|
on Economic Geography |
| By: | THARAKAN, Jo (Université catholique de Louvain (UCL). Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE)); TROPEANO, Jean-Philippe |
| Abstract: | We propose a model where imperfect matching between firms and workers on local labor markets leads to incentives for spatial agglomeration. We show that the occurrence of spatial agglomeration depends on initial size differences in terms of both number of workers and firms. Allowing for dynamics of workers' and firms' location choices, we show that the spatial outcome depends crucially on different dimensions of agents' mobility. The effect of a higher level of human capital on regional disparities depends on whether it makes workers more mobile or more specialized on the labor market. |
| Keywords: | economic geography, local labor market, regional disparities, human capital. |
| JEL: | J61 J42 R12 |
| Date: | 2008–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cor:louvco:2008046&r=geo |
| By: | Burger, M.J.; Oort, F.G. van; Knaap, G.A. van der (Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), RSM Erasmus University) |
| Abstract: | The modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP) refers to the sensitivity of statistical research results to the initial spatial nomenclature used. Despite a substantial literature in the related field of geography on the potential influence of the MAUP, the urban economic modeling tradition has not paid much attention to this issue. In this article, we test to what extent the MAUP moderates the effect of agglomeration externalities on areal sectoral employment growth by varying the initial geographical scale of analysis. Using spatial cross-regressive modeling in which we account for spatial spillover effects of agglomeration externalities, we find different effects of agglomeration forces across geographical scales. As the MAUP is a theoretical as well as a methodological problem, research should not only work with proper statistical specifications of spatial agglomeration models incorporating different geographical scales, but also relate this more explicitly to hypotheses concerning the geographical scale at which agglomeration externalities operate. |
| Keywords: | agglomeration externalities;employment growth;spatial econometrics;MAUP |
| Date: | 2008–11–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:eureri:1765013834&r=geo |
| By: | CARUSO, Geoffrey (Université catholique de Louvain (UCL). Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE)); PEETERS , Dominique (Université catholique de Louvain (UCL). Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE)); CAVAILHES, Jean; ROUNSEVELL, Mark |
| Abstract: | We present a theoretical model of residential growth that emphasizes the path-dependent nature of urban sprawl patterns. The model is founded on the monocentric urban economic model and uses a cellular automata (CA) approach to introduce endogenous neighbourhood effects. Households are assumed to both like and dislike the density of their neighbourhood, and trade-off this density with housing space consumption and commuting costs. Discontinuous spatial patterns emerge from that trade-off, with the size of suburban clusters varying with time and distance to the centre. We use space-time diagrams inspired from 1D elementary CA to visualize changes in spatial patterns through time and space, and undertake sensitivity analyses to show how the pattern and timing of sprawl are affected by neighbourhood preferences, income level, commuting costs or by imposing a green belt. |
| Keywords: | urban sprawl, open space, neighbourhood externalities, cellular automata, residential dynamics. |
| JEL: | C61 C63 D62 R14 R21 |
| Date: | 2008–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cor:louvco:2008044&r=geo |
| By: | Ahlfeldt, Gabriel M. |
| Abstract: | This study investigates whether accessibility shapes the attractiveness of residential land as predicted by theory. A spatial hedonic analysis is conducted for the metropolitan area of Berlin, Germany, using a large set of georeferenced property transactions and micro-level data. We find that the nuclei of residential land price and employment density gradients are separated by approx. 10 km, which essentially contradicts theoretical implications. Also, environmental externalities arising from the residential composition or the building structure and density in the neighborhood are more important determinants than access to the city center, which, if at all, impacts negatively on residential land prices. Moreover, a new gravity-based accessibility indicator is employed that incorporates the effective distribution of employment as well as the rapid transit network architecture in order to disentangle the effects of proximity to employment opportunities from a more general urban attraction effect. After controlling for accessibility, we find a negative effect of urban attraction, respectively an effect of urban repulsion, indicating a relatively higher attractiveness of peripheral locations. This effect is partially counterbalanced by the benefits arising from access to employment opportunities that are, although relatively dispersed, more concentrated within downtown areas. In the tension between both forces, the land price gradient tends to be, if at all significant, positive. After all, we conclude that if transport costs are very low, commuting costs lose their role as the most striking determinant of land price. These results are robust to spatial dependency. |
| Keywords: | Accessibility; gradient inversion; land price; urban attraction; Berlin |
| JEL: | R42 R52 R23 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:11707&r=geo |
| By: | Cotteleer, G.; Peerlings, J.H.M. |
| Abstract: | In highly industrialized areas open spaces such as farmland and nature are under pressure since urban areas are expanding at their expense. Because of the high opportunity costs of development in urban areas, a high price has to be paid for the maintenance or creation of open space. The question is if this high price can be justified by the value of the open space. We estimate the value residents attach to surrounding open space in a hedonic pricing model. More specifically, we investigate in a highly urbanized area in the Netherlands how the externalities of farmland, nature, and other uses, such as industrial areas and the sea affect residential property prices. Moreover, spatial lag and error dependence are corrected for in the hedonic pricing model used to estimate the value of open space and other externalities. According to our results premiums are paid by residents who buy properties close to urban parks and the North Sea and for properties with views on open space. |
| Keywords: | Hedonic pricing, Spatial econometrics, Externalities, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae08:43950&r=geo |
| By: | Andersson, H.; Hoffmann, R. |
| Abstract: | Changes in EU agricultural policies towards an increased focus on rural development issues raise questions regarding the economic impact of local and regional spatial competition. Farmers are typically price takers in the traditional markets for the major agricultural products. This is, however, not necessarily the case for €ܮew enterprisesÂ€Ý active in local and regional markets. This paper examines local/regional spatial competition for farm tourism. A spatial econometrics framework is applied to a hedonic pricing model. It is shown that spatial dependence affects the pricing of both Self-catering and Bed & Breakfast. However, the results indicate that local/regional competition may have a positive effect on the former but a negative effect on the latter. The findings illustrate the potential importance of local competition for rural developments studies. |
| Keywords: | farm tourism, spatial competition, rural development, Community/Rural/Urban Development, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae08:44417&r=geo |
| By: | BEHRENS, Kristian; PICARD, Pierre M. (Université catholique de Louvain (UCL). Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE)) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the role of the transport sector in structuring the location of economic activity within two-region economic geography models of the footloose capital and core-periphery types. In our setting, competitive carriers offer transport services for shipping manufactured goods across regions and freight rates are determined endogenously to clear transport markets. Each carrier commits to the maximum capacity for a round-trip and thus faces a simple logistic problem: there are costs associated with 'returning empty', and those costs increase the freight rates charged to manufacturing firms. Since demand for transport services depends on the spatial distribution of economic activity, agglomeration in one region raises freight rates to serve foreign markets, thus generating an additional dispersion force. We show that a more equal equilibrium distribution of firms prevails when freight rates are endogenously determined than when they are exogenous and that multiple equilibria (including partial agglomeration) usually coexist. |
| Keywords: | transport sector, freight rates, economic geography, trade. |
| JEL: | F12 R12 |
| Date: | 2008–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cor:louvco:2008040&r=geo |
| By: | Sassi, M.; Pecci, F. |
| Abstract: | In the light of the reaffirmed importance of agricultural convergence within the integration process, the paper provides a preliminary investigation of the impact of the enlargement from the EU-15 to the EU-27 on agricultural real b-convergence and, with reference to the EU-27, of its relationship with economic catching-up process. The empirical analysis, based on a GWR approach, takes into account the regional spatial interdependences in estimating local parameters of convergence. The approach adopted allows to overcome the contradictory results from OLS estimations and parametric spatial econometric models pointed out by the literature and primarily connected to the existence of no unique convergence rate all over Europe. The analysis is based on a sample of 259 EU-27 regions at NUTS 2 level and is referred to the time period from 1991-2007. |
| Keywords: | Regional convergence, Spatial analysis, GWR approach, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae08:44459&r=geo |
| By: | Pecci, Francesco; Sassi, Maria |
| Abstract: | The CAP reform and the recent EC communication aimed at preparing its Health Check emphasise the need for interventions locally based where agricultural policy integrates with a broader policy for rural areas growth. In this context, the paper investigates the possible different sets policy indicators affecting agricultural productivity at the regional level considering spatial heterogeneity by means of a Mixed Geographically Weighted Regression approach. The analysis is based on a set of policy sensitive indicators selected according to the key component of the CAP reform and referred to a sample of 164 EU-15 regions at NUTS2 level. The methodology adopted, new for the empirical literature on the topic, allows for a more accurate understanding of spatial relationship of the agricultural and socio-economic factors affecting agricultural productivity at the local level providing useful information for policy making. |
| Keywords: | CAP reform, agricultural productivity, spatial analysis, cluster analysis, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa107:6625&r=geo |
| By: | Esposti, R. |
| Abstract: | The paper analyses agricultural TFP growth across Italian regions during the 1952-2002 period, and aims at identifying those factors that favour or hinder regional agricultural TFP growth convergence. Of major relevance is whether regions, despite their inescapable heterogeneity, tend to share common technological improvements, that is, to move along the same productivity growth rate. TFP growth decomposition ultimately allows attributing observed productivity performance to convergence and divergence forces. Appropriate testing and estimation procedures are adopted to take into account panel unit-root issues and cross-sectional dependence. |
| Keywords: | TFP growth, Convergence, Panel Data, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae08:43955&r=geo |
| By: | Puscasu, Violeta |
| Abstract: | The study is based on the assertion that any inhabitable space carries in itself a cultural vocation, i.e. the favorability for a specific cultural product, and spirituality is one of its major dimensions, sometimes associated up to synonymy to culture. Among the range of cultural, artistic, political, economic and social categories, religion has represented a noticeable manifestation, and the monastic phenomenon in particular represents a constant whose regional materializations are various and active. The European orthodox cultural area to which the subject of this article is subscribed reveals a well defined contemporary contour of the phenomenon and a density of its material manifestations, accentuated by the favoring political changes of the last two decades. Banishing the restrictions imposed by the communist ideology has generated on the level of religious material culture a true “explosion” of worshiping places, both parishional and monastic. The number of orthodox monasteries alone in the entire European area goes beyond 1700, which cannot remain without an impact upon the various components of social and economic life and therefore, as far as we are concerned, upon the aspects connected with their regionalizing and the influence upon the physical and spatial territorial planning. Starting from a general, continental and macro-regional distribution and going down to the local level of internal clippings to which monasteries and skytes are subscribed, the major analysis of this paper is focused on the situation in Romania which reunites over 500 monastic establishments (second to Russia numerically but on the top of the list according to social density indicators). The aspects connected with the geographical distribution correlated with architectonic, historic and structural identifiers constitute a topic that has interested along the years either only a specialized audience, or a more recent category of users that have taken into consideration their touristic potential and, through this, the secularizing component of the market and economic value. The scientific literature is nevertheless poor from the viewpoint of studies regarding the role of the monasteries in shaping the spatial culture and in organizing space, and even poorer if we think of land planning in the contemporary world, few bibliographical references being hardly available. The western reasons are related to the relict character of the active monastic phenomenon, and in the east-European societies the reestablishment of spiritual life within the framework of democracy is still fresh. Due to the amplitude (at least material) of its reestablishment, the religious life becomes an important local cultural element that has to be taken into account in the contemporary European politics. The present paper, written mainly on the basis of field research and analysis, is structured into two parts: - the analysis of monasteries spatial distribution and the internal regionalization of monastic spaces using geographical criteria and the degree of accessibility; - the relevance of this material and spiritual identity level of the Romanian space for the directions and actions of land planning, as a special form of spatial planning. Since the paper is part of larger scientific endeavor, the present study is organized mainly as an argument for at least two questions: (i) which are the relations between the Romanian Christian spirituality and culture and the European spatial planning, and (ii) what role does local culture play in the process of regional spatial planning. |
| Keywords: | regionalization; cultural; Romania; spatial planning |
| JEL: | Z12 P29 R14 |
| Date: | 2008–05–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:11660&r=geo |
| By: | Sanchez Arenas, F.; Real, Ramos E. |
| Abstract: | New 2007-13 planning framework of the EU keeps using economic criteria (GDP) to identify those regions requiring priority attention (convergence objective). Although these criteria are useful for the overall Regional Policy, nevertheless it might result some planning failures of the strategies of rural development. This work focuses in evaluating possible failures of the Rural Development Programmes. For this purpose, a wide range of member Estates and Regions has been selected and two analysis have been applied: first, the coherence analysis (in relation to the economic, social and environmental situation of territories); and second, the conflict (among the rural territories development objectives) analysis. As result of this evaluation, a typology of the analysed Rural Development Programmes will be shown, which identifies different cases of failures. This work concludes that the use of methodological criteria in Regional Policy complementing to the Efficiency criteria might improve the territorial cohesion process and reduce some of the analysed failures in rural areas. |
| Keywords: | Rural Development Programmes, Regional Policy, European Union, Community/Rural/Urban Development, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae08:44433&r=geo |
| By: | Franz Tödtling; Michaela Trippl; Lukas Lengauer |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwsre:sre-disc-2008_05&r=geo |
| By: | Simon Condliffe (Department of Economics,West Chester University of Pennsylvania); William Latham (Department of Economics,University of Delaware); Christian Le Bas (Department of Economics,University of Lyon); Frédéric Miribel |
| Abstract: | This paper deals with the effects of the geographic concentration of economic activity on productivity through agglomeration economies in the U.S. economy. Our empirical study extends the literature on agglomeration economies in two directions. First we measure and compare the effects on productivity of geographic concentration in either information technology related activity (the IT sector) or in all other economic activities (the non-IT sector). Second we follow Jorgenson’s (2002) reasoning regarding the significance of the differences between IT-producing sectors and IT-using sectors and assess the differential effects of concentration in IT-producing sectors and concentration in IT-using sectors on productivity. We utilize four measures of agglomeration and analyze effects at two levels of geographic disaggregation: U.S. states and U.S. counties. We perform the analysis using a model drawn from the growth accounting literature in which total labor productivity in a region is the dependent variable. It is modeled as a function of the region’s capital-output ratio, the quality of the region’s labor supply as measured by the level of education, and an agglomeration variable measured by concentration in the IT or non-IT sectors or in the IT-producing or IT-using sectors. The cross section estimates for a single year yield mixed results. We find weak evidence in favor of an effect of concentration of IT activity on productivity at the state level. We find stronger effects on productivity at the county level from concentration in IT-producing sectors. |
| Keywords: | Agglomeration Economies, Information Technology, Productivity |
| JEL: | R11 O33 D24 D62 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dlw:wpaper:08-24.&r=geo |
| By: | Breustedt, G.; Habermann, H. |
| Abstract: | We empirically analyse the determinants of cash rent levels for agricultural land in Lower Saxony, Germany. We are the first to apply a spatial econometrics approach that accounts for two types of spatial dependence simultaneously to cash rent data at the farm-level. Our empirical results underline the usefulness of such an approach. Farm characteristics which serve as a proxy for the marginal value of rented acreage for the tenant as well as variables which represent local competition on the land market are significant. Among the farm characteristics, operating revenue per hectare, share of high-value crops, soil quality, share of rented acreage, share of arable land relative to rented acreage, and animal density are significant while, ceteris paribus, neither labour nor machinery/buildings per hectare nor farm size are significant. In particular, animal density at the regional level increases the cash rent, underlining the importance of local competition on the land market. The analysis also shows that subsidies which foster competition among farmers for rented land boost landlords€٠incomes. Thus, evaluation of set-aside programs or evaluation of public support for investment in pig or poultry production or renewable energies has to take such side-effects into account. |
| Keywords: | Cash rent, farm-level data, spatial econometrics, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae08:44462&r=geo |
| By: | Cotteleer, G.; Stobbe, T.; Van Kooten, G.C. |
| Abstract: | In 1973, British Columbia created the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) to protect farmland from development. This study investigates whether the ALR has been effective near the city of Victoria. Therefore, we employ a GIS-based hedonic pricing model and quantify ALR specific measures. Bayesian Model Averaging in combination with Markov Chain Monte Carlo Model Composition are used to address specification uncertainty. Results show that zoning schemes are partly credible. Zoned farmland sells for lower prices than other farmland. However, farmland located closer to the city of Victoria is priced higher and hobby farmers pay higher prices than conventional farmers. |
| Keywords: | Farmland prices, Bayesian Model Averaging, Hedonic pricing., Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae08:44137&r=geo |
| By: | Britz, Wolfgang |
| Abstract: | Major environmental indicators require data at a spatial resolution below administrative units as found in economic models. The CAPRI-Dynaspat project added spatial results for EU27 to the CAPRI model allowing for linkage to bio-physical models and calculation of novel indicators. The layer consists of clusters of 1x1 km cells exhausting the agricultural area, uniform in soil parameters, slope class, land cover and administrative unit. Crop and irrigation shares, stocking densities and yields are estimated per cluster along with intermediate input demand including crop specific fertilizer application rates. Those estimates drive statistically estimated meta-models from the bio-physical crop growth model DNDC to derive the nitrogen and water cycle. Indicator calculators allow estimating further impacts as e.g. different gaseous emissions or economic performance of agriculture. The results are available for the base year, for projection or scenario results, thus allowing analyzing environmental impacts in a spatial context. |
| Keywords: | Spatial dis-aggregation, agri-environmental indicators, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa107:6677&r=geo |
| By: | Albert Sole-Olle; Pilar Sorribas-Navarro (Universitat de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we test the hypothesis that intergovernmental grants allocated to co-partisans buy more political support than grants allocated to local governments controlled by opposition parties. We use a rich Spanish database containing information about the grants received by 617 municipalities during the period 1993-2003 from two different upper-tier governments (Regional and Upper-local), as well as data of municipal voting behaviour at three electoral contests held at the different layers of government during this period. Therefore, we are able to estimate two different vote equations, analysing the effects of grants given to aligned and unaligned municipalities on the vote share of the incumbent party/parties at the regional and local elections. We account for the endogeneity of grants by instrumenting them with the average amount of grants distributed by upper-layer governments. The results suggest that grants given to co-partisans buy some political support, but that grants given to the opposition do not bring any votes, suggesting that the grantee reaps as much political credit from intergovernmental grants as the grantor. |
| Keywords: | grants, voting, parties |
| JEL: | D72 C72 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bar:bedcje:2008206&r=geo |
| By: | Teuber, R. |
| Abstract: | More and more coffee-producing countries establish geographical indications (GIs) for their coffees. GIs are not only considered to be a useful tool for protecting an established reputation against misuse by imitators but also being a useful strategic tool to enter the growing specialty coffee market. Whereas the importance of regional reputation is quite welldocumented in the empirical literature on wine, empirical evidence for regional reputational effects on coffee prices is rather scarce. Hence, the objective of the present paper is to shed light on the relevance of regional reputation in the coffee market by representing results for Honduran coffees. A hedonic pricing model based on internet auction data is presented including current quality proxied by a quality score and reputation via regional dummies. The results indicate that up to now the region Marcala, for which a Denomination of Origin was established in 2005, has not yet established such a reputation that after controlling for quality differences higher auction prices are paid for coffees coming from this region. |
| Keywords: | geographical indications, reputation, coffee, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae08:43835&r=geo |
| By: | Kukenova, Madina; Monteiro, Jose-Antonio |
| Abstract: | Since there is so far no estimator that allows to estimate a dynamic panel model that includes a spatial lag as well as other potential endogenous variables. This paper wants to determine if it is suitable to instrument the spatial lag variable (which is by de finition endogenous/simultaneous) using the instruments proposed by system GMM, i.e. lagged spatial lag values. The Monte Carlo investigation highlights the possibility to estimate a dynamic spatial lag model using the extended GMM proposed by Arellano and Bover (1995) and Blundell and Bover (1998), especially when N and T are large. |
| Keywords: | Spatial Econometrics; Dynamic Panel Model; System GMM; Monte Carlo Simulations |
| JEL: | C15 C33 |
| Date: | 2008–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:11569&r=geo |
| By: | Sotte, Franco; Camaioni, Beatrice |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a preliminary evaluation of the 21 Rural Development Programs (RDPs) of the Italian regions and Autonomous provinces. A quantitative analysis of the Italian RDPs will be carried out investigating the distribution of the European Agricultural Funds for Rural Development, considering national and regional co-financing, in order to highlight the different allocation of funds between axes and measures across the regions. To support quantitative analysis a qualitative investigation, and related methodology, will be presented and applied to three Italian regions. This combined methodology allows a gathering of different aspects of rural development policy, thus to reveal the objectives pursued by the regions often hidden €ܢetween the linesÂ€Ý of the RDP texts. |
| Keywords: | Rural development policy, Italian regions, Evaluation of efficiency and Effectiveness, In progress support to policy decisions, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q18, Q19, |
| Date: | 2008–11–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa109:44789&r=geo |
| By: | Gonzalez, M.; Sort, J. |
| Abstract: | The overall objective of the present paper is to identify and analyse the territorial factors that influence the economy and demography of rural areas in Catalonia. The paper begins with a definition of the different rural typologies, and then proposes an innovative methodology combining tools from different disciplines, such as economics, statistics, geography and sociology. The methodology is applied to the 946 municipalities existing in Catalonia today, which visually results in a map of the region. The map obtained allows us to identify rural spaces throughout the territory Â€Ó including metropolitan and peri-urban rural areas. The next step has been the analysis of the indicators of their socio-economic development contexts in order to identify their similarities and differences in terms of socioeconomic and territorial characteristics. As a result of applying this methodology, we can deepen our understanding of the factors behind lagging agricultural activity in rural spaces, as well as make progress in the identification of sustainable policies aimed at preventing the environmental, sociological and cultural losses linked to the abandonment of rural activities. |
| Keywords: | Rural space, rural development, lagging rural economy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae08:44437&r=geo |
| By: | Demont, M.; Daems, W.; Dillen, K.; Mathijs, E.; Sausse, C.; Tollens, E. |
| Abstract: | The EU is currently struggling to implement coherent coexistence regulations on genetically modified (GM) and non-GM crops in all member states. While it stresses that any approach needs to be €ܰroportionate to the aim of achieving coexistence€ݬ very few studies have actually attempted to assess whether the proposed spatial ex ante coexistence regulations (SEACERs) satisfy this proportionality condition. In this article, we define proportionality as a functional relationship which is weakly increasing in the incentives for coexistence. We propose a spatial framework based on an existing landscape and introduce the new concept of shadow factor as a measure for the opportunity costs induced by SEACERs. This enables comparing the proportionality of (i) rigid SEACERs which are based on large isolation distances imposed on GM farmers versus (ii) flexible SEACERs based on pollen barrier agreements between neighboring farmers. Our theoretical and empirical findings argue for flexibility as rigid SEACERs violate the proportionality condition and, hence, are not consistent with the objectives of the EU. |
| Keywords: | policy analysis, GIS, shadow factor, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae08:44191&r=geo |
| By: | Elsholz, Rudiger |
| Abstract: | The second pillar of the CAP is expected to play a key role for rural development Â€Ó especially for less favoured areas. Conservation of biodiversity and the cultural landscape and the competitiveness of farmers are important objectives addressed by different measures. The importance of the second pillar has been heavily emphasised for all the different objectives. The aim of the present paper is to analyse the programs of the second pillar for the federal state of Hesse, Germany. To give an overview of the programs the design of the measures is illustrated in detail. The programs are assessed from a theoretical point of view. Furthermore, the programs are classified into three axes in regard to the main objectives. The findings are threefold. Firstly, the Hessian rural development plan is very diverse in terms of program design, objectives and co-financing. Secondly, the assessment of second pillar programs lacks a detailed analysis considering effects and costs and comparing alternative measures. Thirdly, in Hesse the largest emphasis by financial means is applied to environmental and land management issues, namely the agri-environmental program. |
| Keywords: | Common Agricultural Policy, Second Pillar and Regional Policy Impact, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q18, Q19, |
| Date: | 2008–11–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaa109:44792&r=geo |
| By: | Wegener, S.; Kiryluk, E. |
| Abstract: | Measures for rural development should be adapted to the specific regional conditions and national programs should allow for different regional priorities. However, decision-making for policy measures often takes place under special conditions with many concerned actors, unstructured decision problems and time pressure. These conditions, decision-makers in administrations and institutions are faced with, make the formation of policy-measures for rural development a complex matter. Thus, there is the question arising how decision-makers can be supported in setting priorities for allocating budgets for policy measures among regions. Recently, multi criteria decision-making approaches are discussed to tackle these kinds of decision problems. We show exemplarily for the Polish program of rural development, how decision-making could be supported using a multi-objective programming approach. Different preferences of actors can be considered explicitly by visualizing €ܴrade-offsÂ€Ý and an interactive use of the approach. For example, a political "equity" objective is implemented as a constraint in the programming approach, restricting the budget differences between regions to a defined level. By a parameterization of the bound for budget differences, the "trade-off" between three objectives is displayed and evaluated. Using the exemplary programming approach, it is shown that the objective values of the two main objectives of the PROW decline, when the budget differences between regions are restricted for pursuing a political "equity" objective. |
| Keywords: | Regional Budgeting, Interactive Decision-making support, Multi-objective Programming (MOP), Community/Rural/Urban Development, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eaae08:43845&r=geo |
| By: | Giuranno, Michele |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on the question of how income inequality between two jurisdictions impacts upon government decision-making affecting the size of the public sector. We model policy choices as the outcome of regional representatives'negotiations in the legislature. We show that the more unequal inter-regional income distribution is, the greater the under-provision of public goods. Particularly, larger inter-regional income disparity leads to a smaller public sector. A wealthier economy as a result may have a relatively smaller government size when income disparity increases. |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uca:ucapdv:114&r=geo |