|
on Economic Geography |
|
Issue of 2025–09–22
five papers chosen by Andreas Koch, Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung |
| By: | Gabriel Ahlfeldt (HU Berlin); Fabian Bald (Viadrina University); Duncan Roth (Institute for Employment Research (IAB)); Tobiad Seidel (University of Duisburg-Essen) |
| Abstract: | We employ a quantitative spatial model that accounts for trade fritions—generated by trade costs and non-tradable services—and mobility frictions—generated by idiosyncratic tastes and local ties—to recover unobserved quality of life (QoL) and estimate the urban QoL premium. For Germany, we find that a city twice as large offers, on average, a 22% higher QoL to the average resident—far exceeding the urban wage premium of 4%. Our model-based Monte Carlo simulations suggest that the lack of strong empirical evidence for an urban QoL premium in earlier literature likely stems from measurement error in the Rosen-Roback framework due to omitted spatial frictions. |
| Keywords: | housing; spatial frictions; rents; prices; productivity; quality of life; spatial equilibrium; wages; |
| JEL: | J2 J3 R2 R3 R5 |
| Date: | 2025–09–16 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:544 |
| By: | Tate, Anya |
| Abstract: | The late 19th-century reforms to the British patenting system reduced the cost of obtaining a patent from over £100 in 1851 to just £4 by 1883. While increasing accessibility, this cost reduction led to an increase of low-quality patents often replicating previous inventions, raising concerns about the system's effectiveness. As a result, the 1902 policy proposed novelty examination for the first time, increasing the cost by 25%. This paper examines whether the implementation of this policy in 1905 had a differential effect on patenting activity across British regions. Despite the significance of this policy, it has received extremely limited academic attention. This research aims to fill this gap and add to the literature on the regional impacts of patent system reforms in this period. This study employs panel regressions using data on every geocoded patent sealed between 1895-1915 in the PatentCity database with regional employment in 28 industries as controls. Results indicate no change in the regional distribution of patenting activity as a result of the novelty examination. These findings are consistent with those of Nicholas (2011) for the 1883 policy and have important implications for the geography of inventive activity and the distributional impacts of invention policies. |
| JEL: | O30 R10 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:129440 |
| By: | Takafumi KAWAKUBO; Takafumi SUZUKI |
| Abstract: | This study examines how becoming a supplier to a newly established large-scale plant influences the performance of incumbent small plants. Exploiting detailed plant-level data, records of new large-plant openings, and supply chain information, we construct a quasi-experimental setting based on the spatial distribution of new entrants. Our event-study estimates show that while local supplier plants benefit significantly—both statistically and economically—from large-scale plants, non-supplier plants in the same region face negative impacts, likely due to intensified competition spurred by the newly-contracted suppliers. The results underscore that such entries create “winners and losers†not only across different regions but also within the same locality. From a policy perspective, these insights highlight the importance of facilitating effective partnerships between large-scale entrants and local suppliers, as well as offering support to disadvantaged non-supplier firms. Overall, our findings illuminate the nuanced local economic consequences of large-scale plant entries and offer guidance for future industrial and regional policies. |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:25083 |
| By: | Han, Yajie; Pkhikidze, Nino; Qin, Yu; Yang, Yi |
| Abstract: | Rural roads, serving as vital links between remote areas and economic centers, play an indispensable role in rural development. This paper investigates the relationship between rural road development and various economic outcomes in China from 2008 to 2021. Based on comprehensive novel road network data, satellite nighttime light images, county-level statistics, and household-level survey data, analyses are conducted at multiple levels. At the grid level, the findings show a consistent positive correlation between rural road mileage and nighttime light intensity, suggesting that road development fosters the growth of economic activity. The correlation is more pronounced in plains than in mountainous areas and is stronger for roads of higher quality. Economic prosperity and population size further enhance the economic benefits of rural roads. Additionally, the analysis finds significant links between rural road development and key metrics such as population growth, agricultural production, and the income and consumption of rural households. |
| Date: | 2025–09–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11212 |
| By: | Tennant, Elizabeth J.; Michuda, Aleksandr; Upton, Joanna B.; Chamorro, Andres; Engstrom, Ryan; Mann, Michael L.; Newhouse, David; Weber, Michael; Barrett, Christopher B. |
| Abstract: | Exposure to extreme weather events and other adverse shocks has led to an increasing number of humanitarian crises in developing countries in recent years. These events cause acute suffering and compromise future welfare by adversely impacting human capital formation among vulnerable populations. Early and accurate detection of ad- verse shocks to food security, health, and schooling is critical to facilitating timely and well-targeted humanitarian interventions to minimize these detrimental effects. Yet monitoring data are rarely available with the frequency and spatial granularity needed. This paper uses high-frequency household survey data from the Rapid Feedback Monitoring System, collected in 2020–23 in southern Malawi, to explore whether combining monthly data with publicly available remote-sensing features improves the accuracy of machine learning extrapolations across time and space, thereby enhancing monitoring efforts. In the sample, illnesses and schooling disruptions are not reliably predicted. However, when both lagged outcome data and geospatial features are available, intertemporal and spatiotemporal prediction of food insecurity indicators is promising. |
| Date: | 2025–09–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11202 |