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on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
By: | Takaaki Ohnishi (Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, University of Tokyo); Takayuki Mizuno (National Institute of Informatics); Tsutomu Watanabe (Graduate School of Economics,University of Tokyo) |
Abstract: | We investigate the cross-sectional distribution of house prices in the Greater Tokyo Area for the period 1986 to 2009. We find that size-adjusted house prices follow a lognormal distribution except for the period of the housing bubble and its collapse in Tokyo, for which the price distribution has a substantially heavier upper tail than that of a lognormal distribution. We also find that, during the bubble era, sharp price movements were concentrated in particular areas, and this spatial heterogeneity is the source of the fat upper tail. These findings suggest that, during a bubble, prices increase markedly for certain properties but to a much lesser extent for other properties, leading to an increase in price inequality across properties. In other words, the defining property of real estate bubbles is not the rapid price hike itself but an increase in price dispersion. We argue that the shape of cross-sectional house price distributions may contain information useful for the detection of housing bubbles. |
Keywords: | housing bubbles; anomaly detection; lognormal distributions; power-law tail; hedonic models; market segmentation; submarkets |
JEL: | R10 R30 C46 |
Date: | 2019–06 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upd:utmpwp:008&r=all |
By: | Knut Are Aastveit; Bruno Albuquerque; André Anundsen |
Abstract: | Recent developments in US house prices mirror those of the 1996-2006 boom, but the recovery in construction activity has been weak. Using data for 254 US metropolitan areas, we show that housing supply elasticities have fallen markedly in recent years. Consistent with this, we ?nd that monetary policy shocks have a stronger e?ect on house prices during the recent recovery than the previous boom. At the same time, building permits respond less. Finally, we ?nd that housing supply elasticities have declined more in areas where land-use regulation has tightened the most, and in areas that experienced the sharpest housing busts. |
Keywords: | House prices, Heterogeneity, Housing supply elasticities, Monetary Policy |
Date: | 2019–06 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bny:wpaper:0076&r=all |
By: | Daisy J. Huang (Nanjing Audit University); Charles Ka Yui Leung (City University of Hong Kong); Chung-Yi Tse (University of Hong Kong) |
Abstract: | We build an on-the-house-search model and show analytically that the rent- to-price ratio (or rental yield) and turnover rate, which are frequently used metrics for the housing market, are jointly determined in equilibrium. We therefore adopt a simultaneous equation approach on matched sale-rental pairs in our empirical investigation, as a housing unit cannot be owner-occupied and renter-occupied at the same time. Our empirical results confirm a higher turnover rate is associated with a lower rent-to-price ratio, as predicted by the model. Furthermore, our results suggest a form of “dichotomy” in the empirical determinants of rental yield and turnover at the real-estate-development (RED) level: the demographic structure, and past return performance affect its turnover rate, while popularity, human capital environment, mortgage burden, and long run rent growth determine the rental yield. The robustness of our results are established through a series of tests. In addition to these findings, our tractable search-theoretic model, a ranking of more than 130 RED in Hong Kong based on the popularity index we construct, and the estimated brand- premium for different major real estate developers may also carry independent research and practical interests. |
Keywords: | housing rental yield, turnover rate, bootstrap, leave-one-out cross validation (LOOCV), matching estimator, 3 stages least squares (3SLS) |
JEL: | D10 G10 R21 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cth:wpaper:gru_2016_019&r=all |
By: | Takeru Sugasawa |
Abstract: | The study examines the effects of accessibility to the nearest urban metropolitan area on rural poverty by using Japanese municipality-level data. We conduct nationwide cross-sectional analyses, and find that a larger time distance to the nearest urban metropolitan area significantly increases regional poverty rates. In addition, the study focuses on opening of new commuting train, Tsukuba Express (TX), connecting Tokyo and Ibaraki prefecture, a suburban area of Tokyo. We conduct municipality-level panel analyses, and the results suggest that opening TX reduced rural poverty rates of the surrounding areas, but the effects required 6-10 years to be observed. Therefore, regional policy makers might need to consider that transportation investments that improve inter-regional accessibility do not affect regional economic performance for several years. |
Date: | 2019–01 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:toh:dssraa:94&r=all |
By: | Nicolas Jannin (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); Aurélie Sotura (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: | Despite long-standing theoretical interest, empirical attempts at investigating the appropriate level of decentralization remain scarce. This paper develops a simple and flexible framework to test for the presence of public good spillovers between fiscally autonomous jurisdictions and investigate potential welfare gains from marginal fiscal integration. We build a quantitative spatial equilibrium model of cities with mobile households and endogenous local public goods causingspillovers across jurisdictional boundaries. We show how one can exploit migration and house priceresponses to shocks in local public goods at different geographic scales to reveal the intensity ofspillovers. Applying our framework to the particularly fragmented French institutional setting, westructurally estimate the model using a unique combination of administrative panel datasets on cities. Estimation relies on plausibly exogenous variations in government subsidies to instrument changes in the supply of local public goods. We find that public goods of neighboring cities account for approximately 89-96% of total public goods benefiting residents of the average French city. Finally, we simulate the effect of a reform increasing fiscal integration and find substantial welfare gains. |
Keywords: | Local Public Service,Spillover Effect,Spatial General Equilibrium,Tiebout,Welfare Economics,State Government Subsidies |
Date: | 2019–06 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-02160251&r=all |
By: | Nieuwenhuis, Jaap (Zhejiang University); Kleinepier, Tom (Delft University of Technology); van Ham, Maarten (Delft University of Technology) |
Abstract: | Research on neighbourhood effects indicates that neighbourhood poverty is related to educational outcomes of youth, however, much less attention is spend on studying neighbourhood and school effects simultaneously. Because the demographic composition of both contexts likely overlaps to some extent, it is possible that the effect both contexts have is not independent of each other. Throughout the early teenage years the neighbourhood and school contexts can vary, advocating for a life-course approach, including how the timing and duration of exposure to either contexts affect educational achievement. Using the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) birth cohort (N=4,502), we employed cross-classified multilevel models to examine the timing and duration of exposure to poverty in neighbourhood and school contexts between ages 10 and 16, to predict educational achievement of adolescents at age 16. Our results indicate that neighbourhood poverty impacts on educational achievement, independent of school poverty. Furthermore, we found that for neighbourhood poverty, especially enduring exposure impacts on educational achievement, while the timing of exposure does not play a role. However, for school poverty, both timing and duration play a role: longer exposure is related to lower achievement, but also exposure at an earlier age has a stronger impact than exposure at a later age. Finally, the lowest educational achievement was observed in adolescents who were exposed to poverty in both contexts for the full observation period. In sum, our analyses indicate that, when studying contextual disadvantage, it is crucial to consider how variations over time in different contexts might be related and how they might influence the study. |
Keywords: | educational achievement, poverty, schools, neighbourhoods, ALSPAC |
JEL: | I24 R23 |
Date: | 2019–06 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12396&r=all |
By: | Margit Molnar |
Abstract: | China’s regions have been experiencing impressive growth over the past decades, but their potentials could be better exploited by creating a single product and labour market. Local protectionism increases transaction costs and hinders competition, thereby taking a toll on productivity. Administrative monopolies have long thrived and are hard to dismantle. Restrictions on the hukou and the fragmented pension system limit labour mobility. Local regulations aim at, among other things, securing the collection of local taxes, without which cities could not afford to offer the same public services to migrants as to urbanites. Hence, dismantling local regulations and creating a single product and labour market needs to go hand-in-hand with the reform of inter-governmental finances. Recent measures on both the product and labour market front appear to aim at making up for the slow progress over the past decade or so. There are signs that these efforts are helping China’s regions at various levels to converge toward each other. Disparities are shrinking faster across provinces, compared to within provinces. Integration of product and labour markets will boost productivity over the medium-to long term by reducing transaction costs, but could potentially widen regional disparities, which are already relatively high. This will necessitate enhanced transfers and re-centralisation of the financing of spending in some key categories such as education and health. Policies to help catching up of laggard regions by better connectivity through infrastructure investment are bearing fruit, but such investments should be subject to rigorous cost-benefit criteria to enhance capital allocation efficiency and should take into account externalities. Notwithstanding significant disparities along multiple dimensions across provinces, inequalities, be it in terms of income, wealth or education, are actually most striking along the rural-urban dimension. The rural revitalisation strategy, a novel element of the 19th Party Congress outcomes, is expected to address this issue. The other recent strategy of nurturing the formation of city groups will also likely benefit rural areas in-between those cities.This Working Paper relates to the 2019 OECD Economic Survey of China (http://www.oecd.org/economy/china-econo mic-snapshot/). |
Keywords: | administrative monopolies, competition, fiscal transfers, hukou, inter-governmental fiscal relations, labour mobility, protectionism, regional disparities, regional policies |
JEL: | R58 L12 L51 L52 P25 J61 H77 |
Date: | 2019–07–01 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1557-en&r=all |
By: | Shi, Ying (Stanford University); Singleton, John D. (University of Rochester) |
Abstract: | In this paper, we study the roles of expertise and independence on governing boards in the context of education. In particular, we examine the causal influence of professional educators elected to local school boards on education production. Educators may bring valuable human capital to school district leadership, thereby improving student learning. Alternatively, the independence of educators may be distorted by interest groups. The key empirical challenge is that school board composition is endogenously determined through the electoral process. To overcome this, we develop and implement a novel research design that exploits California's randomized assignment of the order that candidates appear on election ballots. The insight of our empirical strategy is that ballot order effects generate quasi-random variation in the elected school board's composition. This approach is made possible by a unique dataset that combines election information about California school board candidates with district-level data on education inputs and outcomes. The results reveal that educators on the school board causally increase teacher salaries and reduce district enrollment in charter schools relative to other board members. We do not find accompanying effects on student test scores. We interpret these findings as consistent with educators on school boards shifting bargaining in favor of teachers' unions. |
Keywords: | school boards, education, ballot order effects, education production, expertise, independence |
JEL: | I20 H75 J24 |
Date: | 2019–06 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12414&r=all |
By: | Hilber, Christian A. L.; Lyytikäinen, Teemu |
Abstract: | We estimate the effect of the UK Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) – a transfer tax on the purchase price of property or land – on different types of household mobility using micro data. Exploiting a discontinuity in the tax schedule, we isolate the impact of the tax from other determinants of mobility. We compare homeowners with self-assessed house values on either sides of a cut-off value where the tax rate jumps from 1 to 3 percent. We find that a higher SDLT has a strong negative impact on housing-related and short distance moves but does not adversely affect job-induced or long distance mobility. Overall, our results suggest that transfer taxes may mainly distort housing rather than labor markets. |
Keywords: | transfer taxes; stamp duty; transaction costs; homeownership; household mobility |
JEL: | R14 J01 |
Date: | 2017–09–01 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:81872&r=all |
By: | Kilian Heilmann; Matthew E. Kahn |
Abstract: | We use spatially disaggregated daily crime data for the City of Los Angeles to measure the impact of heat and pollution on crime and to study how this relationship varies across the city. On average, overall crime increases by 2.2% and violent crime by 5.7% on days with maximum daily temperatures above 85 degrees Fahrenheit (29.4° C) compared to days below that threshold. The heat-crime relationship is more pronounced in low-income neighborhoods. This suggests that heat shocks can increase spatial urban quality of life differences through their effect on crime. We use other administrative data and find some evidence that policing intensity declines on extremely hot days. These findings highlight that the quality of urban governance during times of extreme stress may be an important policy lever in helping all socio-economic groups adapt to climate change. |
JEL: | H41 Q53 Q54 |
Date: | 2019–06 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25961&r=all |
By: | Bart Golsteyn (Maastricht University); Maria W. J. Jansen (Maastricht University); Dave H. H. Van Kann (Maastricht University,); Annelore M. C. Verhagen (Maastricht University) |
Abstract: | This paper investigates whether encouraging children to become more physically active in their everyday life affects their primary school performance. We use data from a field quasi- experiment called the Active Living Program, which aimed to increase active modes of transportation to school and active play among 8- to 12-year-olds living in low socioeconomic status (SES) areas in the Netherlands. Difference-in-differences estimations reveal that while the interventions increase time spent on physical activity during school hours, they negatively affect school performance, especially among the worst-performing students. Further analyses reveal that increased restlessness during instruction time is a potential mechanism for this negative effect. Our results suggest that the commonly found positive effects of exercising or participating in sports on educational outcomes may not be generalizable to physical activity in everyday life. Policymakers and educators who seek to increase physical activity in everyday life need to weigh the health and well-being benefits against the probability of increasing inequality in school performance. |
Keywords: | health behavior, field quasi-experiment, education, physical activity |
JEL: | I12 C93 I20 |
Date: | 2019–07 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2019-042&r=all |
By: | Khorunzhina, Natalia (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School) |
Abstract: | Using the data on maintenance expenditures and self-assessed house value, I separate the measure of individual housing stock and house prices, and use these data for testing whether nondurable consumption and housing are characterized by intratemporal nonseparability in households’ preferences. I find evidence in favor of intratemporal dependence between total nondurable consumption and housing. I reach a similar conclusion for some separate consumption categories, such as food and utility services. My findings also indicate households are more willing to substitute housing and nondurable consumption within a period than to substitute composite consumption bundles over different time periods. |
Keywords: | Intratemporal Nonseparability; Housing; Nondurable Consumption |
JEL: | C51 D12 D13 E21 R21 |
Date: | 2019–05–14 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cbsnow:2019_003&r=all |
By: | Matysiak, George; Olszewski, Krzysztof |
Abstract: | We employ two methodologies in order to identify groupings of cities and to analyse the factors which drive convergence in residential prices across Polish prime markets over the period 2007-2018. The Phillips and Sul (2007) methodology is used to identify convergence in primary residential prices in the major Polish cities. The results indicate that residential prices do not converge to a single common trend. However, we find the existence of three distinct sub-groups of cities (‘clubs’) where residential prices converge to their own steady-state paths. Using an ordered logit model, we investigate supply and demand factors determining club membership, which subsequently allocates 13 out of the 15 cities as belonging to the clubs identified by the Phillips and Sul procedure. |
Keywords: | Polish residential prices, Phillips and Sul, panel convergence, relative transition, ordered logit model. |
JEL: | R1 R15 R3 R31 R32 |
Date: | 2019–06–23 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:94660&r=all |
By: | Nektarios Michail (Central Bank of Cyprus); George Thucydides (Central Bank of Cyprus) |
Abstract: | In this paper we investigate the relationship between housing wealth and consumption in Cyprus. To this end, we employ a vector error correction mechanism to examine interlinkages among house prices, private consumption, disposable income, financial assets and financial liabilities. We find that house prices affect private consumption, particularly in the short term, albeit to a lesser extent than similar studies for other countries. Financial liabilities are found to be important for consumption behaviour, while financial assets of Cypriot households appear to not affect significantly their consumption. Distinguishing consumption between durable and non-durable goods, we find that an increase in house prices boosts consumption of durables, while non-durables are found to register an insignificant effect. |
Keywords: | House prices, consumption, VECM analysis |
JEL: | C1 C32 E21 R30 |
Date: | 2018–07 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cyb:wpaper:2018-4&r=all |
By: | Daunfeldt, Sven-Olov (Institute of Retail Economics (Handelns Forskningsinstitut)); Mihaescu, Oana (Institute of Retail Economics (Handelns Forskningsinstitut)); Öner, Özge (University of Cambridge); Rudholm, Niklas (Institute of Retail Economics (Handelns Forskningsinstitut)) |
Abstract: | Opponents of big-box entry argue that large retail establishments generate noise and other types of pollution and a variety of negative externalities associated with traffic. Big-box advocates, on the other hand, argue that access to a large retail market delivers not only direct economic benefits but also a variety of positive spillover effects and therefore can be considered a consumer amenity that increases the attractiveness of the entry location. To test the validity of these competing arguments, we use the entry of IKEA in Sweden as a quasi-experiment and empirically investigate whether increased access to retail affects place attractiveness, which is proxied by residential property values. We find that IKEA entry increases the prices of the properties sold in the entry cities by, on average, 4.4% or 60,425 SEK (approximately 6,400 USD), but this effect is statistically insignificant for the properties in the immediate vicinity of the new IKEA retail trade area. In addition, we observe an attenuation of the effect with distance from the new IKEA store and the associated retail trade area, where the properties located 10 km away experience a 2% price increase. Our results are in line with some previous findings regarding the effects of entry by Walmart or supermarket stores in the US and show that large retailers have the potential to increase place attractiveness, but perhaps not in the immediate vicinity of the new establishment. |
Keywords: | retail trade; large retailers; property values; place attractiveness; difference-in-differences estimation |
JEL: | D22 P25 R12 R32 |
Date: | 2019–06–24 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:hfiwps:0001&r=all |
By: | Petre Caraiani (Institute for Economic Forecasting, Romanian Academy, 050711, Bucharest - Romania, Casa Academiei, Calea 13 Septembrie nr.13, Sector 5); Rangan Gupta (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa); Chi Keung Marco Lau (Department of Accountancy, Finance and Economics, Huddersfield Business School, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield, HD1 3DH, UK.); Hardik A. Marfatia (Department of Economics, Northeastern Illinois University, BBH 344G, 5500 N. St. Louis Ave., Chicago, IL 60625, USA) |
Abstract: | In this paper, we use a Quantile Structural Vector Autoregressive (QSVAR) model, estimated over the quarterly period of 1975:Q3 to 2017:Q3, to analyze whether the impact of monetary policy shocks on real housing returns in the United States is contingent on the initial state of housing market sentiment. We find that contractionary monetary policy reduces real housing returns more strongly when the market is characterized by optimism rather than pessimism, with this effect being more pronounced under unconventional monetary policy decisions. Further robustness checks confirm our results. Our findings highlight the role in sentiments in driving the policy effectiveness and thus, have important implications for policy decisions. |
Keywords: | House price, Monetary policy, Housing sentiment, Quantile Structural Vector Autoregressive Model |
JEL: | C32 R31 |
Date: | 2019–07 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pre:wpaper:201953&r=all |
By: | Aviral Kumar Tiwari (Montpellier Business School, 2300, Avenue des Moulins, 34185, Montpellier Cedex 4 0002, France); Rangan Gupta (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa); Juncal Cunado (University of Navarra, School of Economics, Edificio Amigos, E-31080 Pamplona, Spain); Xin Sheng (Lord Ashcroft International Business School, Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, CM1 1SQ, U.K.) |
Abstract: | In the pure time-series sense, weak-form of efficiency of the housing market would imply unpredictability of housing returns. Given this, utilizing a daily dataset of aggregate housing market returns of the United States, we test whether housing market returns are white noise using the blockwise wild bootstrap in a rolling-window framework. We investigate the dynamic evolution of housing market efficiency and find that the white noise hypothesis is accepted in most windows associated with non-crisis periods. However, for some periods before the burst of the housing market bubbles, and during the subprime mortgage crisis, European sovereign debt crisis and the Brexit, the white noise hypothesis is rejected, indicating that the housing market is inefficient in periods of turbulence. Our results have important implications for economic agents. |
Keywords: | Blockwise wild bootstrap, Randomized block size, Serial correlation, Weak-form efficiency, White noise test, Daily US housing returns |
JEL: | C12 C58 R31 |
Date: | 2019–07 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pre:wpaper:201952&r=all |
By: | Niklas Potrafke; Felix Roesel |
Abstract: | Spatial inequalities in publicly provided goods such as health care facilities have substantial socio-economic effects. Little is known, however, as to why publicly provided goods diverge among urban and rural regions. We exploit narrow parliamentary majorities in German states between 1950 and 2014 in an RD framework to show that government ideology influences the urban-rural gap in public infrastructure. Leftwing governments relocate hospital beds from rural regions. We propose that leftwing governments do so to gratify their more urban constituencies. In turn, spatial inequalities in hospital infrastructure increase, which seems to influence general and infant mortality. |
Keywords: | publicly provided goods, spatial inequalities, political business cycles, partisan politics, government ideology, health care, hospitals |
JEL: | D72 H42 I18 |
Date: | 2019 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7647&r=all |
By: | Michael Fritsch; Korneliusz Pylak; Michael Wyrwich |
Abstract: | Persistence of entrepreneurship over longer periods of time could indicate a culture of entrepreneurship among the local population that may be an important factor for regional development, but does persistence of economic activity require cultural transmission? We exploit the diverse historical developments in the territory that is Poland today to analyze the level and the sources of persistence from the 1920s until today. Persistence is mainly found in those regions that were part of Germany before World War II. This persistence is noticeable despite the exchange of most of the pre- war population, ruling out that persistence is driven by transmission of culture. In most regions that were already part of Poland before World War II, the relationship between historical and current levels of entrepreneurship is not significant. Persistence of entrepreneurship is related to the historical success of regions, which we capture by the pre-war level of and self- employment in manufacturing industries, particularly in those that can be regarded as knowledge intensive. Our main conclusion is that persistence of entrepreneurship requires a certain level of successful economic development that we capture by the degree of industrialization in the early 20th century, but it does not necessarily require persistence of the local population. |
Keywords: | Persistence, entrepreneurship, self-employment |
JEL: | L26 M13 O1 O18 R11 |
Date: | 2019–06 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1919&r=all |
By: | Taorem Surendra Singh |
Abstract: | The teacher is the central point in the process of education. For a teacher, self-esteem and classroom performance competency may be considered to be important qualities. The loss caused by the deficiencies in the teacher component can't be restored by any amount of inputs. The poor performance of teachers certainly affects the tone of school. If teachers are incompetent, dissatisfied with their job and not guided by proper values, the entire edifice of education system will be in danger. Effective teaching requires good and competent teachers. An effective teacher is one who is able to bring out intended learning outcomes. This ability to bring out intended learning outcomes is concerned with teacher competencies. The successful teacher tends to be warm, understanding, friendly, responsible, systematic, imaginative and enthusiastic. Considering the notion that personality of a teacher has an effect on his/ her competency. Self-esteem is an important personality characteristics of an individual. Therefore this study will analyze the effect of self-esteem of the teacher on his/her classroom performance competency among teachers working in High Schools of Imphal Area. Key Words:Self-esteem of the teacher, Classroom Performance Competency, High School Teachers, and Imphal Area Policy |
Date: | 2018–12 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vor:issues:2018-28-06&r=all |
By: | Willén, Alexander (Department of Economics and FAIR, Norwegian School of Economics) |
Abstract: | Despite a global trend of wage decentralization over the past 30 years, we know very little about the labor market implications of decentralized wage determination. A main reason is the lack of exogenous variation in wage regulation linked to detailed outcome data. Using Swedish registry data and exploiting a reform that replaced the fixed national pay scale for teachers with individual wage bargaining, I overcome these issues and provide new evidence on the labor market effects of wage decentralization. The paper presents three sets of empirical results. First, I show that the reform significantly changed the wage structure of teachers. Second, I demonstrate that these wage changes did not affect teacher composition or student outcomes. Finally, I find support for a wage spillover effect to substitute occupations, providing evidence on the dynamics of wage determination across occupations. I argue that the wage spillover effect coupled with the compressed Swedish wage structure likely explains the lack of effects on teacher and student outcomes. |
Keywords: | Wage regulation; Decentralization; Teacher Labor Market |
JEL: | I20 I28 J31 J45 |
Date: | 2019–06–26 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2019_017&r=all |
By: | Sukanta Bhattacharya (Department of Economics, Ashoka University); Aparajita Dasgupta (Department of Economics, Ashoka University); Kumarjit Mandal (Department of Economics, Ashoka University); Anirban Mukherjee (Department of Economics, Ashoka University) |
Abstract: | In this paper we examine whether students' and teachers' social identity play any role in the learning outcome of the students. More importantly, we ask if a student bene fits by learning from a teacher of the same gender. Unlike the existing literature which explains such interaction in terms of role model based effect, we explain such interaction in terms of gender based sorting across private and public schools. Our results are driven by two critical difference between male and female members. For male and female teachers, the difference comes from their differential opportunity costs of teaching in schools at remote locations. For students, the difference between male and female members comes from the differential return to their human capital investment by parents - where for girls, a lower fraction of the return comes to their parental families after they are married following patriarchal norm. These factors create a sorting pattern which leads to an impact of gender matching. We then test our theoretical results using survey data collected from Andhra Pradesh. |
Keywords: | education; gender; learning; student-teacher interaction; identity |
Date: | 2019–07 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ash:wpaper:1021&r=all |
By: | Luciana Lazzeretti; Stefania Oliva; Niccolò Innocenti |
Abstract: | The evolutionary approach of regional economic resilience suggests that an external shock can lead to a structural change and the development of new industrial specializations. Among its determinants, a role is played by the industrial structure where a certain degree of specialisation or diversification may influence the response of regions to shocks. The article aims at investigating the role of the relatedness of new specialisations to the existing industrial structure in favouring resilience of territories. Evaluating the resilience of Italian provinces in relation to the economic crisis of 2008, the analysis seeks to understand if provinces who resisted and recovered better, followed a ?related? or ?unrelated? diversification strategy. Conclusions discusses the implications for the policy debate on smart specialisation. |
Keywords: | industrial structure, resilience, relatedness, smart specialisation |
JEL: | O25 L16 R11 |
Date: | 2019–05 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1917&r=all |
By: | Daniel Albalate (Dept. of Econometrics, Statistics and Applied Economics, University of Barcelona, Spain.); Mattia Borsati (Dept. of Economics and Management, University of Trento, Italy.) |
Abstract: | The development of high-speed rail (HSR) has had a notable impact on modal market shares on the routes on which its services have been implemented. The aim of this study is to analyse whether the HSR expansion in Italy has led to a modal shift from motorway to HSR. We empirically test i) whether HSR openings adjacent to motorway sectors have reduced the total km travelled by light vehicles on these sectors during the period 2001-2017; and ii) whether this reduction has been persistent or even more evident after the opening of on-track competition between two HSR operators. To do so, we carried out a generalized difference-in-differences estimation, using a unique panel dataset that exploits the heterogeneous traffic data within all tolled motorway sectors in a quasi-experimental setting. Our findings reveal that neither HSR openings nor the opening of on-track competition led to a modal shift from motorway to HSR services, as the two transport modes are non-competing. Conversely, both phenomena had a slightly positive impact on motorway traffic. The extent to which HSR demand could be the result of a modal shift from motorways is a relevant issue in any cost-benefit analysis of HSR investments. |
Keywords: | High-speed rail, Motorways, Inter-modal competition. JEL classification:D78, L92, R41, R58. |
Date: | 2019–06 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ira:wpaper:201910&r=all |
By: | Sumit Agarwal (National University of Singapore); Elvira Sojli (University of New South Wales); Wing Wah Tham (University of New South Wales) |
Abstract: | Commuting imposes financial, time and emotional cost on the labor force, which increases the cost of supplying labor. Theory suggests a negative or no relation between travel and working time for two reasons: travel time is a cost to supplying labor and commuting frustrates the traveler decreasing productivity. We use a unique dataset that records all commuting trips by public transport (bus and train) over three months in 2013 to study if commuting time affects labor supply decisions in Singapore. We propose a new measure of commuting and working time based on administrative data, which sidesteps issues related to survey data. We document a causal positive relation between commute time and the labor supply decision within individuals. Specifically, we show that a one standard deviation increase in commute time increases working time by 2.6%, controlling for individual, location, and time fixed effects. There are two sources of variation in the elasticity of work time to travel time: across individual and within individual (time variation). While part of the cross-sectional variation may be captured by survey data, the time-variation is completely unexplored. First, we find that the cross-sectional variation depends on whether one engages in a service or manufacturing type of job. This cross-sectional variation might be missed out in survey-based responses due to a different selection process, based say on the proportion of industries in the S&P500. Second, we find that there is very large within individual variation in the elasticity, not based on calendar effects, like day of the week or month. We investigate several potential explanations for this result. We find that in professions where interaction with co-workers and with customers is necessary, i.e. service jobs, disruptions in travelling to work cause a backlog and increase the working hours beyond the original travel delay. These (travel delayed) individuals are not compensated for the time that they put in, in addition to the usual number of working hours. This means that there is a cost shift from employer to employee. Given the recent trend of moving from manufacturing to service-based economies, it is most likely the positive elasticity will increase and become a larger economic burden. |
Keywords: | Commute time, labor supply, elasticity, task juggling, trains, buses, big data |
JEL: | D1 J22 J24 M54 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cth:wpaper:gru_2018_015&r=all |
By: | Aedin Doris (Department of Economics, Finance and Accounting, Maynooth University.); Donal O'Neill (Department of Economics, Finance and Accounting, Maynooth University.); Olive Sweetman (Department of Economics, Finance and Accounting, Maynooth University.) |
Abstract: | This paper uses a rich set of student background characteristics, including early measures of cognitive and non-cognitive skills, to estimate the value added of second-level schools in Ireland. Although there are high performing schools in both raw and value-added terms, there is a considerable degree of reranking of schools when we move to value added. In many cases the best performing schools in raw terms are not the best in value-added terms. In addition we find that parents tend to choose schools on the basis of raw results rather than value added. We estimate that if parents chose the best value-added school from among the set of feasible schools, then this reallocation of students would increase academic achievement substantially. |
Date: | 2019 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:may:mayecw:n293-19.pdf&r=all |
By: | Cochrane, William (University of Waikato); Poot, Jacques (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) |
Abstract: | The proportion of New Zealand households living in owner-occupied dwellings has declined steadily since the early 1990s. The unemployment rate declined steadily as well, except for upward shifts due to the late 1990s Asian Financial Crisis and the Global Financial Crisis a decade later. Research initiated by Andrew Oswald in the 1990s posits that declining homeownership and declining unemployment are linked and that the causality runs from high homeownership leading to high unemployment. The international empirical evidence for this hypothesis is rather mixed. In this paper we revisit the issue with New Zealand census data for commuting-defined labour market areas from 1986 until 2013. Allowing for spatial spillovers in our data, we apply a general nesting spatial econometric model. We also consider the potentially different impacts of freehold and mortgaged homeownership. Generally, the evidence that a declining homeownership rate contributes to a lower unemployment is statistically fragile, but a greater prevalence of freehold ownership and mortgaged ownership below the mean across labour market areas do have small upward effects on a labour market area’s unemployment rate. |
Keywords: | Oswald hypothesis, unemployment, homeownership, labour market flexibility, spatial econometrics |
JEL: | J61 J64 R23 R31 |
Date: | 2019–06 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12402&r=all |
By: | Artur Santoalha; Ron Boschma |
Abstract: | Regional diversification is a process characterized by past and place dependence: new activities tend to emerge and develop in a region in technological or industrial fields closely related to existing local activities. Recently, the relatedness concept has also been applied successfully to studies on green diversification of regions, providing new insights to the transition literature that is primarily focused on disruptive change. What has received little attention is a systematic approach that assesses the role of political support for the ability of regions to diversify into new green activities. This paper makes a first attempt to test the impact of regional capabilities and political support for environmental policy at the national and regional scale on the ability of 95 regions in 7 European countries to diversify into new green technologies during the period 2000-2012. We find evidence that related capabilities rather than political support in a region is associated with green diversification of regions in Europe. However, political support tends to moderate the role of regional capabilities. |
Keywords: | green technologies, regional diversification, sustainability transition, political support, relatedness |
JEL: | O18 O44 Q55 R11 |
Date: | 2019–06 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1922&r=all |
By: | Saban Nazlioglu (Department of International Trade and Finance, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Pamukkale University, Denizli, Turkey); Rangan Gupta (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa); Alper Gormus (Texas A&M University–Commerce, Department of Economics and Finance, Commerce, TX, USA); Ugur Soytas (Middle East Technical University, Department of Business Administration, and Earth System Science, 06531 Ankara, Turkey) |
Abstract: | In this paper, we use a Quantile Structural Vector Autoregressive (QSVAR) model, estimated over the quarterly period of 1975:Q3 to 2017:Q3, to analyze whether the impact of monetary policy shocks on real housing returns in the United States is contingent on the initial state of housing market sentiment. We find that contractionary monetary policy reduces real housing returns more strongly when the market is characterized by optimism rather than pessimism, with this effect being more pronounced under unconventional monetary policy decisions. Further robustness checks confirm our results. Our findings highlight the role in sentiments in driving the policy effectiveness and thus, have important implications for policy decisions. |
Keywords: | REITs and oil markets, price and volatility spillovers, structural changes |
JEL: | C32 Q02 R33 |
Date: | 2019–07 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pre:wpaper:201954&r=all |
By: | Cortes, Kalena E. (Texas A&M University); Fricke, Hans (Stanford University); Loeb, Susanna (Stanford University); Song, David S. (Stanford University); York, Ben (ParentPowered Public Benefit Corporation) |
Abstract: | The time children spend with their parents affects their development. Parenting programs can help parents use that time more effectively. Text-messaged-based parenting curricula have proven an effective means of supporting positive parenting practices by providing easy and fun activities that reduce informational and behavioral barriers. These programs may be more effective if delivered during times when parents are particularly in need of support, such as after work, or, alternatively when parents have more time to interact with their child, such as on a day off of work. This study compares the effects of an early childhood text-messaging program sent during the weekend to the same program sent on weekdays. We find that sending the text messages on the weekend is, on average, more beneficial to children's literacy and math development. This effect is particularly strong for initially lower achieving children, while the weekday texts show some benefits for higher achieving children on higher order skills. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the parents of lower achieving students, on average, face such high barriers during weekdays that supports are not enough to overcome these barriers, while for parents of higher achieving students, weekday texts are more effective because weekdays are more challenging, but not so difficult as to be untenable for positive parenting. In sum, the findings suggest that parenting support works best when parents have time, attention, and need. |
Keywords: | text messaging, parental engagement, literacy and reading skills, math skills, and parent-child activities |
JEL: | I21 I24 J18 |
Date: | 2019–06 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12416&r=all |
By: | Gumpert, Anna (LMU Munich); Steimer, Henrike (Stanford GSB); Antoni, Manfred (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung) |
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 a CEO\'s time is a resource in limited supply, shared across headquarters and establishments. Geographic frictions increase the costs of accessing the CEO. Hiring middle managers at one establishment substitutes for CEO time, which is reallocated across all establishments. Consequently, 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: | 2019–06–28 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:163&r=all |
By: | Mariel Bedoya (Innovations for Poverty Action); Bruno Gonzaga (Central Reserve Bank of Peru); Alejandro Herrera (Institute for Advanced Development Studies); Karen Espinoza (Barcelona Graduate School of Economics) |
Abstract: | In this paper we use a Multi-Cutoff Fuzzy Regression Discontinuity Design to evaluate spillover effects of students enrolled into Peruvian public magnet schools, Colegios de Alto Rendimiento (COAR), on educational outcomes of younger students in their schools of origin. Using administrative data from the Ministry of Education for 2016, we find that having at least one student admitted in a COAR school causes some negative spillover effects on math test scores of students from the following cohort. No evidence of statistically significant results is found for verbal and history test scores, nor for self-reported educational expectations. We discuss potential causes and reasons that may explain our results. |
Keywords: | Magnet school, role model, educational achievement, educational expectations, education spillover. |
JEL: | I20 I24 I28 O53 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:adv:wpaper:201901&r=all |
By: | Chang-Tai Hsieh; Esteban Rossi-Hansberg |
Abstract: | The rise in national industry concentration in the US between 1977 and 2013 is driven by a new industrial revolution in three broad non-traded sectors: services, retail, and wholesale. Sectors where national concentration is rising have increased their share of employment, and the expansion is entirely driven by the number of local markets served by firms. Firm employment per market has either increased slightly at the MSA level, or decreased substantially at the county or establishment levels. In industries with increasing concentration, the expansion into more markets is more pronounced for the top 10% firms, but is present for the bottom 90% as well. These trends have not been accompanied by economy-wide concentration. Top U.S. firms are increasingly specialized in sectors with rising industry concentration, but their aggregate employment share has remained roughly stable. We argue that these facts are consistent with the availability of a new set of fixed-cost technologies that enable adopters to produce at lower marginal costs in all markets. We present a simple model of firm size and market entry to describe the menu of new technologies and trace its implications. |
JEL: | E23 E24 L11 L22 L25 R11 R12 |
Date: | 2019–06 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25968&r=all |
By: | Mirai Igarashi; Nobuhiko Terui |
Abstract: | This study proposes a model for identifying communities by combining two types of data: social network data and user-generated-content (UGC). The existing models for detecting the community structure of a network employ only network information. However, not all people connected in a network share the same interests. For instance, even if students belong to the same community of "school," they may have various hobbies such as music, books, or sports. Hence, targeting various networks to identify communities according to their interests uncovered by their communications on social media is more realistic and beneficial for companies. In addition, people may belong to multiple communities such as family, work, and online friends. Our model explores multiple overlapping communities according to their topics identified using two types of data jointly. By way of validating the main features of the proposed model, our simulation study shows that the model correctly identifies the community structure that could not be found without considering both network data and UGC. Furthermore, an empirical analysis using Twitter data clarifies that our model can find realistic and meaningful community structures from large social networks and has a good predictive performance. |
Date: | 2019–04 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:toh:dssraa:97&r=all |
By: | Taufiq Choudhry (Southampton Business School, University of Southampton); Syed S. Hassan (School of Management, Swansea University); Sarosh Shabi (School of Management, Swansea University) |
Abstract: | Using nonlinear causality and impulse response we show bidirectional dependence between the London house prices and other UK regions’ house prices except for Northern Ireland and Wales. This result has important implications for policy makers and investors. |
Keywords: | Connectedness, Nonlinearity, House Prices |
JEL: | R2 R21 R31 |
Date: | 2019–07–04 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:swn:wpaper:2019-01&r=all |
By: | Jackson, Osborne (Federal Reserve Bank of Boston) |
Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of migration on earnings inequality using 1940–2015 data from the U.S. census and American Community Survey. Despite measurement challenges, I successfully replicate existing findings regarding national trends in earnings inequality and migration, and subsequently analyze regional and state patterns. Using 1940 birthplace information to instrument for migration, I find that recent immigration mildly increases the top decile earnings share, while recent in-migration and out-migration have no significant effects on such inequality. I estimate that immigration contributed 5.8 percent to the observed rise in U.S. earnings inequality from 1950 to 2015, primarily through a non-migrant channel. |
Keywords: | migration; earnings inequality |
JEL: | D31 F22 R23 |
Date: | 2018–08–01 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedbwp:19-5&r=all |
By: | Elena Minina (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
Abstract: | This paper investigates the logics of teachers’ discursive resistance to the Unified State Examinations (USE) almost two decades after its introduction into the Russian education system. By drawing upon NVivo-aided Discourse analysis of online teacher discussions, interview and focus group data, the analysis critically examines the pedagogical underpinnings of USE vis-a-vis the traditional assessment system in the teaching community in two Russian cities: Moscow and Rostov-on-Don. Drawing on the concept of ‘actually existing neoliberalisms’ the analysis shows how, when interpreted through the lens of grassroots pedagogical values, the semantics of the globalized concepts of ‘educational standardization’ and ‘standardized testing’ takes on domestic culturally-specific meanings complementary and, at times, contradictory to the intended ones. In Russia specifically, the notion of ‘standardization’ comes into conflict with the pedagogical idea of a creative personalized and, therefore, profoundly ‘non-standard’ education, while academic assessment continues to be perceived as the non-quantifiable and subjective outcome of teacher-pupil interaction over time. The analysis underscores the interpretative and symbolic dimensions of educational policy and calls for more nuanced efforts to culturally tailor and translate borrowed educational meanings on the part of educational elites. |
Keywords: | neoliberalism and education, Unified State Examination, post-Soviet Russia, standardized testing, discourse analysis. |
JEL: | Z |
Date: | 2019 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:51edu2019&r=all |
By: | Nils Gottfries; Karolina Stadin |
Abstract: | According to search-matching theory, the Beveridge curve slopes downward because vacancies are filled more quickly when unemployment is high. Using monthly panel data for local labour markets in Sweden we find no (or only weak) evidence that high unemployment makes it easier to fill vacancies. Instead, there are few vacancies when unemployment is high because there is a low inflow of new vacancies. We construct a simple model with on-the-job search and show that it is broadly consistent with the cyclical behaviour of stocks and flows in the labour market also without search frictions. In periods of high unemployment, fewer employed job seekers find new jobs and this leads to a smaller inflow of new vacancies. |
Keywords: | Beveridge curve, frictional unemployment, matching function, turnover, mismatch, vacancy chain |
JEL: | E24 J23 J62 J63 J64 |
Date: | 2019 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7689&r=all |
By: | Andra C. Ghent |
Abstract: | What makes an asset institutional-quality? This paper proposes that one reason is the existing concentration of delegated investors in a market through a liquidity channel. Consistent with this intuition, it documents differences in investor composition across US cities and shows that delegated investors concentrate investments in cities with higher turnover. It then calibrates a search model showing how heterogeneity in liquidity preferences makes some markets more liquid even when assets have identical cash flows. The calibration indicates that commercial real estate commands an illiquidity premium of two percentage points annually relative to a perfectly liquid asset with similar credit risk. |
JEL: | G11 G12 G23 R33 |
Date: | 2019–06 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25966&r=all |
By: | Cloyne, James; Huber, Kilian; Ilzetzki, Ethan; Kleven, Henrik |
Abstract: | We investigate the effect of house prices on household borrowing using administrative mortgage data from the United Kingdom and a new empirical approach. The data contain household-level information on house prices and borrowing in a panel of homeowners, who refinance at regular and quasi-exogenous intervals. The data and setting allow us to develop an empirical approach that exploits house price variation coming from the idiosyncratic and exogenous timing of refinance events around the Great Recession. We present two main results. First, there is a clear and robust effect of house prices on borrowing. Second, the effect of house prices on borrowing can be explained largely by collateral effects. We study the collateral channel through a multivariate and nonparametric heterogeneity analysis of proxies for collateral and wealth effects. |
JEL: | D14 E32 R31 |
Date: | 2019–06–01 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:101065&r=all |
By: | Debopam Bhattacharya; Pascaline Dupas; Shin Kanaya |
Abstract: | Many real-life settings of consumer-choice involve social interactions, causing targeted policies to have spillover-effects. This paper develops novel empirical tools for analyzing demand and welfare-effects of policy-interventions in binary choice settings with social interactions. Examples include subsidies for health-product adoption and vouchers for attending a high-achieving school. We establish the connection between econometrics of large games and Brock-Durlauf-type interaction models, under both I.I.D. and spatially correlated unobservables. We develop new convergence results for associated beliefs and estimates of preference-parameters under increasing-domain spatial asymptotics. Next, we show that even with fully parametric specifications and unique equilibrium, choice data, that are sufficient for counterfactual demand-prediction under interactions, are insufficient for welfare-calculations. This is because distinct underlying mechanisms producing the same interaction coefficient can imply different welfare-effects and deadweight-loss from a policy-intervention. Standard index-restrictions imply distribution-free bounds on welfare. We illustrate our results using experimental data on mosquito-net adoption in rural Kenya. |
JEL: | C31 C35 H23 I38 |
Date: | 2019–06 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25947&r=all |
By: | Isaure Delaporte |
Abstract: | The objective of this paper is twofold: first, to determine the immigrants’ ethnic identity, i.e. the degree of identification to the culture and society of the country of origin and the host country and second, to investigate the impact of ethnic identity on the immigrants’ employment outcomes. Using rich survey data from France and relying on a polychoric principal component analysis, this paper proposes two richer measures of ethnic identity than the ones used in the literature, namely: i) the degree of commitment to the origin country culture and ii) the extent to which the individual holds multiple identities. The paper investigates the impact of the ethnic identity measures on the employment outcomes of immigrants in France. The results show that having multiple identities improves the employment outcomes of the migrants and contribute to help design effective post-immigration policies. |
Keywords: | ethnic identity, immigration, employment, polychoric principal component analysis |
JEL: | J15 J21 J71 Z13 |
Date: | 2019 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7651&r=all |
By: | Lena Cleanthous-Petoussi (Central Bank of Cyprus); Elena Eracleous (University of Cyprus); Nektarios A. Michail (Central Bank of Cyprus) |
Abstract: | This paper examines the existence of a link between house prices, credit and macroeconomic conditions in Cyprus, using a vector error correction model (VECM) and quarterly data from 2005Q4 to 2016Q4. Overall, the results suggest that a link exists and that house prices have a bi-directional relationship with loans and the unemployment rate. Macroeconomic conditions matter for the Cyprus economy as an unexpected shock in unemployment is found to have a persistent impact on all the variables in the model. The interest rate is also found to have an effect on wages and house prices. |
Keywords: | credit, house prices, VECM, Cyprus |
JEL: | E44 E50 R20 |
Date: | 2017–12 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cyb:wpaper:2017-3&r=all |
By: | Daniel Albalate (Universitat de Barcelona, Departament d’Estadística, Econometria i Economia Aplicada, Avda. Diagonal 690, 08034 (Barcelona) Grup de Recerca en Governs i Mercats (GiM), Institut de Recerca en Economia Aplicada (IREA). Observatory of Analysis and Evaluation of Public Policies.); Albert Gragera (Technical University of Denmark, Department of Management Engineering, Produktionstorvet Building 426, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark. Observatory of Analysis and Evaluation of Public Policies, Universitat de Barcelona.) |
Abstract: | Car ownership is a major driver of household travel behavior and has a marked impact on transport demand, energy consumption, emission levels and land use. However, just how curbside parking regulations (i.e. paid parking) affects car ownership remains unclear. Here, we employ a two-way fixed effect model using panel data and difference-in-differences estimations to determine the causal impact of changes in parking regulations and the specific impact of the extension of a city-wide parking policy in Barcelona. Our results suggest that the introduction of paid parking to reduce non-resident/visitor demand has a positive impact on resident car ownership levels. Our welfare analysis suggests that the welfare loss derived from the residents’ parking subsidy and their likely increase in car usage can easily offset the benefits derived from visitor-trip deterrence. This being the case, the tradeoff between efficiency and acceptability requires careful consideration. |
Keywords: | parking regulations, car ownership, policy evaluation, difference-in-differences. JEL classification:H42, L91, L98, R41, R42, R48. |
Date: | 2019–06 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ira:wpaper:201909&r=all |
By: | Fahy, Mike; O'Toole, Conor; Slaymaker, Rachel |
Date: | 2018–12 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:resnot:rn20180402&r=all |
By: | Kessel, Dany (Södertörn University); Lif Hardardottir, Hulda (Stockholm University); Tyrefors, Björn (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
Abstract: | Recently, policy makers worldwide have suggested and passed legislation to ban mobile phone use in schools. The influential and only quantitative evaluation by Beland and Murphy (2016), suggests that this is a very low-cost but effective policy to improve student performance. In particular, it suggests that the lowest-achieving students have the most to gain. Using a similar empirical setup but with data from Sweden, we partly replicate their study and thereby add external validity to this policy question. Furthermore, we increase the survey response rate of schools to approximately 75 % compared to 21 % in B&M, although at the expense of the amount of information collected in the survey. In Sweden, we find no impact of mobile phone bans on student performance and can reject even small-sized gains. |
Keywords: | Mobile phone ban; Student performance |
JEL: | I21 I28 J24 O33 |
Date: | 2019–06–25 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1288&r=all |
By: | Gabriel Chodorow-Reich; Plamen T. Nenov; Alp Simsek |
Abstract: | We provide evidence on the stock market consumption wealth effect by using a local labor market analysis and regional heterogeneity in stock market wealth. An increase in local stock wealth driven by aggregate stock prices increases local employment and payroll in nontradable industries and in total, while having no effect on employment in tradable industries. In a model with consumption wealth effects and geographic heterogeneity, these responses imply a marginal propensity to consume out of a dollar of stock wealth of 2.8 cents per year. We also use the model to quantify the aggregate effects of a stock market wealth shock when monetary policy is passive. A 20% increase in stock valuations, unless countered by monetary policy, increases the aggregate labor bill by at least 0.85% and aggregate hours by at least 0.28% two years after the shock. |
JEL: | E21 E32 E44 |
Date: | 2019–06 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25959&r=all |
By: | Jackson, Osborne (Federal Reserve Bank of Boston) |
Abstract: | Migration plays an important role in the New England economy; absent immigration, the region’s population and workforce would have shrunk in recent years. Yet increasingly, immigrant inflows have been met with legislative opposition at both the national and regional levels, motivated in part by concerns that immigration may be an important factor driving the marked rise in earnings inequality. The research findings presented in this report, however, indicate that immigration accounts for a very small portion—only 6.0 percent—of the rising earnings inequality that the region has experienced. These results suggest that policymakers interested in responding to increased inequality should pursue avenues other than immigration reform. |
Keywords: | inequality; immigration; New England; NEPPC |
Date: | 2019–06–01 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedbcr:19-2&r=all |
By: | Pogorelskiy. Kirill (University of Warwick); Shum, Matthew (Caltech) |
Abstract: | More voters than ever get political news from their friends on social media platforms. Is this bad for democracy? Using context-neutral laboratory experiments, we find that biased (mis)information shared on social networks affects the quality of collective decisions relatively more than does segregation by political preferences on social media. Two features of subject behavior underlie this finding: 1) they share news signals selectively, revealing signals favorable to their candidates more often than unfavorable signals; 2) they naıvely take signals at face value and account for neither the selection in the shared signals nor the differential informativeness of news signals across different sources. |
Keywords: | news sharing ; social networks ; voting ; media bias ; fake news ; polarization ; filter bubble ; lab experiments |
JEL: | C72 C91 C92 D72 D83 D85 |
Date: | 2019 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1199&r=all |
By: | Jonathan Norris (Department of Economics, University of Strathclyde); Martijn van Hasselt (Department of Economics, University of North Carolina, Greensboro) |
Abstract: | We estimate the causal effect of mother’s involvement on the amount of trouble an adolescent experiences in school. We use multiple measures of school-trouble and factor analysis to construct a composite and then link this composite with non-cognitive skills. Our measure of mother’s involvement encompasses discussing school-related matters and providing help with school projects. Using an instrumental variable constructed from a suitably chosen peer group, our main finding is that an increase in maternal involvement leads to a significant decrease in school trouble. We find this result to be robust across a large number of sensitivity tests designed to account for possible selection effects, shocks at the peer group level, and further potential violations of the exclusion restriction. Additionally, we present evidence suggesting that the effect of maternal involvement may operate through its effect on adolescents’ college aspirations, mental health, and the perception of parental warmth. |
Keywords: | non-cognitive skills, maternal involvement |
JEL: | C26 I31 J13 J31 |
Date: | 2019–06 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:str:wpaper:1906&r=all |
By: | Azwan, Nurul Iman; Masih, Mansur |
Abstract: | The increasing price of housing property in Malaysia has become a concern as it increases the cost of living through debt payment by households. The purpose of the paper is to investigate whether the housing price has an asymmetric relationship with banking debt. The asymmetric relationship will be tested using the NARDL method. The research will aid the policymakers in deciding whether measures to control housing loan or alternatively, the initiatives and controls on the housing supply-side is better to curb increasing price of houses. The paper finds that the relationship between banking debt and housing prices is asymmetric in the short run and symmetric in the long run. However, we find that the relationship between housing debt and housing prices is asymmetric in both the short and long run. A positive change in housing debt will affect the housing price inflation more than a negative change. Through the causality tests, we find that policies should focus on the supply-side and price control policies to affect the housing price, rather than the controls on banking debt |
Keywords: | housing price, banking debt, NARDL, Malaysia |
JEL: | C58 E44 |
Date: | 2019–06–23 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:94685&r=all |
By: | DeWaard, Jack (University of Minnesota); Johnson, Janna (University of Minnesota); Whitaker, Stephan (Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland) |
Abstract: | We introduce and provide the first comprehensive comparative assessment of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York/Equifax Consumer Credit Panel (CCP) as a valuable and underutilized data set for studying internal migration within the United States. Relative to other data sources on US internal migration, the CCP permits highly detailed cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of migration, both temporally and geographically. We compare cross-sectional and longitudinal estimates of migration from the CCP to similar estimates derived from the American Community Survey, the Current Population Survey, Internal Revenue Service data, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, and the Survey of Income and Program Participation. Our results establish the comparative utility and illustrate some of the unique advantages of the CCP relative to other data sources on US internal migration. We conclude by identifying some profitable directions for future research on US internal migration using the CCP, as well as reminding readers of the strengths and limitations of these data. More broadly, this paper contributes to discussions and debates on improving the availability, quality, and comparability of migration data. |
Keywords: | Internal migration; Consumer Credit Panel; Comparative; Cross-sectional; Longitudinal; |
JEL: | C81 J61 O15 R23 |
Date: | 2019–06–21 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedcwq:180401&r=all |
By: | Ch. Tomba Singh |
Abstract: | In the 21st Century and if we look back at the evolution of developments indications, it is easy to note that these are truly phenomenal. The priority agenda today is to prepare teachers for tomorrow, tomorrow’s Manipur in a national perspective. Teachers have crucial roles to play in preparing young people not only to face the future with confidence but also to build it with purpose and responsibility. Teachers are instrumental in the development of positive attitudes to learning. The importance of the role of the teachers as an agent of change, promoting understanding and tolerance, has never been more obvious than today. It is likely to become even more critical in the twenty-first century. The present paper is to focus on the importance of teacher education in general and need of such education in the state of Manipur in particular, and to highlight the developmental trends to secondary teachers education programmes in Manipur and also to focus some specific general problems and prospects of teacher education imparted in the state in the 21st century. Key Words:teacher education, secondary education, education, secondary teacher education Policy |
Date: | 2018–12 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vor:issues:2018-28-03&r=all |
By: | Mathieu Verougstraete (Former staff of the Macroeconomic and Financing for Development Division of United Nations, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) |
Abstract: | Cross-border infrastructure networks are critical for improving regional connectivity, their financing has however been challenging. This paper examines whether Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) may contribute to their development and reviews experience with this type of financing arrangements in the energy, transport and telecommunication sectors. By involving several countries, cross-border projects face specific challenges as these projects are by nature more complex, face augmented political risks and necessitate higher level of coordination. To support countries in financing cross-border projects, the paper studies these challenges in detail. It also highlights the policy actions required to achieve enhanced regional connectivity. It stresses, for instance, the importance of supporting intergovernmental platforms where international networks can be planned, regulatory hurdles tackled and financing arrangements structured. Developing guidelines for cross-border projects would also help countries in their efforts to enhance regional connectivity. The paper concludes by recognizing the potential of PPP for these projects, though it acknowledges that supportive policy actions from participating governments will be required for their success as well as a strong high-level political backing. |
Keywords: | public-private partnership (PPP), infrastructure development, regional connectivity, Asia and the Pacific |
JEL: | H54 R42 O16 |
Date: | 2018–05 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unt:wpmpdd:wp/18/05&r=all |
By: | Veloso Hirata, Daniel; Cristoph Grillo, Carolina |
Abstract: | This article analyzes the relationship between violence and the illicit drug market by comparing retail drug trade in the favelas and peripheral neighborhoods of the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. To do so, we carried out ethnographical field work in both cities and a literature review on the topic. Considering illegal markets and forces of order in charge of suppressing them as part of one single object of study, this article explores the mechanics of the relationship between drug trafficking and the police and how it governs the lives and deaths of the poor population in those cities. Rio and São Paulo showcase different scenarios in terms of how the drug trade is structured and practiced: Whereas Rio de Janeiro lives in a state of ‘war’ due to the disputes among rival drug factions and with the police (who is thus more lethal), São Paulo is believed to live ‘at peace’, as trafficking is controlled by one single comando and the city showcases higher incarceration rates. We shall argue that such differences also influence the way the retail drug market operates in each city. This comparison focuses on the intersection of three dimensions: The marketplaces of drug retail sales; the dynamics of criminal collectives; and the different power dynamics among drug dealers and forces of order. |
Keywords: | Drug traffic; Violence; São Paulo; Rio de Janeiro |
JEL: | N0 |
Date: | 2019–06–04 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:101056&r=all |
By: | Marco Catola |
Abstract: | Over the last few years, the literature on partial decentralisation has largely grown, pointing out that one of its effects is a reduction in accountability because voters are imperfectly informed about each government contribution. However, the possibility for politicians to directly manipulate this asymmetry in information has not been addressed yet. This paper provides a simple model in which two levels of government are involved in the provision of a local public good with the local government that can decide to spend its budget either on the provision of the public good or in spending that influences the information of the voters in its favour. A central result is that the conflict of interest that arises among the levels of government reduces the spending in the public good at both levels, while it generates a wasteful spending to pander to voters. |
Keywords: | partial decenstralisation; party alignment; accountability; intergovernmental transfers |
JEL: | D72 H72 H77 |
Date: | 2019–06–01 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pie:dsedps:2019/243&r=all |
By: | Knut Einar Rosendahl; Ingvild Vestre Sem; Henrik Lindhjem; Kristine Grimsrud (Statistics Norway) |
Abstract: | The Norwegian high-level Green Tax Commission proposes inter alia cost-effective taxes on red meat and increased toll charges on road traffic to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and local air pollution, respectively. Implementation requires support by the public, but the acceptance of such taxes is not known. We have conducted a national survey of the public's acceptance of the two taxes. The survey instrument showed dynamically the reduction in emissions/pollution for each tax level. Despite survey information about the purpose of the taxes, only 25 percent, on average, were in favour of their introduction, the rest did not know, had zero willingness to pay, or opposed the tax. In this respect, preferences for the two taxes are similar. However, on average people are willing to pay approximately 90 percent of the optimal tax for red meat, but only about 25-35 percent of toll charges on road traffic depending on fuel type. Earmarking the tax revenue for environmentally friendly technology increased acceptable tax level, but only for red meat. Earmarking tax revenues for reduced income tax did not increase the acceptable tax level. |
Keywords: | Environmental taxes; red meat; road traffic; acceptance; willingness to pay |
JEL: | H23 H31 Q51 Q53 Q54 |
Date: | 2019–06 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:909&r=all |
By: | Sun, Tianyu; Chand, Satish; Sharpe, Keiran |
Abstract: | We empirically test the effect of ageing on housing prices. Our analysis shows that a decline in the fertility rate and an increase in longevity – the two main causes of an ageing population – have divergent effects on housing prices. This empirical finding helps us to reconcile a conflict which has lasted for 30 years in literature. We show that a decline in the fertility rate generally lowers housing prices because there are fewer workers in the population. At the same time, the workers and retirees react differently towards the impact of longer lifespans. In particular, the workers are urged to purchase more houses as a form of of saving and thus raise the prices, while the retirees tend to sell a greater fraction of the housing for extra funding. The conclusions correspond well with the Life Cycle Hypothesis and are drawn by using a semi-parametric method on an international panel data. |
Keywords: | Ageing, Fertility, Longevity, Housing prices, Semi-parametric analysis |
JEL: | C14 E31 J11 R21 |
Date: | 2018–11–01 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:94418&r=all |
By: | Gloria Moroni (University of York); Cheti Nicoletti (University of York); Emma Tominey (University of York) |
Abstract: | Informed by the psychological literature and our empirical evidence we provide new insights into the technology of socio-emotional skill formation in middle childhood. In line with economic evidence, increasing parental inputs that enrich the child home environment and reduce stress has larger returns for children with higher socio-emotional skills in early childhood (complementarity), but only for levels of inputs that are high. For low levels of inputs, i.e. levels implying a stressful home environment, an increase has a higher return for children with lower socio-emotional skills in early childhood (substitutability). Consequently, well targeted policies can reduce middle childhood socio-emotional gaps. |
Keywords: | socio-emotional skills, complementarities, substitutabilities, parenting style, mother's mental health, time investments, child behavioral disorders, Diathesis-stress hypothesis |
JEL: | J13 D10 I10 I31 |
Date: | 2019–06 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2019-038&r=all |
By: | John Bound; Breno Braga; Gaurav Khanna; Sarah Turner |
Abstract: | Over the past few decades, public universities have faced significant declines in state funding per student. We investigate whether these declines affected the educational and research outcomes of these schools. We present evidence that declining funding induced public universities to shift toward tuition as their primary source of revenue. Selective research universities enrolled more out-of-state and international students who pay full fare and increased in-state tuitions, moderating impacts on expenditures. Public universities outside the research sector had fewer options to replace stagnating state appropriations, requiring diminished expenditures and increased in-state tuitions. The evidence we present suggests that the cuts negatively affected degree attainment at the undergraduate and graduate levels. While the evidence on research is mixed, there are indications that the impact of spending declines on research outcomes may become evident over a longer time period |
JEL: | I25 J24 O3 |
Date: | 2019–06 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25945&r=all |
By: | Manuela Stranges (Dipartimento di Economia, Statistica e Finanza "Giovanni Anania" - DESF, Università della Calabria); Daniele Vignoli (Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni 'G. Parenti' - DiSIA, Università degli Studi di Firenze); Alessandra Venturini (Dipartimento di Economia e Statistica "Cognetti de Martiis", Campus "Luigi Einaudi", Università degli Studi di Torino) |
Abstract: | This paper contributes to the growing strand of literature that investigates migrants’ subjective wellbeing by analysing how the social comparison with two reference groups (natives and other migrants) within the host country affects migrants’ life satisfaction. Using data from six rounds of the European Social Survey, we constructed two measures of economic distance that compare each migrant’s situation with the average of the group of natives and the group of migrants with similar characteristics. Our results indicate that when the disadvantage between the migrant and the reference groups becomes smaller, migrant’s life satisfaction increases. The effect of the social comparison with natives appears larger than the social comparison with migrants and, in both cases, it is stronger for individuals with higher levels of education. We also show that social comparison is stronger for second generation migrants than for first generation migrants and, within this latter group, it intensifies as length of stay in the host country increases. Overall, the role of social comparison seems crucial to understanding patterns of integration in an enlarged Europe. |
Keywords: | subjective well-being, migrants, social comparison |
JEL: | I31 F22 |
Date: | 2019–06 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:clb:wpaper:201906&r=all |
By: | Bhavnaben P. Patel |
Abstract: | In this study the researcher has collected data from 672 students of 10th standard studying in Gujarati medium of Ahmedabad City. The data was collected by using the standardized tool, devised by Dr. R.S. Patel. The tool was in Gujarati language. The data was collected by using survey method. The interpretation of data was done with statistical method, which includes mean, standard deviation (S.D.) and t-test. After that the findings have been presented as a result from analysis and interpretation of data. Key Words:Creativity, 10th Standard Students, Achievement Policy |
Date: | 2019–03 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vor:issues:2019-29-02&r=all |
By: | K.V. Ramaswamy (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research) |
Abstract: | The spatial distribution of manufacturing across the states of India is analyzed covering the period 2004-05 to 2015-16. We found that the spatial concentration of manufacturing activity has increased since 2004-05. More industrialized states (example Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu) are found to have continued their dominance measured in terms of their share of output, factories and workers in manufacturing. They are observed to have captured a greater share of incremental growth of factories and workers. This outcome may be attributed to their comparative advantage due to agglomeration economies. Differences in the net entry of factories (and workers) in registered and unregistered segments of manufacturing are observed between different states of India. The estimates of net entry of factories in five selected industry groups in registered manufacturing are found to be consistent with agglomeration at the sectoral level. |
Keywords: | Agglomeration, Concentration, Inequality, Spatial, Manufacturing, Net Entry |
JEL: | O14 O17 O25 R12 |
Date: | 2019–05 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ind:igiwpp:2019-015&r=all |
By: | Maruf, Aminudin; Masih, Mansur |
Abstract: | Although there are a number of studies on the relationship between infrastructure and economic growth, this study is the first attempt at investigating whether the relationship between infrastructure and economic growth is symmetric or asymmetric in Indonesia. Using the non-linear ARDL technique, this study employs quarterly data from 1990:Q1 – 2016:Q1. The paper finds a long-run asymmetric relationship between infrastructure and economic growth but symmetric relationship in the short-run. Moreover, this study also finds the causal direction of economic development in Indonesia from gross fixed capital formation to labor. The paper suggests the expansion of investment in the infrastructural industry to boost the growth of the Indonesian economy. The study also urges the policy makers to design robust infrastructure policies guiding the infrastructure and country’s economy in both the short-run and long-run period. |
Keywords: | Infrastructure, Economic Growth, Non-Linear ARDL, Indonesia |
JEL: | C58 O4 |
Date: | 2019–06–22 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:94663&r=all |
By: | Jan Marcus; Simon Reif; Amelie C. Wuppermann; Amélie Rouche |
Abstract: | While several studies suggest that stress-related mental health problems among school children are related to specific elements of schooling, empirical evidence on this causal relationship is scarce. We examine a German schooling reform that increased weekly instruction time and study its effects on stress-related outpatient diagnoses from the universe of health claims data of the German Social Health Insurance. Exploiting the differential timing in the reform implementation across states, we show that the reform slightly increased stress-related health problems among school children. While increasing instruction time might increase student performance, it might have adverse effects in terms of additional stress. |
Keywords: | stress, mental health, instruction time, G8 reform |
JEL: | I18 I28 |
Date: | 2019 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7648&r=all |
By: | Simon Porcher (IAE - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises) |
Abstract: | This article looks at the reasons for and results of contracting out in local public services, with specific regards to its possible effects on price and other performance determinants. It uses a rich city-level dataset of water public services in France between 1998 and 2008. We find evidence, using alternative econometric methods, that contracting out to private operators is associated with higher prices on average ceteris paribus. This pattern is consistent with the study of units switching from an organizational form to another. We finally discuss several reasons for the existing price gap between direct management (public management) and contracting out (private management) using the expense-preferences of managers. |
Keywords: | public-private partnerships,water,efficiency,differences-in-differences,Propensity score matching |
Date: | 2019–06–03 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-02145863&r=all |
By: | Andrew Dickens (Department of Economics, Brock University) |
Abstract: | The impact of ethnic divisions on economic growth and development are well understood, yet there is little known about the source of these divisions. This study takes the importance of ethnic group differences as given, and goes a step deeper to explore the geographic and economic foundation of group differences. I construct a novel georeferenced dataset to examine the border region of spatially adjacent ethnic groups, together with variation in the set of potentially cultivatable crops at the onset of the Columbian Exchange, to identify how variation in land productivity impacts linguistic differences between adjacent ethnic groups. I find that ethnic groups separated across geographic regions with high variation in land productivity are more similar in language than groups separated across more homogeneous regions. This finding is consistent with the proposed mechanism: historical trade was more frequent in these high variation regions and the frequency of trade served as a social tie between culturally distinct ethnic groups. To highlight this mechanism, I show that the productivity of a tract of land predicts a group’s historical mode of subsistence, where high productivity regions relied on agriculture and low productivity regions relied on pastoralism. Taken together, these findings suggest that geographic regions with high variation in land productivity relied on various modes of subsistence, thus creating an opportunity for trade. I then document the persistence of this fact with suggestive evidence that neighbouring ethnic groups in close proximity to Old World trade routes are more similar in language today. |
Date: | 2019–06 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:brk:wpaper:1901&r=all |