nep-geo New Economics Papers
on Economic Geography
Issue of 2018‒08‒13
twenty-one papers chosen by
Andreas Koch
Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung

  1. Inequalities, spatial disparities and agglomeration of economic activity in European regions By Riccardo Pozzi; Rosalba Rombaldoni; Edgard Sanchez Carrera
  2. Unemployment resistance across EU regions: the role of technological and human capital By Riccardo Cappelli; Fabio Montobbio; Andrea Morrison
  3. Who are the beneficiaries of the structural funds and the cohesion fund and how does the cohesion policy impact firm-level performance? By Julia Bachtrögler; Christoph Hammer
  4. Quantifying Wider Economic Impacts of Agglomeration for Transport Appraisal: Existing Evidence and Future Directions By Stephen Gibbons; Daniel J. Graham
  5. Hiring by start-ups and regional labor supply By Bellmann, Lisa; Brixy, Udo
  6. Shedding Light on the Spatial Diffusion of Disasters By Gabriel Felbermayr; Jasmin Katrin Gröschl; Mark Sanders; Vincent Schippers; Thomas Steinwachs
  7. The banking systems of Germany, the UK and Spain form a spatial perspective: The German case By Flögel, Franz; Gärtner, Stefan
  8. Regional Alignment and Productivity Growth By Ludovic Dibiaggio; Benjamin Montmartin; Lionel Nesta
  9. U.S. Metropolitan House Price Dynamics By Elias Oikarinen; Steven C. Bourassa; Martin Hoesli; Janne Engblom
  10. International business, cities and competitiveness: recent trends and future challenges By Iammarino, Simona; McCann, Philip; Ortega-Argilés, Raquel
  11. The banking systems of Germany, the UK and Spain form a spatial perspective: The UK case By Flögel, Franz; Gärtner, Stefan
  12. Immigrant Artists: Enrichment or Displacement? By Karol Jan Borowiecki; Kathryn Graddy
  13. Increasing returns to scale without sorting or agglomeration economies By Andres Gomez-Lievano; Vladislav Vysotsky; Jose Lobo
  14. UK regional nowcasting using a mixed frequency vector autoregressive model By Gary Koop; Stuart McIntyre; James Mitchell
  15. Can regional policies shape migration flows? By Pellegrini, Guido; Tarola, Ornella; Cerqua, Augusto; Ceccantoni, Giulia
  16. Spatial competition and quality: evidence from the English family doctor market By Gravelle, H; Liu, D; Propper, C; Santos, R
  17. Move a Little Closer? Information Sharing and the Spatial Clustering of Bank Branches By Shusen Qi; Ralph De Haas; Steven Ongena; Stefan Straetmans
  18. The Spatial Impacts of a Massive Rail Disinvestment Program: The Beeching Axe By Stephen Gibbons; Stephan Heblich; Ted Pinchbeck
  19. Geography, Economic Structures and Institutions: A Synthesis By Collin Constantine; Tarron Khemraj
  20. The system-wide impact of healthy eating: assessing emissions and economic impacts at the regional level By Grant Allan; David Comerford; Peter McGregor
  21. Die Auswirkungen des Gründungsgeschehens auf das regionale Wirtschaftswachstum By Dienes, Christian; Schneck, Stefan; Wolter, Hans-Jürgen

  1. By: Riccardo Pozzi (Department of Economics, Society & Politics, Università di Urbino Carlo Bo); Rosalba Rombaldoni (Department of Economics, Society & Politics, Università di Urbino Carlo Bo); Edgard Sanchez Carrera (Department of Economics, Society & Politics, Università di Urbino Carlo Bo)
    Abstract: European Union defines economic and social cohesion as one of the main priorities, however some theoretical and empirical evidence of regional inequalities in Europe, indicates that a process of convergence has been taking place between countries but not within regions inside countries. The first aim of the paper is that of giving an assessment of the existing spatial inequalities and of their recent evolution in the last 15 years for regions of 22 EU members. Our empirical evidence confirms wider disparities at regional level than at country level,and a growing disconnection between the geography of production, that becomes more unequal, and the geography of incomes (so that we might have regional convergence but not regional cohesion). Alsoin the case of Italy this seems to be proved. The second objective of the present work is twofold: on the one hand it investigates how the process of spatial economic concentration is affecting growth and disparities among European regions. On the other hand, the paper takes the opportunity to verify the impact of spatial inequalities to social inequalities. Our results suggest that interpersonal inequalities are affected by spatial disparities and agglomeration of economic activity has a defined role in this process. Other determinants, such as social expenditure and the level of wealth,mitigate but do not cancelthe effect of spatial inequalities.Moreover, the positive relationship between growth of regional disparities and GDP could suggest a possible trade-off between spatial equity and growth with the implication that on policy ground EU has to make a choice whether reversing or not the process of economic concentration. In addition to this the recent changes in inter-regional inequalitiesadvices a reconsideration of the usual framework underlying policy,especially the people-versus-place division in policy formulation.
    Keywords: dynamic panel, economic geography, European Union, regional inequality, spatial agglomeration
    JEL: R11 R12 R58
    Date: 2018
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:urb:wpaper:18_05&r=geo
  2. By: Riccardo Cappelli; Fabio Montobbio; Andrea Morrison
    Abstract: We investigate the impact of the 2008 crisis to study the relationship between economic and technological resilience in 248 European Union regions. For economic resilience we measure the difference between the level of unemployment rate before crisis and the level of unemployment rate at its peak after the crisis - i.e., the unemployment resistance. Using European Patent Office patents, we look at all technological crises in each region since 1978 and build a variable of technological resilience measuring the historical ability of a region to maintain its level of knowledge creation in face of adverse shocks - i.e., the technological resistance. We find that technological resistance is a good predictor of economic resistance. In particular, our results show that (1) important interaction effects exist between technological resistance and human capital, (2) technological resistance and the level of human capital are less effective in protecting female and elder adult workers in an economic crisis and (3) important country level effects are present.
    Keywords: Economic resilience, technological resilience, unemployment, recession, human capital
    JEL: R11 J64 J24
    Date: 2018–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1831&r=geo
  3. By: Julia Bachtrögler; Christoph Hammer
    Abstract: This paper exploits a new database that is unique in its scale and scope containing detailed information on over two million projects carried out by one million firms that benefited from the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund in 25 EU member countries during the multi-annual financial framework 2007-2013. This database is used to get a better understanding of the characteristics of the beneficiaries of European funds and to assess the impact of the European funds on the beneficiaries’ performance in terms of employment growth, growth in fixed assets, and total factor productivity. While the data reveals substantial heterogeneity of beneficiaries and projects across and within countries, in terms of the number of projects, their total values, the average firm size and other aspects, some patterns are identified. The majority of co-funding goes to manufacturing firms as well as public institutions. The Cohesion Fund co-finances larger projects, carried out by larger, more capital-intensive firms that typically conduct large-scale infrastructure projects. In contrast, the European Social Fund co-finances smaller projects related to human capital and initiatives on the labour market. In terms of volume, the European Regional and Development Fund has the largest budget in total and co-finances a large variety of projects. Using propensity score matching techniques, we find mixed effects of structural and cohesion funds on the performance of a sample of manufacturing firms in six European countries. On average, firms that receive financial assistance hire more workers and increase their capital stock more. However, there is little evidence of additional positive total factor productivity effects for the beneficiaries.
    Keywords: Cohesion Policy, European Union, Firm-level data, Propensity Score Matching, Treatment Effects
    JEL: C21 D22 E61 R11 R58
    Date: 2018–08–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1499-en&r=geo
  4. By: Stephen Gibbons; Daniel J. Graham
    Abstract: This paper is concerned with the Wider Economic Impacts (WEIs) of transport improvements that arise via scale economies of agglomeration. It reviews the background theory and empirical evidence on agglomeration, explains the link between transport and agglomeration, and describes a three step procedure to appraise agglomeration impacts for transport schemes within Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA). The paper concludes with a set of recommendations for future empirical work on agglomeration and transport appraisal.
    Keywords: agglomeration, transport, cost benefit analysis
    JEL: R1 R4
    Date: 2018–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1561&r=geo
  5. By: Bellmann, Lisa (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Brixy, Udo (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany])
    Abstract: "Young firms find it difficult to attract (skilled) workers. Using linked employer-employee data for Germany we investigate how local labor market conditions affect the hiring success of young firms. In a first step, we estimate the probability of the founder becoming an employer. In a second step we analyze how local conditions influence the probability of hiring skilled human capital. The results indicate a positive relationship between the local unemployment level and the hiring probability of young firms." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
    Keywords: Personaleinstellung, Unternehmensgründung, regionaler Arbeitsmarkt, Personalbedarf, IAB-Linked-Employer-Employee-Datensatz, Arbeitslosenquote
    JEL: D22 L26 R12
    Date: 2018–07–25
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201818&r=geo
  6. By: Gabriel Felbermayr; Jasmin Katrin Gröschl; Mark Sanders; Vincent Schippers; Thomas Steinwachs
    Abstract: Climate research suggests that global warming will lead to more frequent and more extreme natural disasters. Most disasters are local events with effects on local economic activity. Hence, assessing their economic impacts with the help of econometric country-level analysis may lead to biased results. Moreover, correct identification is further complicated by the possibility that local shocks shift production and consumption to neighboring locations. In this paper, annual night-time light emission data covering about 24,000 grid cells for the years 1992-2013 are matched to geocoded information on meteorological and geological events. Spatial econometric panel methods are applied to account for interdependencies between locations. Interpreting variation in light emissions as reflecting changes in economic activity, findings convey evidence for pronounced local average treatment effects and strong spatial spillovers, particularly for weather shocks. Moreover, substantial heterogeneity across income groups and regions is identified.
    Keywords: natural disaster and weather shocks, night-time light emission, spatial spillovers, grid cell analysis
    JEL: F15 O18 O44 Q54 R12
    Date: 2018
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7146&r=geo
  7. By: Flögel, Franz; Gärtner, Stefan
    Abstract: A comparison of the German banking system with that of the United Kingdom (UK) and Spain shows Germany to be decentralised not only regarding the distribution of banks, but also its financial and political system more generally. Decentralised banks, which are predominantly regional savings banks and cooperative banks in Germany, nearly account for most lending to business and have extended lending at the expense of centralised banks (such as the four big banks, for example). Federalism and strong redistribution mechanisms between the regions support decentralised banking in Germany. Furthermore, close cooperation in their banking groups is shown to allow decentralised banks to realise economies of scale and develop superior techniques for retail banking, like bank-ICT and rating systems. The detailed comparison of a savings bank with a big bank suggests that shorter (functional) distances allow regional banks to consider soft information easily and reliably when lending to SMEs. Short-distance lending not only reduces the financial constraints of (financially distressed) SMEs, but can also be profitable for banks as they are able to realise higher interest earnings in business with informationally opaque enterprises. However, decentralised banking is also under threat in Germany due to tightening (more complex) banking regulations and the continuing low interest rate environment. Therefore, decentralised banks need to cut costs, which is why they have merged to larger units and closed branches in recent years. Furthermore, they have tried to increase fee earnings at the risk of disintermediation. This paper identifies two dilemmas of these cost-cutting strategies. First, disintermediation challenges regional savings-investment cycles and thus regional independency. Second, mergers, branch closures and the standardisation of processes endanger local decision-making authority and hence short-distance lending. As the detailed comparison make clear, the ability of regional banks to decide on credit at a short distance enables profitable lending to informationally opaque SMEs, meaning SMEs that appear to be very risky on the basis of hard information, by utilising soft information. Accordingly, short distance tends to be a key competitive advantage of regional banks, especially in a low interest rate environment. Cost-cutting measures must be conducted with full awareness of this advantage. With respect to lending to SMEs, branch closures may be less critical than mergers and standardisation because most branches are not involved in lending to SMEs anyway.
    Keywords: comparing banking systems,SME finance in Germany,savings and cooperative banks,decentralised vs. centralised banking
    JEL: D43 E21 G01 G21 G38 R12
    Date: 2018
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iatdps:1804&r=geo
  8. By: Ludovic Dibiaggio (SKEMA Business School; Université Côte d’Azur; GREDEG CNRS); Benjamin Montmartin (SKEMA Business School; Université Côte d’Azur; OFCE Sciences.Po; GREDEG CNRS); Lionel Nesta (Université Côte d’Azur; GREDEG CNRS; OFCE Sciences.Po)
    Abstract: Recent studies highlight an increasing within-country divergence in regional performance. This paper develops the concept of regional alignment to suggest that synergistic relations among the scientific expertise, technological specialization and industry composition of regions affect regional productivity growth. In this paper, we test an extended conditional beta-convergence model using data on 94 French departments (NUTS3) for the period 2001-2011. Our results indicate that a conditional beta-convergence is associated with a sigma-divergence process in the total factor productivity (TFP) growth of French regions. This process is strongly affected by the level of regional alignment. Indeed, we find evidence that regional alignment both directly and indirectly influences regional productivity growth. The indirect effect of regional alignment materializes through its leverage on R&D investment, which is one of the most important drivers of productivity growth. Moreover, using a heterogeneous coefficients model, we show that the positive effect of regional alignment on TFP growth increases with the industrial and technological diversity of regions, which suggests that regional alignment increases the value of Jacobs externalities more than Marshall-Arrow-Romer (MAR) externalities.
    Keywords: Regional Alignment, beta-convergence, productivity growth, multi-regional model
    JEL: R11
    Date: 2018–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2018-18&r=geo
  9. By: Elias Oikarinen (University of Turku); Steven C. Bourassa (Florida Atlantic University); Martin Hoesli (University of Geneva, Swiss Finance Institute, and University of Aberdeen); Janne Engblom (University of Turku)
    Abstract: Using data for 70 U.S. metropolitan areas, this study explores spatial heterogeneity in house price dynamics. We use recent advances in panel econometrics that allow for spatial heterogeneity, cross-sectional dependence, and non-stationary but cointegrated data. We test for spatial differences and analyze the relationship between the price elasticity of housing supply and the income elasticity of prices, as well as bubble size and duration. The long-term elasticity of house prices with respect to aggregate personal income averages 0.81, but varies considerably across metropolitan areas. The long-term income elasticity generally is greater in the more supply-inelastic metropolitan areas, and we show that bubble size and duration are inversely related to supply elasticity. Also short-term momentum and reversion dynamics show substantial spatial heterogeneity.
    Keywords: house prices, dynamics, panel data, spatial heterogeneity, spatial dependence, bubbles
    JEL: C33 R15 R31
    Date: 2018–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chf:rpseri:rp1772&r=geo
  10. By: Iammarino, Simona; McCann, Philip; Ortega-Argilés, Raquel
    JEL: R14 J01 L81
    Date: 2018–06–18
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:86626&r=geo
  11. By: Flögel, Franz; Gärtner, Stefan
    Abstract: As expected, this comparison of the German and the UK banking systems shows substantial differences between the countries. In the UK, savings banks disappeared long ago and other regional banks have never become important in lending to business. Instead, the five large commercial banks dominate business lending. Hardly any short-distance lenders still currently exist in the UK according to our qualitative distance classification of banks and other financial providers for small firms. The closure of the very last local savings bank in 2017 marks the preliminary end of traditional regional banking in the UK and indicates that the financial crisis indirectly challenges small and regional banks disproportionally. This is because the low interest rate environment and more complex banking regulations affect small and regional banks more, making it almost impossible for small standalone banks to survive. Problems in small firm finance have been discussed in the UK at least since the 1990s and government support has been given to community development financial institutions and credit unions in order to close the financial gap for small firms. Due to the financial crisis, access to finance has become increasingly difficult for small businesses, especially in remote regions, so the debate on how to reinvent local banking (and hence how to improve access to finance) has gathered momentum. Three options are under discussion. The first is to create in one stroke a regional and public banking group with a substantial market share by restructuring the Royal Bank of Scotland into a network of local and public banks. The second is to recreate regional banks on an entirely new basis with the help of a new association that would provide economies of scale and knowledge in order to enable local people to create their local banks. The third is to establish local banking by upscaling other financial providers, such as credit unions and responsible finance providers. Whether any of these options are realistic is difficult to say right now. One additional option that could improve SME finance are the so-called challenger banks, a type of bank unknown in Germany. These banks differ in terms of ownership, business model and regional market orientation, yet our findings suggest that they tend to operate on a more decentralised (short-distance) business model than large commercial banks.
    Keywords: comparing banking systems,SME finance in the UK,decentralised vs. centralised banking
    JEL: D43 E21 G01 G21 G38 R12
    Date: 2018
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iatdps:1803&r=geo
  12. By: Karol Jan Borowiecki (University of Southern Denmark); Kathryn Graddy (Brandeis University)
    Abstract: In order to investigate the role of immigrant artists on the development of artistic clusters in U.S. cities, we use the US Census and American Community Survey, collected every 10 years since 1850. We identify artists and art teachers, authors, musicians and music teachers, actors and actresses, architects, and journalists, their geographical location and their status as a native or an immigrant. We look at the relative growth rate of the immigrant population in these occupations over a ten year period and how it affects the relative growth rate of native-born individuals in these artistic occupations. We find that cities that experienced immigrant artistic inflows also see a greater inflow of native artists.
    Date: 2018–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:brd:wpaper:122&r=geo
  13. By: Andres Gomez-Lievano; Vladislav Vysotsky; Jose Lobo
    Abstract: We show that the phenomenon of Increasing Returns to Scale (IRS) can artificially emerge in the absence of any type of sorting or agglomeration effects, in a systematic, predictable and measurable way. This is in contradiction to the convention where the null hypothesis is the absence of IRS. We show the null hypothesis should instead be the presence of IRS when the variance of log-productivity is of the same order of magnitude than the log-size of the smallest observation in the sample. Our analytical results are validated through simulations and through their application to real data of wages across municipalities in Colombia. This effect can obscure the real size productivity premium, and we provide a methodology to statistically test it.
    Date: 2018–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1807.09424&r=geo
  14. By: Gary Koop (University of Strathclyde); Stuart McIntyre (University of Strathclyde); James Mitchell (University of Warwick)
    Abstract: Data on Gross Value Added (GVA) are currently only available at the annual frequency for the UK regions and are released with significant delay. Regional policymakers would benefit from more frequent and timely data. The goal of this paper is to provide these. We use a mixed frequency Vector Autoregression (VAR) to provide, each quarter, nowcasts (i.e. forecasts of current GVA which is as yet unknown due to release delays) of annual GVA growth for the UK regions. The information we use to update our regional nowcasts comes from GVA growth for the UK as a whole as this is released in a more timely and frequent (quarterly) fashion. To improve our nowcasts we use entropic tilting methods to exploit the restriction that UK GVA growth is a weighted average of GVA growth for the UK regions. In this paper, we develop the econometric methodology and test it in the context of a real time nowcasting exercise.
    Keywords: Regional growth, nowcasting, mixed frequency
    JEL: C22 C52 C53 E01 R1
    Date: 2018–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:str:wpaper:1805&r=geo
  15. By: Pellegrini, Guido; Tarola, Ornella; Cerqua, Augusto; Ceccantoni, Giulia
    Abstract: We consider how two groups of regions, which differ in productivity and public good endowments, compete in tax and public goods to attract or reject migrants. In our framework the less productive regions receive public transfers which increase their panoply of public goods. We find that, whenever public transfers are sufficiently high, migration to the less productive regions is observed only in the case when the productivity gap between regions is not extremely wide. We then employ a regression discontinuity design to empirically assess the causal relationship between the reception of large amounts of public funds and migration flows in the EU-15 regions. The theoretical predictions are broadly confirmed as we find a wide expansion in the share of foreign citizens in the highlysubsidized regions, when compared to low-subsidized regions with similar pre-treatment characteristics.
    Keywords: migration, fiscal competition, EU Cohesion Policy, regression discontinuity design
    JEL: C21 F22 H20 R11
    Date: 2018–07–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:87874&r=geo
  16. By: Gravelle, H; Liu, D; Propper, C; Santos, R
    Abstract: We examine whether family doctor firms in England respond to local competition by increasing their quality. We measure quality in terms of clinical performance and patient-reported satisfaction to capture its multi-dimensional nature. We use a panel covering 8 years for over 8000 English general practices, allowing us to control for unobserved local area effects. We measure competition by the number of rival doctors within a small distance. We find that increases in local competition are associated with increases in clinical quality and patient satisfaction, particularly for firms with lower quality. However, the magnitude of the effect is small.
    Date: 2018–02–28
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imp:wpaper:60680&r=geo
  17. By: Shusen Qi (Xiamen University); Ralph De Haas (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Tilburg University); Steven Ongena (University of Zurich, Swiss Finance Institute, KU Leuven, and Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)); Stefan Straetmans (Maastricht University and University of Antwerp)
    Abstract: We study how information sharing between banks influences the geographical clustering of branches. We construct a spatial oligopoly model with price competition that explains why bank branches cluster and how the introduction of information sharing impacts clustering. Dynamic data on 59,333 branches operated by 676 banks in 22 countries between 1995 and 2012 allow us to test the hypotheses derived from this model. Consistent with our model, we find that information sharing spurs banks to open branches in localities that are new to them but that are already relatively well served by other banks. Information sharing also allows firms to borrow from more distant banks.
    Keywords: Information Sharing, Branch Clustering
    JEL: D43 G21 G28 L13 R51
    Date: 2018–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chf:rpseri:rp1774&r=geo
  18. By: Stephen Gibbons; Stephan Heblich; Ted Pinchbeck
    Abstract: Transport investment is a popular policy instrument and many recent studies have investigated whether new infrastructure generates economic benefits and has spatial economic impacts. Our work approaches the question differently and looks at what happens when a substantial part of a national railway network is dismantled, as happened during the 1950s, 60s and 70s in Britain. Part of this disinvestment occurred following controversial reports on railway profitability and structure in the early 1960s - a course of action known colloquially as 'the Beeching Axe' after the author of the reports. The removal of railways is often blamed for the decline of rural areas and peripheral towns in post-war Britain. This rail disinvestment program was targeted at removal of underused and unprofitable lines and not specifically targeted at local economic performance. Even so, we find that there is a relationship between pre-war population decline and the depth of the rail cuts in the post 1950 period. Conditional on these pre-trends, we show that loss of access by rail did cause relative population decline, decline in the proportion of skilled workers, and decline in the proportion of young people in affected areas. The elasticity of population with respect to changes in centrality (or market access) is around 0.3 in our main estimates. Instrumental variables estimates based on the network structure of the cuts yield higher elasticities. An implication of these findings is that rail transport infrastructure plays an important role in shaping the spatial structure of the economy.
    Keywords: rail, infrastructure, Beeching
    JEL: H54 R1 R4
    Date: 2018–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1563&r=geo
  19. By: Collin Constantine; Tarron Khemraj
    Abstract: This paper develops a conceptual framework and presents three case studies that show how differences in economic structures are the fundamental cause of differences in economic development. This insight is derived from a synthesis of competing hypotheses. More complex products have higher barriers to entry, higher income elasticity of demand in export markets, are more conducive for technical change, support higher wages and profits etc. Moreover, a given economic structure gives rise to a particular distribution of income—an important source of de facto political power. The paper argues that a productive structure based on a wide mix of complex products engenders lower income inequality. This is consistent with the Kuznets-Lewis wave—changing income distribution as a consequence of structural changes. We use historical evidence to show that geography played a pivotal role in shaping economic structures and demonstrate that geography is still important in explaining the GuyanaBarbados divergence. Finally, the article argues that the mechanics of economic change or dynamic under-development are determined by the intensity of competition between de facto and de jure political powers and the resolution to this contestation.
    Date: 2018–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tth:wpaper:80&r=geo
  20. By: Grant Allan (University of Strathclyde); David Comerford (University of Strathclyde); Peter McGregor (University of Strathclyde)
    Abstract: Encouraging consumers to shift their diets towards to a lower meat/lower calorie alternative has been the focus of food and health policies across the world. The economic impact on regions has been less widely examined, but is likely to be significant, where agricultural and food activities are important for the host region. In this study we use a multi-sectoral modelling framework to examine the environmental and economic impacts of a dietary change, and illustrate this using a detailed model for Scotland. We find that if household food and drink consumption follows healthy eating guidelines, it would reduce both Scotland’s “footprint†and “territorial†emissions, and yet may be associated with positive economic impacts, generating a “double dividend†for both the environment and the economy. Furthermore, the likely benefits to health suggest the potential for a “triple dividend†. The economic impact however depends critically upon how households use the income previously spent on higher calorie diets.
    Keywords: Diet, emissions, economic impact, Scotland
    JEL: Q11 Q18 R11
    Date: 2018–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:str:wpaper:1807&r=geo
  21. By: Dienes, Christian; Schneck, Stefan; Wolter, Hans-Jürgen
    Abstract: Die vorliegende Studie untersucht den Einfluss des Gründungsgeschehens auf die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung. Hierfür wurden die 402 deutschen Kreise und kreisfreien Städte betrachtet. Dabei zeigt sich, dass Kreise mit hohen Gründungsraten nicht automatisch ein höheres Wachstum generieren. Zwar wirken sich Markteintritte junger Unternehmen grundsätzlich positiv auf die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung aus. Dieser Effekt wird bei höheren Startup-Raten aber immer geringer und kann sich schließlich sogar ins Negative umkehren. Vor diesem Hintergrund ist eine spezielle Gründungsförderung nicht per se falsch. Sie wird aber häufig wenig wirksam sein, da sie auch dann gewährt wird, wenn von weiteren Gründungen kaum noch positive Wachstumsimpulse ausgehen. Im Zweifelsfall sollte daher der Schaffung wirtschaftsfreundlicher Rahmenbedingungen der Vorrang vor speziellen Gründungsförderungsprogrammen gegeben werden.
    Keywords: Gründungsgeschehen,Wachstum,Wettbewerb,Kreisdaten,entrepreneurial activity,growth,competition,district data
    JEL: M13 O1 R11
    Date: 2018
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifmmat:270&r=geo

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