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on Economic Geography |
| By: | Pasquale Commendatore (University of Naples Federico II); Ingrid Kubin (Department of Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business); Carmelo Petraglia (University of Basilicata); Iryna Sushko (Institute of Mathematics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a 3-Region footloose-entrepreneur new economic geography model. Two symmetric regions are part of an economically integrated area (the Union), while the third region represents an outside trade partner. We explore how the spatial allocation of industrial production and employment within the Union is affected by changes in two aspects of trade liberalisation: regional integration and globalisation. Our main contribution pertains to the analysis of the local and global dynamics of the specified factor mobility process. We show that significant parameter ranges exist for which asymmetric distribution of economic activities is one of the possible long-run outcomes. This is a remarkable result within the NEG literature. We then analyse the impact of international trade liberalisation on the dynamics of agglomeration conditional on the endowments of skilled and unskilled labour of the outside region. |
| Keywords: | Industrial agglomeration, New Economic Geography, footloose entrepreneurs, local and global dynamics, bifurcation scenarios |
| JEL: | C62 F12 F2 R12 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwwuw:wuwp164&r=geo |
| By: | Frigant, Vincent; Miollan, Stéphane |
| Abstract: | The paper seeks to provide a quantitative and macroeconomic picture of the new geography of the automotive industry in Europe. Since ten new members joined the European Union in 2004, automakers and suppliers have changed their location strategies and now view the whole of Europe as a single fully integrated space. Using data on employment, production, trade and foreign control of affiliated firms, the paper measures the East-West relocation process. The first section studies the motor vehicle sector, highlighting a sharp rise in the activity levels of Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC), as well as the specific role that Germany plays. It is crucial to remember that motor vehicle manufacturing remains a key traditional economic activity for some of the larger Western European countries. The second section looks at the automotive parts sector. The CEECs’ growth is particularly impressive when consideration is given to employment, a variable largely driven by foreign firms’ decision to export much of their local production. At the same time, the offshoring process remains more or less selective even if it often revolves around labour-intensive activities – explaining in turn the creation today of embedded East-West networks. |
| Keywords: | automobile; Europe; deindustrialisation; relocation; offshoring; industry geography; auto parts industry |
| JEL: | F23 L23 L62 R12 |
| Date: | 2014–01–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:53509&r=geo |
| By: | Sonia SCHWARTZ (Université d'Auvergne); Jean Galbert ONGONO OLINGA; Eric Nazindigouba KERE; Pascale COMBES MOTEL; Jean-Louis COMBES; Johanna CHOUMERT; Ariane Manuela AMIN |
| Abstract: | Protected areas are increasingly used as a tool to fight against deforestation. This paper presents new evidence on the spillover effects that occur in the decision to deforest and the creation of protected areas in local administrative entities in Brazilian Legal Amazon over the 2001-2011 period. We also highlight the interdependence between these two decisions. We proceed in two steps. First, we assumed that protected areas are created to stop the negative effects of deforestation on biodiversity. In order to control for the non-random location of protected areas, biodiversity indicators are used as excluded instruments. This model is estimated using a spatial model with instrumental variables. Second, a simultaneous system of spatially interrelated cross sectional equations is used to take into account the interdependence between the decision to deforest and the creation of protected areas. Our results show (i) that deforestation activities of neighboring municipalities are complements and that (ii) there is evidence of leakage in the sense that protected areas may shift deforestation to neighboring municipalities. The net effect of protected areas on deforestation remains however negative; it is moreover stable across two sub-periods. Our results confirm the important role of protected areas to curb deforestation and thereby biodiversity erosion. Moreover, they show that strategic interactions deserve attention in the effectiveness of conservation policies. |
| Keywords: | Protected areas; deforestation; spatial interactions; simultaneous equations; Brazil; Amazon |
| JEL: | C31 Q57 Q23 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdi:wpaper:1537&r=geo |
| By: | Ron Boschma; Gianluca Capone |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the process of industrial diversification in the EU-27 and ENP countries in the period 1995-2010 by means of world trade data derived from the BACI database (elaborated UN Comtrade data). Our results show that in both the EU-27 and the ENP countries, the evolution of the export mix is strongly path-dependent: countries tend to keep a comparative advantage in products that are strongly related to their current productive structure, and they also diversify in nearby products. However, this effect is much stronger for ENP countries, signalling their lower capabilities to diversify in products that are not very near to their productive structure. We also show that the future export structures of countries are affected by their imports: both the EU-27 and ENP countries keep a comparative advantage in products that are strongly related to their imports, but only EU countries show a strong capability to diversify in new products from related import sectors. Our results also hold when controlling for geographical and institutional proximity. |
| Keywords: | diversification, relatedness, European Neighborhood Policy, trade |
| JEL: | F19 O14 O33 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1407&r=geo |
| By: | Tanja Sinozic; Tanja Sinozic; Tanja Sinozic; Franz Tödtling; Franz Tödtling; Franz Tödtling |
| Abstract: | This paper explores cluster change using the case example of New Media in Vienna. It addresses the question of how cluster elements (such as firms and institutions) interact to shape and transform the thematic and spatial boundaries of clusters as they shift along their developmental stages. Clusters go through different phases underpinned by technical change, renewing and destroying previous cluster specialisations. Creativity is a key feature in modern economies underlying competitiveness in a range of sectors which cluster in urban areas. Sectors such as software and computer services, advertising and market research, printing and reproduction of recorded media, motion pictures, creative arts and entertainment are supported by regional conditions that enable creative processes in local interacting firms, and the translation of ideas into innovative products and services. These perspectives are used to explore the New Media cluster in Vienna based on 25 semi-structured interviews with firms specialising in New Media technology areas. When analysed using a life cycle perspective of clusters, the findings in this paper suggest that cluster thematic boundaries are shaped by change in technological variety via complex processes such as inter-disciplinary problem-solving in projects, re-activation of latent local and global networks, and firm capabilities to respond to rapidly changing client needs in devices, communication and design. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwsre:sre-disc-2014_01&r=geo |
| By: | Timothy J. Bartik (W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates how effects of shocks to local labor demand on local labor market outcomes vary with initial local economic conditions. The data are on U.S. metro areas from 1979 to 2011. The paper finds that demand shocks to local job growth have greater effects in reducing local unemployment rates if the local economy is initially depressed than if the local economy is booming. Demand shocks have greater effects on local wage rates if the local unemployment rate is initially low, but lesser effects if local job growth is initially high. These different effects of local demand shocks imply that social benefits of adding jobs are two to three times greater per job in more depressed local labor markets, compared to more booming local labor markets. |
| Keywords: | Local labor markets, labor demand, social benefits of job creation |
| JEL: | R23 H43 J64 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upj:weupjo:14-202&r=geo |
| By: | Vöpel, Henning |
| Abstract: | In Hamburg wird unverändert darüber diskutiert, inwieweit die Ausrichtung Olympischer Sommerspiele eine sinnvolle Option sein kann, um die Stadtentwicklung langfristig positiv zu beeinflussen und die Standortattraktivität zu erhöhen. Die bisherigen Erfahrungen zeigen, dass Städte sehr unterschiedlich von Olympischen Spielen profitiert haben. Während die Olympischen Spiele 1992 in Barcelona der Stadt einen erheblichen Impuls verliehen haben, verzeichnete Atlanta vier Jahre später sogar einen Imageverlust, weil die Spiele als zu kommerziell empfunden wurden. Jede ausrichtende Stadt besitzt ein spezifisches Standortprofil mit Stärken und Schwächen. Insofern geht es nicht um ein pauschales Ja oder Nein zu Olympischen Spielen, sondern es kommt darauf an, die Bedingungen zu identifizieren, unter denen eine Ausrichtung Olympischer Spiele für Hamburg sinnvoll sein dann, denn die hierfür erforderlichen Investitionen konkurrieren mit alternativen Verwendungen. Insgesamt finden sich in einer ersten Analyse Hinweise darauf, dass Hamburg als sogenannte Second City hinter den weltweit führenden Metropolen und Mega-Cities nicht nur die Voraussetzungen für eine erfolgreiche Ausrichtung Olympischer Spiele erfüllt, sondern selbst von Olympischen Spielen nachhaltig profitieren könnte. -- |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hwwipp:84&r=geo |