|
on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Christopher Campos |
| Abstract: | This paper measures parents' beliefs about school and peer quality, how information about each affects school choices, and how social interactions mediate these effects. Parents underestimate school quality and overestimate peer quality. Cross-randomized school and peer quality information combined with a spillover design shows that when parents received information, they and their neighbors' preferences shifted toward higher value-added schools, underscoring stronger tastes for school quality and the role of social interactions. Increased enrollment in effective schools improved socio-emotional outcomes. The experimental evidence shows parents value school effectiveness even conditional on peer quality and that social interactions strongly influence school choice. |
| JEL: | D83 I20 I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33010 |
| By: | Matthew Roskruge (Massey University, New Zealand); Jacques Poot (University of Waikato, New Zealand) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we present evidence from quantitative research over the last decade on how the social capital of individuals in Aotearoa New Zealand is associated with birthplace and, for migrants, years since migration. We also consider the effects of spatial sorting and ethnic diversity on social capital formation. Aotearoa New Zealand has one of the highest rates of immigration in the OECD and, consequently, one of the highest shares of foreign-born individuals in the population. Additionally, the population is characterized by high ethnic diversity and a large indigenous population, with MÄ ori representing 17 percent of the population. Using several data sources, we measure social capital by focusing on participation and volunteering in a range of community activities, perceptions of safety and inclusion, and voting in elections. Regression modelling shows that, as expected, migrants have little local social capital upon arrival. However, differences between their social capital and that of native-born individuals reduce considerably as the duration of residence in Aotearoa New Zealand increases. When the migrant share in a region is larger than the national average, migrants invest less in bridging social capital. Migrant clustering within a region increases their investment in bonding social capital. Bridging activities are associated with better employment outcomes. Less than one in five respondents in the utilized survey data report discrimination, and for migrants, discrimination declines with years of residence. However, the trend in discrimination has been upward over time and particularly affects non-European migrants and persons identifying with MÄ ori and Pacific Peoples ethnicities. Residential location matters. Greater ethnic diversity is associated with the perception of a less safe neighbourhood, but individuals in ethnically diverse regions experience relatively less discrimination. Additionally, there is more involvement in elections in such regions. In contrast, greater ethnic polarisation in regions is associated with less civic engagement and more discrimination. |
| Keywords: | social capital, ethnic diversity, bonding, bridging, linking, immigrant integration, spatial sorting |
| JEL: | F22 R11 Z13 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:2412 |
| By: | Wright, Jacob (University of Minnesota); Zheng, Angela (McMaster University) |
| Abstract: | Across all education levels, policymakers are using the re-sorting of students to diversify the socioeconomic composition of student bodies. We study how these integration policies interact, using a heterogeneous agent overlapping generations model featuring multiple periods of human capital development. Households sort into public schools through housing location, and into college via a competitive admissions process. Quality of schools and colleges are endogenous through peer effects. At the public school level, we simulate an integration policy that randomly shifts students across schools. For college, we consider an income-based affirmative action policy. Public school integration weakens the link between residential location and school quality, increasing intergenerational mobility by 2.5%. On the other hand, the college policy decreases intergenerational mobility by 0.7%: when the high-quality college reserves seats for low-income students, it makes college more competitive, which increases sorting at the public school level. In fact, an integration policy that combines public school re-sorting and college affirmative action leads to minimal changes in upwards mobility. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational mobility, sorting, integration |
| JEL: | I2 R23 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17301 |
| By: | Sumit Agarwal; Shashwat Alok; Sergio Correia; Deepa Mani; Bernardo Morais |
| Abstract: | We analyze the staggered entry of rideshare services across U.S. metropolitan areas, estimating its effect on the spatial redistribution and real outcomes of residents. Ridesharing services gentrify urban areas-especially those with ex-ante lower housing values-causing housing prices to rise 9 percent, with the in-migration of rich-younger individuals more than offsetting the out-migration of incumbent residents and reduced in-migration of poorer individuals. Impact on incumbent residents is conditional on ex-ante homeownership. For homeowners, there is no displacement and a decline in delinquency rates. For non-homeowners, displacement and delinquency rates rise 11 percent and 42 percent, respectively. Our study emphasizes how the private provision of high-end transportation technologies can increase urbanization and exacerbate inequality. |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2409.15462 |
| By: | B. Ajay Krishna (Ph.D. Scholar, Madras School of Economics, Chennai); K.S. Kavi Kumar ((Corresponding Author) Director, Professor, Madras School of Economics, Gandhi Mandapam Road, Chennai) |
| Abstract: | The sustainability of urban transportation has emerged as a significant area of research, particularly in urban centres of developing countries due to its notable economic, social, and environmental implications. This paper presents an indicator-based approach to evaluate the sustainability of urban road transit systems in Indian metropolitan cities. A set of 24 indicators is identified and analysed across five metropolitan cities under the sustainability framework, and an index – Sustainable Urban Road Transport Index (SURTI) – is constructed to rank these cities. Further, to allow for comparisons across both space and time, SURTI is constructed for 2010 and 2020 to analyse the decadal variations in relative performance of the metropolitan cities. The study also attempts to illustrate how alternative approaches in Index calculation could influence relative ranking-based outcomes. The study's findings indicate that Mumbai and Kolkata appear to consistently perform better across time and location. Meanwhile, Bangalore has improved substantially during the last decade, whereas Chennai's poor performance has resulted in a rapid decrease in SURTI scores and rankings. The study highlights key transport metrics where cities can potentially improve. The study's findings could prove relevant to policymakers and mobility planners in their attempts to build a sustainable road transport system and address inefficiencies in the key performance areas highlighted in this study |
| Keywords: | Composite index; Principal component analysis; Sustainability indicators; Transport indicators; Urban road transport. |
| JEL: | C38 C43 Q01 R40 R49 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mad:wpaper:2024-261 |
| By: | Matias Busso; Sebastián Montaño; Juan S. Muñoz-Morales; Nolan G. Pope |
| Abstract: | Teacher quality is a key factor in improving student academic achievement. As such, educational policymakers strive to design systems to hire the most effective teachers. This paper examines the effects of a national policy reform in Colombia that established a merit-based teacher-hiring system intended to enhance teacher quality and improve student learning. Implemented in 2005 for all public schools, the policy ties teacher-hiring decisions to candidates’ performance on an exam evaluating subject-specific knowledge and teaching aptitude. The implementation of the policy led to many experienced contract teachers being replaced by high exam-performing novice teachers. We find that though the policy sharply increased pre-college test scores of teachers, it also decreased the overall stock of teacher experience and led to sharp decreases in students’ exam performance and educational attainment. Using a difference-in-differences strategy to compare the outcomes of students from public and private schools over two decades, we show that the hiring reform decreased students’ performance on high school exit exams by 8 percent of a standard deviation, and reduced the likelihood that students enroll in and graduate from college by more than 10 percent. The results underscore that relying exclusively on specific ex ante measures of teacher quality to screen candidates, particularly at the expense of teacher experience, may unintentionally reduce students’ learning gains. |
| JEL: | I25 I28 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33008 |
| By: | Pinghui Wu |
| Abstract: | Changes in remote/hybrid workplace options and housing market conditions in New England and throughout the United States since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic have significantly affected people’s ability and willingness to relocate within a state, from one state to another, or from one region of the country to a different region. Businesses’ adoption of remote and hybrid work has weakened the traditional link between residence and workplace, affecting individuals’ choice of where to live. At the same time, persistently rapid growth in rent and house prices, along with fluctuations in mortgage rates, has made a substantial impact on the costs associated with relocating. These changes could have a profound effect in New England, which, over the past few decades, has experienced chronic housing shortages and has seen more US residents move out of the region than into it. |
| Keywords: | New England; geographic mobility; COVID-19 |
| Date: | 2024–09–23 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedbrb:98811 |
| By: | Li, Meiqing; Rodríguez, Daniel A. PhD; Pike, Susie PhD; McNally, Michael PhD |
| Abstract: | The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on public transit ridership in the United States, especially for rail transit. Land use, development density, and the pedestrian environment are strongly associated with station-level transit ridership. This study examines how these characteristics affect transit ridership pre- and post-COVID and how they differ across station types based on longitudinal data for 242 rail stations belonging to Bay Area Rapid Transit, San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, Sacramento Regional Transit, and LA Metro between 2019 and 2021. We found overall a 72% decrease in station-level ridership, but changes were not uniform. Station areas with a higher number of low-income workers and more retail or entertainment jobs tend to have lower ridership declines, while areas with a large number of high-income workers, high-wage jobs, and higher job accessibility by transit had more ridership losses. When comparing station area ridership and activity changes based on mobile phone user data, ridership declined more drastically than activity across all four rail systems, which implies that rail transit riders switched to other modes of transportation when accessing the station areas. Given these findings, it is likely that rail transit services oriented toward commute travel, especially core station areas with jobs for higher income workers, will continue to have an uneven recovery, posing critical implications for transit resilience planning and equity in the post-pandemic era. Considering sources of funding other than passenger fares to sustain rail transit, strategizing to reinvent and reinforce downtowns as destinations, and shifting rail transit services to appeal to non-commute travel can be promising strategies to support rail transit. |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences, Rail transit, ridership, rail transit stations, travel behavior, mode choice, demographics, financing |
| Date: | 2024–09–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsrrp:qt07b5s42c |
| By: | Sanduku Mulumba; Lawrence Edwards; David Fadiran |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we use the new economic geography (NEG) framework to estimate the extent to which spatial wage disparities in the South African manufacturing sector are an outcome of economic forces such as market access. To test the relationship, we use the anonymized tax data on employers and employees made available by the South African Revenue Service and National Treasury in collaboration with UNU-WIDER. We first document the key stylized facts that characterize the spatial distribution of wages across regions in South Africa using exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) techniques. |
| Keywords: | Wage differentials, Spatial econometrics, Regional economics, Income distribution, Manufacturing industries, Wages, Spatial inequality, Manufacturing firms, Estimation theory |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2024-52 |
| By: | Crowe, Adam; Rowley, Steven |
| Abstract: | Lower-income households make trade-offs to afford their housing costs but most of these are not accounted for in the housing affordability measurements used by policy makers, according to new AHURI research. As a result, housing can appear affordable even though it is of such poor quality it affects people’s health, it is too expensive to heat or cool or it is located far from employment opportunities so that householders have very high commuting costs. The research reviewed government policies and practices and investigated Australian case studies to better understand the quality, energy, and locational and transportation dimensions of housing affordability. The findings point to the need for a universally applied definition of safe and healthy housing standards across Australia and the need for policy makers to measure households’ required energy expenditure, rather than their actual energy expenditure. The research case studies also reveal the relationship between housing affordability and locational advantage or disadvantage, that is being close to, or far from, employment, education, health facilities and cultural amenities. The research stresses that integrating housing, planning, transport and employment policies is critical to mitigating the risks of housing affordability stress and displacement for lower income householders, while offering increased accessibility to key resources and services. There is a need for programs to encourage private landlords to provide well-located, good quality, affordable rental housing. Furthermore, for low-to-moderate-income householders living in locationally disadvantaged areas, expanding transport assistance schemes can help to reduce transport costs and improve residents’ connection to job-rich areas. |
| Date: | 2024–09–18 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:hg4c3 |
| By: | Hugo Spring-Ragain (HEIP) |
| Abstract: | This article examines the economic effects of an increase in the duration of home loans on households, focusing on the French real estate market. It highlights trends in the property market, existing loan systems in other countries (such as bullet loans in Sweden and Japanese home loans), the current state of the property market in France, the potential effects of an increase in the amortization period of home loans, and the financial implications for households.The article points out that increasing the repayment period on home loans could reduce the amount of monthly instalments to be repaid, thereby facilitating access to credit for the most modest households. However, this measure also raises concerns about overall credit costs, financial stability and the impact on property prices. In addition, it highlights the differences between existing lending systems in other countries, such as the bullet loan in Sweden and Japanese home loans, and the current characteristics of home loans in France, notably interest rates and house price trends. The article proposes a model of the potential effects of an increase in the amortization period of home loans on housing demand, housing supply, property prices and the associated financial risks.In conclusion, the article highlights the crucial importance of household debt for individual and economic financial stability. It highlights the distortion between supply and demand for home loans as amortization periods increase, and the significant rise in overall loan costs for households. It also underlines the need to address structural issues such as the sustainable reduction in interest rates, the stabilization of banks' equity capital and the development of a regulatory framework for intergenerational lending to ensure a properly functioning market. |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2409.14748 |
| By: | Brett McCully (Collegio Carlo Alberto); Torsten Jaccard (Vancouver School of Economics); Christoph Albert (Collegio Carlo Alberto) |
| Abstract: | Do immigrants make goods from their origin country more accessible to their non-immigrant neighbors? We augment U.S. grocery scanner data to include the origin country of both households and products, thereby enabling the first direct estimate of how local immigrant presence affects import penetration. Using a quantitative model of trade, we show that immigrants increase the grocery import expenditure share by 8%. Three quarters of this effect is attributable to immigrants’ own disproportionate preferences for imported goods. Immigrants therefore raise import expenditures primarily through their own consumption, with muted benefits for their non-immigrant neighbors. The benefits that do accrue to natives are concentrated within high-income and urban households. |
| Keywords: | Import demand, immigrant preferences, household heterogeneity, spillovereffects |
| JEL: | F22 J31 J61 R11 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:2417 |
| By: | Ron Boschma; Rune Fitjar; Elisa Giuliani; Simona Iammarino; |
| Abstract: | Notwithstanding the wide consensus around the undeniable positive effects of innovation, there is increasing awareness that innovations may also have their dark sides. These dark sides of innovations have received little attention in regional studies. This editorial to a special issue on The Dark Side of Innovation and its Geography argues there are clear geographical footprints to this, which are related to both the inputs and the outcomes of innovation processes. In particular, we discuss how innovation activities have geographically uneven outcomes, driving spatial inequality, and how they require material inputs located in certain places, meaning that their costs are also unevenly distributed across space. |
| Keywords: | dark side of innovation, harmful innovations, critical and conflict materials, regional inequality, geography of innovation |
| JEL: | O25 O30 O31 O33 Q34 Q55 R11 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2428 |
| By: | Kasper Kragh Balke; Markus Karlman; Karin Kinnerud |
| Abstract: | This paper considers optimal taxation of housing capital. To this end, we employ a life-cycle model calibrated to the U.S. economy, where asset holdings and labor productivity vary across households, and tax reforms lead to changes in house and rental prices, wages, and interest rates. We find that the optimal property tax in the long run is considerably higher than today. A higher property tax leads to a reallocation from housing to business capital, which in turn increases wages and reduces interest rates. These equilibrium effects allow for an improved consumption smoothing over the life cycle, due to progressive earnings taxes and lower borrowing costs. However, most current households would incur substantial welfare losses from an implementation of a higher property tax, since house prices fall, and a majority own their home. Hence, when accounting for transitional dynamics, it is not clear that a higher property tax is feasible or preferred. |
| Keywords: | Housing, Property tax, Life cycle, general equilibrium |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bbq:wpaper:0010 |
| By: | Miquel-Angel Garcia Lopez; Luz Yadira Gomez-Hernandez; Rosa Sanchis-Guarner |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a theoretical framework to study the relationship between expanded road capacity, traffic volumes and increased economic activity. We build on Anas (2024) to show that increased volumes do not necessarily lead to congestion if adjustments in economic factors, such as population or employment, are not substantial. We test our predictions obtaining key estimates with data from Great Britain between 2001 and 2020 and adopting a shift-share instrumental variable approach. We find that the elasticity of vehicle kilometres travelled to road capacity improvements is positive and statistically different from 1 across different specifications, while the elasticity of population and employment is positive but smaller than 1. In our framework this implies that the cost of driving does not increase above initial levels, resulting in higher consumer surplus through changes in travel demand and time savings. |
| Keywords: | transportation, road capacity, aggregate travel cost, economic activity |
| Date: | 2024–09–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp2034 |
| By: | Claes Bäckman; Patrick Moran; Peter van Santen |
| Abstract: | How does the design of debt repayment schedules affect household borrowing? To answer this question, we exploit a Swedish policy reform that eliminated interest-only mortgages for loan-to-value ratios above 50%. We document substantial bunching at the threshold, leading to 5% less borrowing. Wealthy borrowers drive the results, challenging credit constraints as the primary explanation. We develop a model to evaluate the mechanisms driving household behavior and find that much of the effect comes from households experiencing ongoing flow disutility to amortization payments. Our results indicate that new mortgage contracts with low initial payments substantially increase household borrowing and lifetime interest costs. |
| Keywords: | Mortgage design; Amortization payments; Macroprudential policy; Bunching |
| JEL: | G51 G21 E21 E60 |
| Date: | 2024–09–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2024-77 |
| By: | Priyaranjan Jha; David Neumark; Antonio Rodriguez-Lopez |
| Abstract: | Dube, Lester, and Reich (2010) argue that state-level minimum wage variation correlated with economic shocks generates spurious evidence that higher minimum wages reduce employment. Using minimum wage variation within contiguous county pairs sharing a state border, they find no relationship between minimum wages and employment in the U.S. restaurant industry. Using the same research design, we show that this result is overturned if we use instead multi-state commuting zones, which provide superior definitions of local economic areas. These contrasting results are explained by a positive bias in the county-pair specification when using pairs formed by counties from different commuting zones. |
| JEL: | J23 J38 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32901 |
| By: | Bhattacharjee, Arnab; Ditzen, Jan; Holly, Sean |
| Abstract: | The literature on panel models has made considerable progress in the last few decades, integrating non-stationary data both in the time and spatial domain. However, there remains a gap in the literature that simultaneously models non-stationarity and cointegration in both the time and spatial dimensions. This paper develops Granger representation theorems for spatial and spatio-temporal dynamics. In a panel setting, this provides a way to represent both spatial and temporal equilibria and dynamics as error correction models. This requires potentially two different processes for modelling spatial (or network) dynamics, both of which can be expressed in terms of spatial weights matrices. The first captures strong cross-sectional dependence, so that a spatial difference, suitably defined, is weakly cross-section dependent (granular) but can be nonstationary. The second is a conventional weights matrix that captures short-run spatio-temporal dynamics as stationary and granular processes. In large samples, cross-section averages serve the first purpose and we propose the mean group, common correlated effects estimator together with multiple testing of cross-correlations to provide the short-run spatial weights. We apply this model to house prices in the 375 MSAs of the US. We show that our approach is useful for capturing both weak and strong cross-section dependence, and partial adjustment to two long-run equilibrium relationships in terms of time and space. |
| Keywords: | Spatio-temporal dynamics, Error Correction Models, Weak and strong cross sectional dependence, US house prices, Spatial weight matrices, Common Correlated Effects estimator |
| JEL: | C21 C22 C23 R3 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hwuaef:303043 |
| By: | Dunn, Richard A. |
| Abstract: | The economies of rural America continue to lag those in metropolitan areas with many experiencing significant hardship, but there is increasing agreement among researchers and policymakers that existing place typologies are inadequate for addressing urban-rural disparities. Because these typologies emphasize the urban end of the rural-urban continuum with rural treated as the undifferentiated residual category, the complex interaction of economic, demographic, and social factors that define rural places are ignored. To address this challenge, we have developed a data-driven approach to identify connections between places based on the spatial distribution of potential supply chain linkages to generate a new typology–Economic Catchment Areas (ECAs) thereby illuminating place-to-place connections obscured in existing place hierarchies. To do so, we construct county-to-county potential trade flows in intermediate inputs as the solution to a transportation distance loss function. Counties that would serve as the most important user of inputs for at least one other county are classified as destinations of an ECA, while all the counties for which the destination would be the largest user of their inputs are the sources of the ECA. For rural source counties, we then estimate the relationship between business, economic, demographic, and health outcomes in ECA destination counties and outcomes in their associated source counties. We find that these are positively related, highlighting the potential usefulness of the ECA framework for studying heterogeneity in economic and demographic outcomes among rural U.S. counties. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Supply Chain |
| Date: | 2024–07–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea22:345100 |
| By: | BATISTA E SILVA Filipe (European Commission - JRC); DIJKSTRA Lewis (European Commission - JRC); AUTERI Davide (European Commission - JRC); CURTALE Riccardo (European Commission - JRC); DORATI Chiara (European Commission - JRC); HORMIGOS FELIU Clara (European Commission - JRC); JACOBS-CRISIONI Chris; KOMPIL Mert; PERPIÑA CASTILLO Carolina; PIGAIANI Cristian (European Commission - JRC); RIBEIRO BARRANCO Ricardo; SCHIAVONE Matteo; SULIS Patrizia (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | This report assembles a series of separate scientific contributions to the European Commission’s Ninth Report on Economic, Social and Territorial Cohesion. The report includes seven short research papers providing background and insight under three broad topics with relevance to European regional and urban policy: Urbanisation and regional economic trends; Transport and digital accessibility; and Sectoral analyses (renewable energy and tourism). Each short paper documents a novel research or analysis based on the most recent data available, thus providing up-to-date and timely evidence on issues with a strong territorial dimension. Although covering a very diverse range of topics, the contributions articulate interrelated challenges and opportunities to promote territorial cohesion in Europe. These are related to, for example, the increasing urbanisation and implications for transport and mobility, population decline in rural areas, regional economic convergence/divergence trends, the improving access to broadband in the EU, the potential role of rural areas for the green transition and tourism as a heterogeneous but overall resilient industry contributing to many EU regional economies. An efficient Cohesion Policy should envisage targeted, place-based investments that consider these and other challenges and opportunities. |
| Date: | 2024–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc138304 |
| By: | Peter Arcidiacono; Karthik Muralidharan; John D. Singleton |
| Abstract: | We leverage a unique two-stage experiment that randomized access to private school vouchers across markets as well as students to estimate the revealed preference value of school choice. To do this, we estimate several choice models on data only from control markets before turning to the treatment data for model validation. This exercise reveals that a model where school choice is constrained by ability-to-pay achieves better out-of-sample fit but still underpredicts experimental take-up of the voucher offer. We then present evidence from treatment markets that: a) the voucher offer also induced search; and b) private schools used program surplus to incentivize enrollment. Further, we show that a unified model incorporating these features can explain both the control and treatment data patterns. Estimates from that model imply that a targeted voucher program would have a marginal value of public funds (MVPF) of at least 3. |
| JEL: | H4 I20 O12 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32968 |
| By: | Kontonikas, Alexandros; Pyrgiotakis, Emmanouil |
| Abstract: | We study the Greek residential property market during the recovery period using data from the Property Transfer Value Registry. We examine 132, 189 transactions from 2017 to 2024 and find a significant increase in both the number and value of transactions. Markedly, this increase is more profound among older properties and flats. The findings indicate potential overheating in the residential property market, as we move away from an era of relative undervaluation and head toward higher levels of transactions and prices. However, there is significant geographical heterogeneity both across the country and within the Athens area. The econometric analysis reveals a significant relationship between the market value and the objective value of properties. Finally, we find that the “My Home” government program is not associated with an increase in transaction values for homes that meet its criteria. |
| Keywords: | Greek residential property market, Property Transfer Value Registry, “My home” program, hedonic model |
| Date: | 2024–10–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esy:uefcwp:39310 |
| By: | Hiroyuki Matsuyama (Graduate School of Economics, The University of Tokyo); Chigusa Okamoto (Faculty of Economics, huo University); Yasuhiro Sato (Faculty of Economcis, The University of Tokyo) |
| Abstract: | We develop a model of social integration of immigrants in which both native individuals and immigrants decide whether to accept each other’s culture and norms. While cultural acceptance leads to greater returns due to agglomeration economies, it also requires higher communication costs. We show conditions under which higher social integration of immigrants occurs in large cities and characterize the efficiency of equilibrium. Our findings are supported by data from the European Social Survey. |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tky:fseres:2024cf1236 |
| By: | Tom Gillespie  ( Galway UniversityÂ); Janez Kren ( Economic and Social Research Institute); Ronan C. Lyons ( Department of Economics and Centre for Economics, Policy & History, Trinity College Dublin); Conor O’Toole ( Economic and Social Research Institute) |
| Abstract: |  We use the introduction of rent stabilisation measures in Ireland after 2016, and their tightening in 2021, to understand the impact of these policies on rental supply. We use a district-level quarterly panel 2010-2023 to estimate whether there were market exits by landlords, in particular an increase in sale listings and a decrease in rental activity, after rent controls were applied. Rental activity is measured using both online listings and official tenancy registrations, with further data on room rentals. We use both two-way fixed effects and, given the nature of treatment, staggered treatment estimators. We also control for housing market and wider economic conditions and restrict our sample to minimize the impact of unobserved variables. Across all specifications, we find evidence of market exit, especially after rent controls were tightened: rent controls are associated with more sale listings and fewer rental listings/registrations. The negative impact of rent controls of room rental listings is, likewise, consistent with market exit rather than simply reduced mobility. |
| Keywords: | Â rent control; landlord attrition; Ireland |
| JEL: | D22 R31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcd:tcduee:tep0624 |
| By: | Barrios-Fernandez, Andres (Universidad de los Andes); Neilson, Christopher A. (Princeton University); Zimmerman, Seth D. (Yale School of Management) |
| Abstract: | Do elite colleges help talented students join the social elite, or help incumbent elites retain their positions? We combine intergenerationally-linked data from Chile with a regression discontinuity design to show that, looking across generations, elite colleges do both. Lower-status individuals who gain admission to elite college programs transform their children's social environment. Children become more likely to attend high-status private schools and colleges, and to live near and befriend high-status peers. In contrast, academic achievement is unaffected. Simulations combining descriptive and quasi-experimental findings show that elite colleges tighten the link between social and human capital while decreasing intergenerational social mobility. |
| Keywords: | elite universities, intergenerational mobility, human capital, social capital |
| JEL: | I24 D64 J62 |
| Date: | 2024–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17252 |
| By: | Miriam Gensowski (Rockwool Foundation Research Unit); Miriam Gensowski (Rockwool Foundation Research Unit); Philip Dale (University of New Mexico, Albuquerque); Anders Hojen (Aarhus University); Laura Justice (Ohio State University); Dorthe Bleses (Aarhus University) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the interaction between parental and public inputs in children’s skill formation. We perform a longer-run follow-up study of a randomized controlled trial that increased preschool quality and initially improved skills significantly for children of all backgrounds. There is, however, complete fade-out for children with highly educated parents. Given positive long-run effects for children with low-educated parents, the treatment reduces child skill gaps across parents’ education by 46%. We show that the heterogeneous treatment effects are a result of differences in parents’ responses in terms of investments, reacting to school quality later in childhood. There is also evidence of cross-productivity between reading and math skills and socio-emotional development. |
| Keywords: | skill formation, parental time investments, public investments, school quality |
| JEL: | I24 I28 I21 J24 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:2411 |
| By: | Dang, Hai-Anh H.; Trinh, Trong-Anh; Verme, Paolo |
| Abstract: | Hardly any evidence exists on the effects of mental distress on refugee labor outcomes. We offer the first study on this topic in the context of Australia, one of the host countries with the largest number of refugees per capita in the world. Analyzing the Building a New Life in Australia longitudinal survey, we exploit the variations in traumatic experiences of refugees interacted with post-resettlement time periods to causally identify the impacts of refugee mental health. We find that worse mental health, as measured by a one-standard-deviation increase in the Kessler mental health score, reduces the probability of employment by 11.9% and labor income by 22.8%. These effects appear more pronounced for refugees that newly arrive or are without social networks, but they may be ameliorated with government support. These findings have significant implications for the development of health and labor policies, particularly regarding the integration of refugees within host countries. |
| Keywords: | refugees; mental health; labor outcomes; instrumental variable; BNLA longitudinal survey; Australia |
| JEL: | J61 O15 J15 J21 |
| Date: | 2023–12–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:120053 |
| By: | Ramadoss, Trisha; Davis, Adam; Tal, Gil |
| Abstract: | The path to transportation decarbonization will rely heavily on electric vehicles (EVs) in the United States. EV diffusion forecasting tools are necessary to predict the impacts of EVs on local energy demand and environmental quality. Few EV adoption models operate at a fine spatial scale and those that do still rely on aggregated demographic information. This adoption model is one of the first attempts to employ a synthetic population to examine EV distribution at a fine spatial and demographic scale. Using a synthetic population at the Census-Tract-level, enriched with household fleet body types and home-charging access, the researchers consider the effect of vehicle body type on EV spatial distribution and home-charging access in California. The project examines two EV body type mixes in a high electrification scenario where 8 million EVs are distributed across 6 million households in California: a “Small Vehicles” scenario where 6 million EVs are passenger cars and 2 million EVs are trucks, sport utility vehicles (SUVs), or vans and a “Large Vehicles” scenario with 4 million of each category. The authors find that an electrification scenario with more electric trucks and SUVs serves to distribute electrified households more evenly throughout the state, shifting them from urban to rural counties, while there is little impact on home-charging access. View the NCST Project Webpage |
| Keywords: | Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Electric vehicles, synthetic population, EV adoption, electric vehicle market |
| Date: | 2024–08–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsdav:qt2b05w8pk |
| By: | Drydakis, Nick |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the relationship between social vulnerability, illegal activities, and location-based business disruptions in Athens, the capital of Greece. The research utilises repeated cross-sectional data from 2008, 2014, and 2023, gathered from areas with high levels of criminal activity, reflecting the experiences of business owners and managers in these locations. The findings reveal that heightened levels of social vulnerability-including the presence of illicit drug users and homeless individuals-alongside illegal activities such as gang-related protection rackets and black-market operations, are associated with increased location-based business disruptions. These disruptions manifest in assaults on employees and customers, business burglaries, reputational damage, supply chain problems, and decreased turnover. The study also examines the impact of economic conditions in 2014 and 2023, when Greece's Gross Domestic Product was lower than in 2008, indicating an economic recession. The findings suggest that the economic downturn during these years further exacerbated location-based business disruptions. Conversely, enhanced public safety measures, such as increased police presence, law enforcement, and improved public infrastructure, were associated with a reduction in these disruptions. Furthermore, an interesting insight was that businesses with longer operating histories tend to experience fewer location-based disruptions, indicating that operating history might be perceived as a resilience factor. The study suggests that policy actions should focus on increasing police visibility, providing financial support to high-risk businesses, funding urban regeneration projects, maintaining public infrastructure, and delivering social services aimed at helping marginalised communities escape vulnerability. |
| Keywords: | Social Vulnerability, Illegal Activities, Crime, Criminality, Business, Entrepreneurship, Business Disruptions, Economic Recessions, Public Safety |
| JEL: | K4 K42 L26 I3 E32 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1495 |
| By: | Ella Getz Wold; Knut Are Aastveit; Eirik Eylands Brandsaas; Ragnar Enger Juelsrud; Gisle James Natvik |
| Abstract: | We use Norwegian micro data and a life-cycle model with housing to study how wealth transmits across generations through the housing market. A mediation analysis reveals large housing gaps based on parental wealth. A shift-share IV-analysis using stock market returns supports a causal interpretation. Using the timing of intra-family deaths, we further show that housing outcomes when young are important determinants of later-in-life wealth. Nearly 15% of intergenerational wealth persistence occurs through the housing market, making housing equally important as the combined impact of parental wealth via a broad range of offspring characteristics, including income and education. |
| Keywords: | Housing market, intergenerational wealth, wealth inequality |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bbq:wpaper:0013 |
| By: | Cygan-Rehm, Kamila (Dresden University of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This study estimates the lifetime effects of lost classroom instruction on labor market performance. For identification, I use historical shifts in the school year schedule in Germany, which substantially shortened the duration of the affected school years without adjusting the core curriculum. The loss of classroom instruction was mainly compensated for by assigning additional homework. Applying a difference-in-differences design to social security records, I find adverse effects of the policy on earnings and employment over almost the entire occupational career. Plausible mechanisms behind the deteriorated labor market outcomes include unfavorable effects on human capital and a differential occupational sorting. |
| Keywords: | instructional time, education, earnings, skills, Germany |
| JEL: | I21 I26 J24 J17 |
| Date: | 2024–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17253 |
| By: | Filimonovic, Dragan; Macher, Jeffrey T.; Rutzer, Christian; Weder, Rolf |
| Abstract: | We examine whether 'pioneer' regions - early leaders in generating new ideas in emerging scientific fields - develop and maintain an innovation advantage in the same fields over time. Our analysis covers 24 disruptive technologies (e.g. AI, cloud computing) in thousands of OECD regions over 20 years. The results show that pioneer regions gain a significant and growing innovation advantage over non-pioneer regions. This advantage is most pronounced in "super-cluster" regions, which are leaders in both science and related innovation. These findings highlight the importance of early scientific leadership for sustained regional innovation and suggest important policy implications. |
| Keywords: | Science, Innovation, Regional Advantage, Emerging Technology |
| JEL: | O30 O33 R11 |
| Date: | 2024–10–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bsl:wpaper:2024/11 |
| By: | Christopher F. Baum (Boston College); Hans Lööf (Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm); Andreas Stephan (Linneaus University); Klaus F. Zimmermann (UNU-Merit Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | In this case study, we examine the wage earnings of fully-employed previous refugee immigrants in Sweden. Using administrative employer-employee data from 1990 onwards, about 100, 000 refugee immigrants who arrived between 1980 and 1996 and were granted asylum are compared to a matched sample of native- born workers using coarsened exact matching. Employing recentered influence function (RIF) quantile regressions to wage earnings for the period 2011–2015, the occupational-task-based Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition approach shows that refugees perform better than natives at the median wage, controlling for individual and firm characteristics. The RIF-quantile approach provides better insights for the analysis of these wage differentials than the standard regression model employed in earlier versions of the study. |
| Date: | 2024–09–16 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boc:lsug24:06 |
| By: | Marc Claveria-Mayol; Pau Milán; Nicolás Oviedo Dávila |
| Abstract: | We study the problem of a principal designing wage contracts that simultaneously incentivize and insure workers. Workers’ incentives are connected through chains of productivity spillovers, represented by a network of peer-effects. We solve for the optimal linear contract for any network and show that optimal incentives are steeper for more central workers. We link firm profits to organizations’ structure via the spectral properties of the co-worker network. When production is modular, the incentive allocation rule is sensitive to the link structure across and within modules. When firms can’t write personalized con- tracts, better connected workers extract rents and total surplus is reduced. In this case, unemployment emerges endogenously because large within-group differences in centrality can decrease firm’s profits. |
| Keywords: | Incentives, Organizations, contracts, Networks, moral hazard |
| JEL: | D21 D23 D85 D86 L14 L22 |
| Date: | 2024–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1457 |
| By: | Ilie, S., Maragkou, K.; Maragkou, K. |
| Abstract: | The global education system experienced unprecedented disruption during the Covid- 19 pandemic. This paper investigates the impact of the exam cancellation in England, and the subsequent shift to teacher-assigned grades, on university application outcomes submitted prior to the outbreak. Using a newly linked administrative dataset covering four cohorts of university applicants, with both teacher-assigned and exam-based grades across multiple A-level subjects, we identify significant grade inflation relative to anticipated exam results. Our findings indicate that students from schools with higher levels of grade inflation were more likely to gain admission to first-choice or selective universities, and had a lower likelihood of remaining unplaced. Notably, private school students disproportionately benefited from higher levels of grade inflation. However, within state schools, disadvantaged students also experienced some of the largest relative gains. These results raise important questions about the long-term consequences of the pandemic-induced modification in assessment for educational equity and social mobility. |
| Keywords: | Subjective assessments, university admissions, Covid-19 pandemic, grade inflation |
| JEL: | I23 I24 I28 |
| Date: | 2024–10–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:2458 |
| By: | Megan Borole (Firdale Consulting); Maxine Schaefer (Click Learning); Heleen Hofmeyr (Department of Economics, Stellenbosch University); Bruce McDougall (Firdale Consulting) |
| Abstract: | We explore the relationship between literacy and the time learners spend using individualised educational technology for South African primary school learners in 2019 and 2022. Cross-sectional analysis of the data shows that learners' target annual time (18 hours) is associated with a 0.14 standard deviation increase in Grade 3 literacy scores in 2019 and a 0.42 standard deviation increase in 2022. Similar effect sizes were found for other grades. These effect sizes are large for education interventions. The programme is relatively cost-effective and has demonstrated scalability. Our results are important in the context of South Africa's literacy crisis and the paucity of educational technology evaluations. |
| Keywords: | Literacy; educational technology; early grade reading; South Africa |
| JEL: | I20 I21 I24 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers385 |
| By: | Kasper Kragh Balke; Markus Karlman; Karin Kinnerud |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how down-payment requirements for house purchases affect households’ saving and housing decisions, and the implications for macroeconomic policy. Using a quantitative model, we find that households not only postpone homeownership when the down-payment constraint is higher, but they also delay when they start saving for the house. We show analytically that this result holds under standard assumptions for households’ earnings and preferences. The changes to saving and portfolio choices affect the distribution of liquidity-constrained households, which in turn impacts aggregate responses to policy. Specifically, the cash-flow channel of monetary policy is reduced, and it becomes increasingly important to direct fiscal transfers at low-income households to achieve the largest consumption response. We also find that a stricter down-payment requirement is associated with substantial welfare costs, especially for high-income households |
| Keywords: | down-payment requirement, heterogeneous households, housing, life cycle, loan-to-value constraint, marginal propensity to consume |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bbq:wpaper:0011 |
| By: | Parker, Susan |
| Abstract: | Mexico’s pioneering conditional cash transfer program—originally Progresa, later renamed Prospera—operated over two decades in a shifting educational landscape. We exploit the program’s sudden and unexpected rollback to estimate whether, two decades after rollout studies documented its initial impacts on schooling and labor, the program was still effective at raising enrollment and reducing work in children and youth. Comparing areas with high and low program penetration before and after rollback, we find that rollback immediately reduced school enrollment, especially at high school ages and especially in boys. Effects on enrollment were as large at rollback as they were at rollout, albeit shifted from middle-school ages to high school ages. Rising work mirrored falling enrollment in boys of high school age. Our results suggest the program successfully adapted to the rise of high school, but Mexico’s poor were unable to protect their children from the its unexpected rollback. |
| Date: | 2024–09–19 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:h9qmc |
| By: | James Bessen; Iain Cockburn; Jennifer Hunt |
| Abstract: | Using our own data on artificial intelligence publications merged with Burning Glass vacancy data for 2007-2019, we investigate whether online vacancies for jobs requiring AI skills grow more slowly in US locations farther from pre-2007 AI innovation hotspots. We find that a commuting zone which is an additional 200km (125 miles) from the closest AI hotspot has 17% lower growth in AI jobs' share of vacancies. This is driven by distance from AI papers rather than AI patents. Distance reduces growth in AI research jobs as well as in jobs adapting AI to new industries, as evidenced by strong effects for computer and mathematical researchers, developers of software applications, and the finance and insurance industry. 20% of the effect is explained by the presence of state borders between some commuting zones and their closest hotspot. This could reflect state borders impeding migration and thus flows of tacit knowledge. Distance does not capture difficulty of in-person or remote collaboration nor knowledge and personnel flows within multi-establishment firms hiring in computer occupations. |
| Keywords: | Technological change, Economic geography, Growth |
| Date: | 2024–10–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp2038 |
| By: | Merli, M. Giovanna |
| Abstract: | We describe the heterogeneity of the Chinese immigrant population in France and investigate how immigrants’ diverse patterns of social integration predict perceptions of racism, using survey data and in-depth interviews collected during the COVID-19 outbreak, a period during which anti-Chinese and anti-Asian xenophobia and racism were activated. Our unique data, collected for the Chinese Immigrants in the Paris Region (ChIPRe) Study, enable a classification of Chinese immigrants at the intersection of their migration histories, socio-demographic profiles, broad social integration indicators, and attributes of their social ties that characterize distinct patterns of social interaction with co-ethnics and with the wider French society. Our classification highlights three distinct groups: an established ethnic enclave of Wenzhou Chinese, an immigrant underclass whose members arrived in France after the dismantling of China’s centrally planned economy, and successive cohorts of international students, many of whom have gained professional employment in France or intend to stay in France after graduation from institutions of higher education. These distinct immigrant profiles predict different frequencies of subjective experiences of racism that are not attributable to the conventional predictors of racism perceptions alone and add nuance to the discrepancy between conventional social integration indicators and discrimination and racism found among the main immigrant groups and their children in many European countries. |
| Date: | 2024–09–18 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:24zqd |
| By: | Rhys Murrian; Paul A. Raschky; Klaus Ackermann |
| Abstract: | This paper empirically investigates how an individual's network influences their purchase and subsequent use of experience goods. Utilising data on the network and game-ownership of over 108 million users from the world's largest video game platform, we analyse whether a user's friendship network influences their decision to purchase single-player video games. Our identification strategy uses an instrumental variable (IV) approach that employs the temporal lag of purchasing decisions from second degree friends. We find strong peer effects in the individual game adoption in the contemporary week. The effect is stronger if the friend who purchased the game is an old friend compared to a key player in the friendship network. Comparing the results to adoption decisions for a major label game, we find peer effects of a similar size and duration. However, the time subsequently spent playing the games is higher for players who were neither influenced by a peer who is a key player nor an old friend. Considering the increasing importance of online networks on consumption decisions, our findings offer some first insights on the heterogeneity of peer effects between old and key player friends and also provide evidence in consumers' biases in social learning. |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2409.14351 |
| By: | Michael Clemens (George Mason University) |
| Abstract: | Legal and illegal markets often coexist. In theory, marginal legalization can either substitute for the remaining parallel market, or complement it via scale effects. I study migrants crossing without prior authorization at the US southwest border, where large-scale unlawful crossing coexists with substantial, varying, and policy-constrained lawful crossing. I test whether lawful and unlawful crossing are gross substitutes or complements, using lag-augmented local projections to analyze a monthly time-series on the full universe of 10, 658, 497 inadmissible migrants encountered from October 2011 through July 2023. Expanded lawful crossings cause reduced unlawful crossings, an effect that grows over time and reaches elasticity –0.3 after approximately 10 months. That is, in this case, expanded activity on the lawful market substitutes for the parallel market, even net of scale effects. This deterrent effect explains approximately 9 percent of the overall variance in unlawful crossings. In an ancillary finding, I fail to reject a null effect of depenalizing unlawful crossings on future attempted unlawful crossings. |
| JEL: | F22 J61 K42 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:2410 |
| By: | Christian Dustmann (University College London); Rasmus Landerso (ROCKWOOL Foundation Research Unit); Lars Andersen (ROCKWOOL Foundation Research Unit) |
| Abstract: | Abstract: This paper studies the effects of a large welfare benefit reduction on the children in the affected families. The welfare cut targeted adult refugees who received residency in Denmark, and it reduced their disposable income by 30 percent on average over the first five years. We show that children exposed to the welfare cut during preschool and school-age obtained lower GPAs, experienced reduced well-being and overall education levels, and suffered lower employment and earnings as adults. Children in their teens at exposure faced large increases in conviction probabilities for violent and property crimes. |
| Keywords: | Social assistance, welfare state, crime, education, inequality |
| JEL: | I24 I30 J10 K14 |
| Date: | 2024–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:2415 |
| By: | Thomas B. Foster; Lee Fiorio; Mark Ellis |
| Abstract: | Survey and administrative internal migration data disagree on whether the COVID-19 pandemic increased or decreased mobility in the U.S. Moreover, though scholars have theorized and documented migration in response to environmental hazards and economic shocks, the novel conditions posed by a global pandemic make it difficult to hypothesize whether and how American migration might change as a result. We link individual-level data from the United States Postal Service’s National Change of Address (NCOA) registry to American Community Survey (ACS) and Current Population Survey (CPS-ASEC) responses and other administrative records to document changes in the level, geography, and composition of migrant flows between 2019 and 2021. We find a 2% increase in address changes between 2019 and 2020, representing an additional 603, 000 moves, driven primarily by young adults, earners at the extremes of the income distribution, and individuals (as opposed to families) moving over longer distances. Though the number of address changes returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2021, the pandemic-era geographic and compositional shifts in favor of longer distance moves away from the Pacific and Mid-Atlantic regions toward the South and in favor of younger, individual movers persisted. We also show that at least part of the disconnect between survey, media, and administrative/third-party migration data sources stems from the apparent misreporting of address changes on Census Bureau surveys. Among ACS and CPS-ASEC householders linked to NCOA data and filing a permanent change of address in their 1-year survey response reference period, only around 68% of ACS and 49% of CPS-ASEC householders also reported living in a different residence one year ago in their survey response. |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:24-50 |
| By: | Leckie, G.; Maragkou, K. |
| Abstract: | This paper exploits a unique institutional feature of the university admissions process in England, where applications are based on teacher-predicted grades, to compare differences between predictions and actual exam results by student gender. Using newly linked administrative data, we find that boys receive lower grade predictions relative to equally performing girls. A substantial portion of this gap can be explained by girls’ advantage in overall scholastic competence. Once we account for this skill differential, the gender gap in non-STEM fields diminishes significantly, whereas in STEM, it shifts in favour of boys. We interpret the remaining gaps as indicative of potential gender bias in schools. |
| Keywords: | Predicted grades, teacher bias, gender, STEM |
| JEL: | I23 I24 J16 |
| Date: | 2024–10–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:2457 |
| By: | Danile Kolar (Institute of Economic Studies, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic) |
| Abstract: | The Czech Republic has experienced a remarkable decline in the unemployment rate but not in relative poverty. I address this and other facts by analysing the evolution of absolute and relative poverty over the 2004-2021 period. I first document a remarkable decline in absolute poverty in poorer Czech regions, indicating that the growth experience of the Czech Republic was shared. Nonetheless, the low absolute poverty levels of Western Europe are yet to be reached. I then explain the paradox of stagnating relative poverty, i.e., the at-risk-of-poverty rate, and find that the drop in unemployment was offset by increased old-age poverty. Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition reveals that older retirees living alone are particularly vulnerable. However, the overwhelming majority of the retired poor live in their own housing, and treating imputed rent as part of income would decrease retirees´ poverty. |
| Keywords: | poverty, welfare, decomposition |
| JEL: | C38 D31 I32 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fau:wpaper:wp2024_35 |
| By: | Elodie Andrieu; John Morrow |
| Abstract: | How do firms diffuse resources and do they spillover outside headquarter intensive areas? We show R&D subsidies induce French firms to hire new workers, often in new establishments and commuting zones. Using subsidy induced labor demand shocks and past employment patterns, we estimate a within industry spillover elasticity of .26 to non-subsidy firms, rising to .35 for openings outside of headquarter areas. Spillovers are also significant across firm branches and for firms. While subsidies are nominally awarded to headquarters, firms expand to distribute spillovers more broadly. |
| Keywords: | multi-establishment firms, subsidies, directed growth, spillovers |
| Date: | 2024–09–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp2035 |
| By: | Mickael Melki; Hillel Rapoport; Enrico Spolaore; Romain Wacziarg |
| Abstract: | We argue that migrants played a significant role in the diffusion of the demographic transition from France to the rest of Europe in the late 19th century. Employing novel data on French immigration from other European regions from 1850 to 1930, we find that higher immigration to France translated into lower fertility in the region of origin after a few decades - both in cross-region regressions for various periods, and in a panel setting with region fixed effects. These results are robust to the inclusion of a variety of controls, and across multiple specifications. We also find that immigrants who themselves became French citizens achieved lower fertility, particularly those who moved to French regions with the lowest fertility levels. We interpret these findings in terms of cultural remittances, consistently with insights from a theoretical framework where migrants act as vectors of cultural diffusion, spreading new information, social norms and preferences pertaining to modern fertility to their regions of origin. |
| JEL: | J13 N33 Z10 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32990 |
| By: | Alison W. Baulos; Jorge Luis García; James J. Heckman |
| Abstract: | The Perry Preschool Project, the longest-running experimental study of an early childhood education program, demonstrates how such interventions can yield long-term personal, societal, and intergenerational benefits for disadvantaged populations. The evidence is clear: investments in high-quality early childhood education and parental engagement can deliver returns even 50 years later. The program’s findings remain scientifically robust, particularly when analyzed through rigorous small-sample inference methods. The program’s findings also contradict common criticisms of preschool, as, when measured correctly, treatment effects on IQ do not fadeout. This paper draws insights from both the original founders and recent empirical studies, emphasizing the critical role of parental involvement in early education. The authors advocate for a scientific agenda focused on understanding the mechanisms behind treatment effects, rather than replicating specific programs. The analysis also underscores the broader implications of early childhood interventions for social mobility and human capital formation. Analysts of early childhood education should recognize that although credentials and formal curricula contribute to successful programs, the true measure of quality lies in adult-child interactions, which play an essential role. |
| JEL: | C53 I24 I32 J15 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32972 |
| By: | Shaheen, Susan PhD; Cohen, Adam; Wolfe, Brooke; Martin, Elliot PhD |
| Abstract: | Microtransit is a technology-enabled transit service that typically employs shuttles or vans (Figure 1) to provide on-demand transportation with dynamic routing. While many rides are dispatched and paid via a smartphone, many services also provide a telephone booking option. A few services accept cash payment and street hails (similar to taxis). Variations of microtransit can include fixed schedules and routes and larger or smaller vehicles. Typically, microtransit services are operated by or provided on behalfof a government entity or nonprofit organization, although privately operated microtransit programs also might exist. |
| Keywords: | Engineering |
| Date: | 2024–09–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsrrp:qt2qs445kh |
| By: | Fixler, Noelani; Ornelas, Lucia; Leckie, Kris |
| Abstract: | This research brief explores how the Safe System Approach works to reframe the current landscape in the United States to promote equitable transportation policies and planning. Topics identified for further discussion and analysis from current literature on equity and the Safe System Approach include 1) engaging diverse communities in transportation planning, 2) turning towards equity to address past systemic injustices, and 3) employing education and prevention strategies to promote “upstream” versus “downstream” (i.e., traditional) approaches. |
| Keywords: | Engineering, Social and Behavioral Sciences |
| Date: | 2024–09–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsrrp:qt1sz522bj |
| By: | Tashiro, Mitsuteru |
| Abstract: | In order to mitigate the risk of luring minors using the internet, this study analyzed the current status of risk and its underlying factors based on responses in a questionnaire distributed among high school students in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Results showed that the experience of receiving a message from a stranger saying "I want to meet you" is higher for female students who publish photographs of their face on social media or do not follow family rules on the use of the internet. The proportion of female students responding to a request of sending their photographs with "no" or "consult with a parent or teacher" was higher if they had experience in information literacy education within a year, had content filtering installed on their smartphones, or followed family rules. |
| Keywords: | luring minors, smartphones, Social Networking Service, Selfie |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsb24:302532 |
| By: | Seema Jayachandran; Lea Nassal; Matthew J. Notowidigdo; Marie Paul; Heather Sarsons; Elin Sundberg |
| Abstract: | Many couples face a trade-off between advancing one spouse’s career or the other’s. We study this trade-off using administrative data from Germany and Sweden. We first conduct an event-study analysis of couples moving across commuting zones and find that relocation increases men’s earnings more than women’s, with strikingly similar patterns in Germany and Sweden. Using a sample of mass layoff events, we then find that couples in both countries are more likely to relocate in response to the man being laid off compared to the woman. We investigate whether these gendered patterns reflect men’s higher potential earnings or a gender norm that prioritizes men’s career advancement. We provide suggestive evidence of a gender norm using variation in norms within Germany. We then develop and estimate a model of household decision-making in which households can place more weight on the income earned by the man compared to the woman. In both countries, the estimated model can accurately reproduce the reduced-form results, including those not used to estimate the model. The results point to a role for gender norms in explaining the gender gap in the returns to joint moves. |
| JEL: | J16 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32970 |
| By: | Grimaud, André; Gray, Elie |
| Abstract: | We formalize inter-sectoral knowledge diffusion in a standard fully endogenous Schumpeterian growth model. Each sector is simultaneously sending and receiving knowledge; thereby, to produce new knowledge, the research and development activity of each sector draws from a pool of knowledge which stems from this diffusion. This enables us to revisit the scale effects issue by revealing how this property (inconsistent with empirical evidence) relates with knowledge diffusion (the importance of which is empirically highlighted). We show that suppressing knowledge diffusion across sectors is a sufficient but not necessary condition for obtaining scale-invariancy. Then, we identify several sets of assumptions which enable us to obtain models which are reasonably consistent with empirical evidence both on scale effects and how knowledge diffuses in the economy. Specifically, these models do not exhibit scale effects (or at least not significant ones) while considering various scope of knowledge diffusion (including possible occurrence of general-purpose technologies). |
| Keywords: | Schumpeterian growth theory, Scale effects, Knowledge diffusion, Knowledge; spillovers, Non rivalry, echnological distance |
| JEL: | O30 O31 O33 O40 O41 |
| Date: | 2024–09–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:129742 |
| By: | Delaney, Judith M. (University of Bath); Devereux, Paul J. (University College Dublin) |
| Abstract: | We find substantial differences in college applications for students who have equal college opportunities and prior achievement but vary in distance to the nearest selective and non- selective college. Students who live closer to a selective college are more likely to list prestigious programs and colleges as their top choice. This results in differences in enrollment outcomes with the largest associations for those in the middle of the achievement distribution. |
| Keywords: | distance, college application, college enrollment, test score |
| JEL: | I21 I23 I24 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17300 |
| By: | Stefania Albanesi; Domonkos F. Vamossy |
| Abstract: | Credit scores are critical for allocating consumer debt in the United States, yet little evidence is available on their performance. We benchmark a widely used credit score against a machine learning model of consumer default and find significant misclassification of borrowers, especially those with low scores. Our model improves predictive accuracy for young, low-income, and minority groups due to its superior performance with low quality data, resulting in a gain in standing for these populations. Our findings suggest that improving credit scoring performance could lead to more equitable access to credit. |
| Date: | 2024–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2409.00296 |
| By: | Steve Agnew (University of Canterbury); Patrick Roger; Tristan Roger |
| Abstract: | This study aims to develop a peer financial modelling scale to ascertain any correlations between the role modelling of peers and the financial literacy of adolescents. The theoretical foundation for this aim lies in Social Learning Theory. The study also examines the reliability of the recently developed short and minimal versions of the Parent Financial Socialisation Scale. Using a survey administered through Qualtrics, data were collected from a sample of 382 fifteen to nineteen-year-olds. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to measure model fit of any proposed scale, with Cronbach’s alpha calculated to test for internal consistency reliability. An ordinary least squares regression was then run to assess any correlation between the scale developed and financial literacy, incorporating control variables for gender and socioeconomic status. A Peer Financial Modelling Scale is developed and found to be negatively correlated with financial literacy levels. Adolescents with lower financial literacy are more likely to view their peers as good financial role models. All three versions of the Parent Financial Socialisation Scale were found to be positively correlated with financial literacy knowledge. |
| Keywords: | Adolescent financial literacy, Peer financial modelling, Social learning theory, Financial socialization, Financial education |
| JEL: | I20 D14 Z13 |
| Date: | 2024–10–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbt:econwp:24/14 |
| By: | Jyotsna Rosario (Assistant Professor, Vidyashilp University, Bangalore); K.R. Shanmugam ((Corresponding Author) Director and Professor, Madras School of Economics, Gandhi Mandapam Road, Chennai) |
| Abstract: | This study uses the generalized stochastic frontier approach to estimate the technical efficiency of Indian States in providing elementary education from 2009-10 to 2018-19. Mean efficiency was estimated at 85 percent and it varied between 67 percent to 97 percent. Considerable inter- state disparity is observed in elementary education outcome and 96 percent of the disparity is explained by inefficiency. Kerala is the most efficient State followed by Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh. Arunachal Pradesh is the least efficient state, followed by Sikkim and Tripura. Efficiency estimates were observed to change across States over the study period. Proportion of government schools, rural population and Schedule caste and Schedule Tribe children are the major determinants of inefficiency. Finally, the study identifies best practices and helps in separating the resource poor States from the inefficient ones. The study is useful for designing public policy that would help in removing regional imbalances in elementary education outcome. |
| Keywords: | technical efficiency, public expenditure, elementary education outcome, stochastic frontier analysis, Ray frontier |
| JEL: | C14 D24 I21 I28 H52 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mad:wpaper:2024-264 |
| By: | Dunn, Richard A. |
| Abstract: | There is a nascent discussion among policymakers and researchers that rural areas may be disadvantaged by their location within the supply-chain as providers of raw and minimally processed inputs to centers of production located elsewhere. This paper makes several important contributions to this emerging policy discussion. First, we formalize a new concept of intermediate circularity that characterizes the production and trade of intermediates, i.e., goods and services that are transformed and combined to produce other goods and services. Second, we use this model to derive a collection of measures that quantify the shape of economic activity. Third, we calculate feasible versions of these measures by applying the input-output framework and we compare their distribution across metro and non-metro counties of the United States. Finally, we estimate the relationship between these measures of intermediate circularity and indicators of economic performance. We find that the distributions of intermediate circularity indicators differ across metro and non-metro counties, as do their correlations with economic growth. Intermediate inputs tend to account for a larger share of output in non-metro counties and are more intensively exported. These attributes are associated with lower growth in both metro and non-metro counties. On the other hand, while using intermediate inputs is associated with growth in non-metro counties, the opposite is true in metro counties. Implications for policymakers who might consider incentivizing the spatial reorganization of economic activity with the aim of increasing rural prosperity, reducing urban-rural inequality, or improving the resilience of rural economies are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development |
| Date: | 2024–07–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea22:345101 |
| By: | Gijón, Covadonga; Fernández-Bonilla, Fernando; Ruiz-Rua, Aurora; Martínez-de-Ibarreta, Carlos |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of online education on inclusivity and accessibility, focusing on undergraduate education. It explores how digital platforms address diverse learning needs and promote educational equity, particularly for students with disabilities. While online education offers personalized learning and enhanced engagement, it also highlights challenges such as digital literacy and access to reliable internet. The study addresses the digital divide, which disproportionately affects students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, rural areas, and those with disabilities. The paper emphasizes the importance of policy interventions, institutional support, and the adoption of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to create inclusive educational environments. It concludes by identifying gaps in empirical data and calling for further research to develop comprehensive approaches for equitable e-learning. |
| Keywords: | Online education, Digital divide, Inequality, e-learning, disabilities, higher education, Survey data, Econometric models |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsb24:302529 |
| By: | Izuhara, Misa; West, Karen; Hudson, Jim; Felstead, Aimee; Arrigoitia, Melissa Fernández; Scanlon, Kath |
| Abstract: | Mutual support among residents in collaborative housing for older people presents an alternative care model to family or formal social care provided in individuals’ homes or specialised care facilities. This is particularly the case in cohousing, where residents commit to mutual support and exercise autonomy through self-governance. Cohousing also supports the ageing processes by fostering greater wellbeing and significantly lessening social isolation and loneliness. Further, it offers the potential for older people to collectively maintain greater agency in later life and manage age-related health decline. Despite a growing body of literature on ageing and collaborative housing, to date little research has explored how later-life transitions are negotiated among residents of collaborative housing. Drawing on longitudinal, qualitative research on collaborative housing communities in England between 2021 and 2023, this article examines age-related challenges residents face in cohousing, and how they respond to such changing care needs individually and collectively. Analysing data from two waves of fieldwork in three cohousing communities, it examines how the mutual-support functions of the communities act as an intermediary to facilitate communication with different parties, formal and informal care provision and decision-making. The intermediary role tends not to replace the need for formal social care or the involvement of family but provides a supportive buffer between the individual and the family and formal services. Despite the lack of built-in care services placing a potentially heavier burden on residents, the ‘intentional’ commitment to mutual support in cohousing contributes significantly to extending agency in later life. |
| Keywords: | agency; cohousing; collaborative housing; intermediary; later life transitions; mutual support |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2024–09–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:125557 |
| By: | Leonardo Fabio Morales; Mauricio Quiñones; Eleonora Dávalos; Luis Felipe Gaviria |
| Abstract: | Most macroeconomic labor literature on estimating matching functions does not consider spatial spillover effects. However, job search and vacancy-filling processes often involve neighboring locations, as local workers can search for and fill vacancies in nearby labor markets. We estimate a spatial spillover model using annual data for a middle-income country in Latin America. Our findings show that unemployment has a positive spatial spillover effect because an increase in the labor supply raises the probability of filling a vacancy. In contrast, vacancies have a negative spillover effect because local and neighboring vacancies compete to be filled by workers in both markets. RESUMEN: La mayor parte de la literatura laboral sobre la estimación de funciones de emparejamiento no considera los efectos de derrame espacial. Sin embargo, los procesos de búsqueda de empleo y de ocupación de vacantes a menudo involucran ubicaciones vecinas, ya que los trabajadores locales pueden buscar y cubrir vacantes en mercados laborales cercanos. En este trabajo se estima un modelo de derrame espacial utilizando datos anuales para Colombia. Nuestros hallazgos muestran que el desempleo tiene un efecto de derrame espacial positivo porque un aumento en la oferta laboral aumenta la probabilidad de ocupar una vacante. En contraste, las vacantes tienen un efecto de derrame negativo porque las vacantes locales y vecinas compiten por ser ocupadas por trabajadores de ambos mercados. |
| Keywords: | Matching Function, Spatial Spillovers, Spatial Econometrics, Función de Emparejamiento, Efectos Espaciales, Econometría Espacia |
| JEL: | J61 J64 R12 R14 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdr:borrec:1283 |
| By: | Fang, Tony (Memorial University of Newfoundland); Hsu, Mei (National Taiwan University); Lin, Carl (Bucknell University) |
| Abstract: | Using data from 1980, 1990, and 2000 U.S. censuses, as well as the 2010 and 2019 American Community Surveys and the 1993–2019 National Survey of College Graduates, we investigate the performance of Chinese immigrants in the U.S. labor market over the past 40 years since China initiated its economic reforms and open-door policy in 1978. The results indicate that by 1990, Chinese immigrants' earnings surpassed those of immigrants from other countries, and by 2010, they exceeded the earnings of U.S.-born workers. Our Oaxaca-Blinder and Quantile decomposition analyses suggest that a significant portion of the earnings advantage held by Chinese immigrants, compared to other immigrant groups and U.S.-born workers over time, can be attributed to differences in observable characteristics, with education being the most crucial factor, both at the mean and across the earnings distribution. By employing national surveys that provide data on college graduates, we demonstrate that attaining the highest degree earned in the U.S. is associated with higher earnings for Chinese immigrants compared to all other immigrants. Furthermore, the difference in returns to U.S.-earned highest degrees can account for this earnings advantage. |
| Keywords: | immigration, China, the U.S., economic assimilation, Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, quantile decomposition |
| JEL: | J31 J61 J24 |
| Date: | 2024–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17251 |
| By: | Kunal Sen |
| Abstract: | An important stylized fact about African economic development is the phenomenon of urbanization without structural transformation. This paper provides a political economy analysis of the lack of structural transformation in African cities, drawing on the Deals and Development framework. |
| Keywords: | Structural transformation, Deals & Development, Political economy, Africa, Urbanization |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2024-50 |
| By: | Bhuyan, Prajamitra; Jana, Kaushik; McCoy, Emma J. |
| Abstract: | Transport engineers employ various interventions to enhance traffic-network performance. Quantifying the impacts of Cycle Superhighways is complicated due to the non-random assignment of such an intervention over the transport network. Treatment effects on asymmetric and heavy-tailed distributions are better reflected at extreme tails rather than at the median. We propose a novel method to estimate the treatment effect at extreme tails incorporating heavy-tailed features in the outcome distribution. The analysis of London transport data using the proposed method indicates that the extreme traffic flow increased substantially after Cycle Superhighways came into operation. |
| Keywords: | causality; extreme value analysis; heavy-tailed distribution; potential outcome; quantile regression; transport engineering; AAM requested |
| JEL: | C1 |
| Date: | 2023–11–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:121622 |
| By: | Kleven, Henrik Jacobsen (Princeton University); Olivero, Giulia (Cornell University); Patacchini, Eleonora (Cornell University) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether the effects of children on the labor market outcomes of women relative to men — child penalties — are shaped by the work behavior of peers' parents during adolescence. Leveraging quasi-random variation in the fraction of peers with working parents across cohorts within schools, we find that greater exposure to working mothers during adolescence substantially reduces the child penalty in employment later in life. Conversely, we find that greater exposure to working fathers increases the penalty. Our findings suggest that parental role models during adolescence are critical for shaping child-related gender gaps in the labor market. |
| Keywords: | child penalty, gender norms, long-run |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J21 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17309 |
| By: | Liang Zhong |
| Abstract: | In social networks or spatial experiments, one unit's outcome often depends on another's treatment, a phenomenon called interference. Researchers are interested in not only the presence and magnitude of interference but also its pattern based on factors like distance, neighboring units, and connection strength. However, the non-random nature of these factors and complex correlations across units pose challenges for inference. This paper introduces the partial null randomization tests (PNRT) framework to address these issues. The proposed method is finite-sample valid and applicable with minimal network structure assumptions, utilizing randomization testing and pairwise comparisons. Unlike existing conditional randomization tests, PNRT avoids the need for conditioning events, making it more straightforward to implement. Simulations demonstrate the method's desirable power properties and its applicability to general interference scenarios. |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2409.09243 |
| By: | Alessandra Fenizia; Tom Kirchmaier |
| Abstract: | This paper studies whether working from home (WFH) affects workers' performance in public sector jobs. Studying public sector initiatives allows us to establish baseline estimates on the impact of WFH net of incentives. Exploiting novel administrative data and plausibly exogenous variation in work location, we find that WFH increases productivity by 12%. These productivity gains are primarily driven by reduced distractions. They are not explained by differences in quality, shift length, or task allocation. The productivity gains more than double when tasks are assigned by the supervisor. |
| Keywords: | working from home, productivity, public sector |
| Date: | 2024–09–25 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp2036 |
| By: | Sagade, Satchit; Scharnowski, Stefan; Theissen, Erik; Westheide, Christian |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of increasing competition among the fastest traders by analyzing a new low-latency microwave network connecting exchanges trading the same stocks. Using a difference-in-differences approach comparing German stocks with similar French stocks, we find improved market integration, faster incorporation of stock-specific information, and an increased contribution to price discovery by the smaller exchange. Liquidity worsens for large caps due to increased sniping but improves for mid caps due to fast liquidity provision. Trading volume on the smaller exchange declines across all stocks. We thus uncover nuanced effects of fast trader participation that depend on their prior involvement. |
| Keywords: | Latency, Market Fragmentation, Arbitrage, Liquidity, Price Efficiency, High-Frequency Trading |
| JEL: | G10 G14 G15 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:safewp:303051 |
| By: | Silke Anger (Institute for Employment Research (IAB) / Otto-Friedrich University Bamberg); Bernhard Christoph (Institute for Employment Research (IAB)); Agata Galkiewicz (University of Potsdam); Shushanik Margaryan (University of Potsdam); Frauke Peter (German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies); Malte Sandner (Technical University Nürnberg); Thomas Siedler (University of Potsdam) |
| Abstract: | Reading skills are crucial for academic success and long-term educational attainment. However, children from disadvantaged backgrounds read less than their more privileged peers. This study assesses the impact of a randomized reading intervention conducted in Germany targeting 11–12-year-olds from low-income households. The intervention involved distributing e-book readers, which provided free access to a large digital library of age-appropriate books, directly to the children's homes. Our results show that the intervention led to increased reading engagement among the children, which in turn improved their academic performance, particularly in reading comprehension and math. Additionally, we observe positive effects on their socio-emotional well-being. |
| Keywords: | randomized controlled trial, low socioeconomic status, reading comprehension, early education |
| JEL: | C93 I20 I24 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2024-018 |
| By: | Simplice A. Asongu (Yaoundé, Cameroon); Peter Agyemang-Mintah (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates) |
| Abstract: | This research complements the extant literature on poverty and inequality by assessing the role ‘virtual social networks’ and ‘internet access in schools’ in mitigating the incidence of inequality on poverty. Using secondary data, the focus of the study is on developing countries and the empirical evidence is based on Tobit regressions. The study shows that inequality unconditionally increases poverty while ‘virtual social networks’ and ‘internet access in schools’ negatively moderate the effect of inequality on poverty. An extended analysis provides thresholds of ‘virtual social networks’ and ‘internet access in schools’ at which, the unconditional positive effect of inequality on poverty is completely dampened and above which, negative incidences on poverty are apparent. These attendant information technology thresholds are below average levels in the sampled countries. The study complements that extant literature by assessing the role of virtual social networks and internet access in schools in mitigating the incidence of inequality on poverty in developing countries. Policy implications are discussed in the light of Sustainable Development Goals. |
| Keywords: | information technology, inequality; poverty |
| JEL: | D10 D14 D31 D60 O30 |
| Date: | 2024–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:exs:wpaper:24/011 |
| By: | Mitomo, Hitoshi; Otsuka, Tokio |
| Abstract: | This study aims to investigate the feasibility of sustaining local terrestrial broadcasting in rural Japan through citizen engagement. Commercial broadcasters in Japan have been sustained by advertising revenue. However, due to the proliferation of rich Internet content, much of the advertising expenditure of sponsor companies has shifted to the Internet. Thus, many local broadcasters in Japan have faced financial difficulties due to decreased commercial revenue. To maintain broadcasting, diverse sources of revenue must be secured, and one way to achieve this is to support local broadcasting that is closely connected to their communities through local residents' engagement. This paper examines the possibility of citizen engagement. It quantitatively analyzes whether they are willing to provide financial support as an engagement and how much they are willing to pay based on a hypothetical scenario. A contingent valuation method (CVM) is applied to estimate the willingness-to-pay (WTP) for local television (TV) programs and broadcasters. |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsb24:302535 |
| By: | Brunello, Giorgio (University of Padova); Rocco, Lorenzo (University of Padova) |
| Abstract: | We produce estimates of the pecuniary costs of inadequate investment in human capital for countries, macro regions and the world at large. These costs are borne by individuals (private costs), the government (fiscal costs), and society, which includes both individuals and the government (social costs). We estimate that, in 2030, the global annual private costs of having a share of children with less than basic skills at its 2021 value rather than at zero are equal to 9, 154 billion 2015 dollars, or 17.1 percent of global GDP in 2030. |
| Keywords: | early school leaving, low basic skills, private, fiscal and social costs |
| JEL: | I24 I25 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17296 |
| By: | Zhang, Zheyuan; Xu, Hui; Liu, Ruilin; Zhao, Zhong |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the impact of the Free Education Policy, a major education reform implemented in rural China in 2006, as a natural experiment on the intergenerational transmission of cognitive skills. The identification strategy relies on a difference-in-differences approach and exploits the fact that the reform was implemented gradually at different times across different provinces. By utilizing nationally representative data from the China Family Panel Studies, we find that an additional semester of exposure to the Free Education Policy reduces the intergenerational transmission of parent and child cognitive scores by an approximately 1% standard deviation in rural China, indicating a reduction of 3.5% in intergenerational cognitive persistence. The improvement in cognitive mobility across generations might be attributed to enhanced school attainment, the relaxation of budget constraints, and increased social contact for children whose parents are less advantaged in terms of cognitive skills. |
| Keywords: | Free Education Policy, intergenerational transmission, cognitive skills |
| JEL: | H52 I24 J24 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1494 |
| By: | Minyu Shen; Feng Xiao; Weihua Gu; Hongbo Ye |
| Abstract: | When making route decisions, travelers may engage in a certain degree of reasoning about what the others will do in the upcoming day, rendering yesterday's shortest routes less attractive. This phenomenon was manifested in a recent virtual experiment that mimicked travelers' repeated daily trip-making process. Unfortunately, prevailing day-to-day traffic dynamical models failed to faithfully reproduce the collected flow evolution data therein. To this end, we propose a day-to-day traffic behavior modeling framework based on the Cognitive Hierarchy theory, in which travelers with different levels of strategic-reasoning capabilities form their own beliefs about lower-step travelers' capabilities when choosing their routes. Two widely-studied day-to-day models, the Network Tatonnement Process dynamic and the Logit dynamic, are extended into the framework and studied as examples. Calibration of the virtual experiment is performed using the extended Network Tatonnement Process dynamic, which fits the experimental data reasonably well. We show that the two extended dynamics have multiple equilibria, one of which is the classical user equilibrium. While analyzing global stability is intractable due to the presence of multiple equilibria, local stabilities near equilibria are developed analytically and verified by numerical experiments. General insights on how key parameters affect the stability of user equilibria are unveiled. |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2409.11908 |