|
on Economic Geography |
| By: | Pangotra Prem; Sharma Somesh |
| Abstract: | Increasing urbanization, population growth and rising incomes have led to rapid growth of travel demand in Indian cities. The paper provides a modeling approach for forecasting urban travel demand and assessing public transport options for large metropolitan cities. A travel characteristics model is used to forecast the pattern of travel demand in Bangalore city up to the year 2014. The paper examines the scope of a public bus transport service and a mass rapid transit system for meeting the projected travel demand and thereby curtailing the growth of personal vehicles in the city. |
| Date: | 2006–03–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iim:iimawp:2006-03-06&r=geo |
| By: | Aslund, Olof; Östh, John; Zenou, Yves |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of job proximity on individual employment and earnings. The analysis exploits a Swedish refugee dispersal policy to get exogenous variation in individual locations. Using very detailed data on the exact location of all residences and workplaces in Sweden, we find that having been placed in a location with poor job access in 1990-91 adversely affected employment in 1999. Doubling the number of jobs in the initial location in 1990-91 is associated with 2.9 percentage points higher employment probability in 1999. The analysis suggests that residential sorting leads to underestimation of the impact of job access. |
| Keywords: | endogenous location; natural experiment; spatial mismatch |
| JEL: | J15 J18 R23 |
| Date: | 2006–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5586&r=geo |
| By: | Garcia Pires, Armando José |
| Abstract: | In a spatial economy where oligopolist firms compete in R&D, it is found that geography affects the innovative behaviour of firms. Notably, international differences in market size conduce to endogenous asymmetries between firms given that firms located in the country with more demand have stronger incentives to invest in R&D. This 'R&D linkage' between demand and competitiveness promotes firms to strategically delocalize to the larger country. As a result, a spatial equilibrium arises with only total or partial agglomeration, but never with symmetric dispersion. |
| Keywords: | agglomeration effects; asymmetric firms; industrial location; oligopoly; R&D investment |
| JEL: | F12 L13 O31 R3 |
| Date: | 2006–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5582&r=geo |
| By: | Overman, Henry G.; Winters, L Alan |
| Abstract: | This paper combines establishment level production data with international trade data by port to examine the impact of accession to the EEC on the spatial distribution of UK manufacturing. We use this data to test the predictions from economic geography models of how external trade affects the spatial distribution of employment. Our results suggest that accession changed the country-composition of UK trade and via the port-composition induced an exogenous shock to the economic environment in different locations. In line with theory, we find that better access to export markets and intermediate goods increase employment while increased import competition decreases employment. |
| Keywords: | economic geography; EEC; UK manufacturing |
| JEL: | F14 F15 R12 |
| Date: | 2006–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5574&r=geo |
| By: | Ana María Iregui B.; Luis Fernando Melo V.; María Teresa Ramírez G. |
| Abstract: | En este documento se estimó la productividad total de los factores (PTF) y las elasticidades de los factores para la industria manufacturera colombiana, por área metropolitana y sector económico, durante el período 1975-2000, con el fin de incorporar las diferencias regionales en el análisis de la productividad. Para este fin, se utilizó la metodología de datos de panel y los desarrollos recientes de pruebas de raíz unitaria y cointegración para paneles. Para el total nacional, se obtuvo una elasticidad del trabajo de 0.85 y una del capital de 0.15. En cuanto a los parámetros de productividad, los sectores industriales más productivos son el de industria de bebidas, fabricación de sustancias químicas industriales y fabricación de papel y productos de papel. Al estimar las elasticidades factoriales tanto a nivel regional como sectorial, se encontró una gran heterogeneidad entre ellas. |
| Keywords: | Productividad total de los factores (PTF) , Colombia, economía regional datos de panel. |
| JEL: | C23 D24 L60 R30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdr:borrec:378&r=geo |
| By: | Lionel Artige; Rosella Nicolini |
| Abstract: | The present paper aims at analyzing the sources of productivity in Europe to account for its recent underperformance and identify potential geographic idiosyncracies. We study the productivity performance and its sources in a sample of ten European regions belonging to four countries (France, Germany, Italy and Spain). Exploiting the increasing availability of disaggregated data at regional level in Europe, we propose both a descriptive statistics and an econometric analysis of productivity sources since 1995. Our main finding is that the sources of labor productivity are rather heterogeneous across our sample but may be associated with regional or national idiosyncracies. |
| Keywords: | Labor productivity, productivity determinants, European regions |
| JEL: | J24 O11 O18 O52 |
| Date: | 2006–03–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aub:autbar:661.06&r=geo |
| By: | Samuel Muehlemann; Stefan C. Wolter |
| Abstract: | This paper uses regional variation in labor markets, the industry structure and the educational system to explain the training decisions of firms. Using a representative firm-level data set, the results show that firms are less likely to offer training if the number of competing firms situated in the same geographical area is high. Furthermore, the supply of potential apprentices affects the training decision positively through an improved matching process. In addition, the expected ability of apprentices also has a positive impact, whereas a more developed system of full-time schooling options for school leavers reduces the likelihood of a firm to offer training. |
| Keywords: | apprenticeship training, regional labor markets |
| JEL: | I28 J24 J42 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_1665&r=geo |
| By: | Damian N. Whittard (South West Regional Development Agency); Don J. Webber (School of Economics, University of the West of England) |
| Abstract: | Regional Development Agencies compete to attract foreign direct investments (FDI) that generate economic benefits. This paper seeks to identify factors that attract FDI to the South West region of the UK. The results suggest that the South West’s average wage levels, population density, unemployment rate, physical infrastructure expenditure, growth and the relative dominance of the manufacturing sector all contribute to the multinational enterprise’s decision to locate to the South West. The amount of defence spending is also found to be a determinant, suggesting that the defence sector might be an attractor of FDI. These results are endorsed by a separate survey analysis. |
| Keywords: | FDI; South West |
| JEL: | F2 L2 R1 |
| Date: | 2006–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwe:wpaper:0604&r=geo |
| By: | Simonetta Longhi; Peter Nijkamp (Free University Amsterdam); Jacques Poot (University of Waikato) |
| Abstract: | Immigration is a phenomenon of growing significance in many countries. Increasing social tensions are leading to political pressure to limit a further influx of foreign-born persons on the grounds that the absorption capacity of host countries has been exceeded and social cohesion threatened. There is also in public discourse a common perception of immigration resulting in economic costs, particularly with respect to wages and employment opportunities of the native born. This warrants a scientific assessment, using comparative applied research, of the empirical validity of the perception of a negative impact of immigration on labour market outcomes. We apply meta-analytic techniques to 165 estimates from 9 recent studies for various OECD countries and assess whether immigration leads to job displacement among native workers. The ‘consensus estimate’ of the decline in native-born employment following a 1 percent increase in the number of immigrants is a mere 0.024 percent. However, the impact is somewhat larger on female than on male employment. The negative employment effect is also greater in Europe than in the United States. Furthermore, the results are sensitive to the choice of the study design. For example, failure to control for endogeneity of immigration itself leads to an underestimate of its employment impact. |
| Keywords: | immigration, employment, meta-analysis |
| JEL: | F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2006–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2044&r=geo |