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on Economic Geography |
| By: | Frank Bickenbach; Wan-Hsin Liu; Peter Nunnenkamp |
| Abstract: | We analyze the concentration of FDI in India at the district level, based on project-specific location choices since the reform program in the early 1990s. The decomposition property of the Theil index allows us to trace changes over time in the overall concentration of FDI to changes in concentration between and within subgroups of districts. We also differentiate between major types and sources of FDI. We find that the extensive margin of concentration persistently increased, with an ever larger number of districts not attracting any projects. The intensive margin increased as well but the increase leveled off in the more recent past. These trends hold for essentially all types and sources of FDI, while the average level of concentration varies considerably between these types and sources |
| Keywords: | FDI, project location, Theil index, decomposability, India |
| JEL: | F23 R12 |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1854&r=geo |
| By: | David Cuberes (Department of Economics, The University of Sheffield) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a new dataset on Internet flows between cities around the world to study whether electronic communication and face-to-face contacts are substitutes or complements. In order to test these competing hypotheses I estimate a regression of bilateral Internet traffic on physical distance between pairs of cities and several city and country-specific variables that include a control for cities’ population, countries’ population and per capita GDP, the number of Internet users, the intensity of trade between countries, and several dummies that aim to capture city specific effects and the degree of familiarity between residents of different countries. The estimates reveal a strong and robust negative effect of distance on the intensity of electronic communications, suggesting that Internet and face-to-face contacts are more likely to be complements than substitutes. |
| Keywords: | cities; Internet; face-to-face contacts; death of distance |
| JEL: | R12 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shf:wpaper:2013010&r=geo |
| By: | Partridge, Mark; Rickman, Dan; Tan, Ying; Olfert, M. Rose |
| Abstract: | The strong U.S. real income gains and reductions in poverty during the 1990s were largely erased in the following decade, which contained two economic recessions and tepid job growth otherwise. Areas most affected by weak U.S. economic performance could be expected to also have experienced the largest increases in poverty, particularly if interregional labor market adjustment is increasingly limited. We examine this issue, finding that not only was regional poverty affected by regional labor demand shocks, the effect was stronger post-2000, particularly in the long run. Consistent with the poverty results are findings of greater post-2000 regional labor demand effects on employment rates and reduced population adjustments to asymmetric labor demand shocks. |
| Keywords: | US Poverty; Spatial Equilibrium; Great Recession |
| JEL: | I32 R11 R23 |
| Date: | 2013–07–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:48528&r=geo |
| By: | Belén González Díaz (Dpto. Economía Española e Inter.., Econometría e Hª Inst. Eco.); Leticia Blázquez (Dpto. Economía Española e Inter.., Econometría e Hª Inst. Eco.) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to contribute to the literature on New Economic Geography by providing empirical evidence for the connections between new trade theory and the spatial distribution of economic activities. To do this, we apply Social Network Analysis specifically to the World Automotive Trade Network. We explore the structural features of the auto network for the years 1996 and 2009 using data on trade flows for 172 countries. Our findings suggest that the auto network has become denser, more extensive and more integrated over time, depicting a center-periphery structure in which regional clusters play a prominent role. In this configuration, strong agglomeration forces generated by companies’ desire for large and rich market access with minimum transportation costs are balanced by the search for new high-potential markets. El objetivo de este trabajo es contribuir a la literatura basada en la Nueva Geografía Económica mediante la aportación de evidencia empírica sobre la interrelación entre las nuevas teorías del comercio y la distribución espacial de las actividades económicas. Para ello empleamos la metodología de las redes sociales aplicadas concretamente a la red mundial de comercio de la industria del automóvil. Con información estadística de los flujos comerciales de 172 países, se analizan las características estructurales más importantes de la red del automóvil para los años 1996 y 2009. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto que la red de comercio mundial del automóvil se ha hecho más densa, más integrada y más extensa con el paso del tiempo reflejando una clara estructura centro-periferia donde los clusters regionales desempeñan un papel muy relevante. En la configuración de esta red, la importancia de las fuerzas de aglomeración generadas por el deseo de las empresas de acceder a los mercados más importantes con los menores costes de transporte posibles, se ven contrarrestadas por la búsqueda de nuevos mercados con un elevado potencial de crecimiento. |
| Keywords: | Red mundial del comercio del automóvil, Nueva Geografía Económica, Análisis de las redes sociales, Partes y componentes. World Automotive Trade Networks, New Economic Geography, Social Network Analysis, Parts and Components. |
| JEL: | F10 F14 F15 |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ivi:wpasec:2013-05&r=geo |
| By: | Daniel, Mont; Nguyen, Cuong |
| Abstract: | Poverty and disability are interrelated, but data that can disentangle to what extent one causes the other and vice versa is not available. However, data from Vietnam allows us to examine this interrelationship in a way not done previously. Using small area estimation techniques, we uncover three findings not yet found in the literature. First, disability prevalence rates vary significantly within a county even at the district level. Second, the correlation between disability and poverty also varies at the district level. And most importantly, the strength of that correlation lessens based on district characteristics that can be affected by policy. Districts with better health care and infrastructure, such as road and health services, show less of a link between disability and poverty, supporting the hypothesis that improvements in infrastructure and rehabilitation service can lessen the impact of disability on families with disabled members. |
| Keywords: | Poverty, disability, small area estimation, household survey, population census, Vietnam. |
| JEL: | I12 I31 O15 |
| Date: | 2013–06–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:48659&r=geo |
| By: | Thor Berger (Lund University); Kerstin Enflo (Lund University) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses city-level data to examine the impact of a first wave of railroad construction in Sweden, between 1855 and 1870, from the 19th century until today. We estimate that railroads accounted for 50% of urban growth, 1855-1870. In cities with access to the railroad network, property values were higher, manufacturing employment increased, establishments were larger, and more information was distributed through local post offices. Today, cities with early access to the network are 62% larger and to be found 11 steps higher in the urban hierarchy, compared to initially similar cities. We hypothesize that railroads set in motion a path dependent process that shapes the economic geography of Sweden today. |
| Keywords: | Railroads, Industrialization, Urban Growth, Path Dependence. |
| JEL: | N73 N93 R12 R40 |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0042&r=geo |
| By: | Alicia N. Rambaldi (CEPA - School of Economics, The University of Queensland); D.S. Prasada Rao (CEPA - School of Economics, The University of Queensland) |
| Abstract: | Recent developments in the economic theory behind hedonic price models and price index numbers have shown that the preferred combination is one where hedonic imputed price indexes (HI) are computed using predictions from time varying hedonic functions. This paper proposes a spatial time series model as the econometric model consistent with the theoretical developments. In addition, the paper deals with issues relating to HI index numbers including weighting systems, seasonality in housing sales data, and the construction of annual and monthly chained indexes. |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qld:uqcepa:87&r=geo |
| By: | Montañés , Antonio; Olmos, Lorena |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the convergence of US house prices. Our results confirm the existence of some degree of segmentation in the US housing market. We also provide robust evidence that the bursting of the housing price bubble has altered this market, observing different results when the sample includes information posterior to 2010. However, we appreciate different effects depending on the geographical level of disaggregation that is employed. |
| Keywords: | US Housing prices Convergence Clubs |
| JEL: | C22 R2 R3 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:48454&r=geo |
| By: | Admasu Shiferaw (Department of Economics, The College of William and Mary); Dominik Noe (Courant Research Centre-PEG, University of Goettingen) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates firm level responses to a large scale public investment program on road infrastructure in Ethiopia during 1997 to 2010. Firms' location choices and average start-up size are examined by combining town level panel data on road accessibility with a panel of manufacturing firms for the period 1996 to 2009. We find econometric results showing that better road access increases a town's attractiveness for manufacturing firms. While towns with initially large number of firms continue to attract more firms, there has been a tendency toward convergence in the distribution of firms, reducing their geographic concentration. Average startup size in isolated locations is also smaller relative to firms entering well connected markets in terms of road access. We conclude that improved road infrastructure has a favorable impact on the entry patterns and structure of the manufacturing sector in Ethiopia. |
| Keywords: | Armed conflict, investment, firms, Ethiopia, GIS data |
| JEL: | D22 O12 |
| Date: | 2013–07–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwm:wpaper:141&r=geo |
| By: | Ghani, Ejaz; Kanbur, Ravi; O'Connell, Stephen D. |
| Abstract: | This paper presents an exploration at the intersection of four important themes in the current development discourse: urbanization, agglomeration benefits, gender and informality. Focusing on the important policy objective of new enterprise creation in the informal sector, it asks and answers four specific questions on the impact of urbanization and gender. It finds that (i) the effect of market access to inputs, on creation of new enterprises in the informal sector, is greater in more urbanized areas; (ii) This"urbanization gradient"also exists separately for the creation of female owned enterprises and male owned enterprises; (iii) there is a differential impact of female specific market access compared to male specific market access, on female owned enterprise creation in the informal sector ; and (iv) gender specific market access to inputs matters equally in more or less urbanized areas. Among the policy implications of these findings are that (i) new enterprise creation by females can be encouraged by urbanization, but (ii) the effect can be stronger by improving female specific market access, especially to inputs. The analysis in this paper opens up a rich research agenda, including further investigation of the nature of input based versus output based perspectives on agglomeration benefits, and exploration of policy instruments that can improve female specific market access, which is shown to increase female owned enterprise creation. |
| Keywords: | Markets and Market Access,Housing&Human Habitats,Microfinance,Gender and Health,Debt Markets |
| Date: | 2013–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6553&r=geo |
| By: | Nuno Crespo; Nádia Simões; José Duarte |
| Abstract: | Given the economic importance of the tourism sector, countries actively compete for attracting tourism flows. In a bilateral perspective, an important determinant of the degree of competition is the geographical structure of tourism inflows, i.e., the relative importance of the different source countries. A higher overlap of these flows indicates greater competition. The goal of the present study is to propose a methodological approach to quantify this overlap. Taking some indicators traditionally used in international trade analysis as inspiration, we propose a methodology that measures, for each pair of countries, the degree of similarity between the geographical structures of tourism inflows. The methodology takes a multidimensional concept of structural similarity in order to incorporate relevant dimensions of international tourism flows today. |
| Keywords: | Tourism flows; Arrivals; Geographical similarity; Competitiveness; Index |
| JEL: | F14 L83 |
| Date: | 2013–07–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isc:iscwp2:bruwp1305&r=geo |
| By: | Timothy Brophy (National Income Dynamics Study, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town) |
| Abstract: | GPS coordinates are collected by many organizations, however in order to derive any meaningful statistical analysis from these coordinates they need to be joined with geographical data. Previously users were required to export the GPS data out of Stata and into a GIS mapping program to map the co-ordinates, validate them and join them to an attribute table. The results of which would then need to be imported back into Stata for statistical analysis. gpsmap is a routine that imports a user provided shapefile and its attribute table. Using a ray casting algorithm it maps the GPS coordinates to one of the polygons of the given shapefile and returns a dummy variable indicating whether or not the GPS coordinates were mapped successfully. Where the GPS coordinates were successfully mapped the attribute table applicable to that particular polygon is also returned to Stata. One of the contributions of gpsmap is to allow users to circumvent GIS Software and to incorporate GIS information directly within Stata. The other is to give users who are not familiar with GIS software the opportunity to use GIS information without having to familiarize themselves with GIS software. |
| Date: | 2013–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boc:norl13:14&r=geo |