世界経済・社会統計 = World development indicators

We use survey data to study American households’ propensity to default when the value of their mortgage exceeds the value of their house even if they can afford to pay their mortgage (strategic default). We find that 26% of the existing defaults are strategic. We also find that no household would default if the equity shortfall is less than 10% of the value of the house. Yet, 17% of households would default, even if they can afford to pay their mortgage, when the equity shortfall reaches 50% of the value of their house. Besides relocation costs, the most important variables in predicting strategic default are moral and social considerations. Ceteris paribus, people who consider it immoral to default are 77% less likely to declare their intention to do so, while people who know someone who defaulted are 82% more likely to declare their intention to do so. The willingness to default increases nonlinearly with the proportion of foreclosures in the same ZIP code. That moral attitudes toward default do not change with the percentage of foreclosures in the area suggests that the correlation between willingness to default and percentage of foreclosures is likely to derive from a contagion effect that reduces the social stigma associated with default as defaults become more common.

/pdf/the-determinants-of-attitudes-towards-strategic-default-on-2fc8a1k4ml.pdf

The Determinants of Attitudes towards Strategic Default on Mortgages

This article reviews the empirical literature on the impacts of environmental regulations on firms’ competitiveness as measured by trade, industry location, employment, productivity, and in...

/pdf/the-impacts-of-environmental-regulations-on-competitiveness-1z5o3dc35y.pdf

The impacts of environmental regulations on competitiveness

World Development Indicators 2011 (15th edition)

We use survey data to measure households’ propensity to default on mortgages even if they can afford to pay them (strategic default) when the value of the mortgage exceeds the value of the house. The willingness to default increases in both the absolute and the relative size of the home-equity shortfall. Our evidence suggests that this willingness is affected by both pecuniary and non-pecuniary factors, such as views about fairness and morality. We also find that exposure to other people who strategically defaulted increases the propensity to default strategically because it conveys information about the probability of being sued.

/pdf/the-determinants-of-attitudes-towards-strategic-default-on-8qqfvqlxrk.pdf

https://www.lse.ac.uk/GranthamInstitute/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/WP114-tenure-insecurity-investment-soil-conservation-malawi.pdf

Tenure insecurity and investment in soil conservation. Evidence from Malawi

This paper shows that the level of deforestation in Indonesia is positively related to the degree of ethnic fractionalization. To identify a causal relation we exploit the exogenous timing of variation in the level of ethnic heterogeneity due to the creation of new jurisdictions. We provide evidence consistent with a lower control of politicians, through electoral punishment, in more ethnically fragmented districts. Our results are consistent with the literature on (under) provision of public goods in ethnically diverse societies.

/pdf/public-goods-and-ethnic-diversity-evidence-from-3hpoctwgv5.pdf

Public goods and ethnic diversity: evidence from deforestation in Indonesia

This paper shows that the level of deforestation in Indonesia is positively related to the degree of ethnic fractionalization at the district level. To identify a casual relation we exploit the exogenous timing of variations in the level of ethnic heterogeneity due to the creation of new jurisdictions. We provide evidence consistent with a lower control of politicians, through electoral punishment, in more ethnically fragmented districts. Our results bring a new perspective on the political economy of deforestation. They are consistent with the literature of (under) provision of public goods and social capital in ethnically diverse societies and suggest that when the underlying communities are ethnically fractionalized, decentralization can reduce deforestation.

https://www.cccep.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Working-Paper-211-Lovo-and-Veronesi.pdf

Crop diversification and child health: empirical evidence from Tanzania

The lack of information on the cost of energy for industry poses a major barrier in assessing the effects of energy prices and taxes on the economic performance and international competitiveness of regulated firms. This paper documents the construction of an energy price index for 12 industrial sectors, covering 48 countries for the period 1995 to 2011. Two distinct indices are constructed: the Variable-Weight Energy Price Level (VEPL) which is useful for cross sectional analysis or descriptive statistics and; the Fixed-Weight Energy Price Index (FEPI) which is designed for use in times series and panel data analysis. We present a descriptive analysis of the major trends in energy prices and taxes, and provide guidelines for the use of our energy price data which is made publicly available for download. The indices reveal, among other things, that industrial energy prices have been on an increasing trend in real terms since 2000 for most countries, and that the gap between the highest and the lowest energy prices internationally has widened with the average price in the 10% highest countries being 2.4 times larger than the 10% lowest in 2010. The bulk of variation in industrial energy prices across countries is attributable not to the wholesale price differences but the tax component. We then evaluate to what extent energy prices are a good proxy for emissions policy stringency, and it shows that it has many attractive qualities and avoid problems common to other proxies which have been used in the literature.

/pdf/international-and-sectoral-variation-in-energy-prices-1995-106obbx62d.pdf

Stefania Lovo

Papers

Tenure insecurity and investment in soil conservation. Evidence from Malawi

Public goods and ethnic diversity: evidence from deforestation in Indonesia

Public goods and ethnic diversity: evidence from deforestation in Indonesia

Crop diversification and child health: empirical evidence from Tanzania

International and sectoral variation in energy prices 1995-2011: how does it relate to emissions policy stringency?