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on Economic Geography |
| By: | Jordan Rappaport |
| Abstract: | Crowdedness varies widely among U.S. cities. A simple, static general equilibrium model suggests that plausible differences in metro areas’ consumption amenities can account for much of the observed variation. Under a baseline calibration, differences in amenities valued at 30 percent of average consumption expenditures suffice to support a twenty-fold difference in population density. Empirical results confirm that amenities help support crowdedness and suggest that they are becoming a more important determinant of where people choose to live. But for the moment, local productivity appears to be the more important cause of local crowdedness. |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedkrw:rwp06-10&r=geo |
| By: | Phillip Granberry, Michael Landon and David Terkla |
| Abstract: | The rapid evolution in the Boston MPO transportation planning process is discussed as well as its particular application to the suburban-suburban transportation needs of low income individuals. The results of two experiments designed to improve access to transportation for low income suburban individuals are discussed and policy suggestions are made for improving such access. |
| Keywords: | Massachusetts, Transportation Demand,Congestion, Regional Development |
| JEL: | Q42 L99 R58 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mab:wpaper:5&r=geo |
| By: | Gerald Carlino; Satyajit Chatterjee; Robert Hunt |
| Abstract: | Economists, beginning with Alfred Marshall, have studied the significance of cities in the production and exploitation of information externalities that, today, we call knowledge spillovers. This paper presents robust evidence of those effects. We show that patent intensity—the per capita invention rate—is positively related to the density of employment in the highly urbanized portion of MAs. All else equal, a city with twice the employment density (jobs per square mile) of another city will exhibit a patent intensity (patents per capita) that is 20 percent higher. Patent intensity is maximized at an employment density of about 2,200 jobs per square mile. A city with a more competitive market structure or one that is not too large (a population less than 1 million) will also have a higher patent intensity. These findings confirm the widely held view that the nation’s densest locations play an important role in creating the flow of ideas that generate innovation and growth. ; Supersedes Working Paper No. 04-16 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedpwp:06-14&r=geo |
| By: | Sean D. Campbell; Morris A. Davis; Joshua Gallin; Robert F. Martin |
| Abstract: | We use the dynamic Gordon-growth model to decompose the rent-price ratio for owner-occupied housing in the U.S., four Census regions, and twenty-three metropolitan areas into three components: The expected present value of real rental growth, real interest rates, and future housing premia. We use these components to decompose the trend and variance in rent-price ratios for 1975-2005, for an early sub-sample (1975-1996), and for the recent housing boom (1997-2005). We have three main findings. First, variation in expected future real rents accounts for a small share of variation in our sample rent-price ratios; variation in real interest rates and housing premia account for most of the variability. Second, expected future real rates and housing premia were so strongly negatively correlated prior to 1997 that changes to real interest rates did not affect the rent-price ratio. After 1997, rates and premia have been positively correlated, and the decline in the rent-price ratio that has occurred in almost every geographic area in our sample since 1997 reflects both declining real rates and declining premia. Third, we show that in the recent housing boom, 65 percent of the decline in the aggregate rent-price ratio is due to a declining housing premium. |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2006-29&r=geo |
| By: | Rafel Boix Domenech (Departament d'Economia Aplicada, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona); Vittorio Galletto (Departament d'Economia Aplicada, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | En 2004 se elabora el primer mapa de Distritos Industriales Marshallianos de España (Boix y Galletto 2004 y 2006), basado en la metodología Sforzi-ISTAT (1996 y 1997). Por primera vez, este mapa permite la comparación cuantitativa de los distritos industriales de España con los de Italia y el Reino Unido. A finales del año 2005, el ISTAT revisa la metodología de identificación de distritos industriales en Italia, introduciendo mejoras importantes en el procedimiento. El objetivo del presente trabajo es la elaboración de un nuevo mapa de distritos industriales en España utilizando la nueva metodología Sforzi-ISTAT (2006) para el año 2001. El nuevo mapa utiliza como unidad territorial de referencia los sistemas locales de trabajo identificados en Boix y Galletto (2004 y 2006), datos del Censo de Población de 2001, y una combinación de microdatos de empresas con el DIRCE. Los resultados se comparan con los de la aplicación anterior para España y con el nuevo mapa de distritos industriales de Italia y el |
| Keywords: | distritos industriales marshallianos, sistemas locales de trabajo, pequeña y mediana empresa, política industrial |
| JEL: | L60 R12 R23 |
| Date: | 2006–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uab:wprdea:wpdea0604&r=geo |
| By: | Nathan J. Ashby (Department of Economics, West Virginia University) |
| Abstract: | Utilizing data from the U.S. Census survey (2000) and the North American Economic Freedom Index (Karebegovic, McMahon, and Samida, 2004), this study evaluates the outcome of economic freedom on gross migration flows within the United States. The estimation process is to use a gravity model. Since longitudinal data is not available, regressions are run on a cross section of data drawn from the survey of 2000. In addition to ordinary least squares estimates, various models of spatial dependency are employed to improve estimation of coefficients and hypothesis results. It is determined that greater economic freedom positively impacts migration between states. Further, it is discovered that a general autoregressive spatial model (GSAR) performs the best out of the selected models and augments the impact of economic freedom on migration. |
| Keywords: | Economic Freedom, Migration |
| JEL: | R23 H77 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wvu:wpaper:05-13&r=geo |
| By: | Hugh Rockoff (Rutgers); John Landon-Lane (Rutgers) |
| Abstract: | This paper contains all of the statistical results underlying our paper "The Origin and Diffusion of Shocks to Regional Interest Rates in the United States, 1880-2002." It also contains a table of the underlying data, and a discussion of how the data was constructed. |
| Keywords: | interest rates, monetary unions |
| JEL: | N22 |
| Date: | 2006–07–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rut:rutres:200608&r=geo |
| By: | Alberto ZAZZARO (Universita' Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Economia) |
| Abstract: | More than a decade has now gone by since the crises of Banco di Napoli, Banco di Sicilia, Sicilcassa and the majors southern "Casse di Risparmio" have actually decreed the vanishing of a independent banking system in southern regions, but the economic and political debate on the effects of this process is still lively. In this paper, I introduce the main themes debated during the last ten years by scholars, practitioners and politicians. Specifically, I present the theoretical and practical reasons of those who consider the present structure of the southern banking system unsatisfactory for he economic prospects of the area. |
| Keywords: | banks, decisional centres, mergers and acquisitions, southern italian regions |
| JEL: | G21 G34 R11 |
| Date: | 2006–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anc:wpaper:262&r=geo |
| By: | Thomas A. Garrett; Gary A. Wagner |
| Abstract: | There is anecdotal evidence that local governments use traffic tickets to generate revenue. Using panel data for North Carolina counties, we examine whether changes in local government revenue influence the number of traffic tickets issued. We find strong evidence of an asymmetric response by local governments. Specifically, positive changes in revenue have no effect on traffic tickets, but negative revenue changes increase the number of traffic tickets issued. A one percentage point decrease in revenue yields a 0.38 percentage point increase in traffic tickets. We calculate that traffic ticket revenue supplements a low percentage of local revenue losses. |
| Keywords: | Local government |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedlwp:2006-048&r=geo |
| By: | Pietro ALESSANDRINI (Universita' Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Economia); Alberto ZAZZARO (Universita' Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Economia); Andrea PRESBITERO ([n.a.]) |
| Abstract: | The wave of bank mergers and acquisitions experienced in European and U.S. credit markets during the Nineties has deeply changed the geography of banking industry. While the number of bank branches has increased in almost every country, reducing the operational distance between banks and borrowers, bank decisional centres and strategic functions have been concentrated in only a few places within each nation, increasing the functional distance between banks and local communities. In this paper, we carry out a multivariate analysis to assess the correlation of functional and operational distances with local borrowers' financing constraints. We apply our analysis on Italian data at the local market level defined as provinces. Our findings consistently show that increased functional distance makes financing constraints more binding, it being positively associated with the probability of firms being rationed, investment-cash flow sensitivity, and the ratio of credit lines utilized by borrowers to credit lines make available by banks. These adverse effects are particularly evident for small firms and for firms located in southern Italian provinces. Furthermore, our findings suggest that the negative impact on financing constraints following the actual increased functional distance over the period 1996-2003 has substantially offset (and sometimes exceeded) the beneficial effects of the increased diffusion of bank branches occurring during the same period. |
| Keywords: | financing constraints, funtional distance, local banking system, operational proximity |
| JEL: | G21 G34 R51 |
| Date: | 2006–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anc:wpaper:266&r=geo |
| By: | Theodore M. Crone |
| Abstract: | The expansion of state-mandated tests in the 1990s and the testing requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act have supplied researchers with an abundance of data on test scores that can be used as measures of school quality. This paper uses the state-mandated test scores for 5th grade and 11th grade in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, to examine three issues about the capitalization of school quality into house prices: (1) At what level do prospective home buyers evaluate the quality of local public education—at the district level or the level of the neighborhood school? (2) After accounting for student achievement as reflected in test scores, are other aspects of the local public school system, such as class size or expenditures, capitalized into the value of a house? (3) Are the positive results we get for the capitalization of school quality into house prices due simply to the correlation between high test scores and other desirable neighborhood characteristics? The results of our investigation suggest that to home buyers some test-score averages are significantly better indicators of the quality of the local public school system than others. In particular, home buyers seem to evaluate the quality of public education at the district level rather than at the level of the local school. Class size at the high-school level has some independent effect on house prices, but not class size at the elementary school level. And once we account for student achievement, expenditures per pupil have no further effect on house prices. Finally, restricting our sample to similar neighborhoods along school district boundaries confirms our earlier results for high school test scores but not for elementary school scores. |
| Keywords: | Education ; School choice |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedpwp:06-15&r=geo |
| By: | Armando Silva |
| Abstract: | El departamento del Amazonas a través de su historia ha construido relaciones de mutuo respeto con sus vecinos: Brasil y Perú, lo que ha permitido mantener una frontera dinámica y libre de controles migratorios, que interrumpa la libre circulación de los nacionales de los tres países en sus municipios fronterizos, garantizando, de esta forma, un intercambio cultural, social y comercial armónico. No debe olvidarse que los territorios de frontera han necesitado un marco legal especial, para desarrollar sus relaciones internacionales dentro de una normatividad acorde a la legislación interna de los países fronterizos, a través de convenios que dinamicen el intercambio. La ley 191 de 1995 recogió los anhelos y necesidades de las regiones de frontera, y creó un espacio de oportunidades y de procesos generadores de desarrollo, contribuyendo a la consolidación de políticas de mejoramiento de los territorios en lo económico, cultural y social. Es en este marco en el cual se quiere referenciar el presente documento de contenido económico, y que busca mostrar las particularidades de un intercambio comercial fronterizo caracterizado, especialmente, por el dinamismo de un flujo constante de personas que se mueven a lo largo y ancho de esta frontera sur del país. El insumo fundamental para el desarrollo de este análisis son los resultados obtenidos a través de la aplicación de la “ENCUESTA DE TRAFICO Y ESTADA Y GASTO FRONTERIZO”, llevada a cabo trimestralmente por el Banco de la República en cada uno de los sitios de frontera, con el objetivo de obtener datos para el cálculo de la balanza de pagos del país, al incorporar a la base, transacciones no recopiladas en el sistema formal de comercio internacional de importaciones y exportaciones de bienes y servicios. |
| Date: | 2006–05–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:001039:002652&r=geo |