O15 O22 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25265&r=ure |
| By: | Maria Carmela Aprile; Bruno Chiarini; Elisabetta Marzano |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a simple strategic model (defined as a shortsighted game) to highlight the incentives for local governments to allow the exploitation of land in areas not suitable for such exploitation due to environmental or other risks. Municipal discretionary policy inevitably produces strategic complementarities and guides individuals to use the land (to choose the most beneficial “shortsighted” Nash equilibrium). In light of these results, it seems possible to state that the definition of non-exploitable territory and the decisions concerning it should not be left to local governments. |
| Keywords: | land exploitation, municipal policy, strategic complementarities, myopic equilibrium |
| JEL: | C72 H31 H77 Q24 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7344&r=ure |
| By: | Wesley W. Wilson; Frank A. Wolak |
| Abstract: | A number of formerly regulated multiproduct industries have a transitional or permanent residual regulatory mandate to protect consumers from "excessive" prices. The legislation that deregulated most rail rates contains a statutory mandate for the regulator to protect shippers from "excessive" prices. Fulfilling this mandate has been challenging because of the cost and administrative burden to shippers in obtaining regulatory relief. Moreover, as argued by Wilson and Wolak (2016), the existing rate relief mechanism is based on a cost concept that does not reflect the actual incremental cost of a shipment and it does not adequately address the question of what constitutes an "excessive" rate for a multiproduct firm with significant common costs. This paper analyzes a benchmark price approach to identifying "excessive" prices in multiproduct industries subject to residual price regulation. Our empirical analyses demonstrate how the mechanism can be used to fulfill the statutory mandate to protect shippers from "excessive" prices at substantially lower cost, with less administrative burden, and without significant adverse consequences for the long-term financial viability of the railroads. |
| JEL: | L5 L9 L92 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25268&r=ure |
| By: | Pham, Tho; Talavera, Oleksandr; Tsapin, Andriy |
| Abstract: | This paper exploits the geopolitical conflict in Eastern Ukraine as a negative shock to banking sector and examines the shock transmission. We find that banks with more loans in the conflict areas during the pre-conflict period face a higher level of bad loans in other markets after the shock. This effect is stronger in the regional markets which are closer to the conflict zone. We also find evidence for the “flight to headquarters” effect in post-conflict lending. Specifically, while more affected banks tend to cut their credit supply, the larger contraction is observed in regional markets located farther from headquarters. |
| JEL: | G01 G21 |
| Date: | 2018–11–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bof:bofitp:2018_021&r=ure |
| By: | Nicolas Debarsy (CERPE - Centre de Recherches en Economie Régionale et Politique Economique - Facultés Universitaires Notre Dame de la Paix (FUNDP) - Namur, LEM - Lille - Economie et Management - UCL - Université catholique de Lille - Université de Lille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Cyrille Dossougoin (UCL - Université Catholique de Louvain); Cem Ertur (LEO - Laboratoire d'économie d'Orleans - UO - Université d'Orléans - Université de Tours - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Jean-Yves Gnabo (CeReFiM - Center for Research in Finance and Management - Université de Namur [Namur]) |
| Abstract: | We contribute to the literature on international risk spillovers by developing a unified framework based on spatial econometrics that enables us to address the following questions: (i) what are the effective transmission channels – real linkages and informational channels – of international risk spillovers across countries and/or regions, (ii) what are the most dominant ones, and (iii) which countries are most at risk for their environment and which are suffering the most from international exposure. Our analysis, based on 41 advanced and emerging economies from 2008Q1 to 2012Q4, shows that among the considered channels for explaining international spillovers of sovereign bond spreads, the informational channel is of utmost importance. Our results challenge previous findings from the literature in which the empirical strategy did not accommodate altogether important features of country spillovers, such as the co-existence of multiple transmission channels in the presence of contemporaneous and time-lagged interactions. Ultimately, our stress-testing analysis reveals important insights on countries prone either to international spillovers, international exposure or both at the regional and the worldwide level. |
| Keywords: | Spillover analysis,Spatial dynamic panel data,Sovereign risk,Transmission channels |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01744629&r=ure |
| By: | Schnepf, Sylke (European Commission – JRC) |
| Abstract: | Student mobility is the most recognised element of Erasmus+, a major EU policy which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2017. It is clearly popular with an increase in student uptake from 3.2 to 272.5 thousands from 1987 to 2014. Recent studies show that studying abroad provides benefits like improved employment chances and language competences. These benefits are not equally distributed among graduates, since recent literature shows that disadvantaged students are less likely to study abroad than better off students. This is explained by differing social capital of individuals from diverse socio-economic backgrounds which impacts on different choices. However, not much is known about the role of social segregation in universities and subjects studied. Using multilevel logistic regressions this paper examines two main research questions. First, how important is social segregation in universities and subjects for unequal mobility uptake? Second, how much of existing differences in mobility by socio-economic background can be explained by ability of students? Throughout, results for Erasmus mobility will be compared with those of other mobility schemes organised by higher education institutes. The study exploits population data of more than 500,000 UK graduates of the 2010/11, 2012/13 and 2014/15 cohorts deriving from the Higher Education Statistics Agency data (HESA). Results show that a considerable part of unequal mobility uptake is explained by social segregation in universities and subjects even if graduates’ upper secondary school grades are taken into account. Policy makers aiming to increase mobility uptake of disadvantaged students could allocate resources for mobility more equally across universities. |
| Keywords: | Erasmus, mobility uptake, credit mobility, study abroad, social segregation, UK |
| JEL: | I23 I24 I28 |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrs:wpaper:201806&r=ure |
| By: | Astrid Pennerstorfer; Dieter Pennerstorfer |
| Abstract: | In this article we propose an innovative way of delineating geographical markets based on easily accessible data. We apply this concept for the day care industry and investigate providers’ location choices relative to local market characteristics to evaluate the widespread presumption that local markets for child care services are geographically very small. Using a panel of all day care centers for the metropolitan region of Vienna, Austria, for nearly a decade, as well as geographically extremely disaggregated data on the spatial distribution of children under the age of six at the 250m × 250m grid cell level, we find that the location of children and day care centers are strongly related, but this relationship diminishes as soon as the distance between a child’s place of residence and the day care center’s location increases. We conclude that geographical markets for day care services in metropolitan regions are indeed very small (about 500m or 550 yards). |
| Keywords: | spatial market definition, location choice, market entry, child care, grid data |
| JEL: | R30 R53 L10 H44 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jku:econwp:2018_14&r=ure |
| By: | Gerard Ferrer-Esteban (Fondazione Giovanni Agnelli); Mauro Mediavilla (Universitat de València & IEB) |
| Abstract: | Social capital can be understood as network-based civic engagement, based on reciprocity and trust. This sociological approach, however, is faced with problems when assuming network-based social capital as a stock of capital. Any form of capital should have a positive economic payoff, should be measurable, and should define the mechanisms through which social capital can be accumulated and depreciated (Solow, 1995). To meet these criteria, we refer to social capital as “persistent and shared beliefs and values that help a group overcome the free rider problem in the pursuit of socially valuable activities” (Guiso et al., 2010). In this study, we assess the role of education as a potential accumulation mechanism of civic awareness and social trust. We implement a pseudo-panel data approach to identify, specifically in Italy, the effect of education on social capital. The findings show that participation in education is likely to foster higher levels of social capital, understood as a culture-based concept of civic engagement. In Italy, we also observe heterogeneous effects depending on the geographical location along the north-south axis. The Islands and the South, geographical areas in which levels of social capital are typically lower, are the areas where education shows a higher impact on civic awareness and social trust. We discuss and substantiate the results in terms of education policy implications. |
| Keywords: | Returns to education, civic participation, social capital, dynamic models with repeated cross-sectional data |
| JEL: | C21 I21 I24 Z13 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2017-13&r=ure |
| By: | Gerli, Paolo; Whalley, Jason |
| Abstract: | Although digitisation offers multiple opportunities for rural areas, they still lag behind cities in terms of access and adoption of Internet-based services. This divide is the result of multiple market failures in both the demand and supply of broadband access, which have been addressed through public, private and community-led initiatives. Based on interviews and ethnographic analysis, this paper explores how a community network and a public-private partnership have contributed to promoting the delivery and adoption of superfast broadband in rural Cumbria, a county in the north of England. The case study analysis compares the outcomes of each model, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. Although expanding the coverage of superfast broadband across the county, the publicprivate partnership did not solve the access divide afflicting the hardest to reach areas. Some of the latter were served by the community network, which relied on volunteers and demand aggregation to reduce the cost of fibre rollout. The scalability of this approach, however, has yet to be demonstrated. On the demand side, both initiatives achieved a high take-up proving that the rural 'adoption' divide has decreased over the years. Nevertheless, more needs to be done to ensure that rural communities and businesses are able to leverage the benefits deriving from superfast broadband. |
| Keywords: | broadband,public initiatives,community initiatives,UK |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itse18:184941&r=ure |
| By: | Jean-François Arvis; Vincent Vesin; Robin Carruthers; César Ducruet (GC - Géographie-cités - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - UPD7 - Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Peter De Langen (Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences - TU/e - Technische Universiteit Eindhoven) |
| Abstract: | For millennia, the Mediterranean has been one of the most active trading areas, supported by a transport network connecting riparian cities and beyond to their hinterland. The Mediterranean has complex trade patterns and routes--but with key differences from the past. It is no longer an isolated world economy: it is both a trading area and a transit area linking Europe and North Africa with the rest of the world through the hub-and-spoke structure of maritime networks. Understanding how trade connectivity works in the Mediterranean, and elsewhere, is important to policy makers, especially those in developing countries in the Mediterranean, concerned with the economic benefits of large investment in infrastructure. Better connectivity is expected to increase trade with distant markets and stimulate activities in the hinterland. This book is a practical exploration of the three interdependent dimensions of trade connectivity: maritime networks, port efficiency, and hinterland connectivity. Because of the complexity and richness of maritime and trade patterns in the Mediterranean, the research book combines both a regional focus and globally scalable lessons. This book is intended for a wide readership of policy makers in maritime affairs, trade, or industry; professionals from the world of finance or development institutions; and academics. It combines empirical analysis of microeconomic shipping and port data with three case studies of choice of port (focusing on Spain, Egypt, and Morocco) and five case studies on hinterland development (Barcelona; Malta; Marseilles; Port Said East, Egypt; and Tanger Med, Morocco). |
| Date: | 2018–10–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01933726&r=ure |
| By: | David R. Agrawal; Mohammed Mardan |
| Abstract: | We develop a tax competition model that allows for the setting of both an origin-based and a destination-based commodity tax rate in the presence of avoidance and evasion. In the presence of evasion, jurisdictions will give cross-border shoppers tax preferential treatment, thus not fully exploiting the potential of destination-based taxation. Moreover, the divergence between origin-based and destination-based taxes is stronger when the incentives for consumers’ tax-arbitrage opportunities increase. The United States is one example of many such systems. While sales taxes are due at the point of sale, use taxes are due on goods purchased out-of-state. We document that when able to set both rates, a majority of jurisdictions levy destination-based use taxes at a lower rate than origin-based sales taxes. In response to changes in state-level policies that increase tax avoidance opportunities, the results of the empirical model broadly confirm our theory. |
| Keywords: | tax evasion, tax avoidance, destination taxation, origin taxation, tax competition, use tax, sales tax |
| JEL: | C72 H21 H25 H26 H77 P16 R51 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7365&r=ure |
| By: | Bryson, Alex (University College London); Stokes, Lucy (National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR)); Wilkinson, David (University College London) |
| Abstract: | Linking the Workplace Employment Relations Surveys 2004 and 2011 to administrative data on pupil attainment in England we examine whether secondary and primary schools who deploy more intensive human resource management (HRM) practices have higher pupil attainment. We find intensive use of HRM practices is positively and significantly correlated with higher labour productivity and quality of provision, and with better financial performance, most notably in primary schools, but it is not associated with higher pupil attainment as indicated by assessment scores at Key Stage 2, Key Stage 4 and value-added measures based on assessments at these points. |
| Keywords: | school performance, pupil attainment, value-added, human resource management |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11969&r=ure |
| By: | Yushi Kunugi (Research Institute for Environmental Economics and Management, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan); Toshi H. Arimura (Faculty of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, and Research Institute for Environmental Economics and Management, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan); Miwa Nakai (Research Institute for Environmental Economics and Management, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan) |
| Abstract: | In this study, we analyze the external effects of wind turbines, which are often considered detrimental to the promotion of wind power generation. Understanding these externalities is essential for reaching a consensus with residents who live near the planned site of a wind turbine. We conducted a mail survey in Ch?shi City in Chiba Prefecture to examine the external effects of wind turbines, adopting a subjective well-being index to measure respondents f well-being. Regression analysis suggests that a view of wind power turbines has a positive effect on the subjective well-being of local residents. Moreover, results indicate that such well-being increases with increasing distance from wind turbines. In other words, except for scenic elements, we found that wind turbines are not always considered desirable by residents. As such, it is important to further clarify the external influence of wind turbines as well as other facilities in the neighborhood. |
| Keywords: | Subjective Well-Being, Wind Turbines, Renewable Energy, Externalities, Life Satisfaction Approach, Local Residents |
| JEL: | D62 I31 R11 Q20 Q51 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:was:dpaper:1804&r=ure |
| By: | Stark, Oded; Byra, Lukasz |
| Abstract: | A country that experiences a shortage of workers with particular skills naturally considers two responses: import skills or produce them. Skill import may result in large-scale migration, which will not be to the liking of the natives. Skill production will require financial incentives, which will not be to the liking of the ministry of finance. In this paper we suggest a third response: impose a substantial migration admission fee, "import" fee-paying workers regardless of their skills, and use the revenue from the fee to subsidize the acquisition of the required skills by the natives. We calculate the minimal fee that will remedy the shortage of workers with particular skills with fewer migrants than under the skill "import" policy. |
| Keywords: | Skill heterogeneity,Production externalities,Market inefficiency,Shortage of particular skills,Social planner's choice,"Import" of skills,A migration admission fee,Skill acquisition subsidy |
| JEL: | D62 F22 J24 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tuewef:111&r=ure |
| By: | Chang Woon Nam; Peter Steinhoff |
| Abstract: | This study deals with a specific volunteering aspect revealed in the German refugee crisis 2015/16. German federalism prescribing interjurisdictional assignments of tasks for designing, financing and implementing services for refugees and their geographic distribution have made municipalities and cities primarily responsible for solving problems of refugees’ accommodation, integration and health care. Based on a survey recently carried out in the district of Erding, it firstly demonstrates distinctive characteristics of the individual volunteers engaged in such related local activities (gender and age; income structure; donation types; working hours), followed by an attempt to measure economic values of volunteering. Despite some methodological weaknesses, this study highlights the monetary significance of volunteers’ hidden contribution to overcoming the crisis and the relatively huge scope of possible savings in local expenditure, compared to an assumed situation if such voluntary activities were fully substituted by those of full-time civil servants. |
| Keywords: | volunteer activity, German refugee crisis, economic value of volunteering, local government expenditure, district of Erding |
| JEL: | D64 D91 E65 H72 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7352&r=ure |
| By: | J. Ignacio Gimenez-Nadal (Universidad de Zaragoza); José Alberto Molina (Departamento de Análisis Económico, Universidad de Zaragoza) |
| Abstract: | Millions of individuals commute every day in the US. Despite commuting has been shown to have negative consequences for workers, no evidence has been about how commuting is related to feelings in other episodes. We analyzed the relationship between the feelings reported by American workers throughout the day and the time devoted to commuting. Methods: We used the Well-Being Module of the American Time Use Survey for the years 2010, 2012, and 2013, and analized the relationship between commuting duration and the feelings reported (e.g,. happiness, sadness, stress, fatigue and pain) in both commuting and non-commuting episodes. Results: We found that more time spent on the daily commute was related to higher levels of fatigue and stress during commuting, while also being associated with higher levels of sadness and fatigue during activities of child care. In particular, we found that a 1% increase in the time devoted to commuting during the episode was related to increases of 12 percent and 13 percent of a standard deviation for stress and fatigue, while a 1% increase in the time devoted to commuting during the day was related to increases of 5 percent and 7 percent of one standard deviation in the levels of sadness and stress during child care activities. Conclusions: Our results indicated that longer commutes may be related to higher levels of stress and fatigue of workers, which may in turn affect the quality of the time parents devote to caring for their children. |
| Keywords: | Commuting, American Time Use Survey, Stress, Fatigue |
| JEL: | R41 I31 J22 |
| Date: | 2018–11–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boc:bocoec:967&r=ure |
| By: | Stark, Oded; Jakubek, Marcin; Szczygielski, Krzysztof |
| Abstract: | We study the assimilation behavior of a group of migrants who live in a city populated by native inhabitants. We conceptualize the group as a community, and the city as a social space. Assimilation increases the productivity of migrants and, consequently, their earnings. However, assimilation also brings the migrants closer in social space to the richer native inhabitants. This proximity subjects the migrants to relative deprivation. We consider a community of migrants whose members are at an equilibrium level of assimilation that was chosen as a result of the maximization of a utility function that has as its arguments income, the cost of assimilation effort, and a measure of relative deprivation. We ask how vulnerable this assimilation equilibrium is to the appearance of a "mutant" - a member of the community who is exogenously endowed with a superior capacity to assimilate. If the mutant were to act on his enhanced ability, his earnings would be higher than those of his fellow migrants, which will expose them to greater relative deprivation. We find that the stability of the pre-mutation assimilation equilibrium depends on the cohesion of the migrants' community, expressed as an ability to effectively sanction and discourage the mutant from deviating. The equilibrium level of assimilation of a tightly knit community is stable in the sense of not being vulnerable to the appearance of a member becoming better able to assimilate. However, if the community is loose-knit, the appearance of a mutant will destabilize the pre-mutation assimilation equilibrium, and will result in a higher equilibrium level of assimilation. |
| Keywords: | Community cohesion,Social proximity,Interpersonal comparisons,Relative deprivation,Migrants' assimilation behavior |
| JEL: | D70 J15 J24 J61 J70 O12 Z10 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tuewef:112&r=ure |
| By: | Laura McKenna |
| Abstract: | The U.S. Census Bureau conducts the decennial censuses under Title 13 of the U. S. Code with the Section 9 mandate to not “use the information furnished under the provisions of this title for any purpose other than the statistical purposes for which it is supplied; or make any publication whereby the data furnished by any particular establishment or individual under this title can be identified; or permit anyone other than the sworn officers and employees of the Department or bureau or agency thereof to examine the individual reports (13 U.S.C. § 9 (2007)).” The Census Bureau applies disclosure avoidance techniques to its publicly released statistical products in order to protect the confidentiality of its respondents and their data. |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:18-47&r=ure |
| By: | John Cullinan; Kevin Denny; Darragh Flannery |
| Abstract: | We examine the relationship between the distribution of upper secondary school performance and a range of individual and school level characteristics using unconditional quantile regression methods and data from Ireland. We find that determinants such as social class, maternal unemployment, extra private tuition, and working part-time have differential effects for low and high ability students and that important insights are lost by focusing on the conditional mean. The implication is that while certain factors can impact on whether or not a student is likely to proceed to higher education, other factors may affect where students go and what they study. |
| Keywords: | Secondary school performance; Distribution; Unconditional quantile regression; Ireland |
| JEL: | I20 I21 J00 J01 |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucn:wpaper:201806&r=ure |
| By: | Gary Koop; Stuart McIntyre; James Mitchell; Aubrey Poon |
| Abstract: | Output growth estimates for the regions of the UK are currently published at the annual frequency only and are released with a long delay. Regional economists and policymakers would benefit from having higher frequency and more timely estimates. In this paper we develop a mixed frequency Vector Autoregressive (MF-VAR) model and use it to produce estimates of quarterly regional output growth. Temporal and cross-sectional restrictions are imposed in the model to ensure that our quarterly regional estimates are consistent with the annual regional observations and the observed quarterly UK totals. We use a machine learning method based on the hierarchical Dirichlet-Laplace prior to ensure optimal shrinkage and parsimony in our over-parameterised MF-VAR. Thus,this paper presents a new, regional quarterly database of nominal and real Gross Value Added dating back to 1970. We describe how we update and evaluate these estimates on an ongoing, quarterly basis to publish online (at www.escoe.ac.uk/regionalnowcasting) more timely estimates of regional economic growth. We illustrate how the new quarterly data can be used to contribute to our historical understanding of business cycle dynamics and connectedness between regions. |
| Keywords: | Regional data, Mixed frequency, Nowcasting, Bayesian methods, Realtime data, Vector autoregressions |
| JEL: | C32 C53 E37 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nsr:escoed:escoe-dp-2018-14&r=ure |