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on Economic Geography |
| By: | Burger, M.J.; Oort, F.G. van; Raspe, O. |
| Abstract: | Recent empirical studies in regional science and urban economics show that agglomeration economies may be one source of the uneven distribution of economic activities and economic growth across cities and regions. At the same time, the body of research into the importance of agglomeration economies for the performance of firms is still growing. Such development is necessary, as the theories that underlie agglomeration economies are microeconomic in nature, but still insufficiently understood. In this study, we focus on the determinants of survival among new establishments in the advanced producer services sector in the Netherlands. Employing a mixed hierarchical and cross-classified probit regression, we introduce a model of establishment survival that is specific to characteristics of the internal and external environment of the establishment. Controlling for firm and sector characteristics, we conclude that location accounts for about 4% of the variance in the probability of survival of new establishments. We also find that localization and urbanization economies have a positive effect on the survival of new establishments. However, new establishments with large start-up sizes appear to profit more from agglomeration economies than new establishments with small start-up sizes. |
| Keywords: | agglomeration economies;micro-macro link;new establishments;multi-level analysis |
| Date: | 2010–04–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:eureri:1765019519&r=geo |
| By: | McArthur, David Philip (Stord/Haugesund University College); Kleppe, Gisle (Stord/Haugesund University College); Thorsen, Inge (Stord/Haugesund University College); Ubøe, Jan (Dept. of Finance and Management Science, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies whether gravity model parameters estimated in one geographic area can give reasonable predictions of commuting flows in another. To do this, three sets of parameters are estimated for geographically proximate yet separate regions in south-west Norway. All possible combinations of data and parameters are considered, giving a total of nine cases. Of particular importance is the distinction between statistical equality of parameters and `practical' equality i.e. are the differences in predictions big enough to matter. A new type test best on the Standardised Root Mean Square Error (SRMSE) and Monte Carlo simulation is proposed and utilised. |
| Keywords: | Gravity model; commuting flows; regional science |
| JEL: | R10 R12 |
| Date: | 2010–05–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhhfms:2010_003&r=geo |
| By: | Dayton M. Lambert (Dept. of Agricultural Economics, University of Tennessee); Jason P. Brown (USDA, Economic Research Service, Washington, D.C.); Raymond J.G.M. Florax (Dept. of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University) |
| Abstract: | Several spatial econometric approaches are available to model spatially correlated disturbances in count models, but there are at present no structurally consistent count models incorporating spatial lag autocorrelation. A two-step, limited information maximum likelihood estimator is proposed to fill this gap. The estimator is developed assuming a Poisson distribution, but can be extended to other count distributions. The small sample properties of the estimator are evaluated with Monte Carlo experiments. Simulation results suggest that the spatial lag count estimator achieves gains in terms of bias over the aspatial version as spatial lag autocorrelation and sample size increase. An empirical example deals with the location choice of single-unit start-up firms in the manufacturing industry in the US between 2000 and 2004. The empirical results suggest that in the dynamic process of firm formation, counties dominated by firms exhibiting (internal) increasing returns to scale are at a relative disadvantage even if localization economies are present |
| Keywords: | count model, location choice, manufacturing, Poisson, spatial econometrics |
| JEL: | C21 C25 D21 R12 R30 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pae:wpaper:10-5&r=geo |
| By: | Aminda do Paço (Departamento de Gestão e Economia, Universidade da Beira Interior); João Ferreira, Mário Raposo, Ricardo G. Rodrigues e Anabela Dinis (Departamento de Gestão e Economia, Universidade da Beira Interior) |
| Abstract: | It is assumed that entrepreneurship education encourage the growth of new businesses, exploiting the entrepreneurial spirit within higher education sector. Additionally, entrepreneurship higher education is supposed to play a relevant role in the development of enterprising citizens and in the development regions through an ongoing process of knowledge creation and delivery. In this research we will explore what roles are attributed to entrepreneurship education in the literature with regard to regional development as well as the influence and relationship of the main intervening stakeholders. The aim is to present a conceptual model which integrate the contributions of both strands of literature and, at the same time, highlight the interplay between the several stakeholders involved in HEI’s entrepreneurship education and regional development. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship education, university, regional development, stakeholders |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csh:wpecon:td02_2010&r=geo |
| By: | Francesco Aiello; Paola Cardamone (Dipartimento di Economia e Statistica, Università della Calabria) |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses the impact of R&D efforts on production in the North and Centre-South of Italy by using a panel of 1203 manufacturing firms over the period 1998-2003. The estimations are based on a nonlinear translog production function augmented by a measure of R&D spillovers. This measure combines the geographical distance between firms, the technological similarity within each pair of firms and the technical efficiency of each firm. The estimation method takes into account the endogeneity of regressors and the potential sample selection issue regarding firms’ decision to invest in R&D. Results show that the external stock of technology exerts a higher impact in the Centre-South of Italy. Finally, it emerges that R&D capital and R&D spillovers are substitutes for Northern firms and complements for Centre-Southern firms. |
| Keywords: | R&D spillovers, Italian economic divide, translog production function, technical efficiency. |
| JEL: | O33 L29 C23 |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:clb:wpaper:201010&r=geo |
| By: | Escobar Gamboa, Octavio Romano |
| Abstract: | Cette thèse se compose de trois études empiriques sur les ajustements que l’économie régionale mexicaine a suivis depuis l’entrée en vigueur de l’ALENA. Dans la première étude, l’évolution et les déterminants des disparités régionales dans la productivité du travail manufacturier sont analysées pour la période du 1998 à 2003. La seconde étude analyse les raisons derrière les performances à l’exportation des différents états mexicains de 1994 à 2002. La troisième étude analyse la structure géographique investissements directs étrangers (IDE) au Mexique pour la période 1994-2004. Les trois études montrent l’importance de la dépendance spatiale dans les dynamiques territoriales au Mexique. Autrement dit, les unités territoriales ne doivent pas être considérées comme des unités indépendantes sans contact les unes avec les autres. |
| Abstract: | This dissertation consists of three empirical studies on the regional economic adjustments that followed NAFTA’s entry into force in Mexico. In the first study, the evolution and determinants of regional disparities in manufacturing labor productivity are analyzed for the 1988-2003 period. The second study explores the reasons behind the export performance of different Mexican states from 1994 to 2002. The third study analyzes the location pattern of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Mexico for the period 1994-2004. The three studies highlight the importance of spatial dependence on the territorial dynamics in Mexico. In other words, territorial units should not be considered as independent units without contact between each other. |
| Keywords: | Investissements étrangers; Disparités régionales; Commerce international; Mexique; Productivité; Accord de libre-échange nord-américain (1992); |
| JEL: | O54 F53 F21 O47 |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:dauphi:urn:hdl:123456789/3850&r=geo |
| By: | McArthur, David Philip (Stord/Haugesund University College); Kleppe, Gisle (Stord/Haugesund University College); Thorsen, Inge (Stord/Haugesund University College); Ubøe, Jan (Dept. of Finance and Management Science, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | In western Norway, fjords cause disconnections in the road network, necessitating the use of ferries. In several cases, ferries have been replaced by roads, often part-financed by tolls. We use data on commuting from a region with a high number of ferries, tunnels and bridges. Using a doubly-constrained gravity-based model specification, we focus on how commuting responds to varying tolls and ferry prices. Focus is placed on the role played by tolls on infrastructure in inhibiting spatial interaction. We show there is considerable latent demand, and suggest that these tolls contradict the aim of greater territorial cohesion. |
| Keywords: | Commuting flows; pecuniary costs |
| JEL: | R10 R12 |
| Date: | 2010–05–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhhfms:2010_004&r=geo |
| By: | Michal Hlavacek; Lubos Komarek |
| Abstract: | This working paper, based on an empirical analysis, discusses factors affecting property prices and tries to identify periods of property price overvaluation by three approaches: using simple ratios related to house prices (price-to-income and price-to-rent), using time series analysis for the Czech Republic as a whole, and using panel regression for the Czech regions. The time series analysis and the simple indicators of housing price sustainability identified overvalued property prices in 2002/2003 and partly also in 2007/2008. According to the time series analysis, however, the size of the housing price overvaluation in 2007/2008 was relatively low, as the rise in property prices in this period was largely explainable by fundamentals. From the regional perspective, there is a higher degree of overvaluation in regions with higher property prices. The exception is Prague, which seems to be a “specific†region. |
| Keywords: | Asset price bubbles, Czech Republic and its regions, housing prices, panel regression. |
| JEL: | R21 R31 C23 |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cnb:wpaper:2009/12&r=geo |
| By: | George Grantham |
| Abstract: | This paper argues that the conventional Malthusian account of pre-modern economies as constrained by diminishing returns resulting from a fixed land supplied is flawed because it does not recognize the importance of systematic indivisibilities in the production and distribution of farm produce that supported increasing return to additional inputs when the demand price of produce warranted them. Those indivisibilities locked in low-intensity farming practices in places where the demand for produce was diffuse. Most of pre-industrial Europe was in that situation, so average agricultural productivity was low. It was only in regions where urban concentrations of consumers aggregated demand to a level capable of inducing extra investment to exploit latent returns to scale in farming and transportation that the productivity of traditional mixed farming achieved its full potential. |
| JEL: | N00 N5 N7 Q1 R00 R1 |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcl:mclwop:2010-04&r=geo |
| By: | Bjoern Alecke (GEFRA - Gesellschaft fuer Finanz- und Regionalanalysen); Timo Mitze (RWI - Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung); Gerhard Untiedt (GEFRA - Gesellschaft fuer Finanz- und Regionalanalysen) |
| Abstract: | Die vorliegende Arbeit analysiert den Einfluss der Gemeinschaftsaufgabe „Verbesserung der regionalen Wirtschaftsstruktur“ (GRW) auf das Produktivitätswachstum von 225 deutschen Arbeitsmarktregionen im Zeitraum 1994 bis 2006. Ausgangspunkt der Untersuchung ist eine „Barro-Type“-Schätzgleichung auf Basis wachstumsökonomischer Überlegungen. Besondere Aufmerksamkeit kommt dabei der Quantifizierung des Effekts der GRW als erklärende Variable zuteil. Hier zeigen die Schätzergebnisse für verschiedene Modellspezifikationen einen signifikant positiven direkten Einfluss der Förderung auf die Produktivitätsentwicklung für knapp zwei Drittel der geförderten Arbeitsmarktregionen. Um die Robustheit der Ergeb-nisse zu überprüfen, wird das klassische ökonometrische Modell schließlich um „räumliche“ Komponenten erweitert. Die Schätzung eines Spatial Lag Modells zeigt zunächst, dass für deutsche Arbeitsmarktregionen ein positiver räumlicher Wachstumsverbund zu beobachten ist, d.h. von einer stärker wachsenden Region gehen positive Spillovereffekte auf die Nach-barregionen aus. Wird darüber hinaus versucht, für räumliche Effekte der exogenen Variab-len zu kontrollieren, ergeben sich auf Basis eines Spatial Durbin und Spatial Durbin Error Modells negative Spillovereffekte der GRW-Förderung. Dieser Effekt bleibt dabei stabil, wenn räumliche Lags weiterer erklärender Variablen in die Schätzgleichung aufgenommen werden. Der negative indirekte Effekt der GRW-Förderung führt dazu, dass nur noch für knapp 45% der Fördergebiete mit niedrigem Ausgangseinkommen ein positiver Gesamtef-fekt auf das Produktivitätswachstum zu beobachten ist (etwa 73% des Einkommensniveaus der nicht-geförderten westdeutschen Arbeitsmarktregionen). |
| Date: | 2010–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gef:wpaper:5-2010&r=geo |
| By: | Anita Tuladhar; Markus Bruckner |
| Abstract: | How effective was public investment in stimulating the Japanese economy during the economic stagnation of the 1990s? Using a dataset of regional public investment spending, we find that investment multipliers were higher than for public consumption, although they were relatively low and declining over time. The paper also finds that the effectiveness of economic infrastructure investment, implemented mainly by the central government, is lower than that of social investment mostly undertaken by local governments. These results suggest that while public investment may yield higher output effects than other spending, its effectiveness depends upon its composition, the level of government implementation, and supply side factors. |
| Keywords: | Economic models , Financial crisis , Fiscal policy , Governance , Government expenditures , Japan , Public investment , |
| Date: | 2010–04–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:10/110&r=geo |