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on Economic Geography |
| By: | Head, Keith; Mayer, Thierry |
| Abstract: | Recent theoretical work on economic geography emphasizes the interplay of transport costs and plant-level increasing returns. In these models, the spatial distribution of demand is a key determinant of economic outcomes. In one strand, it is argued that higher demand gives rise to a more than proportionate increase in production, a result known as the home market effect. Another strand emphasizes the effects of market sizes on factor prices. In this paper we highlight the theoretical connection between these two strands. We use data on 57 European regions to show how wages and employment respond to differentials in what we call real market potential, a discounted sum of demands derived from the theory. |
| Keywords: | gravity equation; home market effects; new economic geography; wage equation |
| JEL: | F12 F15 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2005–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4908&r=geo |
| By: | Juessen Falko (University of Dortmund, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents an empirical study of GDP per worker (and per capita) convergence across German labour market regions during 1992 to 2002 using nonparametric techniques. There is evidence for a tendency towards convergence during the observed period, i.e. regions that were less productive in 1992 (East-German regions) established a higher relative GDP in 2002. It is an advantage of our approach that it allows to make predictions about the long run distribution of regional production. We predict a persistent inequality among German regions. This result implies that the substantial regional policy expenditures made by the German government and the EU will not achieve their aim of equalisation, and need therefore to be critically reviewed. |
| Keywords: | regional convergence, distribution dynamics, nonparametric econometrics, stochastic kernel, regional policy |
| JEL: | C14 C23 O47 R11 |
| Date: | 2005–06–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpa:wuwpur:0506008&r=geo |
| By: | Yutaro Murakami (Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University) |
| Abstract: | This paper constructs a two-region endogenous growth model with productive government expenditure to analyze the relationship between regional redistribution of public input and the welfare of residents in each region. This paper shows that the redistribution policy may be Pareto improving if the distribution rate of a more populous region is increased because it raises the equilibrium growth rate. Furthermore, the higher the inequalities between the labor populations are, the greater the possibility of a Pareto improving policy. |
| Keywords: | Endogenous growth; Government expenditure; Regional distribution; Welfare; Pareto improving policy |
| JEL: | H53 O41 R58 |
| Date: | 2005–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osk:wpaper:0507&r=geo |
| By: | Goetzmann, William; Massa, Massimo; Simonov, Andrei |
| Abstract: | We study the puzzle of portfolio underdiversification and proximity investment from a novel perspective, linking it to the process of urbanization. We find that urban portfolios are more focused – i.e., less diversified and more concentrated in ‘close’ stocks. We explain it in terms of the process of ‘professional specialization’ that characterizes urban environments. We test this against a number of alternative theories: financial sophistication, social competition and hedging non-financial risk. We show that the very same factors behind the drive to city agglomeration also affect both the degree of portfolio diversification and proximity investing by influencing investor information and risk. |
| Keywords: | city agglomeration; portfolio choice; professional specialization; proximity investment; under-diversification |
| JEL: | G11 G14 |
| Date: | 2004–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4786&r=geo |
| By: | Balázs, Muraközy; Halpern, László |
| Abstract: | This Paper examines the technology transfer through FDI in Hungary, using a large panel dataset of 24,000 firm-level observations. We distinguish horizontal (intra-industry) and vertical (inter-industry) spillovers. Besides the sign and magnitude of these effects we are interested in the spatial structure of these technology transfers. For this we use distance data, correct for sample selection and for the endogeneity of input demand use Arellano-Bond dynamic panel data technique. Our main findings are that there are significant horizontal and backward spillovers for domestic-owned firms suggesting the presence of foreign competitors and customers is beneficial for domestic firms. The effect of regional and county boundaries is insignificant. Using the distance data we find clear spatial structure of spillovers: for domestic firms the foreign presence only matters in very small distance (25 km), for foreign-owned firms the stronger the spillover the larger the distance (50 and 100 km). |
| Keywords: | foreign direct investments; spillovers; technology transfer |
| JEL: | D24 F14 |
| Date: | 2005–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4857&r=geo |
| By: | Selod, Harris; Zenou, Yves |
| Abstract: | We consider a search-matching model in which black workers are discriminated against and the job arrival rates of all workers depend on social networks as well as distance to jobs. Location choices are mainly driven by the racial preferences of households. There are two possible urban equilibrium and we show that, under some reasonable conditions, all workers are better off in the equilibrium where blacks are close to jobs. We then consider two policies: affirmative action and employment subsidies to the firms that hire black workers. We show that, in cities where black workers reside far away from jobs, the optimal policy is to impose higher quotas or employment subsidies than in cities where they live close to jobs. |
| Keywords: | Affirmative Action; employment subsidies; racial preferences; social networks; spatial mismatch |
| JEL: | J15 J41 R14 |
| Date: | 2005–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4926&r=geo |
| By: | Duranton, Gilles; Storper, Michael |
| Abstract: | While transport costs have fallen, the empirical evidence also points at rising total trade costs. In a model of industry location with endogenous transaction costs, we show how and under which conditions a decline in transport costs can lead to an increase in the total cost of trade. |
| Keywords: | agglomeration; trade costs; transaction costs; transport costs; vertically linked industries |
| JEL: | D23 D24 R12 |
| Date: | 2005–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4933&r=geo |
| By: | Murata, Yasusada; Thisse, Jacques-François |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the interplay between commodities’ transportation costs and workers’ commuting costs within a general equilibrium framework à la Dixit-Stiglitz. Workers are mobile and choose a region to work in as well as an intra-urban location in which to live. We show that a more integrated economy need not be more agglomerated. Instead, low transportation costs lead to the dispersion of economic activities. This is because workers are able to alleviate the burden of urban costs by being dispersed, while retaining a good access to all varieties. By contrast, low commuting costs foster the agglomeration of economic activities. |
| Keywords: | agglomeration; commuting costs; economic geography; transportation costs; urban costs |
| JEL: | F12 R12 |
| Date: | 2005–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4936&r=geo |
| By: | Gautier, Pieter A; Svarer, Michael; Teulings, Coen N |
| Abstract: | Do people move to cities because of marriage market considerations? In cities singles can meet more potential partners than in rural areas. Singles are therefore prepared to pay a premium in terms of higher housing prices. Once married, the marriage market benefits disappear while the housing premium remains. We extend the model of Burdett and Coles (1997) with a distinction between efficient (cities) and less efficient (non-cities) search markets. One implication of the model is that singles are more likely to move from rural areas to cities while married couples are more likely to make the reverse movement. A second prediction of the model is that attractive singles benefit most from a dense market (i.e. from being choosy). Those predictions are tested with a unique Danish dataset. |
| Keywords: | city; marriage; mobility; search |
| JEL: | J12 J64 |
| Date: | 2005–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4939&r=geo |
| By: | Audretsch, David B; Lehmann, Erik E |
| Abstract: | This study examines the impact locational spillovers have on firm performance. Based on a uniquely created dataset consisting of high-technology start-ups publicly listed in Germany, this paper tests the proposition of locational spillovers positively affecting firm performance, as measured by abnormally high profits on the stock market. The results provide evidence that geographic proximity and university spillovers are complementary determinants of firm performance. While neither geographic proximity nor academic research spillovers alone can explain firm performance, a combination of both factors results in significant higher stock market performance. The results also show academic spillovers are heterogeneous in their impact depending on the type. In particular, spillovers from social sciences have a different impact on firm performance than do spillovers from natural science. |
| Keywords: | firm performance; university spillover; university-firm collaboration |
| JEL: | L20 M13 R30 |
| Date: | 2005–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4949&r=geo |
| By: | Combes, Pierre-Philippe; Duranton, Gilles; Overman, Henry G. |
| Abstract: | We consider the literatures on urban systems and New Economic Geography to examine questions concerning agglomeration and how areas respond to shocks to the economic environment. We first propose a diagrammatic framework to compare the two approaches. We then use this framework to study a number of extensions and to consider several policy relevant issues. |
| Keywords: | diagrammatic exposition; New Economic Geography; urban and regional policy; urban systems |
| JEL: | R00 R58 |
| Date: | 2005–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5028&r=geo |
| By: | Duranton, Gilles; Jayet, Hubert |
| Abstract: | This paper provides some evidence that the division of labour is limited by the extent of the (local) market. We first propose a theoretical model. Its main prediction is that scarce occupations are over-represented in large cities. Using census data for French cities, we then provide strong empirical support for this prediction. |
| Keywords: | division of labour; extent of the market; specialization |
| JEL: | J24 J44 R23 |
| Date: | 2005–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5087&r=geo |
| By: | Christopher H. Wheeler |
| Abstract: | One of the most robust findings emerging from studies of industrial agglomeration is the rise in productivity that tends to accompany it. What most studies have not addressed, however, is the potential role played by human capital externalities in driving this relationship. This paper seeks to do so using data from the 1980, 1990, and 2000 US Census covering a collection of 77 (primarily) 3-digit manufacturing industries across a sample of more than 200 metropolitan areas. The analysis generates two primary results. First, a variety of education- and experience-based measures of average human capital rise significantly as an industry's employment in a metropolitan area increases. Hence, clusters of industry do tend to be characterized by larger stocks of human capital. However, second, even after accounting for the level of human capital in a worker's own industry, the overall size of the industry remains strongly associated with wages. Such results suggest that localization economies are largely not the product of knowledge spillovers. |
| Keywords: | Regional economics ; Human capital |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedlwp:2005-015&r=geo |
| By: | Christopher H. Wheeler |
| Abstract: | Although the association between industrial agglomeration and productivity has been widely examined and documented, little work has explored the possibility that these `external' productivity shifts are the product of more advanced technologies. This paper offers a look at this hypothesis using data on individual-level computer usage across a sample of U.S. metropolitan areas over the years 1984, 1989, 1993, and 1997. The results indicate that, for a wide array of industries at the two-, three-, and four-digit SIC level, an industry's scale within a metropolitan area is positively associated with the frequency of computer use by its workers. However, in spite of these observable differences in workplace technology, I also find that estimated localization effects on wages are largely not explained by computer usage. Even after controlling for computer use, there remain significant own-industry scale effects in labor earnings. |
| Keywords: | Technology ; Industrial location |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedlwp:2005-016&r=geo |
| By: | Edward L. Glaeser |
| Abstract: | New York has been remarkably successful relative to any other large city outside of the sunbelt and it remains the nation's premier metropolis. What accounts for New York's rise and continuing success? The rise of New York in the early nineteenth century is the result of technological changes that moved ocean shipping from a point-to-point system to a hub and spoke system; New York's geography made it the natural hub of this system. Manufacturing then centered in New York because the hub of a transport system is, in many cases, the ideal place to transform raw materials into finished goods. This initial dominance was entrenched by New York's role as the hub for immigration. In the late 20th century, New York's survival is based almost entirely on finance and business services, which are also legacies of the port. In this period, New York's role as a hub still matters, but it is far less important than the edge that density and agglomeration give to the acquisition of knowledge. |
| JEL: | N0 |
| Date: | 2005–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:11398&r=geo |
| By: | Paul Cheshire (London School of Economics, Department of Geography & Environment); Stefano Magrini (Università degli Studi di Venezia 'Ca' Foscari', Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates differences in the rate of growth of population across the large city-regions of the EU12 between 1980 and 2000. The US model which assumes perfect factor mobility does not seem well adapted to European conditions. There is evidence strongly suggesting that equilibrating migration flows between cities in different countries are highly constrained in the EU. However, quality of life motives do seem to be a significant and important feature of differential population growth rates if measured relative to national rather than EU12 values. Once other factors are allowed for, a systematic and highly significant factor determining rates of urban population growth is climatic variation. Cities with better weather than that of their countries have systematically tended to gain population over the past 20 years once other factors – including natural rates of increase in the areas of each country outside the major cities - are allowed for: there is no such effect for climate variables if expressed relative to the value of the EU12 as a whole. On the other hand, there is evidence that the systematic spatial gains from European integration are reflected in a city’s population growth. The results are tested for spatial dependence and remain robust. |
| Keywords: | growth; cities; quality of life differences; mobility; migration |
| JEL: | R |
| Date: | 2005–06–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpa:wuwpur:0506009&r=geo |
| By: | Frédéric Lagneaux (National Bank of Belgium, Microeconomic Information Department) |
| Abstract: | The Flemish maritime ports play a major role in the Belgian economy, not only in terms of the industries they encompass but also as intermodal centres where transhipment activities are concentrated. This update1 paper provides an extensive overview of the economic importance and development of the Flemish maritime ports, through revised results for the period 1997 - 2003. Focusing on the three major variables of value added, employment and investment, it also provides some information about the financial situation of a few vital sectors in each port. A global indication concerning the financial health of the companies studied is also provided, using the NBB bankruptcy prediction model. In addition, it includes figures with respect to the ongoing growth of several cargo traffic segments and provides an overall picture of social developments in the Flemish maritime ports. The indirect effects of these port activities are estimated in terms of value added and employment. Annual account data from the Central Balance Sheet Office were used for the calculation of direct effects, the study of financial ratios and the analysis of the social balance sheet. The indirect effects were estimated on the basis of data from the National Accounts Institute. In the Flemish maritime ports, direct VA came to almost 11.5 billion euro and total VA - the sum of direct and indirect VA - to 22 billion euro in 2003. In the same year direct and total employment reached respectively 105,000 and 239,000 full-time equivalents, while direct investment reached 2.5 billion euro. The ongoing developments in the maritime ports sector in the Hamburg - Le Havre range continue to affect the port operations: concentration of capital, privatisation of port logistic services, expansion and dispersion of foreign trade, internationalisation of production and consumption patterns, increase in containerised shipments, etc. Production, trade and transport are no longer considered as individual and isolated activities, but are integrated within a single system, while economies of scale continue. Therefore, ports are becoming real logistic centres: ports able to add value to the goods passing through the port area have a major advantage in a climate of increasing international competition. Flemish ports are following this trend, and that is also reflected in the analysis presented in this report. |
| Keywords: | branch survey, maritime cluster, subcontracting, indirect effects, transport intermodality, public investments. |
| JEL: | C67 H57 J21 L22 L91 L92 R15 R34 R41 |
| Date: | 2005–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbb:docwpp:200505-1&r=geo |
| By: | M. Hashem Pesaran; Til Schuermann; Björn-Jakob Treutler |
| Abstract: | In theory the potential for credit risk diversifcation for banks could be substantial. Portfolios are large enough that idiosyncratic risk is diversifed away leaving exposure to systematic risk. The potential for portfolio diversifcation is driven broadly by two characteristics: the degree to which systematic risk factors are correlated with each other and the degree of dependence individual firms have to the different types of risk factors. We propose a model for exploring these dimensions of credit risk diversifcation: across industry sectors and across di¤erent countries or regions. We find that full firm-level parameter heterogeneity matters a great deal for capturing differences in simulated credit loss distributions. Imposing homogeneity results in overly skewed and fat-tailed loss distributions. These differences become more pronounced in the presence of systematic risk factor shocks: increased parameter heterogeneity greatly reduces shock sensitivity. Allowing for regional parameter heterogeneity seems to better approximate the loss distributions generated by the fully heterogeneous model than allowing just for industry heterogeneity. The regional model also exhibits less shock sensitivity. |
| Keywords: | Risk management, default dependence, economic interlinkages, portfolio choice |
| JEL: | C32 E17 G20 |
| Date: | 2005–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:scp:wpaper:05-25&r=geo |
| By: | Julio Lopez Laborda; Carlos Monasterio Escudero |
| Abstract: | This chapter provides an overview of the key issues in public economics arising from the process of territorial decentralisation that has taken place in Spain since the restoration of democracy and the Constitution of 1978, and which resulted in the emergence of the “Autonomic State”. The first section focuses on the assignment of competencies between central and regional levels of government and explains in some detail the methodology used to quantify the “effective cost” of the services devolved to the Autonomous Communities (hereinafter ACs). We have paid special attention to health services, which is the most significant item for regional budgets in quantitative terms. The second section deals with revenue assignment, transfers and borrowing, and describes the two systems established to finance regional expenditure. These are the “common system” (régimen común) applied in the majority of the ACs and the “charter system” (régimen foral), which is based on the historical rights accorded to the Basque Country and Navarre. The last section appraises the decentralisation process and notes some emerging issues of debate. |
| Keywords: | Decentralization, revenue assignments |
| Date: | 2005–06–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ays:ispwps:paper0512&r=geo |
| By: | Edson Paulo Domingues (Cedeplar-UFMG); Ricardo Machado Ruiz (Cedeplar-UFMG) |
| Abstract: | There is considerable evidence to demonstrate that the industrial localization in developing countries shows high level of spatial concentration, and the industrial decentralization is quite restricted to few isolated regions. The aim of this paper is to analyze the Brazilian case to identify the industrial cores and to find out whether Brazil follows this conventional view on industrial location in developing countries. This study is based on a database that merges two sets of data: the first describes 35600 industrial firms, and the second has information on the economic, social and urban structure of 5507 cities (year 2000). Based on these datasets, the industrial cores and their respective peripheries are identified, classified, and discussed. The conclusions are: (1) Brazil has several industrial cores with different scales, structures, and regional level of integration; (2) there are large regions with growing industrial peripheries that are strongly tied to the primary cores; these are what we called "spatial industrial agglomerations"; however, we also identified (3) regions that did not manage to build peripheries able to assimilate spillovers generated by its industrial centers; these are the “industrial enclaves”, (4) and also regions that are fully marginalized of the industrialization. Our main conclusion is: the Brazilian economic space is a mixed case. It is not a set of disconnected or isolated industrial islands, but it is still behind a full regional economic integration. |
| Keywords: | Brazil, Regional Economics, Industrial Agglomerations, Industry, Regional Development |
| JEL: | R11 R12 R23 R30 R58 |
| Date: | 2005–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdp:texdis:td261&r=geo |
| By: | Massa, Massimo; Simonov, Andrei |
| Abstract: | We study the link between portfolio choice and different college-based interaction – defined as the one that relates the portfolio choice of an investor to that of the other investors who went to the same college. We explain it in terms of a common cultural imprinting and the development of long-term friendship and alumni network and we directly quantify this bonding effect. We use a new dataset with information on portfolio choice – broken down at the stock level – wealth, income and demographic characteristics of a big panel of investors as well as information on the college they attended and their family situation at the time. We compare college-based interaction to other forms of social interaction, such as educational, professional and geographical interaction, properly controlling for all the standard motivations of portfolio theory, such as hedging of non-financial income risk, familiarity and information effects, wealth and income effect, a host of demographic, geographic and professional dummies, trend-chasing and momentum behaviour. All the different sources of social interaction significantly affect stock-picking as well as the choice between direct and delegated investment, both statistically and economically. College-based interaction is, however, the most important of them and the third single most important factor affecting stock picking. The impact of college-based interaction aggregates at the market level and affects stock prices. For each company, we construct measures of the degree of strength of college-based interaction among shareholders. We show that an increase in the strength of interaction reduces stock return and volatility. This can be rationalized in terms of recent theories on the impact of dispersion of beliefs in the presence of short-sale constraints. |
| Keywords: | asset pricing; education; portfolio choice; social interaction |
| JEL: | G11 G14 |
| Date: | 2004–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4815&r=geo |
| By: | Hawdon, David; Hunt, Lester; Levine, Paul L; Rickman, Neil |
| Abstract: | This paper examines optimal price (i.e. ‘sliding scale’) regulation of a monopoly when efficiency and managerial effort are not observed. We show how to operationalize this model of incentive regulation and use actual data from electricity distribution in England and Wales to make welfare comparisons of sliding scale regulation with a price cap regime and the First-Best (the full information case). Our method enables us to quantify technical uncertainty as faced by the electricity regulator in the 1990s and shows that there are significant welfare gains from a sliding scale relative to the price cap regime. |
| Keywords: | electricity distribution; regulation; sliding scale |
| JEL: | L51 |
| Date: | 2005–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4934&r=geo |
| By: | Strauss-Kahn, Vanessa; Vives, Xavier |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses decisions regarding the location of headquarters in the US for the period 1996-2001. Using a unique firm-level database of about 30,000 US headquarters, we study the firm- and location-specific characteristics of headquarters that relocated over that period. Headquarters are concentrated, increasingly so in medium-sized service-oriented metropolitan areas, and the rate of relocation is significant (5% a year). Larger (in terms of sales) and younger headquarters tend to relocate more often, as well as larger (in terms of the number of headquarters) and foreign firms, and firms that are the outcome of a merger. Headquarters relocate to metropolitan areas with good airport facilities, low corporate taxes, low average wages, high level of business services and agglomeration of headquarters in the same sector of activity. |
| Keywords: | agglomeration externalities; business services; communication costs; congestion; corporate history; mergers; nested logit; taxes |
| JEL: | F15 F23 L20 R12 |
| Date: | 2005–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5070&r=geo |
| By: | Magne Mogstad, Audun Langørgen and Rolf Aaberge (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | The standard practice in most OECD countries is to measure and evaluate poverty on the basis of a poverty line defined as a specific proportion of the median equivalent income within a country. However, this approach disregards regional differences in prices and needs within a country and may, therefore, provide an incomplete and even an incorrect picture of the extent as well as the geographical and demographical composition of the poor. To account for differences in prices and needs, this paper introduces an alternative method of measuring poverty based on a set of region-specific poverty lines. Applying Norwegian household register data for 2001 we find that the overall extent of poverty is only slightly affected by the change in definition of poverty line. However, the geographical as well as the demographical composition of poverty are shown to depend heavily on whether the method of measuring poverty relies on region-specific or country-specific thresholds. As expected, the results demonstrate that the analysis of poverty based on country-specific thresholds produces downward biased poverty rates in urban areas and upward biased poverty rates in rural areas. Moreover, when region-specific poverty thresholds form the basis of the poverty analysis, we find that the poverty rates among young singles and non-western immigrants are significantly higher than what is suggested by previous empirical evidence based on a joint country-specific poverty line. |
| Keywords: | Measurement of poverty; poverty line; geographical and demographical poverty profile |
| JEL: | I32 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:408&r=geo |
| By: | D. Peterson (Productivity Commission); G. Dwyer (Productivity Commission); D. Appels (Productivity Commission); J. Fry (Productivity Commission) |
| Abstract: | Released in November 2004, the paper uses TERM-Water, a bottoms-up regional CGE model of the Australian economy, to examine the regional effects of expanding trade of irrigation water in the southern Murray- Darling Basin. The study finds that water trading dampens the impact of water allocation cuts on gross regional product (GRP). The benefits of introducing trading within irrigation districts are greater than the further benefits of expanding trade to between these regions. Permitting trade of seasonal allocations allows irrigators to reallocate water in reaction to climatic conditions and water availability - and it is this flexibility that enables GRP reductions to be minimised. |
| Keywords: | southern murray-darling basin, CGE model, irrigation water, water allocation, water trade, |
| JEL: | R |
| Date: | 2005–06–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpa:wuwpur:0506007&r=geo |
| By: | W. Robert Reed (University of Oklahoma); Cynthia L. Rogers (University of Oklahoma) |
| Abstract: | The Whitman Administration’s 30 percent reduction in New Jersey’s personal income taxes from 1994-96 is prominently cited as a role model for state fiscal policy. We investigate whether the growth benefits attributed to the Whitman tax cuts are warranted. Panel data methods are applied to annual observations of county-level employment growth from New Jersey and the surrounding economic region. Our analysis does not support the hypothesis that tax cuts stimulated employment growth in New Jersey. While New Jersey did experience substantial employment growth subsequent to the tax cuts, most of this growth was shared by the nearby Economic Areas. |
| Keywords: | Tax cuts, economics growth |
| JEL: | R58 H71 H24 |
| Date: | 2005–06–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpa:wuwpur:0506010&r=geo |
| By: | Rodrigo Ferreira Simões (Cedeplar-UFMG) |
| Abstract: | This paper intends to identify the most important methodological advances on urban and regional methods of analysis for the last fifty years. The aim of the paper is to carry out an applied analysis of the main urban and regional techniques in order to contribute to diagnosis and economy policy on urban and regional economic development. These techniques are divided into three parts: 1) traditional methods; 2) multivariate analysis applied on urban and regional economics; and 3) recent developments. For each technique we will emphasize the most important properties, limits and potentialities to urban and regional development economic policies |
| JEL: | R00 |
| Date: | 2005–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdp:texdis:td259&r=geo |
| By: | Alexandre Mendes Cunha (Cedeplar-UFMG); Rodrigo Ferreira Simões (Cedeplar-UFMG); João Antonio de Paula (Cedeplar-UFMG) |
| Abstract: | This paper intends to contribute to the theoretical and methodological debate on regionalization and history. Firstly, it starts discussing the very concept of region on its several related approaches: geography, political economy, history and historiography. Then, a methodological issue is analyzed, that is to say: the paper tries to articulate the most important criteria of spatial segmentation embedded on regionalization (analytical functionalism, heterogeneity and homogeneity) with: a) the necessity of non-anachronism; and b) the necessity of a historical dynamic approach on definition of regional boundaries |
| Keywords: | Region, Economic spaces, History, Regionalization |
| JEL: | N01 N96 R10 |
| Date: | 2005–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdp:texdis:td260&r=geo |
| By: | Ricardo S. Martins (Cedeplar-UFMG); Mauro Borges Lemos (Cedeplar-UFMG); Luiz Alberto Cypriano (Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná) |
| Abstract: | This article aimed to elaborate a reflection concerning the impacts of the insufficiences of investments in the Brazilian public logistic of transports and to search evidences of the impacts in the markets of transports logistic services, in the scope of the agribusiness. One understands that the Brazilian agribusiness forms an intensive set of activities in logistic, being, therefore, seriously wronged for the lack of public logistic, especially in that with respect to the transportation systems, that can be disclosed on provision lack, congestions of transport nets. The article emphasizes aspects of the formation of the freight rates in the markets, among sectors without an understandable linking and regions, enhancing aspects of localization, income, consumption and sistemic competitiveness. One conclusion of the article is that the enterprise solutions for the bottlenecks may have the effect to changed themselves into force for the concentration in the commercialization sector. In general, logistic public of transports consists in a strategical characteristic for the growth of the activities of the agribusiness with possibilities of expansion in the Center-West, North and Northeast areas. |
| Keywords: | Transportation Systems, Logistic, Agribusiness |
| JEL: | L98 R11 Q13 |
| Date: | 2005–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdp:texdis:td262&r=geo |
| By: | Jan Larsson and Kjetil Telle (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | The Integration Pollution and Prevention Control (IPPC) directive from the European Union implies that the regulatory emission caps should be set in accordance with each industry’s Best Available Techniques (BAT). The directive is under implementation in Norway, and it represents a refocus of the Norwegian environmental regulations away from economic efficiency towards a BAT principle. We examine the effect of this implementation with respect to expected emission reductions and increases in costs. Data Envelopment Analyses (DEA) is used to construct a frontier of all efficient plants. This provides us with two alternative interpretations of BAT. First, we assume that all the plants emit in accordance with the best practice technology, represented by the frontier, by reducing all inputs proportionally. Second, we assume that all plants emit in accordance with the best practice technology by reducing emissions only. Both interpretations reveal substantial potential for emission reductions. Further, abatement cost estimates indicate that considerable emission reductions can be achieved with low or no social costs, but that the implementation of BAT for all plants involves substantial costs. |
| Keywords: | IPPC; BAT; Emissions; Energy intensive industries; DEA; Technical efficiency; Frontier technology. |
| JEL: | D21 K23 K32 L61 L65 L73 Q48 R38 |
| Date: | 2005–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:411&r=geo |
| By: | Deepak Kumar (ICFAI University Press,Hyderabad) |
| Abstract: | The critical aspect in Indian infrastructure is the policy development, with specific steps being laid out for specific policies such as bidding and procurement process, policy planning methodology and the linkages between policy development and economic growth. The bidding and procurement process basically goes through the various steps, needed to get Private Sector Participation (PSP) in various sectors of the infrastructure. |
| Keywords: | Infrastructure , India |
| JEL: | R |
| Date: | 2005–06–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpa:wuwpur:0506002&r=geo |