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on Economic Geography |
| By: | Mariane Santos Françoso; Ron Boschma; Nicholas Vonortas |
| Abstract: | The paper contributes to the growing literature on the relationship between relatedness, complexity and regional diversification. It explores regional diversification in an emerging economy, focusing on diversification opportunities of regions with distinct levels of local capabilities. We investigate the importance of relatedness and economic complexity for sectoral and technological diversification in all regions of Brazil during the period 2006-2019. Regions tend to diversify in sectors/technologies requiring similar capabilities to those already available locally. In general, the higher the sector/technology complexity, the lower the probability of diversification. However, in high-complex regions, complexity reverses into a positive force for diversification. Our analysis shows catching-up and diversification prospects vary widely across different types of regions in Brazil. |
| Keywords: | regional diversification; relatedness; complexity; emerging economies; Brazil |
| JEL: | O25 O33 R11 O31 |
| Date: | 2022–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2206&r= |
| By: | Di Cataldo, Marco; Monastiriotis, Vassilis; Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés |
| Abstract: | The introduction of smart specialization (S3) as a fundamental pillar of the 2014 reform of the EU cohesion policy is a significant strategic shift in European development intervention. S3 strategies aimed at mobilizing the economic potential of each country and region of the EU by allowing a more place-based and bottom-up approach to development. However, despite the salience that S3 has acquired in a short period of time, there has been no European-wide evaluation of the extent to which S3 strategies truly reflect the economic characteristics and potential of the territories where they are being implemented. This article examines the characteristics of S3 strategies across Europe – by focusing on their development axes, economic or scientific domains and policy priorities – to assess whether this is the case. The results show that S3 strategies display a proliferation of objectives, a problem that particularly affects areas with weaker quality of government. Moreover, strategies are generally loosely connected with the intrinsic conditions of each region and mostly mimic what neighbouring areas are doing. The lack of more concise and focused S3 strategies is likely to undermine the effectiveness of what is, otherwise, a very interesting and worthwhile policy experiment. |
| Keywords: | smart specialisation; EU Policy; regions; Europe |
| JEL: | F3 G3 |
| Date: | 2021–01–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:107085&r= |
| By: | Javier Barbero; Martin Christensen; Andrea Conte; Patrizio Lecca; Andres Rodriguez-Pose; Simone Salotti |
| Abstract: | We quantify the general equilibrium effects on economic growth of improving the quality of institutions at the regional level in the context of the implementation of the European Cohesion Policy for the European Union and the UK. The direct impact of changes in the quality of government is integrated in a general equilibrium model to analyse the system-wide economic effects resulting from additional endogenous mechanisms and feedback effects. The results reveal a significant direct effect as well as considerable system-wide benefits from improved government quality on economic growth. A small 5% increase in government quality across European Union regions increases the impact of Cohesion investment by up to 7% in the short run and 3% in the long run. The exact magnitude of the gains depends on various local factors, including the initial endowments of public capital, the level of government quality, and the degree of persistence over time. inked to higher mortality. Accounting for a host of potential confounders, we find robust support that regions with lower levels of both social and political trust are associated with higher excess mortality, along with citizen polarization in institutional trust in some models. On the ideological make-up regional parliaments, we find that, ceteris paribus, those that lean more ‘tan’ on the ‘gal-tan’ spectrum yielded higher excess mortality. Moreover, although we find limited evidence of elite polarization driving excess deaths on the left-right or gal-tan spectrums, partisan differences on the attitudes towards the EU demonstrated significantly higher deaths, which we argue proxies for (anti)populism. Overall, we find that both lower citizen-level trust and populist elite-level ideological characteristics of regional parliaments are associated with higher excess mortality in European regions during the first wave of the pandemic. |
| Keywords: | government quality, cohesion, economic growth, public investment, regions, EU |
| JEL: | C68 O17 R13 R15 |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2203&r= |
| By: | Nicholas Charron; Victor Lapuente; Andres Rodriguez-Pose |
| Abstract: | Why have some territories performed better than others in the fight against COVID-19? This paper uses a novel dataset on excess mortality, trust and political polarization for 165 European regions to explore the role of social and political divisions in the remarkable regional differences in excess mortality during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. First, we investigate whether regions characterized by a low social and political trust witnessed a higher excess mortality. Second, we argue that it is not only levels, but also polarisation in trust among citizens – in particular, between government supporters and non-supporters – what matters for understanding why people in some regions have adopted more pro-healthy behaviour. Third, we explore the partisan make-up of regional parliaments and the relationship between political division – or what we refer to as ‘uncooperative politics’. We hypothesize that the ideological positioning – in particular those that lean more populist – and ideological polarization among political parties is also linked to higher mortality. Accounting for a host of potential confounders, we find robust support that regions with lower levels of both social and political trust are associated with higher excess mortality, along with citizen polarization in institutional trust in some models. On the ideological make-up regional parliaments, we find that, ceteris paribus, those that lean more ‘tan’ on the ‘gal-tan’ spectrum yielded higher excess mortality. Moreover, although we find limited evidence of elite polarization driving excess deaths on the left-right or gal-tan spectrums, partisan differences on the attitudes towards the EU demonstrated significantly higher deaths, which we argue proxies for (anti)populism. Overall, we find that both lower citizen-level trust and populist elite-level ideological characteristics of regional parliaments are associated with higher excess mortality in European regions during the first wave of the pandemic. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19; trust, polarization, populism, regions |
| JEL: | E02 H75 R58 |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2204&r= |
| By: | Nguyen, Cuong Viet; Tran, Tuyen Quang; Vuc, Huong Van |
| Abstract: | In this study, we find that the negative effect of unexploded ordnance (UXO) on the geographical density of foreign direct investment and large firms is a new channel through which the war legacy impedes local development in Vietnam. A 1% increase in the proportion of UXO-contaminated area leads to a 0.78% relative decrease in the density of FDI firms within districts. Point estimates for the elasticity of the density of joint-venture FDI firms and state-owned enterprise (SOEs) due to UXO are smaller, equal to -0.56 and -0.54. Consequently, a 1% increase in the proportion of UXO-contaminated areas leads to a 0.46% relative decrease in the intensity of nighttime light. |
| Keywords: | War,FDI, unexploded ordnance,local development,Vietnam |
| JEL: | R12 O12 O15 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1047&r= |