Summary. The spatial mismatch hypothesis (SMH) argues that low-skilled minorities residing in US inner cities experience poor labour market outcomes because they are disconnected from suburban job opportunities. This assumption gave rise to an abundant empirical literature, which is rather supportive of the SMH. Surprisingly, it is only recently that theoretical models have emerged, which probably explains why the mechanisms of spatial mismatch have long remained unclear and not properly tested. This article presents relevant facts, reviews the theoretical models of spatial mismatch, confronts their predictions with available empirical results and indicates which mechanisms deserve further empirical tests.

This paper studies the determinants of foreign land acquisition for large-scale agriculture. To do so, gravity models are estimated using data on bilateral investment relationships, together with newly constructed indicators of agro-ecological suitability in areas with low population density as well as indicators of land rights security. Results confirm the central role of agro-ecological potential as a pull factor. In contrast to the literature on foreign investment in general, the quality of the business climate is insignificant whereas weak land governance and tenure security for current users make countries more attractive for investors. Implications for policy are discussed. JEL Classification Numbers: F21, O13, Q15, Q34 hselod@worldbank.org. We thank Charlotte Coutand and Caroline Silverman for helping with data coding, Daniel Monchuk, Siobhan Murray, as well as Gunther Fischer and Mahendra Shah (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis) for their contribution to the construction of indicators of land availability, Jean-François Eudeline for building the synthetic indicator of tenure security, and Thierry Mayer and Jacques Ould Aoudia for their guidance and suggestions regarding the use of data on governance. We are also grateful to D. Byerlee, W. Martin, J. Swinnen, for insightful discussions and suggestions and participants of the 2010 AAEA and NARSC conferences for useful comments.

This research has been co-funded funded by a French Consultant Trust Fund and the Development Research Group of the World Bank. We thank Laurent Gobillon for helpful comments.

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. www.econstor.eu Terms of use: Documents in D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E S ABSTRACT Do Unemployed Workers Benefit from Enterprise Zones? The French ExperienceThis paper presents an impact evaluation of the French enterprise zone program which was initiated in 1997 to help unemployed workers find employment by granting a significant wagetax exemption (about one third of total labor costs) to firms hiring at least 20% of their labor force locally. Drawing from a unique geo-referenced dataset of unemployment spells in the Paris region over an extensive period of time (1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003), we are able to measure the direct effect of the program on unemployment duration, distinguishing between short-and mediumterm effects. This is done by implementing an original two-stage empirical strategy using individual data in the first stage and aggregate data and conditional linear matching techniques in the second stage. We show that although the enterprise zones program tended to "pick winners", it is likely to be cost-ineffective. It had a small but significant effect on the rate at which unemployed workers find a job (which is increased by a modest 3 percent). This effect is localized and significant only in the short run (i.e. at best during the 3 years that follow the start of the policy).JEL Classification: C21, J60, J68, R58

No abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. This paper offers a new theoretical approach to urban squatting, reflecting the view that squatters and formal residents compete for land within a city. The key implication of this view is that squatters "squeeze" the formal market, raising the price paid by formal residents. The squatter organizer, however, ensures that this squeezing is not too severe, since otherwise the formal price will rise to a level that invites eviction by landowners (defensive expenditures by squatter households also help to forestall eviction). Because eviction is thus absent in equilibrium, the model differs crucially from previous analytical frameworks, where eviction occurs with some probability. Terms of use: Documents in EconStor mayJEL Code: R00, R31, O18.

This survey reviews the current state of the economic literature, assessing the impact of transport investments and policies on growth, inclusion, and sustainability in a developing country context. It also discusses the specific implementation challenges of transport interventions in developing countries.

disparities opposing city centres and peripheries. In the US for instance, inner cities are usually poor and the catalyst of many social problems, whereas suburbs are more well-off. Brussels exhibits a similar spatial structure since its inner city concentrates unemployed workers and disadvantaged communities, including many unskilled workers and ethnic minorities (see for example, Vandermotten et al., 1999;Thomas and Zenou, 1999; GoffetteNagot et al., 2000;Kesteloot et al., 2001). Residential Segregation and Unemployment: The Case of BrusselsClaire Dujardin, Harris Selod and Isabelle Thomas [Paper first received, February 2003; in final form, March 2007] AbstractThis paper investigates the causal effects of the spatial organisation of Brussels on unemployment propensities. Using census data at the individual level, the unemployment probability of young adults is estimated while taking into account personal, household and neighbourhood characteristics. The endogeneity of residential locations is solved by restricting the sample to young adults residing with their parents; the potential remaining bias is evaluated by conducting a sensitivity analysis. The results suggest that the neighbourhood of residence signifi cantly increases a youngster's probability of being unemployed, a result which is quite robust to the presence of both observed and unobserved parental covariates.