Suchergebnisse

This thesis revolves around some central aspects of the empirical spatial economics literature, which studies the influence of space on economic relationships. The article in Chapter 2, titled "Exports and Olympic Games: Is There a Signal Effect?", deals with the potential effects of hosting the Olympic Games on countries' exports. In contrast to earlier contributions, the article shows that hosting or applying for the Olympic Games does not necessarily has a positive and lasting effect on countries' exports. Specifically, this Olympic effect vanishes, once the Olympic hosts are compared to appropriate control groups such as the OECD countries, and not to all remaining countries of the world. The article in Chapter 3, titled "Nuclear Accidents and Policy: Notes on Public Perception", analyzes the effects of the nuclear accident in Fukushima in 2011 and the subsequent nuclear phase-out decision on the subjective perception in Germany. Subjective perception is captured through several independent items from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), including concerns about the environment and concerns about the reliability of nuclear energy. While the accident increases the probability to be worried about the environment, the phase-out decision decreases the worries about the security of nuclear energy. These effects are interrelated with the distance between the respondents' place of residence and the nearest nuclear facility. In Chapter 4 the article titled "Urban Renewal after the Berlin Wall: a place-based Policy Evaluation" evaluates a $2.3 Bn. urban renewal program designed to promote the recovery of 22 neighborhoods in Berlin, Germany. Such programs have become established instruments to mitigate the negative effects of urban decline. The study employs a quasi-experimental research design by comparing housing prices in the target areas over 20 years to various control groups, including areas with similar preconditions which were ultimately not selected for the policy and structurally similar transactions based on propensity score matching. The results show, that the policy was effective in increasing the housing stock quality in the target areas. Compared to similar areas not targeted by the policy, the share of building in bad condition decreased by 25% over the program period, and the value increased by over 50%. There is, however, no evidence that this is a causal effect. Also, there is no evidence for any external effects, which is astonishing given that such housing externalities are often used to justify the expenses for similar policies. Finally, there is evidence that the evaluation of place-based policies is sensitive to unobserved local differences, especially when there are but a few treatment or control areas. The article in Chapter 5, titled "Winner Picking in Urban Revitalization Policies - Empirical Evidence from Berlin", evaluates whether local authorities strategically pick winners when selecting the targets for urban revitalization policies. The chapter analyzes the selection process leading to the designation of five large urban revitalization areas in Berlin, Germany. The article estimates the influence of long-term trends in two key attributes – the unemployment rate and the share of residents of immigrant background – on the probability of being selected as a target area, while holding the current levels of these attributes constant. The results are as expected: local authorities, while choosing from a pool of areas with high levels of unemployment, prefer areas which show first signs of a recovery or a gentrification process. This effect is interpreted as winner picking. In summary, the results of this thesis show that it is crucial to take spatial aspects into account when evaluating economic relationships, especially in an urban or regional context. It also becomes obvious, that conventional estimates might be biased in face of spatial dependence, and that quantitative spatial methods can help reducing this bias. In the light of the thematic broadness and the complexity of the quantitative spatial economics literature, these results help to explain the current dissemination of spatial methods into the applied economics literature. ; Diese Dissertation diskutiert in vier Artikeln einige zentrale Aspekte der angewandten räumlichen Ökonomie, die den Einfluss von Raum auf ökonomische Zusammenhänge untersucht. Der Artikel in Kapitel 2 mit dem Titel "Exports and Olympic Games: Is There a Signal Effect?" diskutiert mögliche Effekte des Ausrichtens von olympischen Sommerspielen auf die Höhe der Exporte eines Landes. Im Gegensatz zu früheren Beiträgen zeigt er, dass das Ausrichten oder das Bewerben für olympische Spiele nicht notwendigerweise einen positiven und langfristigen Effekt auf die Exportmenge eines Landes hat. Dieser olympische Effekt verschwindet insbesondere dann, wenn man die ausrichtenden Länder nicht allen anderen Ländern gegenüber stellt, sondern eine angemessenere Kontrollgruppe wählt, wie etwa die OECD-Staaten. Der Artikel in Kapitel 3 mit dem Titel "Nuclear Accidents and Policy: Notes on Public Perception" analysiert die Effekte des Nuklearunfalls in Fukushima in 2011 und der darauffolgenden Entscheidung über den Atomausstieg auf die individuelle Wahrnehmung in Deutschland. Die subjektive Wahrnehmung wird über verschiedene Items des deutschen sozio-ökonomischen Panels (SOEP) abgebildet, darunter die Sorgen über die Umwelt und die Sorgen über die Sicherheit von Nuklearkraftwerken. Während der Unfall zu einem signifikanten Anstieg der Sorgen über die Umwelt führt, senkt die darauffolgende Entscheidung über den Atomausstieg die Sorgen bezüglich der Sicherheit von Atomkraftwerken. Diese Effekte sind zu einem gewissen Grad abhängig von der Entfernung, die zwischen dem Wohnort der befragten Person und dem nächstgelegenen Atomkraftwerk liegt. In Kapitel 4 evaluiert der Artikel mit dem Titel "Urban Renewal after the Berlin Wall: a place-based Policy Evaluation" ein $2.3 Mrd. teures Stadterneuerungsprogramm, welches die Aufwertung von 22 Vierteln in Berlin, Deutschland, zum Ziel hat. Die Studie greift auf ein quasiexperimentelles Forschungsdesign zurück, indem es Immobilienpreise in den Zielgebieten über 20 Jahre mit der Entwicklung in verschiedenen Kontrollgruppen vergleicht. Diese Kontrollgruppen beinhalten Untersuchungsgebiete, die ursprünglich auch als Zielgebiet vorgesehen waren, sowie strukturell ähnliche Gebiete, die auf Propensity Score Matching basieren. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Politikmaßnahme zu einer erhöhten Qualität des Immobilienbestands in den Zielgebieten geführt hat. Im Vergleich zu ähnlichen Gebieten, die nicht Ziel der Politikmaßnahme waren, hat sich der Anteil an Gebäuden in schlechtem Zustand über den Zeitraum der Studie um 25% verringert, während sich der Wert um bis zu 50% gesteigert hat. Die Ergebnisse deuten aber auch darauf hin, dass es sich nicht um einen kausalen Zusammenhang handelt.Schließlich gibt es Hinweise, dass die Evaluierung von ortsgebundenen Politikmaßnahmen zu einem großen Teil von unbeobachteten lokalen Unterschieden abhängt, besonders wenn es nur wenige Ziel- oder Kontrollgebiete gibt. Der Artikel in Kapitel 5 mit dem Titel "Winner Picking in Urban Revitalization Policies – Empirical Evidence from Berlin" untersucht, ob lokale Verwaltungen strategisch potenzielle Gewinner bevorzugen, wenn sie die Zielgebiete für Stadterneuerungsprogramme bestimmen. Die Studie analysiert den Auswahlprozess, der zur Ausweisung von fünf großen Stadterneuerungsgebieten in Berlin, Deutschland, führt. Sie schätzt dafür den Effekt von langfristigen Trends von zwei zentralen Attributen – der Arbeitslosenquote sowie dem Anteil von Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund – auf die Wahrscheinlichkeit, als Zielgebiet ausgewählt zu werden. Aktuelle Level dieser zwei Attribute werden dabei konstant gehalten. Die Ergebnisse entsprechen den Erwartungen: Ausgehend von einer Gruppe mit relativ hoher aktueller Arbeitslosigkeit, werden Gebiete bevorzugt, die einen positiven Trend oder den Beginn eines Gentrifikationsprozesses vorweisen können. Dieser Effekt wird als Winner Picking interpretiert. Zusammenfassend zeigen die Ergebnisse dieser Dissertation die Wichtigkeit, räumliche Aspekte bei der Analyse von ökonomischen Zusammenhängen nicht unberücksichtigt zu lassen, besonders in einem urbanen oder regionalen Kontext. Es wird offensichtlich, dass konventionelle Schätzergebnisse in Gegenwart von räumlicher Korrelation verzerrt sein können und dass quantitative räumliche Methoden helfen können, diese Verzerrung zu mindern. Angesichts der thematischen Breite und der Komplexität der quantitativen räumlichen Ökonomie helfen diese Ergebnisse, die immer größere Verbreitung von räumlichen Methoden in der allgemeinen angewandten ökonomischen Literatur zu erklären.

AbstractUsing hedonic pricing models, this paper analyzes the impact of houses of worship (HoWs) on the prices of adjacent condominiums inHamburg,Germany. It addresses the questions of whether this impact differs between Islamic and Christian religious centers, whether potential effects persist even after the house of worship has been deconsecrated, and whether church bells affect residential property prices. This is one of the first studies on this subject to have been conducted outside theU.S.Controlling for spatial dependence and by using potentiality variables, positive externalities ofHoWswithin a radius of 1,000 m were identified. Compared with properties beyond this threshold, price premiums of 4.6 percent were detected for condominiums at distances of 100–200 m to the next house of worship. The results also show that the positive externalities near mosques do not differ from those ofHoWsof other religions and that the positive effect of churches continues to be felt even after they have been deconsecrated. The influence of church bell ringing on the prices of surrounding residential properties, however, could not be substantiated.

Major nuclear accidents as recently in Fukushima set nuclear power plant security at the top of the public agenda. Using data of the German Socio-Economic Panel we analyze the effects of the Fukushima accident and a subsequent government decision on nuclear power phase-out on several measures of subjective perception in Germany. In the light of current political debates about the strategic orientation of this energy turnaround, such an analysis is of particular interest since non-pecuniary gains in measures of subjective perception might provide further aspects to be taken into consideration when evaluating the economic costs of the policy. We find that the Fukushima accident increases the probability to report greater worries about the environment. Furthermore, we find evidence for a decrease in the probability to be very worried about the security of nuclear power plants as well as for an increase in reported levels of subjective well-being following the government's resolution on nuclear phase-out. Finally we find that the probabilities of reporting very high concerns are related to the distance between the respondents' place of residence and the nearest nuclear power station.

Nuclear energy is controversially discussed in many countries. Major nuclear accidents as recently in Fukushima set nuclear power plant security on top of the public agenda and increase pressure on policy makers to provide adequate reactions. Using data of the German Socio-economic Panel we analyze the effects of the accident in Fukushima and the following resolution on a nuclear phase-out plan by the German federal government on subjective perceptions using ordinary least squares and ordered logit estimates. We find strong evidence that the period after Fukushima increases the probability to report greater worries about the environment. Furthermore, we find evidence for an increase in reported levels of happiness and a decrease in the probability to be very worried about the security of nuclear power plants after the government's resolution on the nuclear phase-out.

While urban renewal programs have become widely used policy measures to target urban development less is known about the reasons why certain areas are more responsive to policy inter-ventions than others. With this study we address some of these issues by analyzing an urban re-newal program in Berlin, Germany, with 22 designated renewal zones between 1990 and 2012. We separately estimate the effects of the renewal policy on property prices for each respective redevelopment area by comparing price developments in these areas to a series of runner-up areas and to geographically close transactions. We find a considerable amount of heterogeneity. While some areas profit form the renewal policies, there are several areas which develop quite differently and end up with a decrease in property prices due to the urban renewal policy.