{"title":"Making their own weather? Estimating employer labour-market power and its wage effects","authors":"Pedro S. Martins , António Melo","doi":"10.1016/j.jue.2023.103614","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2023.103614","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The subdued wage growth observed in many countries has spurred interest in monopsony views of regional labour markets. This study measures the extent and robustness of employer power and its wage implications exploiting comprehensive matched employer–employee data. We find average (employment-weighted) Herfindhal indices of 800 to 1,100, stable over the 1986–2019 period covered, and that typically less than 8% of workers are exposed to concentration levels thought to raise market power concerns. When controlling for both worker and firm heterogeneity and instrumenting for concentration, we find that wages are negatively affected by employer concentration, with elasticities of around −1.4%. We also find that several methodological choices can change significantly both the measurement of concentration and its wage effects.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48340,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Economics","volume":"139 ","pages":"Article 103614"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2023-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094119023000840/pdfft?md5=12b8c77b6b44a9f42826c20ed34992ee&pid=1-s2.0-S0094119023000840-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138436662","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Local causes and aggregate implications of land use regulation","authors":"Andrii Parkhomenko","doi":"10.1016/j.jue.2023.103605","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2023.103605","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>I study why some cities have strict land use regulation, how regulation affects the U.S. economy, and how policymakers can mitigate its negative consequences. I develop a quantitative spatial equilibrium model where local regulation is determined endogenously, by voting. Landowners in productive cities with attractive amenities vote for strict regulation. The model accounts for 40% of the observed differences in regulation across cities. Quantitative experiments show that excessive local regulation reduces aggregate productivity, but not necessarily welfare because, unlike renters, landowners benefit from regulation. I propose federal policies that raise productivity and welfare by weakening incentives to regulate land use.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48340,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Economics","volume":"138 ","pages":"Article 103605"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91986811","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Pushing towards shared mobility","authors":"Roman Zakharenko","doi":"10.1016/j.jue.2023.103609","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2023.103609","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This paper provides a theoretical argument for preferential treatment of shared vehicles (SV) over private ones by municipal parking authorities. When all parked vehicles are treated equally, multiple equilibria may exist: (i) a “private” one, in which travellers are hesitant to switch to SV because the latter are hard to find, and (ii) a “shared” equilibrium, in which travellers use shared mobility because the city is saturated with vacant SV. The latter equilibrium, if it exists, is shown to yield higher welfare. Municipal parking discounts for SV reduce the amount of investment required for a “big push” towards the shared equilibrium, or even make it the only equilibrium.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48340,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Economics","volume":"138 ","pages":"Article 103609"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094119023000797/pdfft?md5=bf77fbd87dcfc4b7a55dad99b09ec034&pid=1-s2.0-S0094119023000797-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"92122407","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Housing market and school choice response to school quality information shocks✰","authors":"Iftikhar Hussain","doi":"10.1016/j.jue.2023.103606","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2023.103606","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This paper investigates market response to a nationwide school quality information disclosure regime. Exploiting quasi-exogenous timing of the release of information through the school year, I uncover a number of novel empirical findings. First, investigating the house price margin, the results reveal a strikingly convex hedonic price function: large effects to school quality ratings for homes located near schools serving advantaged students but little impact in poorer neighborhoods. These heterogeneous effects can help reconcile relatively modest overall mean school quality capitalization effects with, for example, the large fees wealthier families typically pay for private schools. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that the impact of credible and low frequency school quality information shocks persists through the medium term. Finally, exploring the impact of the same information intervention on the school choice margin demonstrates that uprated schools serving advantaged students experience dramatic increases in demand from local families, however response for schools serving less advantaged families is more muted.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48340,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Economics","volume":"138 ","pages":"Article 103606"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094119023000761/pdfft?md5=8cbc16b2a2642fb68d654667c9bc7f03&pid=1-s2.0-S0094119023000761-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91986808","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Homeowner politics and housing supply","authors":"Limin Fang , Nathan Stewart , Justin Tyndall","doi":"10.1016/j.jue.2023.103608","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2023.103608","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This paper examines whether homeowner opposition to nearby housing development affects local councillors’ votes on housing bills. Homeowners benefit financially from restricted housing supply through increased housing prices. City councillors, who approve housing development applications, cater to the needs of homeowners who are often long-term resident voters with a financial stake in neighbourhood amenity levels. Using data from Toronto, Canada from 2009 to 2020, we identify housing bills through a machine learning algorithm. We find that councillors who represent more homeowners oppose more housing bills. In particular, councillors are significantly more likely to oppose large housing developments if the project is within their own ward.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48340,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Economics","volume":"138 ","pages":"Article 103608"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91986809","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Social housing and the spread of population: Evidence from twentieth century Ireland","authors":"Alan de Bromhead , Ronan C. Lyons","doi":"10.1016/j.jue.2023.103603","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2023.103603","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>How does housing policy influence the long-run distribution of population? We examine the impact on long-term population dynamics of the world’s first large-scale rural public housing scheme, specifically the case of Ireland’s <em>Labourers Acts</em>. We link detailed data on the location of over 45,000 heavily subsidized cottages for agricultural laborers built 1883–1915 in over 200 districts to decennial Censuses between 1841 and 2002. We examine how the density of this social housing affected subsequent population change and find significant persistence in the effect of this treatment on the population. These findings are from specifications that include other factors plausibly related to future population growth, including initial housing stock, land values and population density, as well as distance to urban centres. A causal interpretation is supported by an assessment of pre-trends, by no effect of cottages authorized but not built and by an IV approach that exploits a 1906 limit on legal costs. We also highlight the role of agglomeration in amplifying the impact of the initial investment. Mediation analysis suggests that schooling was a key factor, with districts receiving more cottages less likely to lose primary schools, thus further influencing population growth.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48340,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Economics","volume":"138 ","pages":"Article 103603"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094119023000736/pdfft?md5=2031f7b7f1ec22da89d81d40e128d067&pid=1-s2.0-S0094119023000736-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91986810","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Variation in racial disparities in police use of force","authors":"Carl Lieberman","doi":"10.1016/j.jue.2023.103602","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jue.2023.103602","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span>I examine how racial disparities in police use of force vary using new data covering every municipal police department in New Jersey. Along the intensive margin of force severity, I find disparities that disfavor Black subjects and are larger at higher force levels, even after adjusting for incident-level factors and using new techniques to address selection bias. I then extend empirical </span>Bayes methods to estimate department-specific racial disparities and observe significant differences across and within these hundreds of departments. My findings suggest that ignoring heterogeneity in police use of force misrepresents the problem and masks the existence of both departments with very large disparities and those without apparent disparities against Black civilians, but the variation even within departments may make identifying and treating inequitable policing difficult.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48340,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Economics","volume":"141 ","pages":"Article 103602"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2023-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136119729","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The geography of mortgage interest deductions","authors":"Yashar Blouri , Simon Büchler , Olivier Schöni","doi":"10.1016/j.jue.2023.103604","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2023.103604","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>We investigate the heterogeneous impact of the US federal mortgage interest deduction (MID) on households’ location and tenure decisions. We develop a spatial general-equilibrium model featuring non-homothetic preferences in which households can choose whether to claim the MID or a standard tax deduction. Repealing the MID decreases homeownership rates more strongly in central areas because owner-occupiers migrate to the countryside. Welfare increases slightly because positive externalities from less congested housing markets and undistorted tenure decisions outweigh productivity losses in central locations. An increase in standard tax deductions, as implemented in 2018 by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, leads to a similar welfare increase.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48340,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Economics","volume":"138 ","pages":"Article 103604"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2023-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49901687","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The effects of cash for clunkers on local air quality","authors":"Ines Helm , Nicolas Koch , Alexander Rohlf","doi":"10.1016/j.jue.2023.103576","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2023.103576","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>We study the effects of a large car scrappage scheme in Germany on new car purchases and local air quality by combining vehicle registration data with data on local air pollutant emissions. For identification we exploit cross-sectional variation across districts in the number of cars eligible for scrappage. The scheme had substantial effects on car purchases and did not simply reallocate demand across time in the short-term. Nevertheless, about half of all subsidized buyers benefited from windfall gains. The renewal of the car stock improved local air quality suggesting substantial mortality benefits that likely exceed the cost of the policy. While policy take-up is somewhat smaller in urban districts, improvements in air quality and health tend to be larger due to a higher car density.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48340,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Economics","volume":"138 ","pages":"Article 103576"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2023-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49901686","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"JUE Insight: Hot temperatures, aggression, and death at the hands of the police: Evidence from the U.S","authors":"Sébastien Annan-Phan , Bocar A. Ba","doi":"10.1016/j.jue.2023.103592","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jue.2023.103592","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>We study the effect of temperature on police-involved civilian deaths in the U.S. from 2000 to 2016. We show that both violent crimes and the number of officers assaulted or killed increase on warmer days (<span><math><mrow><mo>≥</mo><mn>17</mn><mspace></mspace><mo>°</mo><mi>C</mi></mrow></math></span>), indicating greater personal danger to officers and bystanders on such days. Consistent with these higher threat levels, we find suggestive evidence that fatal shootings of civilians by officers similarly increase on warmer days. However, when we account for surges in officer–civilian interaction, we find no additional effect of high temperatures on fatal shootings, indicating a lack of behavioral or physiological response on the part of officers. Finally, our results for other causes of death show that, on extremely warm days (<span><math><mrow><mo>≥</mo><mn>32</mn><mspace></mspace><mo>°</mo><mi>C</mi></mrow></math></span>), the number of casualties associated with the use of Tasers and physical restraints is significantly higher independently of increased interaction between officers and civilians. The results suggest a need to reevaluate the use of Tasers and physical restraint techniques to prevent unintended deaths.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48340,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Urban Economics","volume":"142 ","pages":"Article 103592"},"PeriodicalIF":6.3,"publicationDate":"2023-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135347411","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}