University:
Boston University
Course:
MET EC 203 | Empirical Economics I
Academic year:

2023
Views:

425

Pages:

1
Author:

seksfeltsryup

Industrial Parks and Regional Development: Evidence from South Korean Industrial Park Policy (Job Market Paper) Using confidential Korean establishment-level data and industrial park map data, I estimate the effect of new industrial park openings on the regional manufacturing sector. By applying stackedby-event difference-in-difference estimation, I show that the expansion of the regional manufacturing sector is due to net-entry of establishments and not due to growth within incumbent establishments. While one of the main goals of industrial parks is to relocate production activities near one another to generate agglomeration spillovers, the empirical evidence suggests that the extent of agglomeration spillovers is limited and it is offset by selection effects. The extent of agglomeration and selection effects is heterogeneous across different levels of regional development. The observed nonlinearities in the effects of the industrial park policy are important in justifying the validity of placed-based policies, which are often criticized for being ineffective or even welfare reducing. Banking Sector Deregulation and Income Inequality in the United States I estimate the effect of regional banking sector integration on income inequality in the United States. Both intrastate and interstate banking sector deregulation reduces income inequality. For the states with stricter banking sector regulation, interstate deregulation has larger effect in reducing income inequality than intrastate deregulation. A possible explanation is that rent seeking was prevalent in the states with stricter restriction, and reform within the local market was less effective in reducing inequality. Opening the state border to out-of-state banks promoted greater efficiency in the local banking sector. Financial Openness and Income Inequality Past three decades have been associated with rapid economic growth and rise in income inequality across the globe. Using a large cross-country dataset, this paper provides some evidence on the drivers of income inequality. Financial opening -inward foreign direct investment (FDI) in particular- raises income inequality by boosting demand for high-skilled workers. Moreover, the effect of financial opening is heterogeneous across the countries’ level of development. For lower-income countries with weak domestic financial sector, debt flows have further impact on widening the income gap. For the least fortunate income group, reducing trade and capital restrictions have smaller impact on income gap compared to other factors such as education. 3