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on Economic Geography |
| By: | Shihe Fu (Boston College) |
| Abstract: | Existing studies have explored either only one or two of the mechanisms that human capital externalities percolate at only macrogeographic levels. This paper, by using the 1990 Massachusetts census data, tests four mechanisms at the microgeographic levels in the Boston metropolitan area labor market. We propose that individual workers can learn from their occupational and industrial peers in the same local labor market through four channels: depth of human capital stock, Marshallian labor market externalities, Jacobs labor market externalities, and thickness of the local labor market. We find that all types of human capital externalities are significant across census tracts and blocks. Marshallian labor market externalities and the effect of labor market thickness in terms of industry employment density are significant at the block level. The mechanisms of knowledge spillovers vary across industries and occupations. Different types of externalities attenuate at different speeds over geographic distances. The effect of labor market thickness -- in terms of industry employment density -- decays rapidly beyond 1.5 miles away from block centroid; the effect of human capital depth decays rapidly beyond three miles; while Jacobs externalities decay very slowly, indicating a certain degree of urbanization economies. We conclude that knowledge spillovers are very localized within microgeographic scope in cities that we call, "Smart Cafe Cities." |
| Keywords: | human capital, externalities, labor markets |
| JEL: | C21 R23 J24 |
| Date: | 2005–02–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boc:bocoec:609&r=geo |
| By: | Friberg, Richard (Dept. of Economic Statistics, Stockholm School of Economics); Asplund, Marcus (London Business School); Wilander, Fredrik (Dept. of Economic Statistics, Stockholm School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | While many studies have documented deviations from the Law of One Price in international settings, evidence is scarce on the extent to which consumers take advantage of price differentials and engage in cross border shopping. We use data from 287 Swedish municipalities to estimate how responsive alcohol sales are to foreign prices, and relate the sensitivity to the location’s distance to the border. Typical results suggest that the elasticity with respect to the foreign price is around 0.4 in the border region; moving 200 (400) kilometers inland reduces it to 0.2 (0.1). Given that cross country price differences for alcohol and other products are often caused by taxes, our evidence has implications for the debate on tax competition/harmonization. |
| Keywords: | Law of one price; tax competition; tax harmonization; cross border shopping; European integration. |
| JEL: | F15 H20 H77 R12 |
| Date: | 2005–02–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:hastef:0587&r=geo |
| By: | José Cadima Ribeiro; José Viseu; Nuno Pereira (Universidade do Minho - NIPE) |
| Abstract: | The main purposes of this paper are (i) to analyze the regional promotion strategies of the UEFA Euro 2004 and (ii) to contribute for the improvement of planning and implementation strategies of tourism marketing at regional level. Data regarding these strategies were collected and synthesided. We verified if these match some of the theoretical issues of promotion and tourism marketing. Despite the fact that already many studies have been made, internationally, on the impact of sport events, the present study contains something new as it introduces an ante analysis on the regional pronotion strategies of major sport events.Unlikely, the results show that no specific and integrated regional promotion strategy was pursuit, and no substantial additional financial effort was made. In what concerns the private regional tourism agents, no promotion could be found. The main tourism promotion competition came from across the boarder, whit dynamic promotion actions of the nearby Spanish regional responsibles. |
| Keywords: | UEFA Euro 2004, tourism, promotion, marketing, regional, Minho, Portugal, Spain and major sport events. |
| JEL: | L83 O18 R11 R58 |
| Date: | 2004 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nip:nipewp:13/2004&r=geo |
| By: | José Cadima Ribeiro; José Viseu; Cristina ROdrigues; Tânia Delalande (Universidade do Minho - NIPE) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to establish the profile of the foreign visitor that attwnded the UEFA Euro 2004 Championship in Portugal, namely in the Minho region. Data were collected through a one-to-one inquiry carried out before the matches that took place in Braga e Guimarães. The survey instrument included aspects like the visitors´past comsuption behaviour, media audience and live attendance sport habits. The results we got show that sport event tourists living in countries with higher per capita income spent more in the UEFA Euro 2004. They also stayed in country longer than other visitors. Other valuable information for both tourism operators and tournament managers we got is that most sport event tourists decided to overnight on sites with efficient and direct accesses to the matches. Otherwise, they may be characterised as usual sport consumers in terms of active and passive sport comsumption behaviour. The return of visitors to the sites where the UEFA Euro 2004 took place remains unsolved. Future studies should concentrate on comunity reimbursement and mid/long term benefits. |
| Keywords: | UEFA Euro 2004, economic impact of major sport events, sports tourism. |
| JEL: | C42 R11 L83 O18 |
| Date: | 2004 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nip:nipewp:15/2004&r=geo |
| By: | Chih Ming Tan |
| Abstract: | Do institutions “rule” when explaining cross-country divergence? This paper finds that to a large extent they do. However, the role of ethno-linguistic fractionalization cannot be ignored. Sufficiently high-quality institutions are necessary if the negative impact on development from high levels of ethno-linguistic fractionalization is to be mitigated. Interestingly, I find no role for geographic factors; neither those associated with climate nor geographic isolation, in explaining divergence. There is also no evidence to suggest a role for religious fractionalization. Finally, my findings affirm earlier work in the literature that sets apart Sub-Saharan Africa’s development process from the rest of the world. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tuf:tuftec:0512&r=geo |
| By: | Joshua L. Rosenbloom (Department of Finance, The University of Kansas) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the location and interrelationship of three measures of innovation commercialization across the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the United States and estimates a model of the factors explaining variations in the location of innovation commercialization. In general innovation commercialization tends to be highly geographically concentrated, suggesting the presence of substantial external economies in these functions. Beyond these scale effects, however, I find that the university science and engineering capacity and local patenting activity both help to account for intercity differences in the level of innovation commercialization activity. |
| Date: | 2005–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kan:wpaper:200502&r=geo |
| By: | Jeffrey A. Groen (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) |
| Abstract: | Most skills acquired through on-the-job training may be specific to an occupation and therefore transferable to some but not all firms. This paper explores the relationship between the size of the local market for an occupation-specific skill and job-training outcomes. The Stevens (1994) model of training predicts that as market size increases, job turnover increases and training becomes more general. I test these predictions using data on blue-collar workers and variation in market size across U.S. metropolitan areas. The empirical results support the theoretical predictions and the impacts are most relevant at low levels of market size. |
| Keywords: | on-the-job training, occupation, human capital, local labor markets, market size |
| JEL: | J24 J63 J61 |
| Date: | 2005–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bls:wpaper:ec050020&r=geo |
| By: | Margery Austin Turner (Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center, Urban Institute); Erin Godfrey (New York University); Stephen L. Ross (University of Connecticut); Robin R. Smith (Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center, Urban Institute) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes data from a recently completed study of discrimination against African-American and Hispanic homebuyers when they visit mortgage lending institutions in two major metropolitan markets to make pre-application inquiries. It represents the first application of paired testing to rigorously measure discrimination in the mortgage lending process. The paired tests isolated significant levels of differential treatment on the basis of race and ethnicity in Chicago with African Americans and Hispanics receiving less information and assistance than comparable whites. Adverse treatment of African-Americans and Hispanics is also observed in Los Angeles for specific treatments, but the overall pattern of treatment observed did not differ statistically from equal treatment. Multivariate analyses for Chicago indicate that large lenders treat minorities more favorably than small lenders and that lenders with substantial numbers of applications from African-Americans treat African Americans more favorably than lenders with predominantly white application pools. |
| JEL: | G21 J15 L85 R30 |
| Date: | 2005–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uct:uconnp:2005-03&r=geo |
| By: | José Ignacio Castillo (Universidad de Sevilla); Lourdes López- Valpuesta (Universidad de Sevilla); Maria José Aracil (Universidad de Sevilla) |
| Abstract: | Based on our study on the economic impact of the Port of Seville on the economy of Seville province (2000), in this paper we link its results to a System Dynamics model. This model simulates the decision-making process of vessels carrying merchandise whose final destination is the province of Seville, and which must choose to berth at either the Port of Seville or some other competing port. To this end, a forecast is obtained for Port of Seville traffic, highlighting how public investment influences this entrance decision via improvements in Port of Seville infrastructure and thereby a reduction in its relative costs. |
| Keywords: | Economic Impact studies, Port Economy, System Dynamics model. |
| JEL: | C60 R15 R4 |
| Date: | 2004 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cea:doctra:e2004_87&r=geo |