|
on Economic Geography |
| By: | Jacek Zaucha (Institute for Development, Sopot, Poland) |
| Abstract: | This article presents a synthesis of today's world economic knowledge and the results of the analyses concerning: a) the nature of spatial functional linkages, including network structures, b) diversity of approaches concerning the application of spatial structures in the policies of encouraging the macro-level economic development of territorial units. This debate has been applied for discussing concrete dilemmas of spatial development of Poland i.e. the concept of polycentric metropolis. Such metropolis is a key part of the spatial development strategy for Poland i.e. Concept of National Spatial Development drawn up in 2008-2011 defining the objectives and priorities of the national spatial policy until 2030. Moreover, the article points to issues that require further research and deep analyses. |
| Keywords: | spatial concentration, agglomeration patterns, spatial development, spatial policy |
| JEL: | R11 R12 R58 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iro:wpaper:1101&r=geo |
| By: | Torben Klarl (University of Augsburg, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | A large and still growing body of literature suggests that entrepreneurship is of exceptional importance in explaining knowledge spillovers. Although quantifying the impact of entrepreneurial activity for economic growth is an interesting issue – particularly at the regional level – a concise formulation within a theoretical growth model is still missing. This paper in general tries to uncover the link between own- and neighbour-related regional entrepreneurial activity in innovation and regional growth within a spatial semi-endogenous growth model in the spirit of Jones (1995) reflecting recent empirical findings on entrepreneurial activity for economic growth. The paper derives an explicit solution for the transitional as well as for the balanced growth path level of ideas. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, economic growth, innovation, knowledge spillover |
| JEL: | M13 O31 R5 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aug:augsbe:0317&r=geo |
| By: | Tomoya Mori (Institute of Economic Research, Kyoto University); Tony E. Smith (Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania) |
| Abstract: | Dating from the seminal work of Ellison and Glaeser [11] in 1997, a wealth of evidence for the ubiquity of industrial agglomerations has been published. However, most of these results are based on analyses of single (scalar) indices of agglomeration. Hence it is not surprising that industries deemed to be similar by such indices can often exhibit very different patterns of agglomeration - with respect to the number, size, and spatial extent of individual agglomerations. The purpose of this paper is thus to propose a more detailed spatial analysis of agglomeration in terms of multiple-cluster patterns, where each cluster represents a (roughly) convex set of contiguous regions within which the density of establishments is relatively uniform. The key idea is to develop a simple probability model of multiple clusters, called cluster schemes, and then to seek a “best” cluster scheme for each industry by employing a standard model-selection criterion. Our ultimate objective is to provide a richer characterization of spatial agglomeration patterns that will allow more meaningful comparisons of these patterns across industries. |
| Keywords: | Industrial Agglomeration, Cluster Analysis, Geodesic Convexity, Bayesian Information Criterion |
| JEL: | C49 L60 R12 R14 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kyo:wpaper:777&r=geo |
| By: | Colin Davis (Institute for International Education, Doshisha University); Ken-ichi Hashimoto (Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the relationship between geographic patterns of economic activity and productivity growth in a two region model of trade and endogenous growth without scale effects. At the core of the model is the production and in-house innovation activities of manufacturing firms and, in a world of transport costs, imperfect knowledge dispersion and perfect capital mobility, these activities are located independently in the region that provides the lowest associated cost. In contrast to the existing literature, we remove scale effects by shifting the focus from aggregate research and development activity to innovation at the level of individual product lines and find that although industry concentration raises the level of product variety, it reduces the rate of productivity growth so that the pace of economic growth is highest when industry is equally dispersed across regions. We also study the effects of greater economic integration between regions and find that increases in the freeness of trade and the level of knowledge dispersion both have negative effects on productivity growth while raising the level of product variety. These opposing effects for growth and product variety lead to mixed results for the impacts of economic integration on regional welfare. |
| Keywords: | Industry Concentration, Industry Share, Productivity Growth, Scale Effect |
| JEL: | F43 O30 O40 R12 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koe:wpaper:1107&r=geo |
| By: | Colin Davis (Institute for International Education, Doshisha University); Ken-ichi Hashimoto (Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the relationship between geographic patterns of industrial activity and endogenous growth in a two region model of trade that exhibits no scale effect. The in-house process innovation of manufacturing firms drives productivity growth and is closely associated with firm-level scales of production and relative levels of accessible technical knowledge. Focusing on long-run industry shares and a cross-region productivity gap, we find that dispersed equilibria with positive industry shares for both regions always produce higher growth rates than core-periphery equilibria with all industry locating in one region. Moreover, the highest growth rate arises in a symmetric steady state that features no productivity gap and equal shares of industry leading to the conclusion that the geographic concentration of industry has a negative impact on overall growth. Convergence towards a dispersed equilibrium, however, is contingent on the levels of inter-regional transport costs and knowledge dispersion. Finally, we explore the implications of greater economic integration arising from reduced transport costs and greater knowledge dispersion for patterns of industry and productivity, and for regional welfare levels within a dispersed equilibrium. |
| Keywords: | Industry Concentration, Industry Share, Productivity Gap, Productivity Growth, Scale Effect |
| JEL: | F43 O30 O40 R12 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koe:wpaper:1106&r=geo |
| By: | Paul CHIAMBARETTO; André DE PALMA; Stef PROOST |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we introduce a distinction between interregional and intraregional transportation costs, in a footloose capital model. This allows assessing more precisely the effects of different types of transport policies, on the spatial distribution of activities. From a normative point of view, we find that, in absence of regulation, the concentration of firms is too high in the center. We show what set of transport policies improves the equilibrium. |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ete:ceswps:ces11.14&r=geo |
| By: | Marc Henry; Ismael Mourifié |
| Abstract: | In the spatial model of voting, voters choose the candidate closest to them in the ideological space. Recent work by (Degan and Merlo 2009) shows that it is falsifiable on the basis of individual voting data in multiple elections. We show how to tackle the fact that the model only partially identifies the distribution of voting profiles and we give a formal revealed preference test of the spatial voting model in 3 national elections in the US, and strongly reject the spatial model in all cases. We also construct confidence regions for partially identified voter characteristics in an augmented model with unobserved valence dimension, and identify the amount of voter heterogeneity necessary to reconcile the data with spatial preferences. <P> |
| Keywords: | revealed preference, partial identification, elliptic preferences, voting behaviour, |
| Date: | 2011–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cir:cirwor:2011s-49&r=geo |
| By: | Anping Chen (School of Economics, Jinan University); Nicolaas Groenewold (UWA Business School, The University of Western Australia) |
| Abstract: | Inter-regional disparities in China have been an important concern for central-government policy-makers for most of the past 60 years. One of the main policy instruments for redressing the balance between the prosperous coastal region and the poorer inland region has been the allocation of investment spending. Yet there is little empirical work evaluating the response of disparities to changes in the regional distribution of investment. We help fill this gap and analyse the two-way relationship between these variables within a VAR/VECM framework, the results of which we tentatively interpret in terms of a simple demand model. We find, surprisingly, that changes in the regional allocation of investment have only a modest positive effect on inter-regional output disparities while the effect in the opposite direction is also positive but much larger. The effects of investment on output are larger, though, for the post-1978 period. We find our overall results to be robust to numerous variations in variable definition. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwa:wpaper:11-08&r=geo |
| By: | Filippo Randelli (Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche); Patrizia Romei (Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche); Marco Tortora (Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche); Maria Tinacci Mossello (Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche) |
| Abstract: | After the crisis of the traditional agricultural system in the 50’s, starting from the 80’s rural tourism is driving the renaissance of Tuscan countryside. The empty spaces of rural areas, which characterise the agricultural landscape, show a new set of functions developed by and for the tourist field. The Tuscany Region was the first Italian region to recognize the new trend of the integrated rural development so that in 1985 it stated the first regional law on agritourism. In this context Tuscany is the one of the first Italian and European regions committed to the development of rural areas. This paper recognizes the leading role of Tuscany in the development of rural areas and tourism and shows the relationships between tourism and local sustainable development in rural areas through a case study. In the first part there is a historical analysis of the evolution of the tourism in rural areas, of the strengths of the Tuscan model in this field, and of the relationship between identity and local resources for the sustainable development of tourism (the topic of rural tourism may be analyzed from a local development point of view). In the second part there is the introduction of a case study developed in a rural area characterized by the “typical” Tuscan landscape, the presence of art cities, and a high-quality supply of services and products such as food and wine. The analysis is based on quantitative and qualitative methodologies that helped us outline the network of tourist centres and study tourism in rural Tuscany. Then there is an analysis of competition capacities and potentialities of the local area to understand if and how these depend more or less on the network structure or on local resources. At the end the paper underlines the strengths and weaknesses of rural tourism in Tuscany, one of the leading region of the European project NECSTOUR, and outlines possible future regional policies in support of the sector. |
| Keywords: | rural tourism, regional development, sustainable tourism, Tuscany |
| JEL: | O18 Q26 Q56 R11 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2011_11.rdf&r=geo |
| By: | Klaus Nowotny (WIFO) |
| Abstract: | Migrants are among the groups most vulnerable to economic fluctuations. As predicted by the "welfare magnet" hypothesis, migrants can therefore be expected to – ceteris paribus – prefer countries with more generous welfare provisions to insure themselves against labour market risks. This paper analyses the role of the welfare magnet hypothesis for migrants to the EU 15 at the regional level. The empirical analysis based on a random parameters logit model shows that the regional location decisions of migrants are mostly governed by income opportunities, labour market conditions, ethnic networks and a common language. There is no strong evidence for the welfare magnet hypothesis in the EU, but the empirical model shows that the income tax system has a large and consistent effect on locational choice. |
| Keywords: | welfare magnet hypothesis, migration, random parameters logit model |
| Date: | 2011–04–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2011:i:393&r=geo |
| By: | Franz R. Hahn (WIFO) |
| Abstract: | Theory suggests that the cross-border bank lending flow from rich countries to poor countries is facilitated when lending-related legal and social norms are shared and valued equally by both lenders and borrowers. According to this reasoning the fast adoption of Western-style democracy and market economy principles as established by EU standards by many of the East European "transformation countries" since the early 1990s should have raised cross-border lending by banks based in EU 15 countries to clients resident in new East European EU member countries. Exploring cross-border lending activities of Austrian small- to medium-sized regional banks over the period from 1995 to 2008 with panel and spatial econometric techniques this paper provides evidence that is supportive of this presumption. |
| Keywords: | panel econometric analysis, spatial econometric analysis, cross-border bank lending, institutions, neoclassical economics |
| Date: | 2011–04–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2011:i:392&r=geo |
| By: | Stuart Dawley; Neill Marshall; Andy Pike; Jane Pollard; John Tomaney |
| Abstract: | The Northern Rock mortgage bank was a high profile casualty of the credit crunch in 2007. A longitudinal investigation focused on the redundancy and resettlement of employees at the bank provides a case study of the labour market impact of the banking crisis on the North East of England. An evolutionary geographical political economy approach indicates that Northern RockÕs growth and decline was shaped by its location in an old industrial region, and echoes the historical position of the peripheral region in the spatial division of labour. The Northern Rock case highlights the enduring occupational structure of the regionÕs labour market, and suggests older industrial regions may suffer from a process of Ôoccupational disadvantageÕ that restricts their ability to adapt to economic change. |
| Keywords: | Financial crisis, Northern Rock, Labour market impact, Evolutionary geographical political economy |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1109&r=geo |
| By: | Czernich, Nina |
| Abstract: | Online job search is becoming increasingly prominent and is viewed to improve the efficiency of the search process. OLS results suggest a negative association of DSL availability with unemployment rates across German municipalities. However, the roll-out of DSL networks is not random. This paper exploits the fact that the availability of DSL connections depends on a municipality’s distance to the closest interconnection point to the pre-existing voice-telephony network. Instrumental-variable results using this distance as an instrument for DSL availability do not confirm the effect of DSL availability on unemployment. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment; job search; broadband internet |
| JEL: | J64 L96 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lmu:muenec:12279&r=geo |
| By: | Clément Carbonnier (THEMA, Universite de Cergy-Pontoise) |
| Abstract: | This article presents a model of optimal decentralization of economic governance. It focuses on the provision of public input for private production. It considers that the decision power is given to a local government if it has the full right to decide new investments and new taxes to finance it. Three economic forces act on this optimal decentralization of the decision. First is the centripetal force which consists in the increasing accuracy and relevance of public investments when decided more locally. The second and third are the centrifugal forces of the administrative costs on the one hand and of the fiscal competition among decentralized jurisdictions on the other. Formal proofs of the existence and uniqueness of solutions are given under special hypotheses and in general. Numerical analysis is also done to understand the impact on the optimal decentralization level of the different model parameters. |
| Keywords: | Decentralization, Corporate taxes, Tax competition, Public input, Firm location |
| JEL: | H25 H72 R12 R51 R53 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ema:worpap:2011-09&r=geo |