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on Economic Geography |
| By: | Knarik Poghosyan; Martin Kalthaus; Nadine Riedel; Michael Rothgang; Anne-Marie Scholz |
| Abstract: | We estimate the direct and indirect causal effects of Germany’s Leading-Edge Cluster Competition on firm size, inventive activity, and joint patenting. With €600 million allocated to 15 clusters, this program is one of the largest cluster policy programs in Europe. Using a staggered event-study design, we estimate the direct effect of the cluster policy on firms within the funded clusters. Additionally, we differentiate between funded and non-funded cluster members to assess the effects of the financial and the systemic components of the policy. Furthermore, we estimate the indirect spillover effect of this program on firms in close proximity to the funded clusters that are not associated with them. Our results show that the cluster policy has a direct overall positive effect on firm size and inventive activity, but a negative effect on collaboration in inventive activity. Differentiating between funded and nonfunded cluster members reveals that the latter benefit strongly from the systemic component of the cluster policy, increasing their inventive activity while having no significant effect on collaboration. In contrast, we do not observe any indirect effects on geographically proximate non-cluster firms. Our results provide causal evidence of the direct benefits of cluster policy at the firm level but call into question the anticipated indirect effects of cluster policy on neighboring non-cluster firms. |
| Keywords: | Cluster Policy, Spillover Effects, Policy Evaluation, Patent Data, Event Study |
| JEL: | O33 O38 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp2181 |
| By: | Stepan Kucera (Department of Finance and Accounting, Faculty of Business and Economics, Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effect of improvements in road transport infrastructure on the intensity of inter-municipal work commuting in the Czech Republic over the period 2011–2021. The study uses linked census data on commuting flows between more than 79, 000 origin-destination municipality pairs, together with network-based estimates of travel times derived from OpenStreetMap. Using the Open-Source Routing Machine (OSRM), we estimate first-difference OLS models that relate changes in normalised commuting intensity to absolute changes in road travel time, while controlling for pre-existing commuting linkages between municipalities and a set of controls variables. We find that a one-minute reduction in travel time raises car-based commuting intensity by approximately 0.12 to 0.17 car commuters per 1, 000 economically active residents. This positive effect remains consistent across both intra-regional and intra-district spatial specifications. The analysis of heterogenous effects reveals a pronounced gender asymmetry. The travel time effect is negative, sizeable, and statistically significant for female commuters in all specifications, while it is statistically indistinguishable from zero for male commuters. For women, shorter travel time thus acts as a catalyst for work commuting across all model specifications. By contrast, for male commuters, the estimated effect is statistically indistinguishable from zero in the pooled national sample, while in alternative specifications the effect remains very weak. Education-stratified results indicate that the aggregate effect is driven primarily by workers with secondary education, whereas workers with either basic or tertiary education do not appear to respond to infrastructure improvements, or more specifically to reductions in commuting time. Stratification by sector of employment shows statistically significant results particularly in the primary and secondary sectors. While shorter commuting times in agriculture and manufacturing are associated with an increased intensity of work commuting, the results for the services sector are less clear-cut and vary across model specifications. Overall, the findings suggest that the labour market returns to road infrastructure investment are highly specific. Reductions in travel time increase car-based commuting, but the magnitude of the effect is modest. Both the strength and direction of the effect depend on the population group considered and on the broader economic-geographical context. Road infrastructure may therefore operate as a potential mechanism for improving labour market access among selected sociodemographic groups, while primarily reinforcing existing commuting corridors rather than generating entirely new ones. |
| Keywords: | transport infrastructure; commuting; labour mobility; spatial mismatch; gender; Czech Republic |
| JEL: | R41 R12 J61 H54 |
| Date: | 2026–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:men:wpaper:114_2026 |
| By: | Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés; Dijkstra, Lewis |
| Abstract: | The European Union (EU) confronts a widening productivity gap with the United States (US) and China. Informed by the Draghi Report (2024), the emerging response is a bold but narrow one, dominated by massive investment in the technologies and sectors where Europe most conspicuously lags. This article argues that pursuing parity in areas where Europe shows considerable weakness is the wrong race. The surer path runs through Europe's existing strengths —its pharmaceutical hubs, aerospace clusters, machine-tool districts and chemical bases, among others— used not as a pretext for standing still but as a springboard for reinvention. This implies mobilising the potential of every European territory by climbing the complexity ladder, absorbing new technologies into living industrial ecosystems, and diversifying into related activities that grow organically out of existing capabilities. A differentiated, place-sensitive strategy built on path dependence, brownfield digitalisation and the deliberate strengthening of European chokepoints in strategic sectors offers a more durable route to competitiveness than chasing after American or Chinese shadows. Europe is not short of talent or invention: the problem lies in institutional barriers to integration, the weakness of its knowledge-to-innovation pipeline, and its chronic inability to help promising start-ups graduate into globally significant firms. Fix those, and the case for territorial myopia collapses. For if Europe is bound to struggle at imitation, it might as well succeed at being itself and, on its own terms, lead. |
| Keywords: | competitiveness;economic chokepoints;economic geography;Europe;industrial policy;place-sensitive strategies;regional inequality;related diversification;scale-up |
| JEL: | R11 O33 R58 F52 |
| Date: | 2026–09–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:141003 |
| By: | Belmartino, Andrea |
| Abstract: | As global demand for green products accelerates, emerging economies are increasingly seeking to leverage their existing capacities to support green transitions and capture high-growth market opportunities. This study examines the role of green and non-green relatedness in the development of new green specialisations across Argentine provinces, offering insights into potential pathways for green development. Using relatedness density as a measure of knowledge proximity, results show that the likelihood of developing a new green specialisation is positively associated with both green and non-green knowledge assets within a region. The findings highlight that green policies which neglect spatial disparities risk exacerbating regional imbalances in green economic opportunities. The methodology developed in this study offers a transferable framework for other developing economies aiming to assess and strengthen their regional green economy potential. |
| Keywords: | Desarrollo Regional; Diversificación de la Producción; Economía Verde; Argentina; |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nmp:nuland:4608 |
| By: | Ohto Kanninen (Labour Institute for Economic Research LABORE); Hannu Karhunen (Labour Institute for Economic Research LABORE); Sanni Kiviholma (Labour Institute for Economic Research LABORE); Jeremias Nieminen (Labour Institute for Economic Research LABORE) |
| Abstract: | Several countries use immigration liberalization as a place-based policy tool, but evidence on its regional effects remains almost entirely descriptive. We examine the causal impact of removing labor market testing (LMT) regulations for labor immigrants in all occupations in the remote Finnish region of North Karelia. The reform allowed firms to hire non-EU foreign workers in all occupations without first advertising jobs to domestic applicants, resulting in a 14% rise in the stock of immigrant workers. Using synthetic control and difference-in-differences methods, we estimate causal effects of the reform at the regional, municipal, firm establishment, and individual levels. The reform caused immigrant inflows to increase primarily in cities and in specific types of occupations, i.e., low-paying occupations and ISCO groups 5, 7, 8, and 9. Across the firm size distribution, the increases concentrate around the median and the top. We find little evidence that the policy had meaningful effects on other regional or municipal outcomes: immigration liberalization boosted labor supply without generating transformative medium-term regional effects. |
| Keywords: | immigration, labor supply, aging population, regional economy, labor market testing, synthetic control, difference-in-differences |
| JEL: | R11 R58 J20 J38 J61 J68 |
| Date: | 2026–09–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pst:wpaper:365 |
| By: | Filipe Petres Dellon da Silva (IE/Unicamp); Edson Roberto Vieira (FACE/UFG) |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes the spatial dependence between per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and exports across the 246 municipalities of the state of Goiás in 2021, based on Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA). Using global and local (LISA) univariate and bivariate Moran’s I statistics, the results reveal positive and statistically significant spatial autocorrelation. The findings indicate that municipalities with higher export performance and higher GDP per capita tend to cluster spatially, revealing the persistence of a concentrated and unequal development pattern. In contrast, the Northern and Northeastern regions of the state exhibit low levels of economic integration and reduced average GDP per capita, suggesting weak productive spillover effects. It is concluded that the diffusion of export-related benefits is regionally limited, reinforcing the need for territorial policies focused on infrastructure investment, productive diversification, and the reduction of regional disparities within the state of Goiás. |
| Keywords: | Goiás; Regional development; Exports; Per capita GDP; LISA; Spatial autocorrelation. |
| JEL: | C21 O40 R11 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ufb:wpaper:104 |