Melanie Krause (p), Richard Bluhm

Satellite data on nighttime luminosity are an increasingly popular proxy for economic activity. However, the commonly used satellites suffer from top coding and do not accurately capture the brightness of larger cities. In this paper we study the distribution of top lights. Both a simple model of luminosity within cities and our empirical evidence suggest that top lights can be characterized by a Pareto distribution. This allows us to correct the top-coding of the original stable lights data and present a new annual panel of nighttime lights at a resolution of 30 arc seconds over the period from 1992 to 2013. We show that the top 4% of pixels account for 32% of the world's observed brightness. In two applications, we illustrate that this new data challenges some of the perceived wisdom regarding local economic activity. First, the regional light-output elasticity in Germany rises considerably after the correction. Second, primary cities in Sub-Saharan Africa grow as fast as secondary cities, while all African cities are becoming increasingly fragmented.

Lasse Sigbjørn Stambøl (p)

Abstract: This paper describes and analyses residential segregation among persons with immigrant background versus the remaining population in large and central regions of Norway. With political ambitions to achieve an improved integration of immigrants in the society through lower segregation in the settlement patterns, we investigate how this pattern has evolved in the new millennium.

We consider that housing segregation is primarily a problem related to central areas, and are thus focusing on larger cities and regions, although in all major parts of the country. Based on aggregated cross-sectional microdata derived from individual based data registries, we investigate how housing segregation has evolved between selected years up to 2017. We operate with 21 major cities and regions, which are further divided into 380 local areas. The analyses are mostly conducted within this geographical frame, but we have also examined each city and region in terms of their own framework. We have used different methods for analyzing the detailed data, but with most focus on the dissimilarity index (D index) on rate form, and in some cases the Gini coefficient.

Key issues to be answered are: Where are immigrants and persons without immigrant background in Norway resident? How has the pattern of residential segregation changed over time? Are there deviations between immigrants with different country background in their likelihood of living in special places? How does residential segregation vary by individual characteristics such as gender, age, level of education, labor force attachment and immigrants’ duration of residence in Norway?

In spite of strong growth in the number of persons with immigrant background in Norway during the last couple of decades, both the D index and the Gini coefficient mostly show a falling tendency during the investigation period both among immigrants and persons born in Norway to immigrant parents. It is interesting that this is also the situation for the immigrant population with background from countries outside Europe, which then largely means refugees and those who immigrated due to family reunion with refugees. Furthermore, the results indicate a somewhat higher segregation among male than female immigrants, that segregation falls with the age and with duration of residence among European immigrants while the situation are opposite for immigrants from non-European countries. It is detected a certain fall in segregation the higher the educational level, that segregation is low among employed immigrants but high among unemployed immigrants and those enrolled in education.

Valeria Bernardo (p), Xavier Fageda

We examine the impact of long-haul non-stop flights on the connectivity of European cities. We use data on inter-city passenger flows including non-stop and connecting traffic so that we have a precise measure of the economic and social links between distant cities. We apply a matching procedure and run regressions using instrumental variables to deal with the potential endogeneity bias. Increases in traffic, arising out of the shift from ‘not having’ to ‘having’ non-stop flights, can be more than double. Such increases in the volume of traffic do not seem to be related to a systematic change in fares.

Ariel Gustavo Letti (p), Luis E. Vila , Mauricio Bittencourt

Despite the 200% increase of Brazilian higher education enrollments in the XXI century, less than 15% of its population has tertiary education. Thus, the current financial stringency, accountability and efficiency became critical topics. This study applies DEA methodology to evaluate the relative efficiency of 93 Brazilian Public Universities, for the period of 2010 to 2016, considering its regional distribution. In order to reach this goal, three models were used focusing on: (i) waste of financial resources and (ii) outputs improvement, by considering only expenditures as input; and (iii) outputs improvement, by considering only human resources as inputs (faculty and staff). The analysis includes robust techniques to identify and manage outlier observations (Wilson, 1993, 2010). This contribution is a step forward to previous studies such as those of Duenhas, França and Rolim (2013), Costa, Ramos and Souza (2014), Bittencourt et al (2016), and Letti and Bittencourt (2017). The data come primarily from the National Institute of Teaching and Educational Research (INEP/MEC, ‘Higher Education Census’), Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), and the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI). The results showed that, in general, 28 (30%) of the universities were efficient and the general mean efficiency was 67% (56% to the inefficient ones). Through time, the Malmquist index to financial input suggests a 62% efficiency improvement, only 3% due to technical change, 38% due to pure efficiency change, and 14% due to scale change. Considering only human inputs, these values fell to 31%, -15%, 24%, and 24%, respectively. Through space, different patterns were observed, with the minimum value to the North in 2010 (39%) and the maximum to the South in 2015 (88%). Although the values by region diverge through time, they ended up converging to efficiencies between 59% (North) and 84% (Center-West). Results also suggest that R$ 7.23 billion a year were wasted due to inefficiency, and if they were used efficiently, it would result in an additional 31% on undergraduate degrees (98,655 by year), 16% on postgraduate (8,092), 20% on third mission activities (7,829), and 12% on registered patents (86). On the other hand, by considering only the human resources as inputs, the improvement could be of 13%, 9%, 10%, and 6%, respectively. As a following stage in this research agenda, it would be a great contribution to consider quality variables and search for potential determinants of the institutions’ efficiencies.