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on Economic Geography |
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Issue of 2016‒07‒09
eight papers chosen by Andreas Koch Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung |
| By: | He, Ming (Division of Economics, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University); Chen, Yang (Division of Economics, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University); Schramm, Ronald M. (Division of Economics, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University) |
| Abstract: | We use a spatial autoregressive model to study the determinants of firm-level productivity growth using longitudinal data on China's electric apparatus industry over the period of 1999-2007. Factors considered include technological spillover, R&D and export behavior, agglomeration economies, and public expenditure. We propose modifications to Kelejian and Prucha's (1998) FE-2SLS procedure and Mutl and Pfaffermayr's (2011) RE-FG2SLS procedure to cope with the technical difficulties with our unbalanced panel. Statistical evidence strongly favors the fixed effects model over the random effects model. According to our estimates, there are large and signiffcant technological spillovers among firms. Individually, firms benefit from their own R&D and export activities. Market competition and public expenditure in the local and neighboring jurisdictions are found to be important determinants to productivity. Our model also provides direct evidence that the technological spillover effects attenuate rapidly in spatial distance. Finally, the inter-regional spillover effects are found to be more pronounced and more significant on urban districts or jurisdictions with smaller geographical areas. Geographic proximity to neighbors and special administrative role jointly contribute to this observation. |
| Date: | 2016–03–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:xjt:rieiwp:2016-02&r=geo |
| By: | Miörner, Johan (CIRCLE, Lund University); Trippl, Michaela (CIRCLE, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | Recent scholarly work has enhanced our understanding of how new path development activities are enabled or constrained by ‘regional environments’, made up of pre-existing industrial structures, knowledge organisations, support structures and institutional configurations. This paper moves beyond overly static views on regional environments. We develop a dynamic perspective by analysing conceptually and empirically how a constraining environment can be transformed into one that enables the development of new growth paths. The paper offers a typology of various modes of change, including layering, adaptation and novel application that are used by key actors to ‘manipulate’ the regional support structures to facilitate new regional industrial path development. The conceptual framework is applied to a case study of the digital games industry in the region of Scania, southern Sweden. Our findings suggest that the creation of a more enabling environment for the growth of the digital games industry has been the outcome of multi-scalar processes and combinations of various modes of change employed by a few key individuals operating in the newly emerging path. |
| Keywords: | new regional industrial path development; actors of change; modes of change; digital games industry; Scania |
| JEL: | O10 O30 O31 R10 R11 |
| Date: | 2016–06–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2016_019&r=geo |
| By: | Chakir, Raja; Laurent, Thibault; Ruiz-Gazen, Anne; Thomas-Agnan, Christine; Vignes, Céline |
| Abstract: | We consider the problem of land use prediction at di erent spatial scales using point level data such as the Teruti-Lucas (T-L hereafter1) survey and some explanatory variables. We analyze the components of the prediction error using a synthetic data set constructed from the Teruti-Lucas points in the Midi-Pyrénées region and a ve categories land use classi cation. The study rst shows that the number of points in the Teruti- Lucas survey is quite enough for estimating the probabilities of each land use category with a good quality. Furthermore it reveals that, contrary to usual practice, when the objective is to predict land use at aggregated levels, land use probabilities should be estimated at more locations where explanatory variables are available rather than restricting to the initial Teruti-Lucas locations. Indeed this strategy borrows strength from the knowledge of the explanatory variables which may be heterogeneous. Finally, guidelines for constructing the grid of locations for estimation are given from the analysis of the heterogeneity of each explanatory variable. |
| Keywords: | land use models, spatial scale, Teruti-Lucas survey, Gini-Simpson impurity index, classication tree |
| JEL: | C21 C25 Q15 R14 |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:30546&r=geo |
| By: | Daniele Di Gennaro (Sapienza, University of Rome); Guido Pellegrini (Sapienza, University of Rome) |
| Abstract: | During the last decades SUTVA has represented the "gold standard" for the identification and evaluation of causal effects. However, the presence of interferences in causal analysis requires a substantial review of the SUTVA hypothesis. This paper proposes a framework for causal inference in presence of spatial interactions within a new spatial hierarchical Difference-in-Differences model (SH-DID). The novel approach decomposes the ATE (Average Treatment Effect), allowing the identification of direct (ADTE) and indirect treatment effects. In addition, our approach permits the identification of different indirect causal impact both on treated (AITET) and on controls (AITENT). The performance of the SH-DID are evaluated by a Montecarlo Simulation. The results confirm how omitting the presence of interferences produces biased parameters of direct and indirect effects, even though the estimates of the ATE in the traditional model are correct. Conversely, the SH-DID provides unbiased estimates of both total, direct and indirect effects. In addition, this model is the more efficient compared both to the traditional and a Spatial modified Difference-in-Differences estimator. |
| Keywords: | Causal Inference, Spatial Interferences, Hierarchical Model, Montecarlo Simulation. |
| JEL: | C15 C21 C19 C33 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rcr:wpaper:04_16&r=geo |
| By: | Andrea Ascani; Riccardo Crescenzi; Simona Iammarino |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to investigate the economic integration between the European Union and its neighbouring countries by exploring the location drivers of Italian Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) in 33 destination countries including the New Member States of the European Union (NMs) and the European Neighbouring countries (NCs). The paper compares market- and efficiency-seeking motivations with asset-seeking strategies. The analysis is based on a mixed-method approach. The quantitative analysis assess the location determinants of 518 Italian MNEs that invested in the area in the years 2003-2008, while qualitative information on strategic location decisions is collected by means of in-depth interviews with executives in two of the largest Italian MNEs active in the region. Market-seeking considerations are still predominant drivers of location decisions in EU Neighbouring Countries together with resource-seeking motivations. However, different MNEs develop diversified strategies to increase their access to these areas which are of increasing interest for global investors. |
| Keywords: | European Union; European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP); multinationals; FDI |
| JEL: | F23 P33 R30 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:64862&r=geo |
| By: | Lee, Neil; Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés |
| Abstract: | High-technology industries are seen as important in helping urban economies thrive, but at the same time they are often considered as potential drivers of relative poverty and social exclusion. However, little research has assessed how high-tech affects urban poverty and the wages of workers at the bottom of the pyramid. This paper addresses this gap in the literature and investigates the relationship between employment in high-tech industries, poverty and the labor market for non-degree educated workers using a panel of 295 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in the United States between 2005 and 2011. The results of the analysis show no real impact of the presence of high-technology industries on poverty and, especially, extreme poverty. Yet there is strong evidence that tech-employment increases wages for non-degree educated workers and, to a lesser extent, employment for those without degrees. These results suggest that while tech employment has some role in improving welfare for non-degree educated workers, tech-employment alone is not enough to reduce poverty. |
| Keywords: | cities; employment; High-technology industries; poverty; wages |
| JEL: | R11 R12 R58 |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11341&r=geo |
| By: | Enriqueta Camps; Stanley Engerman |
| Abstract: | In this paper we present results for educational achievement in the different economic regions of Latin America (Big countries: Mexico and Brazil; Southern Cone; Andean countries; Central America; and others) during the twentieth century. The variables we use to measure education are average years of education, literacy, average years in primary school, average years in secondary school, and average years in university. To attain a broader perspective on the relationship of education with human capital and with welfare and wellbeing we relate the educational measures to life expectancy and other human capital variables and GDP per capita. We then use regressions to examine the impact of race and ethnicity on education, and of education on economic growth and levels of GDP per capita. The most significant results we wish to emphasize are related to the importance of race and racial fractionalization in explaining regional differences in educational achievement. Southern Cone countries, with a higher density of white population, present the highest levels of education in average terms, while countries from Central America and Brazil, with a higher proportion of Indigenous Americans and/or blacks, have the lowest levels. In most countries the major improvements in educational achievement are: the expansion of primary education during the first half of the twentieth century, and the expansion of secondary education after 1950. In all cases, average years in university are low, despite improvements in university quality during the last decades of the century when professors exiled during dictatorships returned to their countries of origin. International comparisons (continental averages for years of education weighted by country population size) place twentieth-century Latin America in an intermediate position between the USA and Europe at the top, and countries from Asia and Africa at the bottom. |
| Keywords: | LA, regional educational achievement, welfare, race and ethnicity, economic growth. |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1528&r=geo |
| By: | Evangelia Leda Pateli |
| Abstract: | In this paper I investigate the relevance and explore the nature of import spillovers on the firms' decision to start importing using an exceptionally detailed data set on Swedish firms' imports, at the product-level and by source-country, spanning the period between 1997 and 2011. I study whether the presence of established importers located in the same area and/or operating in the same industry influences the import behavior of individual firms. The import side of trade has received relatively less attention in the literature and this tendency carries over to the study of spillovers that have mainly been researched from the exporters' perspective. There are however reasons to believe that import spillovers are indeed a relevant phenomenon. This paper bridges the gap in the literature and further contributes to the understanding of import spillovers by laying out a theoretical framework that formalizes the main forces at play. I develop a model for firms' import decisions featuring heterogeneous firms, product and country specific fixed costs of sourcing while additionally accommodating spillovers. To the best of my knowledge, this is one of only a handful of papers to study spillovers for import activities, and the first to provide theoretical insights for this mechanism. |
| Keywords: | importers, spillovers |
| JEL: | J R |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1437&r=geo |