Does public housing occupancy increase unemployment?

In order to test for the effect of public housing occupancy on unemployment, we estimate a simultaneous probit model of unemployment and public housing. On a first sample, we instrument public housing with the gender composition of children. On a second sample, the instrument is the share of public housing at the city level. We also perform a robustness check that consists in measuring the correlation between unobservables that could explain the effect of public housing on unemployment. As the corresponding level of correlation is low, this check reinforces our result of no effect of public housing on unemployment.public housing, unemployment, simultaneous probit models, instrumental variables.

Neighborhood effects on unemployment ? A test à la Altonji

The aim of this paper is to test for the influence of neighborhood deprivation on individual unemployment probability in the case of Lyon (France). We estimate a bivariate probit model of unemployment and location in a deprived neighborhood. Our identification strategy is twofold. First, we instrument neighborhood type by the gender composition of household’s children and the spouse’s workplace. Second, we use the methodology proposed by Altonji et al. (2005), that in our case consists in making hypotheses as to the correlation between the unobservables that determine unemployment and the unobservables that influence the selection into neighborhood types. Our results show that the effect of neighborhood deprivation is not significantly different from zero in the bivariate probit with exclusion restrictions. We also show that a correlation of the unobservables as low as ten percent of the correlation of observables is sufficient to explain the positive neighborhood effect that is observed when endogeneity is not accounted for.neighborhood effects, unemployment, simultaneous probit models, instrumental variables, selection on unobservables

Neighborhood effects, public housing and unemployment in France

This paper is aimed at examining how individual unemployment is influenced both by location in a deprived neighborhood and public housing. Our identification strategy is twofold. First, we estimate a simultaneous probit model of public housing accommodation, type of neighborhood, and unemployment, thus accounting explicitely for correlation of unobservables between the three behaviors. Second, we take advantage of the situation of the public housing sector in France, which allows us to use public housing accommodation as a powerfuldeterminant of neighborhood choices and to use household's demographic characteristics as exclusion restrictions. Our results show that public housing does not have any direct effect on unemployment. However, living within the 35% more deprived neighborhoods does increase the unemployment probability significantly. As expected, the effect of neighborhood substantially decreases when dealing with the endogeneity of neighborhood and when using public housing as a determinant of neighborhood choice.Neighborhood effects ; public housing ; unemployment ; simultaneous probit models ; simulated maximum likelihood

Does public housing occupancy increase unemployment?

This paper shows that living in public housing has no effect on the probability of being unemployed in France, once we account for the endogeneity of public housing. We estimate a simultaneous probit model of unemployment and public housing. On a first sample for Lyon, we instrument public housing with the gender composition of children. On a second national sample, the instrument is the city-level share of public housing. Both samples yield the same conclusion, which we justify by showing that a small amount of selection on unobservables is enough to eliminate the positive effect found in “naive” estimates.Public housing; unemployment; simultaneous probit models; instrumental variables

Neighbourhood effects and endogeneity issues

A recent body of research suggests that the spatial structure of cities might influence the socioeconomic characteristics and outcomes of their residents. In particular, the literature on neighbourhood effects emphasizes the potential influence of the socioeconomic composition of neighbourhoods in shaping individual’s behaviours and outcomes, through social networks, peer influences or socialization effects. However, empirical work still has not reached a consensus regarding the existence and magnitude of such effects. This is mainly because the study of neighbourhood effects raises important methodological concerns that have not often been taken into account. Notably, as individuals with similar socio-economic characteristics tend to sort themselves into certain parts of the city, the estimation of neighbourhood effects raises the issue of location choice endogeneity. Indeed, it is difficult to distinguish between neighbourhood effects and correlated effects, i.e. similarities in behaviours and outcomes arising from individuals having similar characteristics. This problem, if not dequately corrected for, may yield biased results. In the first part of this paper, neighbourhood effects are defined and some methodological problems involved in measuring such effects are identified. Particular attention is paid to the endogeneity issue, giving a formal definition of the problem and reviewing the main methods that have been used in the literature to try to solve it. The second part is devoted to an empirical illustration of the study of neighbourhood effects, in the case of labour-market outcomes of young adults in Brussels. The effect of living in a deprived neighbourhood on the unemployment probability of young adults residing in Brussels is estimated using logistic regressions. The endogeneity of neighbourhood is addressed by restricting the sample to young adults residing with their parents. Then, a ensitivity analysis is used to assess the robustness of the results to the presence of both observed and unobserved parental covariates.neighbourhood effects, endogeneity, self-selection, sensitivity analysis, Brussels

Does formal child care availability for 0-3 year olds boost mothers' employment rate? Panel data based evidence from Belgium

In 2003, a new multi-annual program aimed at increasing the availability of formal child care for 0-3 year old children was launched in Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium. This paper is interested in evaluating if this increased availability of formal child care resulted in a higher employment rate for women with at least one child under 3. To this end, we use a difference-in-differences approach based on municipality-level panel data, taking advantage of the fact that the increase in availability of formal child care differed greatly across municipalities. We find that the raise in child care availability significantly increased the maternal employment rate, but to a lesser extent than expected, most likely because of a substantial crowding-out effect

Courseulles-sur-Mer – Fosses Saint-Ursin

Date de l'opération : 2007 (FP) Inventeur(s) : Hanusse Claire (SUP) La fouille des vestiges du village de Courtisigny s’est poursuivie au cours de l’année 2007 dans le cadre d’une autorisation annuelle (voir BSR des années précédentes) (Fig. n°1 : Plan général des espaces bâtis). Cette campagne a concerné quatre espaces différents : Dans la zone 2, la fouille du seul puits découvert à ce jour, localisé dans une cour largement ouverte sur le chemin (COUR 3), s’est poursuivie (sous la respon..