Browsing by Author "Östh, John"

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Airbnb and COVID-19: SPACE-TIME vulnerability effects in six world-cities
(Elsevier, 2022) Kourtit, Karima; Nijkamp, Peter; Östh, John; Türk, Umut; 0000-0002-8440-7048; 0000-0002-4068-8132; 0000-0002-7171-994X; AGÜ, Yönetim Bilimleri Fakültesi, Ekonomi Bölümü
This study examines the COVID-19 vulnerability and subsequent market dynamics in the volatile hospitality market worldwide, by focusing in particular on individual Airbnb bookings-data for six world-cities in various continents over the period January 2020–August 2021. This research was done by: (i) looking into factual survival rates of Airbnb accommodations in the period concerned; (ii) examining place-based impacts of intracity location on the economic performance of Airbnb facilities; (iii) estimating the price responses to the pandemic by means of a hedonic price model. In our statistical analyses based on large volumes of time- and space-varying data, multilevel logistic regression models are used to trace ‘corona survivability footprints’ and to estimate a hedonic price-elasticity-of-demand model. The results reveal hardships for the Airbnb market as a whole as well as a high volatility in prices in most cities. Our study highlights the vulnerability and ‘corona echoeffects’ on Airbnb markets for specific accommodation segments in several large cities in the world. It adds to the tourism literature by testing the geographic distributional impacts of the corona pandemic on customers’ choices regarding type and intra-urban location of Airbnb accommodations.
The effect of lockdown on students' performance: A comparative study between Italy, Sweden and Turkey
(ELSEVIER SCI LTD, 2023) Casalone, Giorgia; Michelangeli, Alessandra; Östh, John; Türk, Umut; 0000-0002-8440-7048; AGÜ, Yönetim Bilimleri Fakültesi, Ekonomi Bölümü; Türk, Umut
During the first months of the COVID-19 outbreak, countries adopted different strategies in order to mitigate the effects of the pandemic, ranging from recommendations to limit individual movement to severe lockdown measures. Regarding higher education, university studies were shifted to digital solutions in most countries. The sudden move to online teaching affected stu-dents differently, depending on the overall mitigation strategies applied. Severe lockdown and closure measures caused a disruption of their academic and social interactions. In contrast, rec-ommendations to limit activities probably did not change students' life to a great extent. The heterogeneity of the policies adopted in three countries (Italy, Sweden and Turkey) gives us an opportunity to assess the effects of lockdown measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic on uni-versity students' performance. We employ a difference-in-differences approach by exploiting the fact that Italy and Turkey experienced national lockdowns, while Sweden never applied nation-wide mandatory restrictive policies. We use administrative data from universities in the three countries to estimate the probability to pass exams after the spread of COVID-19 pandemic (and the shift to distance education), with respect to the previous comparable period. We find that the pass rate decreased with the shift to online teaching. However, lockdown measures, especially if very restrictive as those applied in Italy, helped to compensate such negative effect. A possible explanation is that students took advantage of the huge increase in the time available for their studies, given the impossibility to carry out any activity outside the home.
Inequality in leisure mobility: An analysis of activity space segregation spectra in the Stockholm conurbation
(ELSEVIER, 2023) Toger, Marina; Türk, Umut; Östh, John; Kourtit, Karima; Nijkamp, Peter; 0000-0002-8440-7048; AGÜ, Yönetim Bilimleri Fakültesi, Ekonomi Bölümü; Türk, Umut
Leisure mobility forms an important part of people’s spatial activity and mobility spectrum. This study aims to analyse the inequality dimensions of spatial mobility of individuals who seek to move to recreational and leisure destinations (often ‘green’ and ‘blue’) on designated days. The study traces – through the use of spatially dependent multilevel models – the mobility patterns of people from the greater Stockholm area, using individual pseudonymised mobile phone data and other publicly accessible data. We find significant socio-demographic inequalities in the observed residents’ spatial leisure choices, where less affluent groups display especially low variation in mobility when comparing between weekdays, weekends, vacation season and work-periods.
Introducing a spatially explicit Gini measure for spatial segregation
(SPRINGER, 2023) Türk, Umut; Östh, John; 0000-0002-8440-7048; AGÜ, Yönetim Bilimleri Fakültesi, Ekonomi Bölümü; Türk, Umut
This paper proposes an alternative measure of economic segregation by income that utilizes the Gini index as the basis of measurement. The Gini Index of Spatial Segregation (GSS) is a ratio of two Gini indices that compares the inequality between neighbourhoods to the inequality between individuals at the macro-level where neighbourhoods are nested. Unlike earlier measures of segregation found in the literature, the GSS uses individualized neighbourhoods, which can be defined as an area constituted within a radius or as a population count method around an individual geo-location, depending on the population density and proximity among individuals in the study area. The GSS can measure residential segregation by any continuous variable for both radii and k-nearest neighbours (knn with and without a decay factor) approaches to bespoke neighbourhoods. Therefore, it is sensitive to the spatial configuration of the area, easy to compute and interpret, and suitable for comparative studies of segregation over time and across different contexts. An empirical application of the index is illustrated using data from Sweden that covers the entire population for 1994, 2004, and 2014. We demonstrate how the definition and scale of the neighbourhood influence the measures of economic segregation. Overall, the GSS offers a flexible and robust framework for measuring segregation that can be used to inform policy decisions and research on inequality.
Leisure mobility changes during the COVID-19 pandemic – An analysis of survey and mobile phone data in Sweden
(ELSEVIER, 2023) Östh, John; Toger, Marina; Türk, Umut; Kourtit, Karima; Nijkamp, Peter; 0000-0002-8440-7048; AGÜ, Yönetim Bilimleri Fakültesi, Ekonomi Bölümü; Türk, Umut
The COVID-19 pandemic affected travelling in general, and the leisure mobility and the spatial distribution of travellers in particular. In most parts of the world, both domestic and international travel has been replaced by restrictive policies and recommendations on mobility. A modal shift from public transport towards private cars and micro-mobility was also observed. This study seeks to trace the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for leisure mobility. We use a unique Swedish database containing daily mobility patterns of pseudonymised mobile phone users, combined with a survey on vacation transport behaviour. By contrasting mobility patterns for selected holiday days during the unaffected summer of 2019 with corresponding dates in 2020 and 2021, we are able to model and detect the pandemic effects on tourism and recreational mobility. Moreover, by identifying the general mobility patterns, we analyse whether and how the transport mode has changed. Using data on the spatial distribution of recreational amenities, we identify locations that were favoured during the pandemic. In Sweden, even though the pandemic decreased in spread and severity during the summers, most travel restrictions were still enforced, international vacations uncommon, and larger vacation spots, such as amusement parks and cultural institutions, were closed down. Swedish vacation homes in remote or rural areas were quickly booked. This change in recreational behaviour, where less populated areas, open air and nature recreation were favoured over indoor or crowded urban cultural activities, was more substantial in 2021 than in 2020. This result shows how policies can effectively be developed, so that Swedes respond properly to recommendations and adjust their vacation plans. © 2023 The Authors
Spatial Competition, Spatial Agglomeration and Survival of Small Businesses in Milan during COVID-19
(Societa Editrice Il Mulino, 2023) Türk, Umut; Östh, John; 0000-0002-8440-7048; AGÜ, Yönetim Bilimleri Fakültesi, Ekonomi Bölümü; Türk, Umut
This study examines the location choice of small firms in Milan across three periods: pre-COVID, early COVID, and late COVID, testing the applicability of traditional spatial economic theories. With the recent COVID-19 pandemic restricting human mobility, there has been a significant acceleration of tele-activities such as remote work and e-commerce, which may have impacted consumer behavior and service supply. Using data extracted from open map services, we find that small businesses have become more residential but moved farther from the city center during the pandemic, with single-owned and multi-branch firms exhibiting different responses.