nep-geo New Economics Papers
on Economic Geography
Issue of 2016‒11‒13
six papers chosen by
Andreas Koch
Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung

  1. Misalignment of Productivity and Wages Across Regions ?Evidence from Belgian Matched Panel Data By François Rycx; Yves Saks; Ilan Tojerow
  2. The Global Diffusion of Ideas By Buera, Francisco J.; Oberfield, Ezra
  3. Transplanting clean-tech paths from elsewhere: The emergence of the Chinese solar PV industry By Binz, Christian; Diaz Anadon, Laura
  4. Of Cities and Slums By Cavalcanti Ferreira, Pedro; Monge-Naranjo, Alexander; Torres de Mello Pereira, Luciene
  5. Celebrating 30 years of innovation system research: What you need to know about innovation systems By Klein, Malte; Sauer, Andreas
  6. Market Potential and Global Growth over the Long Twentieth Century By David S. Jacks and Dennis Novy; David S. Jacks and Dennis Novy

  1. By: François Rycx; Yves Saks; Ilan Tojerow
    Abstract: This paper is one of the first to estimate how the region in which an establishment is located affects its productivity, wage cost and costcompetitiveness (i.e. its productivity-wage gap). To do so, we use detailed linked employer-employee panel data for Belgium and rely on methodological approaches from both Hellerstein and Neumark (1995) and Bartolucci (2014) to estimate dynamic panel data models at the establishment level. Our findings show that inter-regional differences in productivity and wages are significant but vanish almost totally, both in industry and services, when controlling for a wide range of covariates, establishment fixed effects and endogeneity. Thus, our results suggest that wage cost and productivity differentials are ceteris paribus relatively well aligned across regions.
    Keywords: Regions; productivity; labour costs; linked panel data
    JEL: C33 J24 J31 R30
    Date: 2016–11–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/239577&r=geo
  2. By: Buera, Francisco J. (Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago); Oberfield, Ezra (Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago)
    Abstract: We provide a tractable theory of innovation and technology diffusion to explore the role of international trade in the process of development. We model innovation and diffusion as a process involving the combination of new ideas with insights from other industries or countries. We provide conditions under which each country's equilibrium frontier of knowledge converges to a Frechet distribution, and derive a system of differential equations describing the evolution of the scale parameters of these distributions, i.e., countries' stocks of knowledge. In particular, the growth of a country's stock of knowledge depends only on its trade shares and the stocks of knowledge of its trading partners. We use the framework to quantify the contribution of bilateral trade costs to cross-sectional TFP differences, long-run changes in TFP, and individual post-war growth miracles.
    Keywords: Frechet distribution; global outlook; technology diffusion; trade
    JEL: F1 F43 O33 O47
    Date: 2015–12–31
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedhwp:wp-2016-13&r=geo
  3. By: Binz, Christian (CIRCLE, Lund University); Diaz Anadon, Laura (Harvard University)
    Abstract: New clean-tech industries emerge in increasingly complex spatial patterns that challenge existing explanations on industrial path creation. In particular, the case of latecomer regions quickly building up industries in fields that are unrelated to their previous industrial capabilities is not well understood in the literature. This paper aims to address this gap with an analytical framework that draws on technological innovation system and catching-up literatures to specify the place-specific and extra-regional system resources that firms in latecomer regions draw on in the industry formation process. An in-depth case study of the Chinese solar photovoltaics (PV) sector reveals an industry formation process that differs from existing models. Rather than depending on linkages with multinational companies, extensive policy support, or gradual recombination of pre-existing domestic capabilities, early industry formation in the Chinese solar PV sector emerged from path transplantation in a highly internationalized entrepreneurial project. Pioneering actors mobilized knowledge, markets, investment and technology legitimacy developing outside China and re-combined them with the country’s generic capabilities in export-oriented mass manufacturing. This implies that in some industries, globalization may enable a new model of industrial path creation based on bridging domestic resource gaps by directly mobilizing system resources emerging in the international networks of a global innovation system.
    Keywords: cleantech; path creation; technological innovation system; solar photovoltaics; China; transnational entrepreneurship
    JEL: F64 O33 Q55
    Date: 2016–11–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2016_029&r=geo
  4. By: Cavalcanti Ferreira, Pedro (EPGE/FGV, Rio de Janeiro); Monge-Naranjo, Alexander (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis); Torres de Mello Pereira, Luciene (EPGE/FGV, Rio de Janeiro)
    Abstract: The emergence of slums is a common feature in a country's path towards urbanization, structural transformation and development. Based on salient micro and macro evidence of Brazilian labor, housing and education markets, we construct a simple model to examine the conditions for slums to emerge. We then use the model to examine whether slums are barriers or stepping stones for lower skilled households and for the development of the country as a whole. We calibrate our model to explore the dynamic interaction between skill formation, income inequality and structural transformation with the rise (and potential fall) of slums in Brazil. We then conduct policy counterfactuals. For instance, we find that cracking down on slums could slow down the acquisition of human capital, the growth of cities (outside slums) and non-agricultural employment. The impact of reducing housing barriers to entry into cities and of different forms of school integration between the city and the slums is also explored.
    Keywords: Skill formation; Locations; Occupations; Structural transformation
    JEL: O15 O18 R23 R31
    Date: 2016–10–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedlwp:2016-022&r=geo
  5. By: Klein, Malte; Sauer, Andreas
    Abstract: On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Innovation System research, this paper presents an extensive literature review on this large field of innovation research. Building on an analytical basis of the commonalities "system" and "innovation", the authors analyze the four main Innovation System approaches: National Innovation Systems (NIS), Regional Innovation Systems (RIS), Sectoral Innovation Systems (SIS) and Technological Innovation Systems (TIS). The analysis is structured systematically along ten comprehensive criteria. Starting with the founder(s) of each theory and the research program within each Innovation System approach was developed (1), the basic thoughts of each Innovation System approach are explained (2). For five case studies most cited (3), spatial boundaries are examined (4) and units of analyses are derived (5). By comparing the underlying theoretical concept and empirical results, the authors show patterns in the evolution of Innovation System research overall. By studying the basic components (6) and a functional analysis (7), each Innovation System approach is broken down into structural pieces and functional processes. If available, the authors present one or several taxonomies (8) for each Innovation System approach and summarize similar approaches (9), in order to classify and integrate the approaches into the ongoing innovation research. The identification of further research (10) shows which steps will need to be taken in the next years in order to evolve Innovation System research further and deeper. After the conclusion, the extensive table of comparison is presented which can serve as a guideline for academics and practitioners from basic and applied science, industry or policy that need to understand which Innovation System approach may be best for their specific analytical purposes.
    Keywords: Innovation System,National Innovation System,Regional Innovation System,Sectoral Innovation System,Technological Innovation System
    Date: 2016
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hohdps:172016&r=geo
  6. By: David S. Jacks and Dennis Novy (Simon Fraser University); David S. Jacks and Dennis Novy (University of WarwickAbstract: We examine the evolution of market potential over the long twentieth century from 1900 to 2010. Theoretically, we exploit a structural gravity model to derive a closed-form solution for a widely-used measure of market potential. We are, thus, able to express market potential as a function of directly observable and easily estimable variables. This allows us to consistently compare our measure of market potential both in the cross-section and over time. Empirically, we collect a large data set on aggregate and bilateral trade flows as well as output for 51 countries. We find that market potential exhibits an upward trend across all regions of the world, in particular after World War II. The rise in market potential is also associated with a significant share of global income growth over that period.Keywords: Economic geography, market potential, structural gravity, trade costs JEL Classification: F1, N7)
    Date: 2016
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:307&r=geo

This nep-geo issue is ©2016 by Andreas Koch. It is provided as is without any express or implied warranty. It may be freely redistributed in whole or in part for any purpose. If distributed in part, please include this notice.
General information on the NEP project can be found at http://nep.repec.org. For comments please write to the director of NEP, Marco Novarese at <director@nep.repec.org>. Put “NEP” in the subject, otherwise your mail may be rejected.
NEP’s infrastructure is sponsored by the School of Economics and Finance of Massey University in New Zealand.