Immigration and House Prices in the UK

This article studies the effect of immigration on house prices in the UK. It finds that immigration has a negative effect on house prices and presents evidence that this negative effect is due to the mobility response of the native population. Natives respond to immigration by moving to different areas and those who leave are at the top of the wage distribution. This generates a negative income effect on housing demand and pushes down house prices. The negative effect of immigration on house prices is driven by local areas where immigrants have lower education.immigration, house prices

The effect of foreign investors on local housing markets: evidence from the UK

I use newly-released administrative data on properties owned by overseas companies to study the effect of foreign investment on the housing market in England and Wales. To estimate the causal e§ect, I construct an instrument for foreign investment based on economic shocks abroad. Foreign investment is found to have a positive e§ect on house price growth. This e§ect is present at di§erent percentiles of the distribution of house prices and is stronger in local authorities where housing supply is less elastic. Foreign investment is also found to reduce the rate of home ownership. There is no evidence of an e§ect on the housing stock or the share of vacant home

Does Employment Protection Help Immigrants? Evidence from European Labor Markets

High levels of employment protection reduce hiring and firing and have a theoretically ambiguous effect on the employment level. Immigrants, being new to the labor market, may be less aware of employment protection regulations and less likely to claim their rights, which may create a gap between the costs for employers of hiring a native relative to hiring an immigrant. This paper tests that hypothesis drawing on evidence for the EU and on two natural experiments for Spain and Italy. The results suggest that strict employment protection legislation (EPL) gives immigrants a comparative advantage relative to natives. Stricter EPL is found to reduce employment and reduce hiring and firing rates for natives. By contrast, stricter EPL has no effect on most immigrants and may even increase employment rates for those who have been in the country for a longer time.employment protection, immigration

Essays on European labor markets

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Economics, 2008.Page 151 blank.Includes bibliographical references.Chapter 1 examines whether immigrants gain a comparative advantage relative to natives in highly protected labor markets. This may be the case if immigrants, being new to the country, are less aware of employment protection regulations and less likely to claim their rights. I test this hypothesis drawing on evidence for the EU and on two natural experiments for Spain and Italy. The results suggest that stricter Employment Protection Legislation (EPL) does indeed benefit immigrants relative to natives. Stricter EPL is found to reduce employment and reduce hiring and firing rates for natives. By contrast, it has no effect on most immigrants and may even increase employment rates for those who have been in the country for a longer period. Chapter 2 is the product of joint work with Marcello Esteviio (IMF) and looks at the effect of the 35-hour workweek in France on wages, employment, dual job holdings and happiness. It explores the different timing of implementation of the shorter workweek in large and small firms to measure its causal effect. The results suggest that the reduction in hours did not succeed in increasing employment and generated a series of behavioural responses that are likely to have reduced welfare, as workers and firms tried to avoid the rigidities created by the reform. This suggests that the French government should increase the flexibility of workers and firms in setting hours of work. Chapter 3 is the product of joint work with Olivier Blanchard (MIT) and Francesco Giavazzi (UniversitA Commerciale Luigi Bocconi). Two main forces lie behind the large U.S. current account deficits: an increase in U.S. demand for foreign goods and an increase in foreign demand for U.S. assets.(cont.) Both have contributed to steadily increasing current account deficits since the mid-1990s, accompanied by a real dollar appreciation until late 2001 and a real depreciation since. We develop a simple model of exchange rate and current account determination based on imperfect substitutability in goods and asset markets and use it to interpret the past and explore alternative future scenarios. We conclude that substantially more depreciation is to come against the yen, the renminbi, and the euro.by Filipa Sá.Ph.D

Higher university fees reduce applications and attendance

Filipa Sá uses the variation in the level of university fees between England and Scotland over time to measure the effect of fees on university applications, course choice and attendance. She finds that applications decrease by about 1.6% for a £1,000 increase in fees and courses that lead to lower salaries and lower employment rates after graduation are more sensitive to changes in fees

International Investors, the U.S. Current Account, and the Dollar

Two main forces lie behind the large U.S. current account deficits: an increase in U.S. demand for foreign goods and an increase in foreign demand for U.S. assets. Both have contributed to steadily increasing current account deficits since the mid-1990s, accompanied by a real dollar appreciation until late 2001 and a real depreciation since, which accelerated in late 2004. This paper explores whether and how much more depreciation is to come, and against which currencies: the euro, the yen, or the renminbi. The paper develops a simple model of exchange rate and current account determination based on imperfect substitutability in both goods and asset markets and uses that model to interpret the past and explore alternative future scenarios. The paper concludes that substantially more depreciation is to come, surely against the yen and the renminbi, and probably against the euro.macroeconomics, International Investors, U.S. Current Account, Dollar

Impact of a simulation-based interprofessional workshop (LINKS) on Portuguese healthcare students’ perception of roles and competencies: a quasi-experimental pilot study

Introduction There is a scarcity of simulation-based interprofessional (IP) programs in Portugal, with a notorious absence in undergraduate education. This paper describes the first step towards the development of an interprofessional education (IPE) undergraduate program, namely the implementation and preliminary assessment of the workshop LINKS – Lifting INterprofessional Knowledge through Simulation. The aim of this pilot study was to assess the educational effect of LINKS, in medical and nursing undergraduate students’ attitudes towards IP teamwork and collaborative practices, and their perception of roles and competencies within an IP team. Methods A total of 23 final-year students participated in the workshop. Teams of three or four elements (medical and nursing students) were exposed to two critical patient management simulation scenarios. To assess the impact of the workshop on students’ perception of IP collaborative practice, two surveys (ATTITUDES and IPEC) were applied before and after the workshop. Additionally, students’ opinion/satisfaction towards the workshop and its curricular integration was explored. Results Students’ awareness of the relevancy of IP learning and self-competency in IP practice improved. For all subdomains and overall scores, statistically significant differences were found when comparing the pre- and post-scores, for both medical and nursing students, in both surveys. All students agreed that the workshop added educational value to their training, and recommended its integration in the formal curriculum, with a first round in the penultimate year and repeated in the last year. Discussion Considering the pre–post test results and anecdotal comments shared during the session, we may infer that this single IPE event contributed to a clearer understanding of the team dynamic and individual role definition, increased the motivation to engage in collaborative practice between physicians and nurses and potentially challenged pre-existent stereotypes of each professional group. These findings corroborate the need for sustainable simulation-based IP programs, integrated in the undergraduate curricula, promoting early clinical interactions of different professional groups. We envision that the results of this study can help to inform future curriculum planning and provide useful insights that can be used within and between Portuguese institutions to develop a common IP undergraduate program.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Activation of Type 1 Cannabinoid Receptor (CB1R) promotes neurogenesis in murine subventricular zone cell cultures

The endocannabinoid system has been implicated in the modulation of adult neurogenesis. Here, we describe the effect of type 1 cannabinoid receptor (CB1R) activation on self-renewal, proliferation and neuronal differentiation in mouse neonatal subventricular zone (SVZ) stem/progenitor cell cultures. Expression of CB1R was detected in SVZ-derived immature cells (Nestin-positive), neurons and astrocytes. Stimulation of the CB1R by (R)-(+)-Methanandamide (R-m-AEA) increased self-renewal of SVZ cells, as assessed by counting the number of secondary neurospheres and the number of Sox2+/+ cell pairs, an effect blocked by Notch pathway inhibition. Moreover, R-m-AEA treatment for 48 h, increased proliferation as assessed by BrdU incorporation assay, an effect mediated by activation of MAPK-ERK and AKT pathways. Surprisingly, stimulation of CB1R by R-m-AEA also promoted neuronal differentiation (without affecting glial differentiation), at 7 days, as shown by counting the number of NeuN-positive neurons in the cultures. Moreover, by monitoring intracellular calcium concentrations ([Ca2+](i)) in single cells following KCl and histamine stimuli, a method that allows the functional evaluation of neuronal differentiation, we observed an increase in neuronal-like cells. This proneurogenic effect was blocked when SVZ cells were co-incubated with R-m-AEA and the CB1R antagonist AM 251, for 7 days, thus indicating that this effect involves CB1R activation. In accordance with an effect on neuronal differentiation and maturation, R-m-AEA also increased neurite growth, as evaluated by quantifying and measuring the number of MAP2-positive processes. Taken together, these results demonstrate that CB1R activation induces proliferation, self-renewal and neuronal differentiation from mouse neonatal SVZ cell cultures.Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia - Portugal [POCTI/SAU-NEU/68465/2006, PTDC/SAU-NEU/104415/2008, PTDC/SAU-NEU/101783/2008, POCTI/SAU-NEU/110838/2009]; Fundacao Calouste Gulbenkian [96542]; Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologiainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio