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on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | H. Spencer Banzhaf; Ryan Mickey; Carlianne E. Patrick |
| Abstract: | Many local jurisdictions offer property tax exemptions or similar concessions to older citizens. Such exemptions represent substantial intergenerational transfers and may have important implications for local public finances. The consequences of age-based property tax exemptions depend upon the extent to which they influence households' location decisions, housing tenure decisions, and housing consumption. We provide the first evidence on (long-term) changes in household composition and housing consumption attributable to local, age-based property tax exemptions. We construct a unique database of local property tax exemptions in Georgia covering 100 years of county, school district, and selected city property tax laws. We use these data to estimate the effect of age-based property tax exemptions on the number of older home-owners from 1970-2010 attributable to the exemption. Using a "quadruple-difference" estimation strategy, we find a significant increase in older homeowners attributable to the combined effect of age-based property tax exemptions on location decisions and housing tenure. We also find evidence that age-based property tax exemptions increase housing consumption among older households. Finally, we estimate a sorting model to estimate the equilibrium effects of different tax policies. |
| JEL: | H7 R2 |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25468&r=all |
| By: | Fritsch, Michael; Piontek, Matthias; Titze, Mirko |
| Abstract: | The value of social network analysis is critically dependent on the comprehensive and reliable identification of actors and their relationships. We compare regional knowledge networks based on different types of data sources, namely, co-patents, co-publications, and publicly subsidised collaborative Research and Development projects. Moreover, by combining these three data sources, we construct a multilayer network that provides a comprehensive picture of intraregional interactions. By comparing the networks based on the data sources, we address the problems of coverage and selection bias. We observe that using only one data source leads to a severe underestimation of regional knowledge interactions, especially those of private sector firms and independent researchers. The key role of universities that connect many regional actors is identified in all three types of data. |
| Keywords: | knowledge interactions,social network analysis,regional innovation systems,data sources |
| JEL: | O30 R12 R30 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwhdps:12019&r=all |
| By: | Steven J. Davis; John C. Haltiwanger |
| Abstract: | The Great Recession and its aftermath saw the worst relative performance of young firms in at least 35 years. More broadly, as we show, young-firm activity shares move strongly with local economic conditions and local house price growth. In this light, we assess the effects of housing prices and credit supply on young-firm activity. Our panel IV estimation on MSA-level data yields large effects of local house price changes on local young-firm employment growth and employment shares and a separate, smaller role for locally exogenous shifts in bank lending supply. A novel test shows that house price effects work through wealth, liquidity and collateral effects on the propensity to start new firms and expand young ones. Aggregating local effects to the national level, housing market ups and downs play a major role – as transmission channel and driving force – in medium-run fluctuations in young-firm employment shares in recent decades. The great housing bust after 2006 largely drove the cyclical collapse of young-firm activity during the Great Recession, reinforced by a contraction in bank loan supply. As we also show, when the young-firm activity share falls (rises), local employment shifts strongly away from (towards) younger and less-educated workers. |
| JEL: | E2 E3 E5 G2 J2 |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25466&r=all |
| By: | Aliprantis, Dionissi (Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland); Martin, Hal (Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland); Phillips, David (University of Notre Dame) |
| Abstract: | Despite being eligible for use in any neighborhood, housing choice vouchers tend to be redeemed in low-opportunity neighborhoods. This paper investigates whether landlord behavior contributes to this outcome by studying the recent expansion of neighborhood-based voucher limits in Washington, DC. We conduct two waves of a correspondence experiment: one before and one after the expansion. Landlords heavily penalize tenants who indicate a desire to pay by voucher. The voucher penalty is larger in high-rent neighborhoods, pushing voucher tenants to low-rent neighborhoods. We find no evidence that indexing rents to small areas affects landlord acceptance of voucher tenants. The data can reject the claim that increasing rent limits by less than $3,000 per month can eliminate the voucher penalty. Neighborhood rent limits do shift lease-up locations toward high-rent neighborhoods in the year after the policy change, an effect that is large relative to the number of voucher households that move but small relative to all voucher tenants. |
| Keywords: | housing; vouchers; discrimination; |
| Date: | 2019–01–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedcwq:190200&r=all |
| By: | Jørn Rattsø (Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology); Hildegunn E.Stokke (Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology) |
| Abstract: | A large literature estimates the static private-public wage gap, but due to lack of data, not much is known about the dynamic gap resulting from different returns to work experience accumulated in the two sectors. This analysis applies Norwegian register data observing experience of individuals by sector. Selection on observable and unobservable worker characteristics is handled in panel models with workers fixed effects. The robustness of the results is investigated by instrumenting experience using the Altonji-Shakotko method. The dynamic experience effect adds to the static private wage premium for high-educated workers and counts for 2/3 of the total wage gap. The low educated gain less from shifting to the private sector and on average, they have no additional return to private sector experience. Both static and dynamic gains from shifting to the private sector are higher in cities, and for the low educated, the dynamic effect is a pure city phenomenon. The public sector does not add dynamic effects to the urban wage premium. |
| Keywords: | Private-public wage gap; Worker experience; Worker fixed effects; Education; City |
| JEL: | J31 J45 R23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nst:samfok:17518&r=all |
| By: | E. Jason Baron (Department of Economics, Florida State University) |
| Abstract: | Despite the pervasive debate surrounding teachers' unions and their impacts on teacher recruitment, the causal effect of unions on new teacher supply has not been rigorously examined due to a lack of variation in public sector unionism. To fill this gap in the literature, this study exploits recent variation in union strength induced by the enactment of Wisconsin's Act 10, a landmark law that severely reduced the influence of teachers' unions in the state and gave school districts the freedom to redesign their compensation schemes. Immediately following the law, the majority of school districts in Wisconsin eliminated rigid unionized compensation schemes and moved to negotiate salaries with individual teachers based on performance. As a result, the compensation of teachers with high-value-added prior to Act 10 rose more than that of teachers with low-value-added in school districts that switched to flexible compensation. To test whether these changes in compensation impacted the quantity and the quality of new teacher supply, I compare the quantity of individuals completing a teaching degree in Wisconsin institutions before and after Act 10 and relative to those in similar states in a difference-in-differences framework. I find that Act 10 led to a 20\% increase in the number of awarded teaching degrees. This effect was entirely driven by the most selective universities, which suggests that the quality of the prospective teacher pool in Wisconsin increased as a result of the union reform. |
| Keywords: | Teachers' Unions, New Teacher Supply, Performance Pay, Major Selection |
| JEL: | I20 I28 J24 J31 J45 J51 |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fsu:wpaper:wp2019_01_01&r=all |
| By: | Canepa, Alessandra; Zanetti Chini, Emilio; Alqaralleh, Huthaifa (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we consider the dynamic features of house prices in metropolises that are characterized by high degree of internationalization. Using a generalized smooth transition model we show that the dynamic symmetry in house price cycles is strongly rejected for the housing markets taken into consideration. |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:201901&r=all |
| By: | Giertz, Seth H.; Ramezani, Rasoul |
| Abstract: | Local and state governments attempt to lessen after-tax income inequality via progressive taxation. Migration responses of capital and labor undermine such attempts. Location theory predicts that cross-state migration will continue until the redistributive effects from taxation are fully capitalized into gross wages leaving after-tax wages unchanged. Empirical evidence has not reached a consensus on this issue. At one extreme, Feldstein and Wrobel (1998) report evidence of full tax capitalization for US states. At the other extreme, Leigh (2008) reports very little to no wage capitalization. We revisit this question by creating a pseudo panel from CPS data spanning years 1997 to 2015. Our “best” estimate is that pre-tax wages adjust in response to redistributive state and local taxes, negating roughly 50 percent of effect compared to counterfactual with no behavioral responses. |
| Keywords: | Fiscal federalism,Redistribution,State taxation,Tax capitalization,Progressivity,Migration |
| JEL: | H20 H71 H77 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:291&r=all |
| By: | Jahn, Vera; Steinhardt, Max Friedrich |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes in how far immigration affects firm formation at the regional level. For this purpose, we exploit a placement policy in Germany in the 1990s for immigrants of German origin from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Our panel regressions suggest that immigration had a positive impact on regional firm formation. The most likely mechanisms driving this result are labor supply-side effects and positive implications of cultural diversity. Overall, our paper demonstrates that immigration induced changes in local labor supply can partially be absorbed by the creation of firms. |
| Keywords: | immigration,placement policy,economic impact,firms |
| JEL: | F22 L26 R11 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:787&r=all |
| By: | Konrad Steiner (A.T. Kearney GmbH, Johannes Gutenberg University) |
| Abstract: | This work addresses line planning for inter-city bus networks, which requires a high level of integration with other planning steps. One key reason is given by passengers choosing a speci?c timetabled service rather than just a line, as is typically the case in urban transportation. Schedule-based modeling approaches are required to incorporate this aspect, i.e., demand is assigned to a speci?c timetabled service. Furthermore, in liberalized markets, there is usually ?erce competition within and across modes. This encourages considering dynamic demand, i.e., not relying on static demand values, but adjusting them based on the trip characteristics. We provide a schedule-based mixed-integer model formulation allowing a bus operator to optimize multiple timetabled services in a travel corridor with simultaneous decisions on both departure time and which stations to serve. The demand behaves dynamically with respect to departure time, trip duration, trip frequency, and cannibalization. To solve this new problem formulation, we introduce a large multiple neighborhood search (LMNS) as an overall metaheuristic approach, together with multiple variations including matheuristics. Applying the LMNS algorithm, we solve instances based on real-world data from the German market. Computation times are attractive and the high quality of the solutions is con?rmed by analyzing examples with known optimal solutions. Moreover, we show that the explicit consideration of the dependencies between the di?erent timetabled services often produces insightful new results that di?er from approaches which only focus on a single service. |
| Keywords: | integration, schedule-based modeling, inter-city bus transportation, dynamic demand, large multiple neighborhood search LMNS |
| Date: | 2018–12–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jgu:wpaper:1902&r=all |
| By: | Bittarello, Luca (Northwestern University); Kramarz, Francis (CREST (ENSAE)); Maitre, Alexis (Sciences Po, Paris) |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates how an increase in the supply of skilled labor affects task assignment within and between occupations. Guided by a simple theoretical framework, we exploit detailed information about individual workers' tasks from multiple surveys to examine the impact of a twofold rise in the share of university graduates in the French workforce between 1991 and 2013. Our identification strategy uses variation in the change in the graduate share across local labor markets. We find that higher average educational attainment is associated with more routine, fewer cognitive and fewer social tasks within occupations and with fewer routine, more cognitive and more social tasks across occupations. |
| Keywords: | task, supply shock, routine tasks, cognitive tasks, social tasks |
| JEL: | J21 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12006&r=all |
| By: | Reyniers, Diane |
| Abstract: | Workplace peer effects are well documented, but why they arise remains a puzzle. This paper investigates the issue experimentally. Subjects are brought together to perform a real-effort task in a simulated factory environment. Varying the returns to effort by altering free-riding incentives or piece rates does not affect productivity but psychological factors do matter. Even though there are no technological complementarities, co-workers’ productivity levels are highly correlated. Three psychological mechanisms which can generate these correlations are examined: (a) workers’ desire to conform to a work norm, (b) inequity aversion and (c) concern about relative performance. Subjects’ enjoyment of the task depends on their relative performance and not on how close their productivity is to the norm or on the inequity of outcomes. This finding suggests that peer effects arise because of intrinsic competitiveness. Subjects hate to do worse than their co-workers and love to do better. |
| Keywords: | Peer Effects, Job satisfaction, Relative Performance Concerns, Social Norms |
| JEL: | C9 C91 C92 D23 J24 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:91215&r=all |
| By: | Timo Hintsch (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz) |
| Abstract: | The soft-clustered vehicle-routing problem (SoftCluVRP) is a variant of the classical capacitated vehiclerouting problem. Customers are partitioned into clusters and all customers of the same cluster must be served by the same vehicle. In this paper, we present a large multiple neighborhood search for the SoftCluVRP. We design and analyze multiple cluster destroy and repair operators as well as two post-optimization components, which are both based on variable neighborhood descent. The first allows inter-route exchanges of complete clusters, while the second searches for intra-route improvements by combining classical neighborhoods (2- opt, Or-Opt, double-bridge) and the Balas-Simonetti neighborhood. Computational experiments show that our algorithm clearly outperforms the only existing heuristic approach from the literature. By solving benchmark instances, we provide 130 new best solutions for 220 medium-sized instances with up to 483 customers and prove 12 of them to be optimal. |
| Keywords: | Vehicle Routing, Clustered Vehicle Routing, Large neighborhood search |
| JEL: | C91 C92 D03 D91 |
| Date: | 2019–01–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jgu:wpaper:1904&r=all |
| By: | Rixt Bijker (KAW architects); Eveline van Leeuwen (Wageningen University & Research); Paul (P.R.) Koster (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how social interactions impact the decision to participate in one’s local environment. Existing work often reports correlations between social interactions and local participation, but it is unclear what the causal direction of this relationship is. A key contribution of this paper is that we are able to estimate the causal effect of social interactions on the decision to participate by systematically varying social attributes in a choice experiment. Based on a large-scale survey in one Dutch municipality we analyze 3894 choice observations of 435 respondents. Our sample includes respondents who currently participate and respondents who do not. We find that at the recruitment stage being asked by a friend or acquaintance significantly increases the chances to volunteer. We also find significant homophily effects in terms of age as well as for the characteristics of the group already participating. Financial incentives have significant negative impacts on the decision to participate. |
| Keywords: | Social interactions; Discrete choice experiments; Homophily; Volunteering |
| JEL: | C90 Z13 L30 R58 |
| Date: | 2019–01–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20190003&r=all |
| By: | Lucia Cerasela Balan (Faculty of Economic Sciences and Public Administration, Romania) |
| Abstract: | Like any on-the-spot investigation, which also applies to criminal offenses, and in the case of the on-site investigation where the road accident occurred, we distinguish two stages: the static and the dynamic stages. With the examination of the place of the deed, especially in this situation, there is an interpenetration between the static phase and the dynamic phase, the methods specific to each phase are often performed at the same time. The intersection of the two phases is the consequence of the many situations that can be found in the road accident, such as: both the vehicle and the driver have remained on site or have recovered; the vehicle is abandoned by the driver on site; the driver responsible for the road accident has left the scene of the accident with the vehicle; the driver left the accident site by abandoning the vehicle involved; the victim leaves the scene of the accident. |
| Keywords: | impact, photo, road accident, traces |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:jpaper:026lb&r=all |
| By: | Anita Kopanyi-Peuker; Matthias Weber; ; |
| Abstract: | We study the role of experience in the formation of asset price bubbles. Therefore, we conduct two related experiments. One is a call market experiment in which participants trade assets with each other. The other is a learning-to-forecast experiment in which participants only forecast future prices, while the trade, which is based on these forecasts, is computerized. Each experiment comprises three treatments that vary the amount of information about the fundamental value that participants receive. Each market is repeated three times. In both experiments and in all treatments, we observe sizable bubbles. These bubbles do not disappear with experience. Our findings in the call market experiment stand in contrast to the literature. Our findings in the learningto-forecast experiment are novel. Interestingly, the shape of the bubbles is different between the two experiments. We observe flat bubbles in the call market experiment and boom-and-bust cycles in the learning-to-forecast experiment. |
| Keywords: | Experimental finance, asset market experiment, asset pricing, behavioral finance, bubbles, experience |
| JEL: | C92 D53 D90 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usg:sfwpfi:2018:22&r=all |
| By: | Fumarco, Luca (STATEC Research – National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies); Baert, Stijn (Ghent University) |
| Abstract: | We contribute to the literature on relative age effects on pupils' (non-cognitive) skills formation by studying students' social network. We investigate data on European adolescents from the Health Behaviour in School Aged Children survey and use an instrumental variables approach to account for endogeneity of relative age while controlling for confounders, namely absolute age, season-of-birth, and family socio-economic status. We find robust evidence that suggests the existence of a substitution effect: the youngest students within a class e-communicate more frequently than relatively older classmates but have fewer friends and meet with them less frequently. |
| Keywords: | relative age, adolescents, education, Europe, social network |
| JEL: | I21 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11972&r=all |
| By: | Pinchbeck, E.; Koster, H. R. A. |
| Abstract: | Despite the near ubiquity of inter-temporal choice, there is little consensus on the rate at which individuals trade present and future costs and benefits. We contribute to this debate by estimating discount rates from extensive data on housing transactions and spatio-temporal variation in property taxes in England. Our findings imply longterm average discount rates that are between 3 and 4%. The close correspondence to prevailing market interest rates gives little reason to suggest that households misoptimise by materially undervaluing very long term financial flows in this high stakes context. |
| Keywords: | housing; property taxes; discount rate; capitalisation rate; undervaluation |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cty:dpaper:(18/06)&r=all |
| By: | Yiran Fan (The Linsly School, Wheeling, WV, USA) |
| Abstract: | This study is aimed at 1) identifying the predictors for weapon-carrying on school properties; 2) build a predictive model for parents, educators, and pediatricians for early intervention. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) 2017 data were used for this study. Logistic regression model is used to calculate the predicted risk. Logistic regression is a part of a category of statistical models called generalized linear models, and it allows one to predict a discrete outcome from a set of variables that may be continuous, discrete, dichotomous, or a combination of these. Typically, the dependent variable is dichotomous and the independent variables are either categorical or continuous. The data is run through R program. The outcome variable is weapon-carrying based Q13 (During the past 30 days, on how many days did you carry a weapon such as a gun, knife, or club on school property?) The result identified several important predictors for carrying weapon on school properties, such as gender, alcohol use, and smoking age. This provided important information for the educators and parents for early intervention and alleviating the negative effects of weapon-carrying among teenagers. |
| Keywords: | weapon, school, educators |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:jpaper:051yf&r=all |
| By: | Raphaël Homayoun Boroumand (City University London); Stéphane Goutte (LED - Université Paris 8); Thomas Péran (Paris School of Business); Thomas Porcher (ESG Research Lab - ESG Management School) |
| Abstract: | This paper seeks to pattern a non-driven geographical classication of French departmental territorial units based on both mobility behavior and passenger car eet composition. With no mathematical regression analysis but applying datamining methodology to behavior, consumption and geography variables, we have grouped French territorial units into 8 clusters with similar characteristics. The main results reveal that commuters' behavior with respect to the choice of transport mode varies substantially across clusters (rural and highly rural, urban and highly urban clusters, ...). Conversely, the structure of the French vehicle eet and French car purchases in terms of engines, tax horsepower and CO2 emissions are similar. this nding should enable state organizations to implement dierentiated public policies for environmental and industrial sectors. Alternatively, our paper should help industrial groups to better deploy their economic strategies in line with environmental concerns. |
| Keywords: | CO2 emissions,Datamining,Cluster,Worker mobility,Passenger cars,France |
| Date: | 2019–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01968001&r=all |
| By: | Anna Gumpert; Henrike Steimer; Manfred Antoni |
| Abstract: | How do geographic frictions affect firm organization? We show theoretically and empirically that geographic frictions increase the use of middle managers in multi-establishment firms. In our model, we assume that the time of the CEO of a firm is a resource of limited supply that is shared among the headquarters and the establishments. Geographic frictions increase the costs of accessing the CEO. Hiring middle managers at an establishment substitutes for CEO time that is reallocated over all establishments. In consequence, geographic frictions between the headquarters and one establishment affect the organization of all establishments of a firm. Our model is consistent with novel facts about multi-establishment firm organization that we document using administrative data from Germany. We exploit the opening of high-speed train routes to show that not only the establishments directly affected by faster travel times but also the other establishments of the firm adjust their organization. Our findings imply that local conditions propagate across space through firm organization. |
| Keywords: | firm organization, multi-establishment firm, knowledge hierarchy, geography |
| JEL: | D21 D22 D24 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7435&r=all |
| By: | Gaffney, Edward (Central Bank of Ireland); McCann, Fergal (Central Bank of Ireland) |
| Abstract: | Banks must make forward-looking provisions for loan losses under new international accounting standards introduced in 2018. In Europe, banks will assign performing exposures to a new “Stage 2” category with a higher provisioning penalty, if they have experienced significant increase in credit risk (SICR). We use a loan-level credit risk model and Irish residential mortgage panel data to assign performing loans into the appropriate stage. Using this technique, we characterise approximately 30 per cent of the performing Irish mortgage portfolio at end-2015 as Stage 2. We then calculate backward-looking, static estimations of Stage 2 mortgages between 2008 and 2015. This exercise suggests that loan stage assignment can be highly pro-cyclical. The share of Stage 2 among performing mortgages rises during the economic downturn to peak in 2013, after which large transitions are assigned from Stage 2 into lower risk performing loans, as the economy improves. |
| Keywords: | Mortgage defaults; credit risk; stress testing; loan provisioning |
| JEL: | G21 |
| Date: | 2018–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbi:wpaper:16/rt/18&r=all |
| By: | Daniel D. Oladejo (University of the Incarnate Word); Kruti R. Lehenbauer (University of the Incarnate Word) |
| Abstract: | Over the past twenty-five years, the U.S prison system has experienced continuous substantial increment in the prison population. At the same time, incarceration rates have risen by more than 300%, a phenomenon that many analysts have referred to as mass incarceration (DeFina and Hannon, 2013). This study investigates the various divergent impacts of social capital on policy egalitarianism in state outcomes. Notably, this paper reviews the relationships connecting social capital and incarceration rates, while analyzing the level of racial disparities in incarceration rates in the American states using a state-level panel data spanning 1980 to 2015. Building on work by Hawes (2017), we present a theoretical description and empirical examination for how social capital functions uniquely under different racial contexts using a newer dataset. The results suggest that there is a positive correlation between social capital and the incarceration of many African American which is more profound in some states than others. |
| Keywords: | mass incarceration, social capital, racial diversity, inequality, poverty, social control |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:jpaper:08do&r=all |
| By: | André De Palma (ENS Cachan - École normale supérieure - Cachan); Yorgos Papageorgiou (McMaster University [Hamilton, Ontario]); Jacques-François Thisse (CORE - Center of Operation Research and Econometrics [Louvain] - UCL - Université Catholique de Louvain); Philip Ushchev (CORE - Center of Operation Research and Econometrics [Louvain] - UCL - Université Catholique de Louvain) |
| Abstract: | We provide a bare-bones framework that uncovers the circumstances which lead either to the emergence of equally-spaced and equally-sized central places or to a hierarchy of central places. We show how these patterns re ‡ect the preferences of agents and the e¢ ciency of transportation and communication technologies. With one population of homogeneous individuals, the economy is characterized by a uniform distribution or by a periodic distribution of central places having the same size. The interaction between two distinct populations may give rise to a hierarchy of central places with one or several primate cities. |
| Keywords: | central place,spatial externality,congestion,urban hierarchy,R14 |
| Date: | 2018–12–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01962246&r=all |
| By: | Clement Imbert; Marlon Seror; Yifan Zhang; Yanos Zylberberg |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the causal effect of rural-urban migration on urban production in China. We use longitudinal data on manufacturing firms between 2001 and 2006 and exploit exogenous variation in rural-urban migration due to agricultural price shocks. Following a migrant inflow, labor costs decline and employment expands. Labor productivity decreases sharply and remains low in the medium run. A quantitative framework suggests that destinations become too labor-abundant and migration mostly benefits low- productivity firms within locations. As migrants select into high-productivity destinations, migration however strongly contributes to the equalization of factor productivity across locations. |
| Keywords: | rural-urban migration, structural transformation, urban production |
| JEL: | D24 J23 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7440&r=all |
| By: | Thomas Baudin (IÉSEG School of Management); Robert Stelter (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research); ; |
| Abstract: | To assess the importance of the rural exodus in fostering the transition from stagnation to growth, we propose a unified model of growth and internal migrations. Using an original set of Swedish data, we identify the deep parameters of our model. We show that internal migration conditions had to be favorable enough to authorize an exodus out of the countryside in order to fuel the industrial development of cities. We then compare the respective contribution of shocks on internal migration costs, infant mortality and inequalities in agricultural productivity to the economic take-off and the demographic transition that occurred in Sweden. Negative shocks on labor mobility generate larger delays in the take-off to growth compared to mortality shocks equivalent to the Black Death. Deepening inequalities of productivity in the agricultural sector, like it has been done by enclosure movements, contributes to accelerate urbanization at the cost of depressed economic growth. |
| Keywords: | Demographic transition, Industrialization, Rural exodus, Mortality differentials, Fertility differentials. |
| JEL: | J11 J13 O41 |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ies:wpaper:e201715&r=all |
| By: | Andy Feng; Anna Valero |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the link between management practices and workforce skills in manufacturing firms, exploiting geographical variation in the supply of human capital. Skills measures are constructed using newly compiled data on universities and regional labour markets across 19 countries. Consistent with management practices being complementary with skills, we show that firms further away from universities employ fewer skilled workers and are worse managed, even after controlling for a rich set of observables and fixed effects. Analysis using regional skill premia suggests that variation in the price of skill drives these relationships. |
| Keywords: | management practices, human capital, universities, complementarities |
| JEL: | I23 J24 L2 M2 |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1594&r=all |
| By: | Yang Yang |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of highway expansion on aggregate productivity growth and sectoral reallocation between cities in China. To do so, I construct a unique dataset of bilateral transportation costs between Chinese cities, digitized highway network maps, and firm-level census. I first derive and estimate a market access measure that summarizes all direct and indirect impact of trade costs on city productivity. I then construct an instrumental variable to examine the causal impact of highways on economic outcomes and the underlying channels. The results suggest that highways promoted aggregate productivity growth by facilitating firm entry, exit and reallocation. I also find evidence that the national highway system led to a sectoral reallocation between cities in China. |
| Date: | 2018–12–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:18/276&r=all |
| By: | Francisco J. Beltrán Tapia (Norwegian University of Science and Technology); Santiago de Miguel Salanova (Universidad Complutense de Madrid) |
| Abstract: | Relying on an extremely rich data set of individuals living in Madrid in 1880 and 1905, this article explores the relationship between class, access to education and social mobility. In order to do so, we first focus on children and assess the probability of being literate according to their parents’ socio-economic status. Although inequality in education declined during the period under study, this social gap was still substantial in 1905. Linking where these children lived with the location of public schools, we show that, although the expansion of the supply of schools improved access to education of children from disadvantaged backgrounds, the public effort was clearly insufficient to overcome the challenges these families faced. Lastly, we analyse the returns to education by studying social mobility. In this regard, we have matched the children existing in our sample in 1880 with their corresponding adult-selves in 1905, 25 years later, using record linkage techniques. Our analysis shows that letting literate enhanced children's chances of moving up the social ladder. Taking together, our results show that high inequality levels, together with an inadequate schooling system, prevented a significant fraction of the schooling-age population to access education and thus limited subsequent economic growth. |
| Keywords: | Inequality, schooling, education, social mobility |
| JEL: | N33 J24 I24 |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0146&r=all |
| By: | Lazuka, Volha (Department of Economic History, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | Studies showing that large-scale public health interventions in early life have lasting economic consequences are still scarce and rarely disclose the mechanisms. Being born in a hospital versus having a traditional birth attendant at home represents the most common early life policy change worldwide. Knowing the consequences of this policy is also important given the ongoing enlargement of maternity hospitals. In 1931–1946, the Swedish state subsidized the opening of new maternity wards, which led to the gradual decline of home deliveries assisted by midwives. Maternity wards offered improved conditions for mothers and newborns, including hygiene, surgical proficiency and medications, and health monitoring. By applying a difference-in-differences approach and geocoding techniques to register-based individuallevel data on the total population, observed from birth until the age of 65, this paper explores the long-term economic effects of access to better health services at birth using the opening of maternity wards throughout the country as an early life quasi-experiment. The paper first finds that the reform substantially reduced neonatal mortality in the short term by 19.0–26.5 deaths per 1000. Capturing survivors of the affected cohorts at the ages of 47–64, it then shows sizable long-term effects of the introduction of maternity wards on labour income (2.4–4.7 per cent) and disability pensions (4.4–11.9 per cent). The effects run directly through better health and indirectly through higher levels of schooling. Small-scale local maternity wards yield a larger social rate of return than large-scale hospitals, stemming from the treatment of normal births. |
| Keywords: | early life; maternity ward; labour income; efficency; Sweden |
| JEL: | I18 I38 J24 N34 |
| Date: | 2019–01–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:luekhi:0187&r=all |
| By: | Riina Vuorikari (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | Meeting the professional development needs of tomorrow's teachers is a challenge that education authorities face in Europe and elsewhere. This report focuses on innovative and emergent practices of teacher professional development and professional learning among teaching professionals who work in compulsory education. We set to look out for ways that have emerged to overcome the known barriers and limitations that teachers say hinder them today from participating in professional development activities. Our study gathers 30 examples that well illustrate new emergent features at a general level. The study is descriptive and it is based on desk research and a number of interviews. This report forms the first part of the study called Innovating Professional Development in Compulsory Education. It comprises the main data and documentation gathered for the study. The main results and analysis are reported elsewhere in a JRC Science for Policy report called “Innovating Professional Development in Compulsory Education - An analysis of practices aimed at improving teacher professional development†(Vuorikari, 2019). After the Executive Summary, this report starts with an introduction (Section 2). Following that, a methodological note describes the steps taken for the whole study (Section 3). The main part, Section 4, describes the examples and groups them according to their focus of innovation. For that purpose, seven labels were created which are not categorical: School as a learning organisation; Empowering learners through competence-oriented approach; Innovating online delivery; Re-inventing blended learning; Engaging in first-hand experiences; Innovating degree programmes; and Innovating partnerships and new actors. A short concluding note is given in Section 5. Finally, the report also includes a number of in-depth case studies (Annex 2). |
| Keywords: | Education, Teacher Professional Development, Teacher Professional Learning, Practices, Innovation, Digital Education Action Plan |
| Date: | 2018–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc109266&r=all |
| By: | Quis, Johanna Sophie; Bela, Anika; Heineck, Guido |
| Abstract: | Are there skill differentials in young children's competence levels by their self-regulation abilities and do such early life differences mark the onset of increasing disparities in competence development? We add to previous research by investigating the relationship between preschoolers' self-regulation and their mathematical competence and its development early in primary school. We use data from the kindergarten cohort of the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) which provides observations of self-regulatory behavior as well as mathematical skills and allows controlling for a rich set of relevant background variables. Our results imply a positive association between children's self-regulation and their mathematical competence levels, even when holding general cognitive ability in kindergarten constant. Yet, self-regulation is not related to competence development over the first two years of primary school, meaning that the initial skill gap neither widens nor narrows substantially. Heterogeneity analyses indicate that self-regulation benefits children with low initial levels of mathematical competence at the transition from kindergarten to primary school. No growth gradient, however, is observable between grade 1 and grade 2. |
| Keywords: | Self-regulation,Skill formation,Competence development |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:bamber:140&r=all |
| By: | Alvarez-Dias, Marcos (European Commission - JRC); D'Hombres, Beatrice (European Commission – JRC); Ghisetti, Claudia (European Commission – JRC); Pontarollo, Nicola (European Commission – JRC); Dijkstra, Lewis (European Commission) |
| Abstract: | This report studies population dynamics in Europe. Its purpose is threefold. First, the report offers a literature review of the main drivers of population growth. Second, an empirical analysis is carried out in order to unveil the determinants of population growth in EU sub-regions (NUTS3 level) over the period 2000-2010. Spatial econometrics is employed to account for spatial dependence among neighbouring regions. Third, the existing evidence on the long-run relationship between economic and population growth is discussed, followed by an empirical assessment of the relationship between these two aggregates in Europe over the period 1960-2010. Time-series econometric tools are used for this analysis. The main findings of both the literature reviews and empirical analyses are discussed, along with their implications and future extensions. |
| Keywords: | population dynamics; population growth; spatial econometrics; time-series econometrics; spatial dependence; regional development |
| JEL: | C21 J11 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrs:wpaper:201810&r=all |
| By: | Yajaira Fuentes-Tauber (California Coast University, Santa Ana, CA) |
| Abstract: | For many decades, policy makers have struggled in closing the academic achievement gap present in schools across America. Most recently charter schools were integrated into federal law as one of many approaches to narrow the academic achievement and attainment gaps. Previous research has shown that there are differences in self-efficacy beliefs and that these beliefs can help account for the academic achievement and attainment differences that exist. Furthermore, with post-secondary goals and choices often made before students are upperclassmen in high school, middle school is the prime time for decisions. This study used an empirical research approach method to investigate the self-efficacy scores of students and its relationship to college-going self-efficacy using two research instruments: Bandura’s Children’s Self-Efficacy Scale, a questionnaire used to measure students’ confidence on school-related tasks, and Gibbons and Borders’ College-Going Self-Efficacy Survey, a questionnaire used to measure students’ confidence on college related tasks. The results of the Pearson Correlation revealed a strong positive correlation between self-efficacy and college-going self-efficacy scores. |
| Keywords: | self-efficacy, college-going self-efficacy, middle-school, charter school, academic achievement gap, attainment gap |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:jpaper:025yf&r=all |
| By: | Kortelainen, Mika; Lapointe, Simon |
| Abstract: | The Finnish regional government reform currently under consideration will create a new tier of regional county governments, which will be responsible mainly for the provision of health and social care services. On the revenue side, counties will be financed mostly through grants from the central government and out-of-pocket payments (i.e. client fees). The funding model of the counties raises a number of questions from the point of view of the fiscal federalism literature. One important question in particular is: what kind of incentives will centrally-allocated funding create for the regional governments? One concern raised is that this type of financing structure will create a soft budget constraint for the counties. In other words, the county governments will expect that the central government will provide them with additional resources if they surpass their allocated budget. This paper discusses the potential for soft budget constraints (SBC) in the newly-created Finnish counties, by reviewing contributions from the fiscal federalism literature. Besides providing the overview of the relevant literature, we highlight the determinants of SBC problem most relevant for the Finnish regional government reform and possible solutions. One important conclusion from our discussion is that decentralizing spending alone can lead to softer budget constraints and overspending for the regional governments, due to the vertical fiscal imbalances that it creates. In other words, the spending responsibilities of the county governments might be too large for their revenue-generating possibilities. One channel through which the proposed funding system softens the budget constraint is the possibility for local governments to “blame†the central government for the deficits or fiscal troubles. According to the literature, this problem is particularly relevant for the health care services, since it touches a politically sensitive issue. Another interesting conclusion from our discussion is that it might simply be impossible for the central government to commit to a no-bailout policy. In the case of health and social care provision in Finland, the central government might even explicitly commit to increasing resources ex ante if services are at risk. In this case, the literature suggests having pre-determined mechanisms around the bailouts. Possibilities include mandated austerity measures as conditions for the bailout, or direct central oversight. These measures seem to improve local public finances. Our findings from the fiscal federalism literature also suggest that the reform should proceed with additional tax autonomy at the county level, since that would limit the soft budget constraints and improve the fiscal performance of counties. |
| Keywords: | decentralization, fiscal federalism, soft budget constraint, health care, Local public finance and provision of public services, |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:resrep:188&r=all |
| By: | Even, William E. (Miami University); Macpherson, David A. (Trinity University) |
| Abstract: | This study uses employment data on California county-industry pairs (CIPs) between 1990 and 2016 to test whether minimum wage increases caused employment growth to slow most in the CIPS with a large share of low wage workers. Evidence supports the hypothesis, and we use the estimates to simulate the effect of a 10 percent increase in the minimum wage. The simulations suggest that a 10 percent increase could cause a 3.4 percent employment loss in the average CIP in California. The job loss is projected to be concentrated in two industries: accommodation and food services, and retail. While the most populated counties of California are expected to incur the largest employment loss in terms of the number of workers, the smaller counties generally experience a larger percentage point loss in employment due to the lower wages and the greater number of workers that would be affected by the minimum wage hike. Moreover, there is substantial variation across counties in terms of the percentage of jobs lost within a given industry. |
| Keywords: | minimum wage, employment, California, labor demand |
| JEL: | J23 J30 J38 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12000&r=all |
| By: | Johannes Eugster; Giang Ho; Florence Jaumotte; Roberto Piazza |
| Abstract: | How important is foreign knowledge for domestic innovation outcomes? How is this relation shaped by globalization and the attendant intensification of international competition? Our empirical approach extends the previous literature by analyzing a large panel comprising industries in both advanced and emerging economies over the past two decades. We find that barriers to the domestic diffusion of foreign knowledge have fallen significantly for emerging economies. For all countries, and especially for emerging economies, inflows of foreign knowledge have a growing and quantitatively important impact on domestic innovation. Controlling for the amount of domestic R&D, we find evidence that increases in international competitive pressure at the industry level had a positive effect on domestic innovation outcomes |
| Date: | 2018–12–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:18/269&r=all |
| By: | Carlos Stozek Neto; Marcelo de Mattos Bezerra |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the feasibility of using sustainable system solutions in a multifamily apartment complex in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The apartment complex consists of thirty-two units in an eight-story building. The four proposed sustainable systems are photovoltaic power generation system, recycling and reuse of greywater, rainwater catchment and individual water metering. The sustainable systems are described in this paper, as well as the parameters commonly used to carry out a real estate development in Rio de Janeiro. Comparative analyses are undertaken between the scenario without the use of any solution and scenarios where the sustainable systems are implemented, in order to highlight the costs and the reduction of consumption generated by each system. The results are used to evaluate details of interest to developers, such as development indicators (IRR, Margin, etc.), need for adjust sale prices and consumers’ willingness to pay, as well as details of interest to the buying customer, such as generated savings and payback of the investment. This article shows that in order to match the higher cost of sustainable developments, there is a need to increase the sale price of the units. However, the increase can be justified to the consumer when compared to gains from operating expenses. The results of this study indicate that only the photovoltaic and the individual water metering systems can be classified as attractive, increasing the PSV by 1.28% and allowing a reduction to the customer in the accumulated overall cost over time, of 6.14% at the end of a cycle of 60 years. Consequently, the increase in the price of properties is compatible with the reduction of operating costs during the building lifespan, making the sustainable solutions interesting for both the buying customer and the developer. |
| Keywords: | Financial feasibility; habitação multifamiliar; incorporação imobiliária; multifamily housing; real estate; Rio De Janeiro; sustainability; Sustentabilidade; viabilidade financeira |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2018–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lre:wpaper:lares_2018_paper_69-neto-bezerra&r=all |
| By: | Thomas Fackler; Yvonne Giesing; Nadzeya Laurentsyeva |
| Abstract: | Does the emigration of skilled individuals necessarily result in losses for source countries due to the brain drain? Combining industry-level patenting and migration data from 32 European countries, we show that emigration in fact positively contributes to innovation in source countries. We use changes in the labour mobility legislation within Europe as exogenous variation to establish causality. By analysing patent citation data, we further provide evidence that these positive effects are driven by knowledge flows that are triggered by emigrants. While skilled migrants are not inventing in their home country anymore, they contribute to cross-border knowledge and technology diffusion and thus help less advanced countries to catch up to the technology frontier. |
| Keywords: | migration, innovation, knowledge spillovers, patent citations, EU enlargement |
| JEL: | F22 J61 O33 O31 O52 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7420&r=all |
| By: | Robin Boadway; Luc Eyraud |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses how decentralized countries can achieve sound fiscal relations between the central government and lower government levels. The concepts of “vertical gap” and “vertical balance” provide an analytical framework for identifying and addressing key challenges. These concepts can help policymakers ensure that the financing of subnational governments (composed of transfers received from the center, own revenues, and borrowing) is both efficient and adequate given the allocation of spending responsibilities. More generally, the paper offers some perspectives about the optimal design of decentralization systems by examining the sequencing and economic principles underlying revenue and expenditure assignments, the use of transfers, and borrowing. |
| Date: | 2018–12–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:18/271&r=all |
| By: | Elizabeth Dhuey; Stephen Lipscomb |
| Abstract: | This study extends recent findings of a relationship between the relative age of students among their peers and their probability of disability classification. |
| Keywords: | Relative age , Special Education |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:decdd44a894e4c97b6afe31e49411d73&r=all |
| By: | Ding Ding; Weicheng Lian |
| Abstract: | In this paper we analyze the fundamental drivers of China’s residential investment as a share of its GDP. Our analysis indicates that the economic structural changes that led to rebalancing toward consumption were the key driver of the rising residential investment to GDP ratio in China. We project that residential investment would moderate from the current level of 9 percent of GDP to around 6 percent by 2024, and its contribution to real GDP growth would decline gradually from currently about half percent of GDP to slightly negative over this period, barring policy intervention. The decline in the growth contribution of residential investment reflects the projected somewhat slower pace of rebalancing going forward and the envisaged increases in labor costs due to demographic changes. |
| Keywords: | Asia and Pacific;China, People's Republic of;Central banks and their policies;China housing market, residential investment, rebalancing, Bayesian Analysis, Time-Series Models, Monetary Policy (Targets, Instruments, and Effects) |
| Date: | 2018–12–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:18/261&r=all |
| By: | Tijan L. Bah |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at investigating how the occupational placement of immigrants relative to their qualifications a ect their self-selection. Using an administrative matched employer-employee data set for Portugal for the years 2002-2009, we first estimate the probability that an average worker from a particular country is overeducated, matched, or undereducated relative to the skill needs of the occupation he takes upon immigration. Second, using these estimated probabilities, we analyze how overeducation and appropriate skill-occupation matches a ect selection of immigrants from 40 origin countries. The results suggest that overeducation leads to negative self-selection of immigrants into the Portuguese labor market. Furthermore, the evidence suggests that appropriate occupation-skill matches a ect migration selection positively. These results imply that receiving countries' selective policies aimed at attracting high skilled immigrants should also focus on reducing occupation-skill mismatch probably through degree recognition and standardization in collaboration with sending countries. |
| Keywords: | Selection, Occupation-Skill Mismatch, Portugal, Immigrants, Waste, Immigration |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unl:novafr:wp1804&r=all |
| By: | Guo Xu; Marianne Bertrand; Robin Burgess |
| Abstract: | Using exogenous variation in social proximity generated by an allocation rule, we find that bureaucrats assigned to their home states are perceived to be more corrupt and less able to withstand illegitimate political pressure. Despite this, we observe that home officers are more likely to be promoted in the later stages of their careers. To understand this dissonance between performance and promotion we show that incoming Chief Ministers preferentially promote home officers that come from the same home district. Taken together, our results suggest that social proximity hampers bureaucrat performance by facilitating political capture and corruption. |
| JEL: | J45 O43 |
| Date: | 2018–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25389&r=all |
| By: | Gayatri Singh |
| Keywords: | Poverty Reduction - Access of Poor to Social Services Poverty Reduction - Employment and Shared Growth Poverty Reduction - Inequality Social Protections and Labor - Labor Markets Urban Development - Urban Poverty Urban Development - Urban Services to the Poor |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:31047&r=all |
| By: | Giudo De Blasio; Maria De Paola; Vincenzo Scoppa; Samuele Poy (Dipartimento di Economia, Statistica e Finanza "Giovanni Anania" - DESF, Università della Calabria) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of risk attitudes on the decision to become an entrepreneur. In contrast to previous research, we handle endogeneity issues relying on an instrumental variables strategy considering as a source of exogenous variation in risk aversion the early exposure to a massive earthquake. Using several waves of the Bank of Italy Survey of Household Income and Wealth (SHIW), we find that individuals experimenting an earthquake become significantly more risk averse. Second-stage estimates show that risk aversion has a significant negative impact on the probability of becoming an entrepreneur. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, Risk Attitudes, Natural Disasters, Instrumental Variables |
| JEL: | D81 D91 L26 C36 |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:clb:wpaper:201901&r=all |
| By: | Margaryan, Shushanik (University of Hamburg); Paul, Annemarie (University of Hamburg); Siedler, Thomas (University of Hamburg) |
| Abstract: | Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and exploiting the staggered implementation of a compulsory schooling reform in West Germany, this article finds that an additional year of schooling lowers the probability of being very concerned about immigration to Germany by around six percentage points (20 percent). Furthermore, our findings imply significant spillovers from maternal education to immigration attitudes of her offspring. While we find no evidence for returns to education within a range of labour market outcomes, higher social trust appears to be an important mechanism behind our findings. |
| Keywords: | attitudes towards immigration, intergenerational effects, schooling, externalities, instrumental variables estimation |
| JEL: | J15 J62 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11980&r=all |
| By: | Stefano Bartolini; Marcin Piekalkiewicz; Francesco Sarracino |
| Abstract: | Social comparisons have severe negative consequences for happiness, health, and economic decisions. Is there a remedy? Some research suggests that social comparisons are intrinsic human characteristics rooted in the biology of the brain. We offer a different view based on approximately half a million interviews from nationally representative surveys. Specifically, we assess whether people with thriving social lives suffer less from social comparisons than others. Controlling for demographic factors, we find that isolated people are more likely to be concerned about whether they earn more or less than others. Conversely, the well-being of individuals with rich social lives does not depend on keeping up with the Joneses. This result is reflected at the country level: in countries that are socially flourishing, the differences in well-being between income groups are small, which is a consequence of the relatively small impact of income comparisons on well-being. This evidence suggests that social relations can be a cure for social comparisons. We discuss a few policies to promote social relations, relating to education reform, urban planning, and advertising regulation. |
| JEL: | I31 Z18 I18 |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usi:wpaper:797&r=all |
| By: | Vu, Tien Manh |
| Abstract: | This study examines the effects of concurrent weather, corresponding to test sites as well as three-year consolidated weather conditions at high school time, on the math test scores of census examinees participating in the Vietnamese national entrance examinations to universities and colleges on July 4 and 15, 2009. Using individual first difference, I find that the maximum temperature of the day, 30 to 32°C (86-89.6°F), which is slightly below the usual average in all July between the years 1950-2009, benefitted examinees most. My analysis demonstrates that female testers were more vulnerable to harsh temperature and extreme weather but also more physically adaptive to temperature than males. Extreme weather occurring at the high school, especially during the school calendar, has a negative effect on the test scores. |
| Keywords: | Temperature, Extreme weather, Test score, Human capital, Gender, Drought, Vietnam, I25, J24, J16, I15, O15, Q56 |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agi:wpaper:00000150&r=all |
| By: | Brice Corgnet (EM LYON Business School); Roberto Hernán-González (Burgundy School of Business); Praveen Kujal (Middlesex University Business School, London and Economic Science Institute, Chapman University) |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of ambiguity on the formation of bubbles and on the occurrence of crashes in experimental asset markets à la Smith, Suchanek, and Williams (1988). We extend their framework to an environment where the fundamental value of the asset is ambiguous. We show that, when the fundamental value is ambiguous, asset prices tend to be lower than when it is risky although bubbles form in both the ambiguous and the risky environments. Additionally, bubbles do not crash in the ambiguous case whereas they do so in the risky one. These findings regarding depressed prices and the absence of crashes in the presence of ambiguity are in line with recent theoretical work stressing the crucial role of ambiguity to account for surprisingly low equity prices (high returns) as well as herding in asset markets. |
| Keywords: | Experimental asset markets, bubbles, ambiguity |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chu:wpaper:18-15&r=all |
| By: | Cevat Giray Aksoy; Panu Poutvaara |
| Abstract: | About 1.4 million refugees and irregular migrants arrived in Europe in 2015 and 2016. We model how refugees and irregular migrants are self-selected. Using unique datasets from the International Organization for Migration and Gallup World Polls, we provide the first large-scale evidence on reasons to emigrate, and the self-selection and sorting of refugees and irregular migrants for multiple origin and destination countries. Refugees and female irregular migrants are positively self-selected with respect to education, while male irregular migrants are not. We also analyze how border controls affect destination country choice. |
| Keywords: | Refugees, self-selection, human capital, predicted income |
| JEL: | J15 J24 O15 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ifowps:_289&r=all |
| By: | Lin, Carl (Bucknell University); van der Meulen Rodgers, Yana (Rutgers University) |
| Abstract: | This study uses migrant household survey data from 2008 and 2009 to examine how parental migration decisions are associated with the nutritional status of children in rural and urban China. Results from instrumental variables regressions show a substantial adverse effect of children's exposure to parental migration on height-for-age Z-scores of left-behind children relative to children who migrate with their parents. Additional results from a standard Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition, a quantile decomposition, and a counterfactual distribution analysis all confirm that children who are left behind in rural villages – usually because of the oppressive hukou system – have poorer nutritional status than children who migrate with their parents, and the gaps are biggest at lower portions of the distribution. |
| Keywords: | migration, China, children, health, nutrition |
| JEL: | I10 J61 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11986&r=all |
| By: | Andrew E. Clark (PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics); Conchita D'Ambrosio (Uni.lu - Université du Luxembourg); Rong Zhu (Flinders University) |
| Abstract: | We here consider the relationship between the individual time profile of crime victimisation and sleep quality. Sleep quality worsens with contemporaneous crime victimisation, with physical violence having a larger effect than property crime. But crime history also matters, and past victimisation experience continues to reduce current sleep quality. Last, there is some evidence that the order of victimisation spells plays a role: consecutive years of crime victimisation affect sleep quality more adversely than the same number of years when not contiguous. |
| Keywords: | Sleep quality,Property crimes,Crime,Time,Physical violence |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-01976867&r=all |
| By: | Fernanda Brollo; Katja Maria Kaufmann; Eliana La Ferrara |
| Abstract: | We study spillovers in learning about the enforcement of Bolsa Familia, a program conditioning benefits on children’s school attendance. Using original administrative data, we find that individuals’ compliance responds to penalties incurred by their classmates and by siblings’ classmates (in other grades/schools). As the severity of penalties increases with repeated noncompliance, the response is larger when peers are punished for “higher stages†than the family’s, consistent with learning. Individuals also respond to penalties experienced by neighbors who are exogenously scheduled to receive notices on the same day. Our results point to important social multiplier effects of enforcement via learning. |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2018_050&r=all |
| By: | Harim Kim |
| Abstract: | Industry-wide shocks can have heterogeneous impacts on firms’ costs due to different firm characteristics. The heterogeneity in these impacts is crucial for understanding the passthrough of the shock, because of its implications on strategic competition. In the context of the gas price shock in the electricity market, I develop a method to identify heterogeneous impacts of the shock and show with a structural analysis that the heterogeneous feature of the shock induces markup adjustments of firms. Pass-through that is estimated without incorporating heterogeneous impacts fails to reflect the change in competition arising from the shock, and is, on average, underestimated. |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2018_053&r=all |
| By: | Sara Signorelli (PSE - Paris School of Economics, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | In recent yearsWestern countries are expressing growing concerns about the regulation of migration flows and many are considering adopting some form of selective immigration policy. This paper analyzes the labor market effects of one of such reforms introduced in France in 2008 with the aim of encouraging the inflow of foreign workers with skills that are scarce among the local labor force. The analysis relies on administrative employer-employee data and it is based on a difference-in-differences approach. Results show that the reform increased the hiring of foreign workers in target occupations without causing any harm to native employment. As a result, the overall stock of labor grew in these jobs. Entry wages are lowered by 4% among natives and by 9% among foreigners, suggesting that these two groups may not be perfect substitutes, even when they are employed for the exact same task. Yet, the negative pressure on salaries seems to disappear after the first three years, as opposed to the positive impact on employment. The effects are stronger for the occupations with the most severe lack of native candidates and for those with an average salary largely above the minimum wage, indicating that the reform was successful in attracting candidates with rare skills and relatively high productivity. |
| Keywords: | Immigration,Employment,Wage,Occupations,France |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-01983071&r=all |
| By: | Dennis Ranalli; Janis Johnston; Edward Harper; Rosemary O'Connell; Jay Hirschman; Quinn Moore; Ira Nichols-Barrer; Nancy Cole |
| Abstract: | This report responds to the legislative requirement of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (P.L.110-246) to assess the effectiveness of State and local efforts to directly certify children for free school meals under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). |
| Keywords: | NSLP , School Lunch Program , Direct Certification , Nutrition |
| JEL: | I0 I1 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:deebfcb3421b40e1903588c3c94cad25&r=all |
| By: | Michelle Norris (School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice, University College Dublin.) |
| Abstract: | The period from the early 1930s to mid-1950s was the golden age of social housing in the Republic of Ireland. During these three decades social housing accounted for 55 per cent of all new housing built and the proportion of Irish households accommodated in this sector increased to an all-time high of 18.6 per cent by 1961. Unlike the rest of Western Europe the expansion of Ireland’s social housing sector did not coincide with a golden age of welfare state expansion. Indeed the Ireland’s social housing sector began to stagnate and contract just as its welfare state commenced a late blossoming in the 1970s. This paper looks to financing arrangements to shed light on these atypical patterns of social housing sector expansion and contraction. The argument offered here is that initially the arrangements used to fund social housing in Ireland were very similar to those used in the other Western European countries which constructed large social housing sectors during the twentieth century. However, as this century wore on, the influence of the socio-political pressures which has constrained the growth of the wider Irish welfare state came to bear on the model used to fund social housing and precipitated the end of its golden age. |
| Date: | 2018–12–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucd:wpaper:201901&r=all |
| By: | Mbanda, Vandudzai; Bonga-Bonga, Lumengo |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses the factors that contribute to underspending of the capital budget at the local government level by making use of a nonlinear model based on the panel smooth transition regression (PSTR) model. South Africa is used as a case study. Capital transfer is identified as an important threshold variable in that the degree to which municipalities spend their capital budget depends on a threshold determined by capital transfer. The results of the empirical analysis show that large amounts of capital transfers to local government contribute to underspending by municipalities in South Africa. Moreover, the results indicate that capital budget spending could be improved by ensuring that the trade-off between the current budget and capital budget is reduced, increasing the fiscal capacity of municipalities, which gives them financial autonomy to raise their own revenues. |
| Keywords: | capital spending, municipalities, capital transfer, nonlinear model |
| JEL: | C50 H72 H77 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:91499&r=all |