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on Economic Geography |
| By: | Herbst, Mikolaj; Wójcik, Piotr |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the presence of sigma and beta convergence between the Polish subregions over 1995–2006. We verify for the absolute convergence, as well as for the convergence conditioned on the stock of physical capital, human capital and the size of the central city, these being emphasised in the literature as important factors of regional growth. We also test for the presence of spatial effects in the determination of regional growth rates. In line with research from other countries, we observe a sigma divergence and unconditional beta divergence rather than convergence of income across Polish subregions. Conditional convergence is observed only between the regions around cities of similar size. Large agglomerations in particular increase their economic advantage over peripheral regions during dynamic growth periods in the Polish economy, while during periods of economic slowdown the human capital stock proves significant in determining regional growth. |
| Keywords: | regional growth; Poland; spatial regression; NTS3 |
| JEL: | O18 C31 R12 |
| Date: | 2011–10–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:34731&r=geo |
| By: | Laura Guadalupe González Ortiz; Giuliano Masiero |
| Abstract: | Literature on socioeconomic determinants of antibiotic consumption in the community is limited to few countries using cross-sectional data. This paper analyses regional variations in outpatient antibiotics in Italy using a balanced panel dataset covering the period 2000-2008. We specify an econometric model where antibiotic consumption depends upon demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the population, the supply of health care services in the community, and antibiotic copayments. The model is estimated by means of Ordinary least squares techniques with fixed effects (FE). The implications of consumption externalities across geographical areas are investigated by means of spatial-lag and spatial-error models (SLFE and SEFE). We find significant and positive income elasticity and negative effects of copayments. Antibiotic use is also affected by the age structure of the population and the supply of community health care. Finally, we find evidence of spatial dependency in the use of antibiotics across regions. This suggests that regional policies (e.g. public campaigns) aimed at increasing efficiency in antibiotic consumption and controlling bacterial resistance may be influenced by policy makers in neighbouring regions. There will be scope for a strategic and coordinated view of regional policies towards the use of antibiotics. |
| Keywords: | Antibiotic consumption. Socioeconomic inequalities. Spatial dependency. Regional policies. |
| JEL: | C21 C23 I11 I18 R00 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:brh:wpaper:1104&r=geo |
| By: | Marc Henry (Département de Sciences Economiques, Universite de Montléal); Ismael Mourifié (Département de Sciences Economiques, Universite de Montléal) |
| 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 falsi¯able on the basis of individual voting data in multiple elections. We show how to tackle the fact that the model only partially identi¯es the distribution of vot- ing pro¯les 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 con¯dence regions for partially identi¯ed 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. |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tky:fseres:2011cf822&r=geo |
| By: | Herwartz, Helmut; Niebuhr, Annekatrin |
| Abstract: | The labor market effects of the recent financial and economic crisis are rather heterogeneous across countries and regions. Such differences in labor market performance among industrialized countries are an issue of ongoing research. The objective of this paper is to analyse labor market disparities among European regions and to provide evidence on the factors behind these differences. Whereas previous research focused on effects of national labor market institutions, we also take structural characteristics of regions into account and investigate differences in labor demand responsiveness and their potential determinants. The data set covers the NUTS2 regions in the EU15 for the period 1980 to 2008. We apply an error correction model that is combined with a spatial modeling approach in order to account for interaction among neighboring labor markets. Our findings point to substantially distinct labor demand responses to changes in output and wages among European countries and regions. Moreover, the rate of adjustment to disequilibrium is subject to a signifcant variation across units of observation. Whereas evidence on the significance of region specific variables as explanatory factors is weak, labor market institutions, especially regulations that affect the determination of wages, explain an important fraction of the disparities. -- |
| Keywords: | Regional labor markets,labor demand,institutions,Europe,error correction model |
| JEL: | C23 J23 R23 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hwwirp:112&r=geo |
| By: | Jean Bonnet, University of Caen Basse-Normandie - CREM-CNRS, France; Sylvie Cieply, University of Caen Basse-Normandie - CREM-CNRS, France; Marcus Dejardin, FUNDP - University of Namur, CERPE, Belgium. |
| Abstract: | This article investigates the interrelationships between finance and entrepreneurship by exploring regional discrepancies in France. The focus is (1) on regional differences in financial relationships, (2) on the way these relations influence financial constraints on new firms and (3) on the complementary/substitutable effects between funds. No path of exclusion is identified. Rather, firms that are self-constraining or suffer from a weak credit rationing are the ones that later on develop intensive relationships with banks. Substitution exists in almost all the French regions. Results suggest the departure point of an original pecking order theory according to the entrepreneurial intensity of regions. |
| Keywords: | financial constraints, credit rationing, financial relationships, new firms, regional development, regional disparities |
| JEL: | G20 M13 R10 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tut:cremwp:201127&r=geo |
| By: | Carlo Gianelle |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how employment intermediaries affected the inter-firm network of worker mobility in an region of Italy in response of the reform that first allowed for temporary employment agencies in 1997. We map worker reallocations from a matched employer-employee dataset onto a directed graph, where vertices indicate firms, and links denote transfers of workers between firms. Using network-based methodologies we find that temporary employment agencies significantly increase network integration and practicability, while fastly increasing control over hiring channels. The policy implications of the results are discussed, highlighting the potential of network analysis as monitoring tool for regional and local labour markets. |
| Keywords: | Inter-firm networks, labour mobility, temporary employment agencies |
| JEL: | D85 C46 J63 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usi:wpaper:618&r=geo |
| By: | Berliant, Marcus; Watanabe, Hiroki |
| Abstract: | We criticize the theories used to explain the size distribution of cities. They take an empirical fact and work backward to obtain assumptions on primitives. The induced theoretical assumptions on consumer behavior, particularly about their inability to insure against the city-level productivity shocks in the model, are untenable. With either self insurance or insurance markets, and either an arbitrarily small cost of moving or the assumption that consumers do not perfectly observe the shocks to firms' technologies, the agents will never move. Even without these frictions, our analysis yields another equilibrium with insurance where consumers never move. Thus, insurance is a substitute for movement. We propose an alternative class of models, involving extreme risk against which consumers will not insure. Instead, they will move, generating a Fréchet distribution of city sizes that is empirically competitive with other models. |
| Keywords: | Zipf's Law; Gibrat's Law; Size Distribution of Cities; Extreme Value Theory |
| JEL: | R12 |
| Date: | 2011–11–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:34747&r=geo |
| By: | Giuseppina Malerba (DISCE, Università Cattolica) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is the analysis of vulnerability within families in nine regions of Italy and represents the second part of a research on regional inequalities in income distribution. Poverty tends to be a multi-dimensional concept and the use of monetary income as a single measure of welfare can be misleading. The concept of equality of living standards is a more correct definition, but it is far more elusive. Starting from the concepts of lacks of purchasing power, of financial and patrimonial protections and of opportunities to achieve economic resources, we can measure different dimensions of vulnerabilities between regional living standards. Then, we try to identify specific families’ types in which the previous lacks seem more frequent and spread: young couples with little children, families with children and only one parent and single old women are the most vulnerable families in most of the regions and on average for the whole country. Finally, we try some normative conclusions about the direction of welfare measures to reduce such factors of economic vulnerability within families and regional inequalities in Italy. |
| Keywords: | Income distribution, living standards, poverty, regional analysis |
| JEL: | D31 I31 I32 O18 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctc:serie5:ispe0057&r=geo |
| By: | Emanuela Ciapanna (Banca d'Italia); Concetta Rondinelli (Banca d'Italia) |
| Abstract: | We conduct a regional analysis of the relationship between market concentration and price dynamics in the grocery retail sector, focusing on a sample of five categories of goods belonging to the 12 COICOP aggregation and on a panel of countries that includes Germany, Spain, Finland, Italy, Austria and Portugal. Using a unique census-type dataset on retailers, we construct Herfindahl-Hirschman indices of concentration at the buying group, parent company and individual shop level for a sample of 118,540 large grocery stores and we study the association between these measures and regional price changes. Our results point to a positive association between retail market concentration and price growth in food and beverages, alcohol and tobacco and miscellaneous goods in the time span 2003-2010 at the buying, parental group and store level for the pooled sample of countries. The relation reverses sign for clothing and footwear and household equipment. This evidence is robust to different specifications of concentration indices. |
| Keywords: | Market concentration, price dynamics, buying group, parent company, regional Herfindahl-Hirschman indices. |
| JEL: | L1 L4 L8 E31 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_107_11&r=geo |
| By: | Baird, Sarah; McIntosh, Craig; Ozlera, Berk |
| Abstract: | Despite their explicit focus on reaching the poor, many community driven development (CDD) projects have been found to be only mildly pro-poor in their funding allocations. This paper presents evidence of an explanation that has been overlooked in the CDD literature to date: the requirement that beneficiaries must apply for projects in order to receive support. The authors first examine data on the universe of project applications and funding under Tanzania's flagship CDD program, Tanzania's Social Action Fund, and then use a census of 100 program villages to examine the determinants of both program awareness and program participation at the household level. The data paint a consistent picture at both levels: wealth, access to information, and political capital are important correlates of the ability to navigate the application process successfully. The centrally dictated features of this decentralized program appear to be the most effective mechanisms in directing funds to the poor. The results suggest that unless demand-driven projects can develop ways of soliciting engagement from a broader cross-section of the population, they are unlikely to achieve truly progressive targeting. |
| Keywords: | Rural Poverty Reduction,Housing&Human Habitats,Poverty Monitoring&Analysis,Services&Transfers to Poor,Regional Economic Development |
| Date: | 2011–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5883&r=geo |