The Economic Value of Cultural Diversity: Evidence from US cities

We use data on wages and rents in different U.S. cities to assess the amenity effects on production and consumption of cultural diversity as measured by diversity of countries of birth of city residents. We show that US-born citizens living in metropolitan areas where the share of foreign-born increased between 1970 and 1990 have experienced a significant average increase in their wage and in the rental price of their housing. Such finding is economically significant and robust to omitted variable bias and endogeneity bias. We then present a model in which cultural diversity may have both production and consumption amenity or disamenity effects. As people and firms are mobile across cities in the long run, the model implies that the joint results from the wage and rent regressions are consistent with a dominant production amenity effect of cultural diversityCultural Diveristy, Productivity, Local Amenities, Urban Economics

The Economic Value of Cultural Diversity: Evidence from US Cities

We use data on wages and rents in different U.S. cities to assess the amenity effects on production and consumption of cultural diversity as measured by diversity of countries of birth of city residents. We show that US-born citizens living in metropolitan areas where the share of foreign-born increased between 1970 and 1990 have experienced a significant average increase in their wage and in the rental price of their housing. Such finding is economically significant and robust to omitted variable bias and endogeneity bias. We then present a model in which cultural diversity may have both production and consumption amenity or disamenity effects. As people and firms are mobile across cities in the long run, the model implies that the joint results from the wage and rent regressions are consistent with a dominant production amenity effect of cultural diversity.Cultural diversity, Productivity, Local amenities, Urban economics

Migration, Resilience, Vulnerability and Migrants’ Health

In recent times, particularly during the 21st century, there have been significant increases and changes in international migration and resettlement patterns due to factors such as people’s ability to travel, ease of communication and technology, and civil unrest and conflicts. Global populations have increased and integrated across settings, challenging the differentiation between types of migrants, such as refugees (those migrating because of factors such as civil unrest, wars, persecution, or other vulnerability) and economic migrants. This mixture of migration and resettlement patterns will continue for generations due to these diverse, multicultural, and complex communities and we will need more research to provide evidence to inform nations and global responses to any emergences. This Special Issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health focused on the migration, resilience, and vulnerability and general migrants’ health accepted original research papers, case reports, reviews, and conference papers. Articles dealing with new approaches to address issues, including migration (opportunities, challenges, and vulnerability), migrants’ health, settlement, and migrant health-care service access and specific migrants’ subgroups were also accepted. Other manuscript types including methodological papers, position papers, policy briefs and reports, and commentaries were sought. We accepted manuscripts from different disciplines, including public health, social and behavioural sciences, anthropology, epidemiology, psychology, and demography. This reprint compiles 30 publications

The Economic Value of Cultural Diversity: Evidence from US Cities

What are the economic consequences to U.S. natives of the growing diversity of American cities? Is their productivity or utility affected by cultural diversity as measured by diversity of countries of birth of U.S. residents? We document in this paper a very robust correlation: US-born citizens living in metropolitan areas where the share of foreign-born increased between 1970 and 1990, experienced a significant increase in their wage and in the rental price of their housing. Such finding is economically significant and survives omitted variable bias and endogeneity bias. As people and firms are mobile across cities in the long run we argue that, in equilibrium, these correlations are consistent only with a net positive effect of cultural diversity on productivity of natives.

Exploring the effects of built environment, location and accessibility on travel time of long-distance commuters in Suzhou and Shanghai, China

High-speed rail (HSR) enables time-space shrinkages, thus enlarging the extent of spatial interaction between cities connected by HSR. This opens up new opportunities for the decoupling of workplace and residence for those seeking improved employment options involving long-distance commuting, which did not appear attractive before the arrival of HSR. Although travel distance tends to increase over time, time spent on travel remains relatively stable. This paper attempts to explore door-to-door commuting patterns – the way commuting time is associated with three factors in practice; namely, the built environment, transport modes (from residence and workplace to HSR stations) and commute frequency. Econometric and statistical analyses are employed to examine evidence from China that draws on a survey targeting Suzhou-based HSR commuters who travel to work in Shanghai, a large neighbouring city. The findings present three major points. First, a dense urban environment around residence and workplace is associated with reduced commuting time to high-density healthcare facilities (Suzhou and Shanghai) and financial institutions (Suzhou only). However, the density of public transport facilities near both residence and workplace has no association with commute time. Second, taking metro systems to and from HSR stations shows significant association with increased commuting time for the first and last miles, while walking from HSR stations to the workplace shows significant reduction of commuting time. Third, daily commuting is associated with reduced commuting time in the first mile, while weekly commuting is reversely related to longer commute time in the last mile, which is coupled with a shorter commuting time for the first mile than the last mile. Essentially, this could be attributed to different urban forms between home and work cities. These findings lead us to conclude that reducing the total commuting time for a door-to-door journey is a key factor in associated commuting patterns, commuting frequency, and travel mode choice. This reflects the choices commuters make in relation to where they live rather than where they work, which offers fewer options. A longer last mile relates to a weekly commuting pattern rather than a daily commuting. The current public metro systems in both home and work cities appear to be lengthy and inefficient. Transit-oriented and integrated development is required to provide more efficient experiences for commuters

Transportation Infrastructures, Location and Productivity. A micro-geography approach

open1noopenDalila RibaudoRibaudo, Dalil

A Study of Road Accidents Involving International Visitors: Case Study in New Zealand

This study is to explore the driving behaviour of overseas drivers and to identify the key causes contributing to the road accidents in New Zealand (NZ) related to demographic and socio-economic characteristics of overseas drivers. A revealed preference (RP) survey of 205 overseas drivers is used to investigate whether overseas drivers’ characteristics affect their ranked preference for attributes related to the risk of driving in NZ. The RP survey and rank-ordered logistics regression models identified the importance of various factors in determining the cause of accidents and providing some insight into issues that should be considered in accident reduction policy development. The results indicate that roundabout system brings confusion to Asian drivers, NZ’s mountainous roads considered the most difficult terrain to overseas drivers, and fatigue after a long flight brings a moderate impact on the driver. Therefore, this study suggests that ‘taylored’ driving safety training programmes would be more effective to educate overseas visitors

Domestic and world trends affecting the future of aviation (1980 - 2000), appendix C

The results are presented of a study of variables affecting aviation in the United States during the last fifth of the twentieth century. A series of key trends relating to economic, social, political, technological, ecological, and environmental developments are identified and discussed with relation to their possible effects on aviation. From this analysis a series of scenarios is developed representing an array of possibilities ranging from severe economic depression and high international tension on the one hand to a world of detente which enjoys an unprecedented economic growth rate and relaxation of tensions on the other. A scenario is presented which represents the manner in which events will most probably develop and their effect on the aviation industry

COVID-19 Pandemic Severity, Lockdown Regimes, and People Mobility: Early Evidence from 88 Countries

This study empirically investigates the complex interplay between the severity of the coronavirus pandemic, mobility changes in retail and recreation, transit stations, workplaces, and residential areas, and lockdown measures in 88 countries of the word. To conduct the study, data on mobility patterns, socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of people, lockdown measures, and coronavirus pandemic were collected from multiple sources (e.g., Google, UNDP, UN, BBC, Oxford University, Worldometer). A Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique is used to investigate the direct and indirect effects of independent variables on dependent variables considering the intervening effects of mediators. Results show that lockdown measures have significant effects to encourage people to maintain social distancing. However, pandemic severity and socioeconomic and institutional factors have limited effects to sustain social distancing practice. The results also explain that socioeconomic and institutional factors of urbanity and modernity have significant effects on pandemic severity. Countries with a higher number of elderly people, employment in the service sector, and higher globalization trend are the worst victims of the coronavirus pandemic (e.g., USA, UK, Italy, and Spain). Social distancing measures are reasonably effective at tempering the severity of the pandemic.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures, 6 table