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on Economic Geography |
| By: | Brunow, Stephan (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]); Hammer, Andrea; Mc Cann, Philip |
| Abstract: | "Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) are widely perceived as being important drivers of technological progress and innovation. KIBS are generally understood as depending, driving and thriving on knowledge exchanges and therefore, geographical proximity to markets, customers and suppliers would be expected to be a critical factor in their performance. This paper investigates how the innovation performance and processes of KIBS firms are related to their distance from the nearest city and also to the size of the nearest city. For this purpose we make use of detailed firm level data and consider Germany as a research field. While most current evidence on this topic emerges from Canada, we complements and add to this existing literature on the geography of KIBS by examining these issues in the German spatial setting which largely conforms to a textbook type of spatial urban hierarchy. Our probit results indeed find that there are very strong distance decay and city size effects, and these also vary according to the innovation type." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Innovation, unternehmensbezogene Dienstleistungen, Wissensarbeit, regionale Faktoren, Stadt-Umland-Beziehungen |
| JEL: | D22 L84 O31 R12 |
| Date: | 2017–07–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201722&r=geo |
| By: | Marc Brunetto; Nadine Levratto |
| Abstract: | This paper seeks to challenge the view that metropolitan areas are characterized by a general positive trend in the job creation process. It rests upon an empirical analysis of the 13 French metropolitan areas over the 2004-2010 period. The estimations of employment growth run using spatial econometrics modeling techniques show that spatial spillover effects intervene in the growth process of the areas under review and that density matters in determining the employment growth rate. We have been unable to identify a unique model of metropolitan dynamics. Indeed, each metropolitan area is characterized by a specific combination of explanatory variables which, finally, attests of the variety of the metropolitan frameworks. |
| Keywords: | Metropolitan areas; agglomeration effects; spatial econometrics; spillover effects. |
| JEL: | R11 R12 R50 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2017-36&r=geo |
| By: | Behrens, Kristian; Boualam, Brahim; Martin, Julien |
| Abstract: | We investigate whether plants inside and outside geographic clusters differ in their resilience to adverse economic shocks. To this end, we develop a bottom-up procedure to delimit clusters using Canadian geocoded plant-level data. Focussing on the textile and clothing industries and exploiting the dramatic changes faced by that sector between 2001 and 2013, we find no evidence that plants in clusters are more resilient than plants outside clusters: they are neither less likely to die nor more likely to adapt by switching their main line of business. However, conditional on switching, plants in urbanized clusters are more likely to transition to services. |
| Keywords: | geo-coded data; Geographic clusters; Multifibre Arrangement; resilience; textile and clothing industries |
| JEL: | F14 R12 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12184&r=geo |
| By: | Davide Fiaschi; Andrea Mario Lavezzi; Angela Parenti |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the effectiveness of European Cohesion Policy in the regions of 12 EU countries in the period 1991-2008, on the basis of a spatial growth model which allows for the identification of both direct and indirect effects of EU funds on GDP per worker growth. We find that âObjective 1â funds are characterized by strong spatial externalities and a positive and concave effect on the growth of GDP per worker, which reaches a peak at the ratio funds/GDP of approximately 3% and becomes non-significant after 4%. âObjective 2â and âCohesionâ funds have non-significant effects, while all the other funds exert a positive and significant effect, but their size is very limited. EU Cohesion Policy, moreover, appears to have increased its effectiveness over time. In the period 2000-2006 Objective 1 funds are estimated to have a median multiplier equal to 1.52, and to have added 0.37% to the GDP per worker growth. Overall, in the period 1991- 2008 funds are estimated to have added 1.4% to the median annual growth, and to have reduced regional disparities of 8 basis points in terms of the Gini index. |
| Keywords: | European regional disparities, European regional policy, spatial spillovers, Structural and Cohesion Funds, spatial panel model |
| JEL: | C21 E60 O52 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2017–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pie:dsedps:2017/217&r=geo |
| By: | Claudio Bravo-Ortega; Leonardo Muñoz |
| Abstract: | Governments in every country are concerned about the local economic development within each country’s region. In this vein, the case of mining industry draws attention in its trend of establishing enclave economies rather than cluster dynamics at the local level. In the case of the mining industry one might estate that there is no room for local economic development based on a strong industrial fabric if no directed policies are set and implemented. This paper’s objective is to understand how the backward and forward linkages approach is a key argument to inform regional industrial and vertical initiatives that aim to upgrade mining suppliers’ technological capacities. Based on the strategic design revision of the public-private programs for mining suppliers’ development and five case studies, we explore whether those implemented initiatives are being locally translated into mining regions. We find that the regional approach is nearly nonexistent in public policies implemented in the last 12 years. From our perspective, this lack of the regional approach makes it difficult to visualize direct effects from public-private policies on local firms’ performance. All these issues contribute inputs for scoping the design and deployment of policy tools for local economic development. |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:udc:wpaper:wp448&r=geo |
| By: | Daniel A. Brent; Katie Lorah |
| Abstract: | Civic crowdfunding combines the power of private crowdfunding with grassroots organization to directly fund local public projects. This article analyzes fine scale geographic data on 18,000 donations to roughly 800 campaigns from a leading civic crowdfunding platform to examine the implications of civic crowdfunding for inequality and the link between donors and projects. The neighborhood characteristics of projects, including median household income, do not impact the ability to raise capital, which addresses a common concern that civic crowdfunding will exacerbate inequality in neighborhood amenities. The average distance of a donor to a project is over 300 miles and the median distance is 8 miles, indicating that while projects elicit donations from outside their community local donations are very important. Donors' income does not influence whether donors contribute to projects in low income or high income neighborhoods. The findings serve as a guide to future research on civic crowdfunding and inform how the expansion of this new funding mechanism can integrate into local government policy. |
| Date: | 2017–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lsu:lsuwpp:2017-09&r=geo |
| By: | Gabor Bekes (Institute of Economics Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Central European University and CEPR); Marta Bisztray (Institute of Economics Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences) |
| Abstract: | A great deal of multinationals receive a bundle of hidden or cash subsidizes upon investing in a foreign country. Policymakers often argue that a subsidy today will help locate friends of the investor later on. Using extensive data on FDI investments, we analyze such patterns. In particular, we investigate if co-location is more frequent among connected firms such as members of business groups as well as firms sharing similar background. Focusing on investments into Central and Eastern European countries we find evidence of co-location pattern of connected firms. |
| Keywords: | Foreign direct investment, agglomeration, location choice, network effects, business groups |
| JEL: | F23 R3 |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:has:discpr:1719&r=geo |
| By: | Rafael, González-Val |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the evolution of the European urban system from a long-term perspective (from 1300 to 1800). Using the method recently proposed by Clauset, Shalizi, and Newman (2009), a Pareto-type city size distribution (power law) is rejected from 1300 to 1600. A power law is a plausible model for the city size distribution only in 1700 and 1800, although the log-normal distribution is another plausible alternative model that we cannot reject. Moreover, the random growth of cities is rejected using parametric and non-parametric methods. The results reveal a clear pattern of convergent growth in all the periods. |
| Keywords: | city size distribution, power law, Pareto distribution, Zipf’s law, Gibrat’s law |
| JEL: | C12 C14 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2017–07–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:80475&r=geo |
| By: | Jan J. Rouwendal (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Tinbergen Institute, The Netherlands); Or Levkovich (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam); Ismir Mulalic (DTU, KRAKS) |
| Abstract: | An emerging quantitative spatial economics literature models commuting interactions by a gravity equation that is mathematically equivalent to a multinomial logit model. This model is widely viewed as restrictive because of the independence of irrelevant alternatives (IIA) property that links substitution behavior in response to changes in the attractiveness of choice alternatives to choice probabilities in a mechanistic way. This is relevant for counterfactual analysis. In this paper we examine the appropriateness of the commuting model from a theoretical as well as an empirical point of view. We show that conventional specification tests of the multinomial logit model are of limited use when alternative specific constants are used, as is common in the recent literature, and offer no information with respect to the validity of IIA. In particular, we show that maximum likelihood estimation of relevant nested logit model is impossible because the crucial parameters are not identified. We discuss cross-nested and mixed logit as alternatives. We argue that a comparison between predicted and actual changes in commuting flows in response to a change in the attractiveness of choice alternatives provides a more informative test for the validity of the multinomial logit model for commuting interaction and report the results of such a test – as well as others – for data referring to Copenhagen. |
| Keywords: | quantitative spatial economics; multinomial logit; mixed logit; independence of irrelevant alternatives |
| JEL: | R1 R2 R4 |
| Date: | 2017–07–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20170067&r=geo |
| By: | Katerina Ciampi Stancova (European Commission - JRC); Alessio Cavicchi |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to inform the community of researchers, policymakers and practitioners about the dynamics of setting up the Thematic Smart Specialisation Platform on Agri-food, and to provide information about its functioning and governance. This work outlines the milestones of the process and the main achievements. The paper proposes the steps to be followed by policymakers and regional officers who are motivated to lead, support and actively contribute to a thematic platform within the Thematic Smart Specialisation Platform on Agri-food. At the same time, it discusses specific cases of such partnerships and describes the motivations and objectives of the regions that decided to embark on the journey towards establishment of specific thematic partnerships through this Platform. |
| Keywords: | Regional innovation policy, smart specialisation, trans-regional cooperation, Thematic Smart Specialisation Platform on Agri-food. |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc107257&r=geo |