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on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Luedtke, Allison Oldham (St. Olaf College); Urban, Carly (Montana State University) |
| Abstract: | Financial Education courses required for high school graduation make a difference in students' future financial lives. Given that schools exercise local control, there are a variety of types of courses offered and required by US high schools. It remains unclear why and where this variation exists. Using a novel data set of unique high school personal finance course offerings and requirements paired with distances between high schools in the US, we approximate a network of nearby peer high schools. We use this network of peer schools to measure the potential influence of nearby schools on an individual high school's decision to offer financial education courses. We find that high schools are more likely to require or offer financial education courses similar to those of their peer schools. Having an additional peer that incorporates financial education into their curriculum makes it more likely a high school will change their curriculum to do the same. This is true across types of courses: required standalone courses, required courses that incorporate but do not solely focus on personal finance, and standalone electives. The results indicate that schools' nearby peers are related to what types of services to offer their students, and these networks are more predictive than economic or demographic characteristics of the school in determining personal finance course requirements. Local networks can potentially provide momentum in expanding access to financial education. |
| Keywords: | financial education, financial literacy, networks |
| JEL: | G53 I20 L14 |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14288&r= |
| By: | Gazze, Ludovica (University of Warwick and CAGE); Persico, Claudia (School of Public Affairs, American University and IZA); Spirovska, Sandra (University of Wisconsin-Madison) |
| Abstract: | Children exposed to pollutants like lead are more disruptive and have lower achievement. However, little is known about whether lead-exposed children affect the long-run outcomes of their peers. We estimate these spillover effects using new data on preschool blood lead levels (BLLs) matched to education data for all students in North Carolina public schools. We compare siblings whose school-grade cohorts differ in the proportion of children with elevated BLLs, holding constant school and peers’ demographics. Having more lead-exposed peers is associated with lower high-school graduation and SAT-taking rates and increased suspensions and absences. Peer effects are larger for same-gendered students. |
| Keywords: | Lead Poisoning, Spillovers, Peer Effects, Human Capital JEL Classification: Q52, I14, I24 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:561&r= |
| By: | Javier Quintana (Banco de España) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the contribution of import competition to the regional divergence among US metropolitan areas over recent decades. I document that the sharp rise in imports of Chinese manufacturing goods had a significant effect on the spatial skill polarization and the divergence of college wage premium among local labor markets. The effects of the China trade shock were systematically different depending on the skill intensity of local services. Among regions with skill-intensive services, a higher exposure to import competition in manufacturing increased the number and wages of college-educated workers. The negative effects of the China shock concentrated in exposed regions with a low density of college-educated workers. The heterogeneous effects of import competition explain one third of the spatial skill polarization and one fourth of the divergence in college wage premium. I show that the contribution of the trade shock operates through the reallocation of workers across sectors and regions. Using a novel measure of “labor market exposure to the China shock”, I document that service industries expand when local manufacturers face import competition. High human capital regions exposed to the China shock undergo a faster transition from manufacturing to skill-intensive service industries and attract college-educated workers from other locations. |
| Keywords: | international trade, import competition, regional inequality, skill sorting, factor mobility |
| JEL: | F14 F16 F66 I24 J24 J61 R12 |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bde:wpaper:2115&r= |
| By: | Murphy, Richard, (UT Austin); Weinhardt, Felix (DIW Berlin) |
| Abstract: | This paper establishes a new fact about educational production: ordinal academic rank during primary school has lasting impacts on secondary school achievement that are independent of underlying ability. Using data on the universe of English school students, we exploit naturally occurring differences in achievement distributions across primary school classes to estimate the impact of class rank. We find large effects on test scores, confidence, and subject choice during secondary school, even though these students have a new set of peers and teachers who are unaware of the students’ prior ranking in primary school. The effects are especially pronounced for boys, contributing to an observed gender gap in the number of STEM courses chosen at the end of secondary school. Using a basic model of student effort allocation across subjects, we distinguish between learning and non-cognitive skills mechanisms, finding support for the latter. |
| Keywords: | rank; non-cognitive skills; peer effects; productivity; |
| JEL: | I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2019–10–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:194&r= |
| By: | Renee van Eyden (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Hatfield 0028, South Africa); Rangan Gupta (Department of Economics, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Hatfield, 0028, South Africa); Christophe Andre (Economics Department, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 75775 Paris, Cedex 16, France); Xin Sheng (Lord Ashcroft International Business School, Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, CM1 1SQ, United Kingdom) |
| Abstract: | In this chapter, we first estimate a dynamic factor model with time-varying loadings and stochastic volatility (DFM-TV-SV) using Bayesian methods to disentangle the national and local factors affecting real housing returns and volatility in the 50 US states and the District of Columbia. We then use panel data regressions with heterogeneous coefficients to relate the first and second-moment of the local factors to corresponding state-level uncertainty. The latter is estimated using the average forecast error variance of a range of regional variables and 248 national-level data series in a factor augmented forecasting regression with stochastic volatility in the regression residuals and the error term for the factor dynamics. We estimate uncertainty at a forecasting horizon of one to four quarters over the periods 1977Q2 to 2015Q3 and 1991Q1 to 2015Q3, depending on model specifications. We find that all but three states register a positive and significant spillover effect from macroeconomic uncertainty to house price stochastic volatility, with Hawaii and Michigan ranking highest in terms of spillover effects. The majority of the most severely impacted states are from the Midwest region, as well as a number of states in the Southern region, known to be lower income states. A negative impact of macroeconomic uncertainty on house price returns is recorded in some states, notably from the Midwest region. Our results have important implications for homeowners, mortgage lenders and investors. |
| Keywords: | Uncertainty, Housing Returns and Volatility, Dynamic Factor Model, Panel Data Estimation, US State-Level Data |
| JEL: | C32 C33 D8 R31 |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pre:wpaper:202131&r= |
| By: | Iva Raycheva |
| Abstract: | Background: Poverty among the population of a country is one of the most disputable topics in social studies. Many researchers devote their work to identifying the factors that influence it most. Bulgaria is one of the EU member states with the highest poverty levels. Regional facets of social exclusion and risks of poverty among the population are a key priority of the National Development Strategy for the third decade of 21st century. In order to mitigate the regional poverty levels it is necessary for the social policy makers to pay more attention to the various factors expected to influence these levels. Results: Poverty reduction is observed in most areas of the country. The regions with obviously favorable developments are Sofia district, Pernik, Pleven, Lovech, Gabrovo, Veliko Tarnovo, Silistra, Shumen, Stara Zagora, Smolyan, Kyustendil and others. Increased levels of poverty are found for Razgrad and Montana districts. It was fond that the reduction in the risk of poverty is associated to the increase in employment, investment, and housing. Conclusion: The social policy making needs to be aware of the fact that the degree of exposition to risk of poverty and social exclusion significantly relates to the levels of regional employment, investment and housing. |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2104.14414&r= |
| By: | Jesse Bruhn |
| Abstract: | I study criminal street gangs using new data that describes the geospatial distribution of gang territory in Chicago and its evolution over a 15-year period. Using an event study design, I show that city blocks entered by gangs experience sharp increases in the number of reported batteries (6%), narcotics violations (18.5%), weapons violations (9.8%), incidents of prostitution (51.9%), and criminal trespassing (19.6%). I also find a sharp reduction in the number of reported robberies (-8%). The findings cannot be explained by pre-existing trends in crime, changes in police surveillance, crime displacement, exposure to public housing demolitions, reporting effects, or demographic trends. Taken together, the evidence suggests that gangs cause small increases in violence in highly localized areas as a result of conflict over illegal markets. I also find evidence that gangs cause reductions in median property values (-$8,436.9) and household income (-$1,866.8). Motivated by these findings, I explore the relationship between the industrial organization of the black market and the supply of criminal activity. I find that gangs that are more internally fractured or operate in more competitive environments tend to generate more crime. This finding is inconsistent with simple, market-based models of criminal behavior, suggesting an important role for behavioral factors and social interactions in the production of gang violence. |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bro:econwp:2021-004&r= |
| By: | Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0; Zhaoying Lu (Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University) |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the effects of a place-based program in the Yangtze Delta of China?Special Economic Zones (SEZs). It takes into account spatial dependence to examine whether the human capital of SEZs exerts positive influences on the productivity of the local industry. The empirical results find that the local industry benefits from the human capital of SEZs. The spillover effects are not only confined to own counties but also neighboring counties. Indeed, SEZs contribute more to the productivity of neighboring counties than the one in the hosting county itself. Moreover, positive spillover effects of the human capital of SEZs still hold for the growth of productivity. Furthermore, the productivity of a region is similar to the one of the same industry in proximity. |
| Keywords: | Special Economic Zone, Spatial Analysis, Human Capital, Spillovers,Yangtze Delta. |
| JEL: | C21 C23 R10 O21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osk:wpaper:2102&r= |
| By: | Daniel Oliver; Robert W. Fairlie; Glenn Millhauser; Randa Roland |
| Abstract: | Graduate student teaching assistants from underrepresented groups may provide salient role models and enhanced instruction to minority students in STEM fields. We explore minority student-TA interactions in an important course in the sciences and STEM – introductory chemistry labs – at a large public university. The uncommon assignment method of students to TA instructors in these chemistry labs overcomes selection problems, and the small and active learning classroom setting with required attendance provides frequent interactions with the TA. We find evidence that underrepresented minority students are less likely to drop courses and are more likely to pass courses when assigned to minority TAs, but we do not find evidence of effects for grades and medium-term outcomes. The effects for the first-order outcomes are large with a decrease in the drop rate by 5.5 percentage points on a base of 6 percent, and an increase in the pass rate of 4.8 percentage points on a base of 93.6 percent. The findings are similar when we focus on Latinx student - Latinx TA interactions. The findings are robust to first-time vs. multiple enrollments in labs, specifications with different levels of fixed effects, limited choice of TA race, limited information of TAs, and low registration priority students. The findings have implications for debates over increasing diversity among PhD students in STEM fields because of spillovers to minority undergraduates. |
| JEL: | I21 I23 I24 J15 |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28719&r= |
| By: | Matteo BOBBA; Gianmarco LEON; Christopher A. NEILSON; Marco NIEDDU; Camila ALVA |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effects of a large unconditional increase in the salary of public sector teachers in Peru. Population-based rules that determine the level of teacher compensation generate locally exogenous discrete changes in wage posting across rural locations. School vacancies offering 25 percent higher wages attract better teachers, as measured by standardized evaluation tests that are used to determine priorities in national recruitment drives. Students in primary schools offering higher wages have better performance on standardized test scores, with effect sizes of 0.6 of a standard deviation in math and 0.5 of a standard deviation in Spanish three years after the salary increase. These results are entirely driven by schools that had multiple open vacancies over time, suggesting that the re-allocation of contract (and hence mobile) teachers is the main mechanism at work. Overall, our results suggest that unconditional pay increases targeted at less desirable locations can help reduce spatial inequalities in the quality of public good provision. |
| Keywords: | Pérou |
| JEL: | Q |
| Date: | 2021–04–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:avg:wpaper:en12457&r= |
| By: | Howard, Greg (University of Illinois); Ornaghi, Arianna (University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | How do different local policies in a federal system affect local land values, production, and sorting? We study the question exploiting a large historical policy change : U.S. Alcohol Prohibition in the early twentieth century. Comparing same-state early and late adopters of county dry laws in a difference-in-differences design, we find that early Prohibition adoption increased population and farm real estate values. Moreover, we find strong effects on farm productivity consistent with increased investment due to a land price channel. In equilibrium, the policy change disproportionately attracted immigrants and African-Americans. |
| Keywords: | Tiebout sorting ; migration ; land values ; productivity ; amenities ; credit JEL Classification: N91 ; R13 ; E22 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1347&r= |
| By: | Jan van der Borg (Department of Economics, University Of Venice Cà Foscari; Division of Geography and Tourism, KU Leuven, Belgium); Mario Volpe (Department of Economics, University Of Venice Cà Foscari); Nicola Camatti (Department of Economics, University Of Venice Cà Foscari); Andrea Albarea (Department of Economics, University Of Venice Cà Foscari) |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to explore whether huge public investments in international sports events necessarily turn out to be burdens for regional economies or not. This will be illustrated by estimating the economic and, in particular, the fiscal impact of the forthcoming Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympics on the economies and the public finances of the Veneto Region and on those of the Autonomous Provinces of Trento and Bolzano. To this end, we use an Input-Output (IO) analysis that we suitably modelled in order to measure also the specific impacts of the Olympic event on the national, regional and local tax systems. The paper will argue that in the case of international sports events, when prepared and managed carefully and also when their legacy is rooted in the regional economic systems from the start, the net effects of these events on the economy and on the public finances might be positive. It also tries to provide regional administrations, specifically referring again to the regional governments of the Veneto and Trentino-Alto Adige in particular, with a number of essential elements for a correct assessment of the socio-economic impact of this event and some suggestions on how the above-mentioned policies before, during and after the event, can help regional administrations to safeguard the collective interest through the hosting of international sports events. |
| Keywords: | Big Event, Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympics, IO analysis, economic impact, regional development, public finance |
| JEL: | L83 O18 R58 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ven:wpaper:2021:12&r= |
| By: | Sara Heller |
| Abstract: | Because successful human capital interventions often fail to scale or replicate, public investment decisions require understanding how program size, context, and implementation shape program effects. This paper uses two new randomized controlled trials of summer youth employment programs in Chicago and Philadelphia to demonstrate how multiple experiments can help explain replicability and inform the expansion of promising approaches. Even when these programs grow or change models across contexts, participation consistently reduces criminal justice involvement. It may also decrease the need for child protective services and behavioral health treatment. Experimental variation in program model and local provider generates no detectable heterogeneity, suggesting that effects replicate partly because variability in implementation does not matter. There is, however, individual-level heterogeneity that explains differences in effect magnitudes across populations and informs optimal targeting; youth at higher risk of socially costly outcomes experience larger benefits. Identifying more interventions that combine this pattern of treatment heterogeneity with robust replicability could aid efforts to reduce social inequality efficiently. |
| JEL: | I38 J08 K42 |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28705&r= |
| By: | Bach, Maximilian (ZEW Mannheim); Fischer, Mira (WZB Berlin) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies responses to high-stakes incentives arising from early ability tracking. We use three complementary research designs exploiting differences in school track admission rules at the end of primary school in Germany’s early ability tracking system. Our results show that the need to perform well to qualify for a better track raises students’ math, reading, listening, and orthography skills in grade 4, the final grade before students are sorted into tracks. Evidence from self-reported behavior suggests that these effects are driven by greater study effort but not parental responses. However, we also observe that stronger incentives decrease student well-being and intrinsic motivation to study. |
| Keywords: | student effort; tracking; incentives; |
| JEL: | I20 I28 I29 |
| Date: | 2020–11–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:261&r= |
| By: | Mikhail Mamonov; Anna Pestova |
| Abstract: | Are disruptions of the mortgage market a consequence of financial imbalances accumulated in the past? In this paper, we study the effects of positive and negative credit supply (CS) shocks on subsequent household defaults on debt over the last four decades in U.S. states. We apply sign restrictions within a VAR framework to isolate state-level CS shocks, and identify that 1984 and 2004 were the years of systemic, countrywide, positive CS shocks whereas 1989 and 2009 brought systemic negative shocks. Further, by employing a difference-in-differences framework, we find that both positive and negative CS shocks lead to greater household defaults in the future if they also increase mortgage-to-income ratios. We show that the CS shock-induced (i) shifts of employment between the tradable and non-tradable sectors, (ii) changes in household income and (iii) in house prices facilitate the accumulation of default risks. Our results indicate that positive CS shocks occurred in 1984 did not raise household defaults by more in more exposed states compared to less exposed states because the shocks increased both future income and mortgage debt, while not affecting mortgage-to-income ratios. In contrast, the 1989, 2004 and 2009 CS shocks increased mortgage-to-income ratios in subsequent years, thereby raising debt delinquencies and household defaults. These results provide further empirical evidence to theories of endogenous credit cycles. |
| Keywords: | household finance; banking; credit supply; financial instability; mortgage; difference-in-differences; VARs, U.S. states; PSID; CEX; |
| JEL: | C34 G21 G33 |
| Date: | 2021–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cer:papers:wp691&r= |
| By: | Sauro Mocetti (Bank of Italy); Giacomo Roma (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | Local public transport is an important determinant of the growth and the competitiveness of territories. This paper describes the functioning of this public service in the main Italian cities, comparing it internationally and analysing the regional gaps within the country. It highlights the possible effects that well-functioning local public transport systems have on the mobility of people, the labour and the real estate markets, as well as examines the links between its performance and a number of institutional and operational factors. This paper also analyses how this sector fared during the health crisis and outlines some possible scenarios for its evolution in the future. |
| Keywords: | urban public transport, mobility, regulation, governance, covid-19 |
| JEL: | R41 L91 |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_615_21&r= |
| By: | Fenske, James (University of Warwick); Kala, Namrata (sloan school of management — massachusetts institute of technology); Wei, Jinlin (University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | Using a new dataset on city populations in colonial India, we show that the railroad network increased city size in the period 1881 to 1931. Our baseline estimation approach includes fixed effects for city and year, and we construct instrumental variables for railroad proximity based on distance from a least cost path spanning cities that existed prior to the start of railroad construction. Cities that increased market access due to the railroad grew, particularly those cities that were initially small and isolated. |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1349&r= |
| By: | Grewenig, Elisabeth (ifo Institute); Lergetporer, Philipp (ifo Institute); Werner, Katharina (ifo Institute); Woessmann, Ludger (ifo Institute); Zierow, Larissa (ifo Institute) |
| Abstract: | In spring 2020, governments around the globe shut down schools to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus. We argue that low-achieving students may be particularly affected by the lack of educator support during school closures. We collect detailed time-use information on students before and during the school closures in a survey of 1,099 parents in Germany. We find that while students on average reduced their daily learning time of 7.4 hours by about half, the reduction was significantly larger for low-achievers (4.1 hours) than for high-achievers (3.7 hours). Low-achievers disproportionately replaced learning time with detrimental activities such as TV or computer games rather than with activities more conducive to child development. The learning gap was not compensated by parents or schools who provided less support for low-achieving students. The reduction in learning time was not larger for children from lower-educated parents, but it was larger for boys than for girls. For policy, our findings suggest binding distance-teaching concepts particularly targeted at low-achievers. |
| Keywords: | educational inequality; COVID-19; low-achieving students; home schooling; distance teaching; |
| JEL: | I24 J62 D30 |
| Date: | 2020–10–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:260&r= |
| By: | Oliver Hülsewig; Horst Rottmann |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the reaction of house prices in a panel of euro area countries to monetary policy surprises over the period 2010-2019. Using Jordà’s (2005) local projection method, we find that real house prices rise in response to expansionary monetary policy shocks that can be related to unconventional policy measures. In the core countries including Ireland, we also find that lending for house purchases increases relative to nominal output. Thus, household debt rises. |
| Keywords: | Euro area house prices, unconventional monetary policy, local projection method |
| JEL: | E52 E58 E32 G21 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9045&r= |
| By: | Francesca Borgonovi (Social Research Institute, Institute of Education, University College London, 55-59 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0NU, UK); Magdalena Pokropek (Educational Research Institute (IBE), ul. Górczewska 8, 01-180 Warszawa, Poland) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the evolution of 15-year-old students’ use of ICT for leisure and for learning at school and at home between 2009 and 2018. It also considers how the association between different forms of ICT use and reading achievement evolved over the same period. Results indicate that in 2018 15-year-old students used ICT for leisure and for learning more than their counterparts did in 2009 and that the increase was especially marked when considering ICT used for learning (both at school and at home). Boys increased their use of ICT for leisure and their use of ICT for learning at school more than girls did. Trends in ICT use did not differ by socio-economic condition. Over the same period, no quantitatively meaningful changes in reading achievement were observed. In line with the previous literature, we find that the association between different forms of ICT use and reading achievement takes an inverted U shape, with students engaging in low and high levels of use having lower levels of reading achievement than students engaged in medium levels of use. Over time, the association between different uses of ICT and reading achievement changed and became more positive at low levels of use and less negative at high levels of use. However, the large and rapid increases in levels of use observed between 2009 and 2018 led to more students being located in the ‘high levels of use’ category. The cumulative, contrasting effects of changes in levels of use and changes in the association between ICT use and reading achievement led to stable levels of achievement at the population level. |
| Keywords: | ICT use; reading achievement; trends; cross-country; PISA |
| JEL: | I20 I24 I26 |
| Date: | 2021–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:2114&r= |
| By: | Ari Pramono; Harmen Oppewal |
| Abstract: | This paper introduces on-the-way choice of retail outlet as a form of convenience shopping. It presents a model of on-the-way choice of retail outlet and applies the model in the context of fuel retailing to explore its implications for segmentation and spatial competition. The model is a latent class random utility choice model. An application to gas station choices observed in a medium-sized Asian city show the model to fit substantially better than existing models. The empirical results indicate consumers may adopt one of two decision strategies. When adopting an immediacy-oriented strategy they behave in accordance with the traditional gravity-based retail models and tend to choose the most spatially convenient outlet. When following a destination-oriented strategy they focus more on maintaining their overall trip efficiency and so will tend to visit outlets located closer to their main destination and are more susceptible to retail agglomeration effects. The paper demonstrates how the model can be used to inform segmentation and local competition analyses that account for variations in these strategies as well as variations in consumer type, origin and time of travel. Simulations of a duopoly setting further demonstrate the implications. |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2104.14043&r= |
| By: | Jo Blanden (School of Economics, University of Surrey); Andrew Eyles (Department of Economics, University College London); Stephen Machin (Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Prior research on trends in intergenerational mobility in economic status has focused chiefly on income and earnings. There is hardly any research on trends in intergenerational wealth transmission, at least in part because of the rarity of cross- generational data with wealth measures good enough for a cross-time analysis to be undertaken. In the intergenerational setting, housing tenure data is more widely available than good data on total wealth. This paper uses cross-time changes in intergenerational associations in home ownership to generate evidence on trends in intergenerational wealth mobility. Both home ownership and the value of main residence are shown to be strongly associated with wealth accumulation. The strength of the intergenerational link in home ownership in the UK has grown over time and, as parental home ownership displays a strong relationship with an individual's future wealth, this can be informative about trends in intergenerational wealth transmission. Taken together, the results indicate that intergenerational wealth transmission has strengthened over time in Britain. |
| Keywords: | Housing, intergenerational mobility, wealth, cohorts. |
| JEL: | R31 J11 D31 J62 |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucl:cepeow:21-05&r= |
| By: | Jérôme Adda; Christian Dustmann; Joseph-Simon Görlach |
| Abstract: | This paper develops and estimates a dynamic model where individuals differ in ability and location preference to evaluate the mechanisms that affect the evolution of immigrants’ careers in conjunction with their re-migration plans. Our analysis highlights a novel form of selective return migration where those who plan to stay longer invest more into skill acquisition, with important implications for the assessment of immigrants’ career paths and the estimation of their earnings profiles. Our study also explains the willingness of immigrants to accept jobs at wages that seem unacceptable to natives. Finally, our model provides important insight for the design of migration policies, showing that policies which initially restrict residence or condition residence on achievement shape not only immigrants’ career profiles through their impact on human capital investment but also determine the selection of arrivals and leavers. |
| Keywords: | international migration, human capital, expectations |
| JEL: | F22 J24 J61 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9051&r= |
| By: | Joël Cariolle (FERDI - Fondation pour les Etudes et Recherches sur le Développement International); Maëlan Le Goff (Banque de France - Banque de France - Banque de France) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we study the spatial spillover effects of internet usage on manufacturing output. Using repeated cross-section datasets of 40,154 manufacturing firms located in 91 developing and transition economies, we adopt an original shift-share instrumental variable setup , and find that a greater diffusion of email technology in locations increases manufacturing firm's sales and productivity. This result is driven by local email dissemination within industries, supporting the existence of network or knowledge spillover effects among proximate firms, engaged in similar or interlinked activities. By contrast, the dissemination of email technology across other industries located in the same place reduces manufacturing firms' performance. However, these inter-industry spillovers are U-shaped, indicating that they remain negative below a local email incidence threshold established at approximately 50% of the local universe of firms, and turn positive only once this threshold is reached. Last, we find that positive Internet spillovers are mediated by firm's own use of the internet technology, and by its absorptive capacity, reflected by its share of skilled production workers, its multi-plant status, and its maturity. |
| Keywords: | Connectivity,internet,spillovers,manufactures,industrialisation |
| Date: | 2021–04–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-03201735&r= |
| By: | Danijela ĐoriĆ (LAMIH - Laboratoire d'Automatique, de Mécanique et d'Informatique industrielles et Humaines - UMR 8201 - UVHC - Université de Valenciennes et du Hainaut-Cambrésis - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UPHF - Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France, CIRRELT - Laboratoire CIRRELT Université Laval Quebec - ULaval - Université Laval [Québec]); Yan Cimon (CIRRELT - Laboratoire CIRRELT Université Laval Quebec - ULaval - Université Laval [Québec]); Igor Crevits (LAMIH - Laboratoire d'Automatique, de Mécanique et d'Informatique industrielles et Humaines - UMR 8201 - UVHC - Université de Valenciennes et du Hainaut-Cambrésis - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UPHF - Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France); Said Hanafi (LAMIH - Laboratoire d'Automatique, de Mécanique et d'Informatique industrielles et Humaines - UMR 8201 - UVHC - Université de Valenciennes et du Hainaut-Cambrésis - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UPHF - Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France); Raca Todosijević (LAMIH - Laboratoire d'Automatique, de Mécanique et d'Informatique industrielles et Humaines - UMR 8201 - UVHC - Université de Valenciennes et du Hainaut-Cambrésis - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UPHF - Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France) |
| Abstract: | The public transport attempts to provide a service to every citizen on the same level of approachability. Even when the budget allows investments to upgrade the transport facilities accessibility, it would be necessary to deal with the time and transport organization. The research problem that has been treated here is the variant of the possible models applicable to the transport of persons with disabilities on the existing transport network by providing independence in their displacement. The literature recognizes several optimization models that could assist in delivering better transport services to persons with disabilities, such as transport on demand (also knows as dial-a-ride model), and another category is the model that proposes the shortest path on the network. In this paper, the conditions of the public transport network in Valenciennes (France) are analyzed within the transport flows and explained the best fitting with the optimization and location models. |
| Keywords: | persons with disabilities,public transport,location and routing models |
| Date: | 2020–10–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03199178&r= |
| By: | Melander, Eric (University of Namur and CAGE); Miotto, Martina (CERGE-EI and CAGE) |
| Abstract: | The New Poor Law reform of 1834 induced dramatic and heterogeneous reductions in welfare spending across English and Welsh counties. Using the reform in a difference-in-differences instrumental variables strategy, we document a robust negative relationship between the generosity of welfare provision and criminal activity. Results are driven by non-violent property crimes and are stronger during months of seasonal agricultural unemployment, indicating that a combination of welfare cuts and precarious work opportunities lowered the opportunity cost of crime for economically vulnerable individuals. We use data on county police forces and individual-level criminal records to rule out alternative mechanisms related to changes in policing and sentencing. |
| Keywords: | welfare spending, austerity, crime, poor laws JEL Classification: H53, I38, K42, N33 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:548&r= |
| By: | Ainhoa Aparicio Fenoll; Zoë Kuehn |
| Abstract: | This paper tests for the so-called bilingual advantage, the notion that knowing more than one language improves individuals’ other cognitive skills. We use data on children of Latino immigrants in the United States who have been randomly assigned calculation tests in English or Spanish. After controlling for characteristics of children and their parents, we find that bilingual children perform 0.57 standard deviations better than monolingual children, almost equal to learning gains of two additional school years. Applying the Oster test, we find that selection on unobservables would need to be 10 times stronger than selection on observables to explain away our results. Our heterogeneity analysis reveals that the bilingual advantage is particularly strong among boys. |
| Keywords: | bilingualism, cognitive skills, selection on observables and unobservables. |
| JEL: | I2 I24 J15 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wpaper:645&r= |
| By: | Kelsey Chesnut; Megan Shoji; Morgan Woods; Lanae Davis; Denise McHugh; Trevor Williams; Luther Owens; Kelli Puryear; Jessica Trombetta |
| Abstract: | This brief shares insights from the Colorado Department of Human Services and the New Jersey Department of Children and Families on how youth-serving organizations can use housing vouchers to support youth and young adults with previous child welfare system involvement and are at risk of homelessness. |
| Keywords: | child welfare, foster care, housing, runaway and homeless youth |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:e43b86ecace647bb895ee17ea94c9da7&r= |
| By: | Meisner, Vincent (TU Berlin); von Wangenheim, Jonas (FU Berlin) |
| Abstract: | Extensive evidence suggests that participants in the direct student-proposing deferred-acceptance mechanism (DSPDA) play dominated strategies. In particular, students with low priority tend to misrepresent their preferences for popular schools. To explain the observed data, we introduce expectationbased loss aversion into a school-choice setting and characterize choiceacclimating personal equilibria in DSPDA. Truthful equilibria can fail to exist, and DSPDA might implement unstable and more inefficient allocations in both small and large markets. Specifically, it discriminates against students who are more loss averse or less overconfident than their peers, and amplifies already existing (or perceived) discrimination. To level the playing field, we propose serial dictatorship mechanisms as a strategyproof and stable alternative that is robust to these biases. |
| Keywords: | market design; matching; school choice; reference-dependent preferences; loss aversion; deferred acceptance; |
| JEL: | C78 D78 D82 D81 D91 |
| Date: | 2019–12–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:208&r= |
| By: | Tijan L. Bah (Navarra Center for International Development, University of Navarra and Novafrica, Nova SBE); Catia Batista (Nova School of Business and Economics); Flore Gubert (IRD, UMR LEDa-DIAL, PSL, U. Paris-Dauphine, CNRS, and Paris School of Economics); David McKenzie (Development Research Group, the World Bank) |
| Abstract: | The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in border closures in many countries and a sharp reduction in overall international mobility. However, this disruption of legal pathways to migration has raised concerns that potential migrants may turn to irregular migration routes as a substitute. We examine how the pandemic has changed intentions to migrate from The Gambia, the country with the highest pre-pandemic per-capita irregular migration rates in Africa. We use a large-scale panel survey conducted in 2019 and 2020 to compare changes in intentions to migrate to Europe and to neighboring Senegal. We find the pandemic has reduced the intention to migrate to both destinations, with approximately one-third of young males expressing less intention to migrate. The largest reductions in migration intentions are for individuals who were unsure of their intent pre-pandemic, and for poorer individuals who are no longer able to afford the costs of migrating at a time when these costs have increased and their remittance income has fallen. We also introduce the methodology of priming experiments to the study of migration intentions, by randomly varying the salience of the COVID-19 pandemic before eliciting intentions to migrate. We find no impact of this added salience, which appears to be because knowledge of the virus, while imperfect, was already enough to inform migration decisions. Nevertheless, despite these decreases in intentions, the overall desire to migrate the backway to Europe remains high, highlighting the need for legal migration pathways to support migrants and divert them from the risks of backway migration. |
| Keywords: | Migration intentions, COVID-19 Pandemic, Priming and Salience Experiments, Backway migration, The Gambia |
| JEL: | F22 O15 J61 C93 |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:2115&r= |
| By: | Grogger, Jeffrey (University of Chicago); Steinmayr, Andreas (LMU Munich); Winter, Joachim (LMU Munich) |
| Abstract: | Previous work has documented that speaking one’s native language with an accent distinct from the mainstream is associated with lower wages. In this study, we seek to estimate the causal effect of speaking with a distinctive regional accent, disentangling the effect of the accent from that of omitted variables. We collected data on workers’ speech in Germany, a country with wide variation in regional dialects. We use a variety of strategies in estimation, including an instrumental variables strategy in which the instruments are based on research findings from the linguistics of accent acquisition. All of our estimators show that speaking with a distinctive regional accent reduces wages by an amount that is comparable to the gender wage gap. We also find that workers with distinctive regional accents tend to sort away from occupations that demand high levels of face-to-face contact, consistent with various occupational sorting models. |
| Keywords: | accent; dialect; wage penalty; discrimination; SOEP; |
| JEL: | J24 |
| Date: | 2019–09–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:184&r= |
| By: | John Van Reenen |
| Abstract: | If innovation is to be subsidized, a natural place to start is to increase the quantity and quality of human capital. Innovation, after all, begins with people. Simply stimulating the “demand side” through R&D subsidies and tax breaks may only drive up the price, rather than the volume of research activity. By contrast, increasing the supply of potential inventors can both directly increase innovation and reduce its cost. This paper examines the evidence on human capital policies for stimulating innovation such as expanding the home-grown workforce, fostering immigration, boosting universities and reducing barriers to entry into inventor careers, especially for under-represented groups. The evidence suggests targeting high ability but disadvantaged potential inventors at an early age is likely to have the largest long-run effects on growth. |
| JEL: | O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28713&r= |
| By: | Becker, Sascha O. (Monash U, U Warwick and CAGE); Mukand, Sharun (University of Warwick and CAGE); Lindenthal, Volker (University of Munich); Waldinger, Fabian (University of Munich) |
| Abstract: | We study the role of professional networks in facilitating the escape of persecuted academics from Nazi Germany. From 1933, the Nazi regime started to dismiss academics of Jewish origin from their positions. The timing of dismissals created individual-level exogenous variation in the timing of emigration from Nazi Germany, allowing us to estimate the causal eect of networks for emigration decisions. Academics with ties to more colleagues who had emigrated in 1933 or 1934 (early émigrés) were more likely to emigrate. The early émigrés functioned as “bridging nodes†that helped other academics cross over to their destination. Furthermore, we provide some of the rst empirical evidence of decay in social ties over time. The strength of ties also decays across space, even within cities. Finally, for high-skilled migrants, professional networks are more important than community networks. |
| Keywords: | JEL Classification: |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:542&r= |
| By: | Bonacini, Luca; Gallo, Giovanni; Scicchitano, Sergio |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we explore channels by which household background determines an individual's educational and social opportunities in Italy. Our analysis relies on a rich dataset that contains data both on individuals and their real parents, as well as information on individuals' non-cognitive skills. This paper also represents the first attempt to evaluate if and to what extent personality traits affect educational and occupational opportunities in Italy and how they interact with household background. The results highlight that the level of parental education is more relevant than the level of parental occupational skill in individuals' educational and social opportunities. The inclusion of 'Big-5' variables in the model helps control for omitted variables and reduces the unobserved heterogeneity in intergenerational social mobility among individuals with the same level of education and skills. Our results depict a dual and unequal labour market. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational mobility,equality of opportunity,household background,regional studies,personality traits,big five |
| JEL: | I24 J62 R23 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:832&r= |
| By: | Ashraf, Anik (LMU Munich) |
| Abstract: | Can a firm increase its workers' eff ort by introducing competition through performance-based ranking? On one hand such ranking can increase eff ort because of individuals' desire for status from high ranks, but on the other, it can demotivate them or make them wary of outperforming peers. This paper disentangles the e ffects of demotivation, social conformity, and status associated with ranking through a randomized experiment at a Bangladeshi sweater factory. Treated workers receive monthly information on their relative performance either in private or in public. Both a simple theoretical framework and empirical evidence from the field show that workers' intrinsic desire to be good at work induces privately ranked workers to increase eff ort upon receiving positive feedback, but they get demotivated and decrease e ffort upon receiving negative feedback. Public ranking lead to lower net eff ort relative to private ranking because of a strong preference not to outperform friends. The negative e ffects from demotivation and social conformity may explain why the existing literature finds mixed evidence of impact of ranking workers. |
| Keywords: | peer effects; productivity; rank incentives; |
| JEL: | D23 J53 O15 |
| Date: | 2019–11–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:196&r= |
| By: | Schönheit, David; Bruninx, Kenneth; Kenis, Michiel; Möst, Dominik |
| Abstract: | Flow-based market coupling provides zonal day-ahead markets with appropriate signals of possible real-time congestions by incorporating information on local load and generation patterns. It relies on predictive parameters, notably the base case and generation shift keys. Also it only monitors part of the grid, through selecting critical network elements. In consequence, it naturally falls short of a nodal pricing-based cost-optimal solution. Based on a test network with three flow-based market coupling zones, we show that the results of flow-based market coupling converge to nodal pricing solutions with an increasing amount of re-configured market zones. We identify if re-configured market zones can help to improve the selection of critical network elements and lead to cost reductions even in the original market zone setting. We find that around 90% of the cost reductions from a market zone re-configuration can be maintained when the critical network elements, obtained from the re-configured market zones, are used for the original market zones. This is a strong indication that, both in reality as well as model-based research of flow-based market coupling, the selection of critical network elements should be based on expected congestion patterns. To find these congestions, we conduct a nodal price-based market zone re-configuration that helps to identify lines with different congestion signals. This approach can constitute a helpful addition to static and assumption-based selection criteria for critical network elements, such as the often-used zone-to-zone power transfer distribution factors that strongly rely on assumptions like generation shift keys. |
| Keywords: | critical network elements,flow-based market coupling,market zones,nodal and zonal markets,zone re-configuration |
| JEL: | C61 D47 L94 Q41 Q43 Q47 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:233467&r= |
| By: | Falk, Armin (University of Bonn); Kosse, Fabian (LMU Munich); Pinger, Pia (University of Cologne) |
| Abstract: | Inequality of opportunity strikes when two children with the same academic performance are sent to different quality schools because their parents differ in socio economic status. Based on a novel dataset for Germany, we demonstrate that children are significantly less likely to enter the academic track if they come from low socio-economic status (SES) families, even after conditioning on prior measures of school performance. We then provide causal evidence that a low-intensity mentoring program can improve long-run education outcomes of low SES children and reduce inequality of opportunity. Low SES children, who were randomly assigned to a mentor for one year are 20 percent more likely to enter a high track program. The mentoring relationship affects both parents and children and has positive long-term implications for children's educational trajectories. |
| Keywords: | mentoring; childhood intervention programs; education; human capital investments; inequality of opportunity; socio-economic status; |
| JEL: | C90 I24 J24 J62 |
| Date: | 2020–06–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:247&r= |
| By: | Cantoni, Enrico (University of Bologna); Gazzè, Ludovica (University of Warwick and CAGE); Schafer, Jerome (University of Munich) |
| Abstract: | We study the effects of different types of concurrent elections using individual-level administrative and survey data from Italy. Exploiting different voting ages for the two Houses of Parliament in a voter-level Regression Discontinuity Design, we find no effect of Senate voting eligibility on voter turnout or information acquisition. We also estimate city-level Differencesin-Differences showing that concurrent high-salience municipal elections increase turnout in lower-salience provincial and European elections, but not vice-versa. These concurrency effects are concentrated in municipalities in the South of Italy, possibly due to weaker political parties and lower levels of social capital. |
| Keywords: | turnout, concurrent elections, regression discontinuity design, Italy. JEL Classification: |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:557&r= |
| By: | Philip Du Caju (, Economics and Research Department, NBB); Guillaume Périlleux (Université libre de Bruxelles (SBS-EM : CEB andECARES), Brussels, Belgium); François Rycx (Université libre de Bruxelles (SBS-EM : CEB and DULBEA), IRES, humanOrg, GLO & IZA, Brussels, Belgium); lan Tojerow (Université libre de Bruxelles (SBS-EM : CEB and DULBEA) & IZA, Brussels, Belgium) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the potentially non-linear relation between households' indebtedness and their consumption between 2010 and 2014 in Belgium. To do so, we use panel data from the two waves of the Household Finance and Consumption Survey. Unlike previous studies, we find a negative effect of households' indebtedness on their consumption, even in the absence of any negative shock on their assets. Our findings suggest that, without such a shock, it is the day-to-day sustainability of the debt, rather than its overall sustainability, that leads households to reduce their consumption. To explore potential non-linearities in this effect, we perform a threshold analysis, whose results suggest that households should not have a debt-service-to-income ratio greater than 30% as this leads to a substantial reduction of their consumption. The effect appears to be robust to various specifications, including the inclusion of other European countries, to result from a trade-off between housing and consumption, and to be more prevalent among more fragile households. |
| Keywords: | Households, Indebtedness, Consumption, Debt-Service-to-Income, Non-linear Heterogeneous Effects |
| JEL: | D12 D14 E21 |
| Date: | 2021–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbb:reswpp:202103-397&r= |
| By: | Andrea Ciambra (University of A Coruna (A Coruna, Spain)) |
| Abstract: | This report explores the use of local indicators by European Voluntary Local Reviews on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals between 2016 and early 2021. This report has been prepared by a European Commission external expert in the framework of the URBAN 2030 project developed by the Joint Research Centre to support local governments in monitoring the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its SDGs at local level — in particular by promoting transformative and inclusive action for their localisation. |
| Keywords: | sustainable development goals, SDGs, 2030 agenda, SDG localisation, indicators |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc124580&r= |
| By: | Blaskó, Zsuzsa (European Commission); da Costa, Patricia (European Commission, Joint Research Centre); Schnepf, Sylke V. (European Commission, DG Joint Research Centre) |
| Abstract: | It is widely discussed that the pandemic has impacted on educational inequalities across the world. However, in contrast to data on health or unemployment, data on education outcomes are not timely. Hence, we have extremely limited knowledge about the actual impact of the pandemic on learning outcomes at the national and the cross-national level. As it might take years to get new comparative evidence on the actual extent of the problem, this paper uses the latest large scale international student assessment data from before the pandemic, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2019 and applies simple descriptive analysis, regressions and logical deductions to map potential consequences of the Covid-19 crisis across Europe. We obtain the relative trajectories of children's learning loss and its unequal distribution from information on home and school resources, the importance of these resources for learning outcomes and countries' school closure duration policies and compare Covid-19 related risk of learning loss between European countries. Results based on 4th graders' school achievements indicate that throughout Europe educational inequalities between and within countries are likely to increase substantially. Some European countries are highly likely to face already an education crisis. |
| Keywords: | educational inequalities, COVID-19, Europe, learning loss |
| JEL: | I24 |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14298&r= |
| By: | Martin, Elliot PhD; Stocker, Adam; Nichols, Aqshems; Shaheen, Susan PhD |
| Abstract: | The study found that roundtrip carsharing in NYC mostly serves as a substitute for car rental, other personal vehicle modes, and personal vehicle ownership. The analysis showed that the broader pilot program had a modest impact on user behavior through carsharing (i.e., reduced vehicle ownership, reduced VMT, and mode shift). It also found that the pilot program likely expanded the membership base of carsharing to demographic cohorts that are traditionally underrepresented in carsharing populations (i.e., increased participation by lower education levels, lower household incomes, minority demographics). The study also examined vehicle ownership impacts and changes in vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Analysis of survey and activity data indicated that 7% of NYC carsharing members avoided a car purchase, and 0.61% of members got rid of a car they already owned due to carsharing. Across the membership base, VMT was reduced by 7% and GHG emissions were reduced by 6%. These findings showed that carsharing reduced VMT and delivered associated environmental benefits within NYC, and more broadly had a substantive impact on travel behavior among members in form of mode shift away from personal automotive modes. |
| Keywords: | Engineering |
| Date: | 2021–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsrrp:qt5kb1r71v&r= |
| By: | Kaiser, Tim (University of Koblenz-Landau & DIW Berlin); Menkhoff, Lukas (DIW Berlin) |
| Abstract: | We study the literature on school financial education programs for children and youth via a quantitative meta-analysis of 37 (quasi-) experiments. We find that financial education treatments have, on average, sizeable impacts on financial knowledge (+0.33 SD), similar to educational interventions in other domains. Additionally, we document smaller effects on financial behaviors among students (+0.07 SD). When restricting the sample to 18 randomized experiments average effect sizes are estimated to be about 0.15 SD units on financial knowledge and 0.07 SD units on financial behaviors. These results are robust irrespective of the meta-analytic method used and when accounting for publication bias. Subgroup analyses show the beneficial effect of more intensive treatments, albeit with decreasing marginal returns. |
| Keywords: | financial education; financial literacy; financial behavior; meta-analysis ; |
| JEL: | I21 A21 D14 |
| Date: | 2019–09–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:187&r= |
| By: | Shiko Maruyama; Sayaka Nakamura |
| Abstract: | Previous studies on the effect of school lunch programs on child obesity have been hampered by effect heterogeneity, self-selection, and stigma-induced under-reporting, having produced mixed findings. Their potential long-lasting effect has also been debated. We study the body-weight effect of a Japanese school lunch program, which provides nutritional lunch to all students at participating municipal junior highs. The lack of means testing and individual participation choice offers easily interpretable causal estimates. By exploiting almost all school lunch coverage for elementary school children nationwide, we construct a difference-in-differences (DID) framework to alleviate potential bias due to unobserved differences across municipalities. Using the 1975?1994 National Nutrition Survey, a nationally representative household survey with measured height and weight, we find a regressive benefit of school lunch: while no statistically significant effect is found for the full sample, we find a significant obesity-reducing effect for the subsamples of children with low socioeconomic backgrounds. The obesity-reducing effect remains at least a few years after graduation, implying effect through not only nutritional contents but also guiding healthy eating behavior. We find little evidence that school lunch reduces underweight. Propensity score weighting, quantile DID analysis, and various falsification tests confirm the robustness of our estimates. |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcr:wpaper:e160&r= |
| By: | Gissur Ó Erlingsson; Jonas Klarin; Eva Maria Mörk |
| Abstract: | Municipal break-ups are an understudied phenomenon despite the fact that such territorial reforms regularly take place across the globe. This paper estimates how seven voluntary splits of Swedish municipalities affected municipal current costs. To predict what would have happened had the break-ups not taken place, we apply the matrix completion method with nuclear norm minimization. Our results do not support the standard view, that smaller municipalities imply higher per capita costs. Instead, we find an intriguing heterogeneity: costs increase in some municipalities, are unaffected in others and decrease elsewhere. The findings point to the complex nature of territorial reforms, the difficulty in drawing general conclusions of such, and hence, the perils of expecting them to have uniform outcomes. |
| Keywords: | territorial reforms, municipalities, matrix completion |
| JEL: | H72 R12 R50 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9042&r= |
| By: | Arthur Lewbel (Boston College); Xi Qu (Shanghai Jiao Tong University); Xun Tang (Rice University) |
| Abstract: | We consider estimation of peer effects in social network models where some network links are incorrectly measured. We show that if the number of mismeasured links does not grow too quickly with the sample size, then standard instrumental variables estimators that ignore the measurement error remain consistent, and standard asymptotic inference methods remain valid. These results hold even when measurement errors in the links are correlated with regressors, or with the model errors. Monte Carlo simulations and real data experiments confirm our results in finite samples. These findings imply that researchers can ignore small amounts of measurement errors in networks. |
| Keywords: | Social networks, Peer e§ects, MisclassiÖed links, Missing links, Mismeasured network |
| JEL: | C31 C51 |
| Date: | 2021–04–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boc:bocoec:1031&r= |
| By: | Anelli, Massimo (Bocconi University); Colussi, Tommaso (Catholic University Milan); Ichino, Andrea (European University Institute) |
| Abstract: | Migration movements may increase the geographic dispersion of the Aversion to Breaking Rules (ABR) in a population, with possible long-term economic consequences. We show this result with Italian Census data, using indicators of false birth date registrations for families of South-North migrants and remainers in the two macro-regions. Within locality×biennium cells, deterrence and cheating benefits are similar in the two groups and thus cheating differences are informative about the underlying ABR, as our theory suggests. We also exploit the Fascist reforms of 1926 as shocks to deterrence, offering additional information on the underlying ABR of migrant and remainer families. |
| Keywords: | migration, aversion to breaking rules, Italy |
| JEL: | J61 C93 R23 |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14286&r= |
| By: | Haaland, Ingar (University of Bergen and CESifo); Roth, Christopher (University of Warwick, briq, CESifo, CEPR, and CAGE) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides representative evidence on beliefs about racial discrimination and examines whether information causally affects support for pro-black policies. Eliciting quantitative beliefs about the extent of hiring discrimination against blacks, we uncover large disagreement about the extent of racial discrimination with particularly pronounced partisan differences. An information treatment leads to a convergence in beliefs about racial discrimination but does not lead to a similar convergence in support of pro-black policies. The results demonstrate that while providing information can substantially reduce disagreement about the extent of racial discrimination, it is not sufficient to reduce disagreement about pro-black policies. |
| Keywords: | Racial Discrimination, Beliefs, Pro-Black Policies, Policy Preferences JEL Classification: C91, D83, J71, J15 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:554&r= |
| By: | Sascha O. Becker (SoDa Laboratories, Monash University); Francisco Pino (SoDa Laboratories, Monash University); Jordi Vidal-Robert (SoDa Laboratories, Monash University) |
| Abstract: | The Protestant Reformation in the early 16th century challenged the monopoly of the Catholic Church. The printing press helped the new movement spread its ideas well beyond the cradle of the Reformation in Luther’s city of Wittenberg. The Catholic Church reacted by issuing indexes of forbidden books which blacklisted not only Protestant authors but all authors whose ideas were considered to be in conflict with Catholic doctrine. We use newly digitized data on the universe of books censored by the Catholic Church during the Counter-Reformation, containing information on titles, authors, printers and printing locations. We classify censored books by topic (religion, sciences, social sciences and arts) and language and record when and where books were indexed. Our results show that Catholic censorship did reduce printing of forbidden authors, as intended, but also negatively impacted on the diffusion of knowledge, and city growth. |
| Keywords: | Censorship, Counter-Reformation, Elite Human Capital, Political Economy |
| JEL: | D7 N93 J24 |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ajr:sodwps:2021-04&r= |
| By: | Paul Mosley (Department of Economics, University of Sheffield, UK); Emily Achieng (Technical University of Kenya, Nairobi); Maria Aurelia del Casale (Musica in Crescendo, San Salvo, Italy); Antonella Coppi (Free University of Bolzano); Nikki-Kate Heyes (SoundLincs, Lincoln); Lee Higgins (University of York St John) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the role of music teaching and music-making as not just a way of boosting current household well-being but as a social asset, i.e. as a means of boosting the capital, especially the human and social capital, of lower income groups. This idea is of particular interest to social policy globally because, having in many places moved on to an ‘asset-based’ footing in the 1990s and 2000s, it has more recently, and unfortunately in our view, retreated from that approach in recent times, at least in the global North. We compare here the approach of two organisations operating different models of music-making and teaching – Sound Lincs of Lincoln, England, which practises a community-music model, and Musica in Crescendo and the Orchestra Diego Valeri within the Italian national system of youth orchestras, which adapt a model originally derived from El Sistema of Venezuela. From a preliminary regression analysis, we find that participation in collective musical activities, in both institutions, has raised the aspirations of students and thereby enhanced both their individual capacities (resilience and locus of control) and their social capacities (extroversion and ability to defuse conflict). Our qualitative evidence illustrates the causal processes underlying these impacts, and in particular explores how collective music-making activities could be better focussed on low-income groups. We conclude that the idea of ‘music as social asset’ would be of potential benefit to both practitioners and social security systems, and discuss what policies and institutions might be able to increase the return to this asset. |
| Keywords: | community music, aspirations, asset-based welfare, social protection |
| JEL: | H41 I21 I38 Z11 |
| Date: | 2021–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shf:wpaper:2021003&r= |
| By: | Benjamin Elsner (University College Dublin); Ingo E. Isphording (IZA - Institute of Labor Economics); Ulf Zölitz (University of Zurich) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how a student's ordinal rank in a peer group affects performance and specialisation choices in university. By exploiting data with repeated random assignment of students to teaching sections, we find that a higher rank increases performance and the probability of choosing related follow-up courses and majors. We document two types of dynamic effects. First, earlier ranks are less important than later ranks. Second, responses to rank changes are asymmetric: improvements in rank raise performance, while decreases in rank have no effect. Rank effects partially operate through students' expectations about future grades. |
| Keywords: | rank, social comparisons, higher education, peer effects |
| JEL: | I21 J16 J31 |
| Date: | 2021–03–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucd:wpaper:202105&r= |
| By: | König, Tobias (Linnaeus University); Kübler, Dorothea (TU Berlin and WZB Berlin); Mechtenberg, Lydia (University Hamburg); Schmacker, Renke (DIW Berlin) |
| Abstract: | We study preferences over procedures in the presence of naive agents. We employ a school choice setting following Pathak and Sönmez (2008) who show that sophisticated agents are better off under the Boston mechanism than under a strategy-proof mechanism if some agents are sincere. We use lab experiments to study the preferences of subjects for the Boston mechanism or the assortative matching. We compare the preferences of stakeholders who know their own role with agents behind the veil of ignorance and spectators. As predicted, stakeholders vote for the Boston mechanism if it maximizes their payoffs and vote for the assortative matching otherwise. This is in line with the model of Pathak and Sönmez (2008). Subjects behind the veil of ignorance mainly choose the Boston mechanism when the priority at schools is determined randomly. In a second experiment with priorities based on performance in a real-effort task, spectators whose payoff does not depend on the choice of the mechanism are split in their vote for the Boston mechanism and the assortative matching. According to the spectators’ statements in the post-experimental questionnaire, the main reason for preferring the Boston mechanism is that playing the game well deserves a higher payoff. These findings provide a novel explanation for the widespread use of the Boston mechanism. |
| Keywords: | matching markets; school choice; voting; Boston mechanism; naive agents; stable assortative matching ; |
| JEL: | D47 C92 I24 D72 |
| Date: | 2019–12–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:222&r= |
| By: | Oh, Eun Young (University of Portsmouth); Rosenkranz, Peter (Asian Development Bank) |
| Abstract: | To explore the determinants of peer-to-peer (P2P) lending expansion, this study examines factors that impact P2P lending using a sample of 62 economies over the period 2015–2017. We investigate the effects of financial development and financial literacy on the expansion of P2P lending. The level of development of financial institutions is assessed by access, efficiency, and depth. We find that financial institutions’ efficiency, financial literacy, and lower branch and ATM penetration are positively related with the expansion of P2P lending. This finding suggests that P2P lending can fill funding gaps in economies where traditional financial institutions may be less available, and thus promote financial inclusion. We also find that better information technology infrastructure and high new business density are positively associated with the expansion of P2P lending, suggesting that physical infrastructure is an essential prerequisite for it, while this is more likely to happen in dynamic business environments. |
| Keywords: | financial development; financial literacy; fintech; peer-to-peer lending |
| JEL: | E51 G23 G53 N20 O33 |
| Date: | 2020–03–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbewp:0613&r= |