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on Economic Geography |
| By: | Martinho, Vítor João Pereira Domingues |
| Abstract: | The consideration of spatial effects at a regional level is becoming increasingly frequent and the work of Anselin (1988), among others, has contributed to this. This study analyses, through cross-section estimation methods, the influence of spatial effects in productivity (product per worker) in the NUTs III economic sectors of mainland Portugal from 1995 to 1999 and from 2000 to 2005 (taking in count the availability of data), considering the Verdoorn relationship. To analyse the data, by using Moran I statistics, it is stated that productivity is subject to a positive spatial autocorrelation (productivity of each of the regions develops in a similar manner to each of the neighbouring regions), above all in services. The total of all sectors present, also, indicators of being subject to positive autocorrelation in productivity. Bearing in mind the results of estimations, it can been that the effects of spatial spillovers, spatial lags (measuring spatial autocorrelation through the spatially lagged dependent variable) and spatial error (measuring spatial autocorrelation through the spatially lagged error terms), influence the Verdoorn relationship when it is applied to the economic sectors of Portuguese regions. |
| Keywords: | Spatial Econometric; Verdoorn Law; Portuguese Regions. |
| JEL: | R58 O40 C21 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32183&r=geo |
| By: | Marius Brülhart (HEC - LAUSANNE - École des HEC, Université de Lausanne Département d'économétrie et économie politique - Université de Lausanne); Céline Carrere (CERDI - Centre d'études et de recherches sur le developpement international - CNRS : UMR6587 - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I); Federico Trionfetti (GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille II - Université Paul Cézanne - Aix-Marseille III - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - CNRS : UMR6579) |
| Abstract: | We study the responses of regional employment and nominal wages to trade liberalization, exploiting the natural experiment provided by the opening of Central and Eastern European markets after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1990. Using data for Austrian municipalities, we examine differential pre- and post-1990 wage and employment growth rates between regions bordering the formerly communist economies and interior regions. If the 'border regions' are defined narrowly, within a band of less than 50 kilometers, we can identify statistically significant liberalization effects on both employment and wages. While wage responses preceded employment responses, the employment effect over the entire adjustment period is estimated to be around three times as large as the wage effect. The implied slope of the regional labor supply curve can be replicated in a new economic geography model that features obstacles to labor migration due to immobile housing and to heterogeneous locational preferences. |
| Keywords: | trade liberalization; spatial adjustment; regional labor supply; natural experiment |
| Date: | 2011–07–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00607748&r=geo |
| By: | Martinho, Vítor João Pereira Domingues |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship between inter-industry, intra-industry and inter-regional clustering and demand for labor by companies in Portugal. Is expected at the outset that there is more demand for work where the agglomeration is greater. It should be noted, as a summary conclusion, the results are consistent with the theoretical developments of the New Economic Geography, namely the demand for labor is greater where firms are better able to cluster that is where transport costs are lower and where there is a strong links "backward and forward" and strong economies of agglomeration. |
| Keywords: | agglomeration; Portuguese regions; labor; interregional mobility. |
| JEL: | R30 O18 R40 C23 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32203&r=geo |
| By: | Martinho, Vítor João Pereira Domingues |
| Abstract: | This study analyses, through cross-section estimation methods, the influence of spatial effects in productivity (product per worker), at economic sectors level of the NUTs III of mainland Portugal, from 1995 to 1999 and from 2000 to 2005 (taking in count the data availability and the Portuguese and European context), considering the Verdoorn relationship. From the analyses of the data, by using Moran I statistics, it is stated that productivity is subject to a positive spatial autocorrelation (productivity of each of the regions develops in a similar manner to each of the neighbouring regions), above all in services. The total sectors of all regional economy present, also, indicators of being subject to positive autocorrelation in productivity. Bearing in mind the results of estimations, it can been that the effects of spatial spillovers, spatial lags (measuring spatial autocorrelation through the spatially lagged dependent variable) and spatial error (measuring spatial autocorrelation through the spatially lagged error terms), influence the Verdoorn relationship when it is applied to the economic sectors of Portuguese regions. The results obtained for the two periods are different, as expected, and are better in second period, because, essentially, the European and national public supports. |
| Keywords: | Spatial Econometrics; Economic Growth; Productivity Analysis; Regional Development. |
| JEL: | R58 O47 C21 O40 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32165&r=geo |
| By: | Michael Artis; Declan Curran; Marianne Sensier |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates agglomeration economies in an annual panel of NUTS 2 and NUTS 3 city regions across France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain and the UK over 1980-2006 and comparing three sub-samples to see if the effects have changed over time. We uncover evidence of long run agglomeration effects of around 6% for NUTS 2 and NUTS 3 city regions for the full sample. The underlying pattern that this data reflects is changing sectoral composition in which manufacturing was declining, to be largely replaced by services; then more recently a period of city-based economic growth with the financial and business services-led boom at its heart. |
| Keywords: | agglomeration, system dynamic panel data estimations |
| JEL: | C22 E32 E37 E40 |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0078&r=geo |
| By: | Vítor João Pereira Domingues Martinho (Polytechnic Agricultural School of Viseu) |
| Abstract: | This study analyses, through cross-section estimation methods, the influence of spatial effects in the conditional product convergence in the parishes? economies of mainland Portugal between 1991 and 2001 (the last year with data available for this spatial disaggregation level). To analyse the data, Moran?s I statistics is considered, and it is stated that product is subject to positive spatial autocorrelation (product develops in a similar manner to product in neighbouring regions). Taking into account the estimation results, it is stated that there are not indications of convergence (the population is in the littoral of Portugal) and it can be seen that spatial spillover effects, spatial lag (capturing spatial autocorrelation through a spatially lagged dependent variable) and spatial error (capturing spatial autocorrelation through a spatially lagged error term) condition the convergence of product of Portuguese parishes in the period under consideration. |
| Keywords: | Spatial Econometrics; Product Convergence; Portuguese Context |
| JEL: | C2 O1 R1 |
| Date: | 2011–07–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pil:wpaper:79&r=geo |
| By: | Martinho, Vítor João Pereira Domingues |
| Abstract: | With this work we try to analyse the agglomeration process in the Portuguese regions, using the New Economic Geography models. In these models the base idea is that where has increasing returns to scale in the manufactured industry and low transport costs, there is agglomeration. Of referring, as summary conclusion, that with this work the existence of increasing returns to scale and low transport cost, in the Portuguese regions, was proven and as such the existence of agglomeration in Portugal. |
| Keywords: | new economic geography; non linear models; Portuguese regions. |
| JEL: | O18 C23 R12 R41 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32204&r=geo |
| By: | Martinho, Vítor João Pereira Domingues |
| Abstract: | With this study we want to test the validity of the well known “Verdoorn´s Law” which considers the relationship between the growth of productivity and output in the case of the Portuguese economy at a regional and sectoral levels (NUTs II) for the period 1995-1999. The importance of some additional variables in the original specification of Verdoorn´s Law is also tested, such as, trade flows, capital accumulation and labour concentration. The main objective of the study is to confirm the presence of economies to scale that characterise the polarisation process with cumulative causation properties, explaining regional divergence. By introducing new variables to the original specification of Verdoorn´s Law we intend to examine how the economies to scale are influenced by the consideration of factors related to the Polarisation (Keynensian tradition) and Agglomeration (spatial economics tradition) phenomena. The results obtained from the regression analysis based on panel estimation show that the original specification of Verdoorn´s Law is more robust and confirm the presence of increasing economies to scale at both, regional and sectoral levels. However, the additional variables related to trade flows, capital accumulation and labour concentration have few influence on the performance of economies to scale. |
| Keywords: | alternative Verdoorn model; Portuguese regions; sectoral and regional analysis. |
| JEL: | O49 C23 R11 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32189&r=geo |
| By: | Braha, Dan; Stacey, Blake; Bar-Yam, Yaneer |
| Abstract: | A substantial number of studies have extended the work on universal properties in physical systems to complex networks in social, biological, and technological systems. In this paper, we present a complex networks perspective on interfirm organizational networks by mapping, analyzing and modeling the spatial structure of a large interfirm competition network across a variety of sectors and industries within the United States. We propose two micro-dynamic models that are able to reproduce empirically observed characteristics of competition networks as a natural outcome of a minimal set of general mechanisms governing the formation of competition networks. Both models, which utilize different approaches yet apply common principles to network formation give comparable results. There is an asymmetry between companies that are considered competitors, and companies that consider others as their competitors. All companies only consider a small number of other companies as competitors; however, there are a few companies that are considered as competitors by many others. Geographically, the density of corporate headquarters strongly correlates with local population density, and the probability two firms are competitors declines with geographic distance. We construct these properties by growing a corporate network with competitive links using random incorporations modulated by population density and geographic distance. Our new analysis, methodology and empirical results are relevant to various phenomena of social and market behavior, and have implications to research fields such as economic geography, economic sociology, and regional economic development. |
| Keywords: | Organizational networks; Interfirm competition; Economic geography; Social networks; Spatial networks; Network dynamics; Firm size dynamics |
| JEL: | Z1 F0 L11 C0 D40 Z13 D85 L1 R58 O1 L14 L2 R0 L8 R12 A14 D21 L0 L25 R3 L6 D4 L7 D0 L16 L13 J10 L9 C15 L22 R11 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32142&r=geo |
| By: | Bernard Fingleton; Simonetta Longhi |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates individual wage equations in order to test two rival non-nested theories of economic agglomeration, namely New Economic Geography (NEG), as represented by the NEG wage equation and urban economic (UE) theory, in which wages relate to employment density. The paper makes an original contribution by evidently being the first empirical paper to examine the issue of agglomeration processes associated with contemporary theory working with micro-level data, highlighting the role of gender and other individual-level characteristics. For male respondents, there is no significant evidence that wage levels are an outcome of the mechanisms suggested by NEG or UE theory, but this is not the case for female respondents. We speculate on the reasons for the gender difference. |
| Keywords: | urban economics, new economic geography, household panel data |
| JEL: | C21 C31 C33 D1 O18 R20 R12 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0081&r=geo |
| By: | Maria Plotnikova (Department of Economics, University of Reading); Nigel Wadeson; Brian Ashcroft (Department of Economics, University of Strathclyde) |
| Abstract: | Firm formation has been advocated by policy-makers and examined by researchers as a vehicle for job creation and economic development. Both industrial structures and the firm formation rates of individual industries vary regionally. For instance, Ashcroft et al (1991) showed that firm formation rates vary significantly between U.K. counties. While shift-share analysis has been used as a decomposition technique (Dunn, 1960) to account for these differences, a shortcoming is that the regional shift is affected by the level of regional employment in a given industry. Also, firm formation rates in each industry are likely to be partly determined by the industrial structure of a region. This paper extends the shift-share methodology developed by Johnson (1983) to incorporate a cluster analysis of the industrial structure of regional employment in order to further separate regional and sectoral components of firm formation in British counties in the1980s and 1990s. Firm formation is measured using VAT registration rates. |
| Date: | 2010–08–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rdg:emxxdp:em-dp2010-06&r=geo |
| By: | Matti Sarvimäki |
| Abstract: | i. This discussion paper is a completely revised version of SERCDP0047, published April 2010. This paper argues that agglomeration externalities are important even in the rural periphery. The analysis focuses on the forced relocation of more than a tenth of the Finnish population after World War II. Using the details of the resettlement policy to construct instrumental variables for wartime population growth rate, I find that an exogenous increase in municipality's population had a positive effect on later population growth, industrialization and real wages. These findings are consistent with the presence of agglomeration externalities and inconsistent with other popular explanations for the spatial distribution of economic activity. |
| Keywords: | Agglomeration externalities, natural advantages, migration |
| JEL: | R12 J61 N94 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0080&r=geo |
| By: | Becker, Sascha O.; Egger, Peter; von Ehrlich, Maximilian |
| Abstract: | Transfers to individuals, firms, and regions are often regulated by threshold rules, giving rise to a regression discontinuity design. An example are transfers provided by the European Commission to regions of EU member states below a certain income level. Researchers have focused on estimation of the average treatment effect of this program, assuming that it does not vary in a systematic way across units. We suggest a regression discontinuity design which allows for parametric or nonparametric identification of heterogeneous average treatment effects that systematically vary with observable characteristics in order to shed light on the role of absorptive capacity in determining the impact of regional transfers on economic growth across regions in the European Union. The results suggest that only about 47% of the regions, namely those with a sufficiently high endowment with human capital and a high quality of government, are able to turn transfers under the Union's Objective 1 Structural Funds programme into faster growth. Those regions are the ones which are responsible for a positive average effect of the programme. |
| Keywords: | Absorptive capacity; Heterogeneous local average treatment effects; Regional transfers; Regression discontinuity design |
| JEL: | C21 H54 O40 R11 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8474&r=geo |
| By: | Martinho, Vítor João Pereira Domingues |
| Abstract: | This work aims to test the Verdoorn Law, with the alternative specifications of (1)Kaldor (1966), for five regions (NUTS II) Portuguese from 1986 to 1994 and for the 28 NUTS III Portuguese in the period 1995 to 1999. Will, therefore, to analyze the existence of increasing returns to scale that characterize the phenomena of polarization with circular and cumulative causes and can explain the processes of regional divergence. It is intended to test, even in this work, the alternative interpretation of (2)Rowthorn (1975) Verdoorn's Law for the same regions and periods. The results of this work will be complemented with estimates of these relationships to other sectors of the economy than the industry (primary and services sector), for each of the manufacturing industries operating in the Portuguese regions and for the total economy of each region. |
| Keywords: | increasing returns; Verdoorn law; Portuguese regions. |
| JEL: | C23 O40 R11 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32186&r=geo |
| By: | Mark J. Holmes (Department of Economics, Waikato University, New Zealand); Jesús Otero (Facultad de Economía, Universidad del Rosario, Colombia); Theodore Panagiotidis (Department of Economics, University of Macedonia, Greece) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we examine long-run house price convergence across US states using a novel econometric approach advocated by Pesaran (2007) and Pesaran et al. (2009). Our empirical modelling strategy employs a probabilistic test statistic for convergence based on the percentage of unit root rejections among all state house price differentials. Using a sieve bootstrap procedure, we construct confidence intervals and find evidence in favour of convergence. We also conclude that speed of adjustment towards long-run equilibrium is inversely related to distance. |
| Keywords: | Panel data, cross-section dependence, pair-wise approach, house prices, convergence |
| JEL: | C2 C3 R1 R2 R3 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rim:rimwps:29_11&r=geo |
| By: | Hélia Silva (European University Institute); Linda Gonçalves Veiga (Universidade do Minho - NIPE); Miguel Portela (Universidade do Minho - NIPE, Tinbergen Institute and IZA Bonn) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims at testing the degree of interaction between Portuguese municipalities’ expenditure levels by estimating a dynamic panel model, based on jurisdictional reaction functions. The analysis is performed for all 278 Portuguese mainland municipalities from 1986 to 2006, using alternative ways to measure neighbourhood. Results indicate that local governments’ spending decisions are significantly influenced by the actions of neighbouring municipalities. For total expenditures, there is evidence that a 10% increase in nearby municipalities’ expenditures boosts expenditures in a given municipality by around 3.8%. |
| Keywords: | spending interactions, local government, spatial econometrics, dynamic panel data |
| JEL: | C23 H7 R1 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nip:nipewp:23/2011&r=geo |
| By: | Rune Dahl Fitjar (IRIS - International Research Institute of Stavanger); Andrés Rodríguez-Pose (IMDEA Social Sciences) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the sources of firm product and process innovation in Norway. It uses a purpose-built survey of 1604 firms in the five largest Norwegian city-regions to test, by means of a logit regression analysis, Jensen et al.'s (2007) contention that firm innovation is both the result of 'science, technology and innovation' (STI) and 'doing, using and interacting' (DUI) modes of firm learning. The paper classifies different types of firm interaction into STI-mode interaction (with consultants, universities, and research centres) and DUI-mode interaction, distinguishing between DUI interaction within the supply-chain (i.e. with suppliers and customers) or not (with competitors). It further controls for the geographical locations of partners. The analysis demonstrates that engagement with external agents is an important source of firm innovation and that both STI and DUI-modes of interaction matter. However, it also shows that DUI modes of interaction outside the supply chain tend to be irrelevant for innovation, with frequent exchanges with competitors having a detrimental effect on a firm's propensity to innovate. Collaboration with extra-regional agents is much more conducive to innovation than collaboration with local partners, especially within the DUI mode.This paper examines the sources of firm product and process innovation in Norway. It uses a purpose-built survey of 1604 firms in the five largest Norwegian city-regions to test, by means of a logit regression analysis, Jensen et al.'s (2007) contention that firm innovation is both the result of 'science, technology and innovation' (STI) and 'doing, using and interacting' (DUI) modes of firm learning. The paper classifies different types of firm interaction into STI-mode interaction (with consultants, universities, and research centres) and DUI-mode interaction, distinguishing between DUI interaction within the supply-chain (i.e. with suppliers and customers) or not (with competitors). It further controls for the geographical locations of partners. The analysis demonstrates that engagement with external agents is an important source of firm innovation and that both STI and DUI-modes of interaction matter. However, it also shows that DUI modes of interaction outside the supply chain tend to be irrelevant for innovation, with frequent exchanges with competitors having a detrimental effect on a firm's propensity to innovate. Collaboration with extra-regional agents is much more conducive to innovation than collaboration with local partners, especially within the DUI mode. |
| Keywords: | Innovation; firms; suppliers; customers; competitors; universities; STI; DUI; R&D; geography; Norway |
| Date: | 2011–07–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imd:wpaper:wp2011-12&r=geo |
| By: | Teemu Lyytikäinen |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a Finnish policy intervention to study tax competition among local governments. Changes in the statutory lower limits to the property tax rates are used as a source of exogenous variation to estimate the responses of municipalities to tax rates in their neighbouring municipalities. I do not find evidence of interdependence in property tax rates among Finnish municipalities. The results are in contrast to the earlier empirical literature, using data from other countries, that has mainly found positive interdependence in tax rates. I compare the causal estimates based on the policy change to the commonly used Spatial Lag estimates and Spatial Instrumental Variables estimates, which are based on highly restrictive assumptions. The comparisons suggest that the standard spatial econometrics methods may have a tendency to overestimate the degree of interdependence in tax rates. |
| Keywords: | Property tax, tax competition, fiscal interaction, instrumental variables, spatialeconometrics |
| JEL: | H20 H71 H77 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0082&r=geo |
| By: | Barbara Annicchiarico (Department of Economics - University of Rome “Tor Vergata”); Federica Orioli (University of Rome "Luiss Guido Carli" - University of Rome "Luiss Guido Carli"); Federico Trionfetti (GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - Université de la Méditerranée - Aix-Marseille II - Université Paul Cézanne - Aix-Marseille III - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - CNRS : UMR6579) |
| Abstract: | We replace monopolistic competition with national oligopolies in a model of "new economic geography". There are many possible bifurcation diagrams but, unlike in monopolistic competition, the symmetric equilibrium is always stable for low trade costs. The antitrust policy, though identical in both countries, affects the geographical distribution of firms. In turn, migration attenuates the effectiveness of the antitrust policy in eliminating collusive behavior. For high trade costs a toughening of the antitrust policy is likely to result in more agglomeration and may reduce world welfare. The antitrust policy is more likely to be welfare improving when market integration progresses. |
| Keywords: | Spatial Oligopoly, Antitrust Policy, Welfare |
| Date: | 2011–07–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00607641&r=geo |
| By: | Rémi Jedwab (PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS : UMR8545 - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - Ecole des Ponts ParisTech - Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris - ENS Paris, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris, LSE - London School of Economics and Political Science - LSE); Alexandre Moradi (Sussex University - Sussex University) |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of transportation infrastructure on agriculture and development in colonial Ghana. Two railway lines were built between 1901 and 1923 to connect the coast to mining areas and the large hinterland city of Kumasi. This unintendedly opened vast expanses of tropical forest to cocoa cultivation, allowing Ghana to become the world's largest producer. This attracted migrants to producing areas and the economic surplus drove urbanization. Using data at a very fine spatial level, we find a strong effect of railroad connectivity on cocoa production due to reduced transportation costs. We then show that the economic boom in cocoa-producing areas was associated with demographic growth and urbanization. We _nd no spurious effect from lines that were not built yet, and lines that were planned but never built. We show that our results are robust to considering nearest neighbor estimators. Lastly, railway construction has durably transformed the economic geography of Ghana, as railway districts are more developed today, despite thirty years of marked decline in rail transportation. |
| Keywords: | Railroads ; Trade Costs ; Urbanization ; Africa |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-00607207&r=geo |
| By: | Franz Fuerst (School of Real Estate & Planning, Henley Business School, University of Reading); Constantine Kontokosta (New York University); Pat McAllister (School of Real Estate & Planning, Henley Business School, University of Reading) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of policies to promote the adoption of LEED-certified buildings across CBSA in the United States. Drawing upon a unique database that combines data from a large number of sources and using a number of regression procedures, the determinants of the proportion LEED-certified space for more than 170 CBSA in the US is modeled. LEED-certified space still accounts for a relatively small proportion of commercial stock in all markets. The average proportion is less than 1%. There is no conclusive evidence of a positive impact of policy intervention on the levels of LEED-certified space. However, after accounting for bias introduced by non-random assignment of policies, we find preliminary evidence of a positive impact of city-level green building incentives. There is a significant positive association between market size and indicators of economic vitality on proportions of LEED-certified space. |
| Keywords: | energy efficiency, LEED, real estate, innovation diffusion, eco-labeling |
| JEL: | R33 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rdg:repxwp:rep-wp2011-01&r=geo |
| By: | Luigi Reggi (University "La Sapienza" of Rome, Department of Public Economics); Sergio Scicchitano (Ministry for Economic Development, Department for the Development and the Economic Cohesion) |
| Abstract: | EU Structural Funds represent by far the main source of funding for innovation in general and for eservices in particular in the lagging regions of Europe classified into the “Convergence” objective. The paper explores the amount of resources dedicated to public e-Services and Information Society by elaborating European Commission data on programmed resources for the 2007-13 period. Moreover, the paper represents the first attempt to use a quantitative approach – i.e. a principal component analysis and a cluster analysis – in order to identify the different strategies adopted by European Regions for Information Society development. The results shows that in the “Convergence” Regions, a specific “public e-services strategy” emerges. Regions investing in public e-services tend to concentrate available resources to e-government or e-health, while very low percentage of total funding is dedicated to the other categories such as broadband or infrastructural services. |
| Keywords: | Information society, regional policy, Cohesion Policy, Structural Funds, e-Services, e-Government, Cluster analysis. |
| JEL: | H83 O38 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:urb:wpaper:11_10&r=geo |
| By: | Kronenberg, Kristin |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes determinants of business relocation and identifies regional characteristics which attract relocating firms. Results indicate that the relocation decisions of firms are sector-dependent, and the migratory behavior of firms in knowledge-intensive sectors notably differs from that in less knowledge-intensive sectors. Generally, its age and size keep a firm from relocating, whereas firms paying high average salaries have a higher probability to move out of their present location. Relocating firms are generally attracted by densely populated municipalities with high wage levels, and predominantly service firms are drawn to municipalities which are specialized in the firm’s own sector and appeal to individuals, while they avoid moving to municipalities in which only few sectors are present. Sector-specific wages may either attract, or deter firms, suggesting that this variable may capture both the cost and the quality of the locally available workforce. |
| Keywords: | firm relocation; mobility; location choices; nested logit |
| JEL: | R30 R11 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32147&r=geo |
| By: | Ron Martin; Peter Sunley |
| Abstract: | Although the literature on the evolution of industrial clusters is not vast, a preferred approach has already become evident, based around the idea of a cluster 'life-cycle'. This approach has several limitations. In this paper we explore a different conception of cluster evolution drawing on the 'adaptive cycle' model that has been developed in evolutionary ecology. Using this model, cluster evolution is viewed as an adaptive process with different possible outcomes based on episodic interactions of nested systems. Though not without limitations, this approach offers greater scope as a framework for shaping the research agenda into the evolution of clusters. |
| Keywords: | Clusters, Evolution, Life-cycle model, Complex systems, Adaptive cycle model |
| JEL: | R00 R1 R3 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1112&r=geo |
| By: | Hans R. A. Koster; Piet Rietveld; Jos N. van Ommerren |
| Abstract: | Modern central business districts are characterised by high-rise office buildings. Helsley and Strange (2008) argue that skyscrapers are caused by agglomeration economies and a prize for being the tallest, so a reputation effect. We aim to test the relevance of this model by investigating the impact of building height on commercial office rents. The results show that firms are willing to pay about 4 percent more for a building that is 10 meters taller, which we interpret as the sum of a within-building agglomeration effect and a reputation effect. Using semiparametric techniques, we disentangle reputation effects from agglomeration effects and demonstrate that the reputation effect is substantial for tall buildings. For example, it is at least 17.5 percent of the rent for a building that is 6 times the average height. |
| Keywords: | commercial buildings, building height, landmarks, reputation effect,semiparametric regression, agglomeration effect |
| JEL: | R30 R33 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0086&r=geo |
| By: | Domenico Depalo; Silvia Fedeli |
| Abstract: | On the basis of a unique dataset referring to all 8,100 Italian municipalities and providing details of their balance-sheets, local governments’ features, socio-demographic and economic indicators, we analyze the determinants of the local cultural expenditures. We exploit the panel nature of the data to explain observable and unobservable heterogeneity. Other than the traditional determinants, we find that per capita cultural expenditures increase with the population size, but decrease with the share of men over total population; immigrants increase local cultural spending only in the long run. The number of years in power of the municipal council also plays a role. |
| Keywords: | Local public expenditure, cultural expenditure, immigrants, local government choice, Mundlak correction. |
| JEL: | H72 Z10 C23 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sap:wpaper:139&r=geo |
| By: | Liu, Xiaodong; Patacchini, Eleonora; Zenou, Yves |
| Abstract: | We develop two different social network models with different economic foundations. In the local-aggregate model, it is the sum of friends' efforts in some activity that affects the utility of each individual while, in the local-average model, it is costly to deviate from the average effort of friends. Even though the two models are fundamentally different in terms of behavioral foundation, their implications in terms of Nash equilibrium are relatively close since only the adjacency (social interaction) matrix differs in equilibrium, one being the row-normalized version of the other. We test these alternative mechanisms of social interactions to study peer effects in education, sport and screen activities for adolescents in the United States using the AddHealth data. We extend Kelejian's (2008) J test for spatial econometric models helping differentiate between these two behavioral models. We find that peer effects are not significant for screen activities (like e.g. video games). On the contrary, for sport activities, we find that students are mostly influenced by the aggregate activity of their friends (local-aggregate model) while, for education, we show that both the aggregate performance at school of friends and conformism matter, even though the magnitude of the effect is higher for the latter. |
| Keywords: | conformism; econometrics of networks; peer effects; Social networks |
| JEL: | A14 D85 Z13 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8477&r=geo |
| By: | Kastelan Mrak, Marija |
| Abstract: | Continuing on previous research, designed to explore the process of diffusion of project management in Croatian local administration, this paper proposes a discussion on the achieved level of development of administrative capabilities. In a way, it represents an attempt to explore the diffusion of innovative organizational practices and managerial techniques that could have an impact in the improvement of the efficiency, and thus of administrative capacity, of the Croatian public administration at city and county level. The paper consists of three parts: context overview, empirical research and discussion. The first part derives primarily from desk research and presents the factors that, to our view, have contributed to shaping the present state of organization of Croatian public administration. This part also provides the basic definitions of administrative capacity used in constructing our research. Considering the complexity (and vagueness) of the term New Public Management, we choose to concentrate our attention on project management as a specific organizational arrangement and method of tasks coordination. In the second part, we present some results obtained through field research. Data was obtained by using structured questionnaires addressed to 42 local government units (10 counties and 32 cities). The questionnaires were structured to provide information on the diffusion of project practices, the dominant areas of conducting project activities and level of formalization of project management. Even though statistic analysis does not offer definite conclusions, it does point out to the fact that new organizational arrangements are rather randomly diffused in Croatian local public administration, which might imply a rather fragmented strategic approach to administrative capacity development and poor and inconsistent system of managing organization development. |
| Keywords: | Local Administration; Convergence |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nsu:apasro:298&r=geo |
| By: | Thanasis Stengos (University of Guelph); M. Ege Yazgan (Istanbul Bilgi University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we examine the convergence hypothesis using a long memory framework that allows for structural breaks and the non reliance on a benchmark country. We find that even though the long memory framework of analysis is much richer than the simple I(1)=I(0) alternative, a simple absolute divergence and rapid convergence dichotomy produced by the latter is sufficient to capture the behavior of the gaps in per capita GDP levels and growth rates results respectively. This is in contrast to the findings of Dufrénot, Mignon and Naccache (2009) who found strong evidence of long memory for output gaps. The speed of convergence captured by the estimated long memory parameter d, is explained by differences in physical and human capital as well as fiscal discipline characteristics of economic policies pursued by different countries. |
| Keywords: | growth convergence, long memory |
| JEL: | C32 O47 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rim:rimwps:34_11&r=geo |