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on Economic Geography |
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Issue of 2025–12–22
nine papers chosen by Andreas Koch, Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung |
| By: | Wilhelmsson, Mats (Department of Real Estate and Construction Management, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | Churches are visible both in the city and in the countryside, and throughout history, the church has been central to both religious and administrative life. However, the role of the church has changed over time. We examine whether churches influence the housing market beyond their religious functions. Three questions are in focus: how churches are geographically distributed, whether proximity to a church affects housing prices, and whether this is linked to social cohesion, such as voter turnout. The study is based on more than 33, 000 housing sales in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2023, and uses a combination of hedonic pricing, geographically weighted regression, and propensity score matching. Data on church locations are obtained from OpenStreetMap and the Swedish National Heritage Board. The results show that proximity to a church is generally associated with higher housing prices (around 2-12%), especially within 250 metres. Proximity to cemeteries has a slightly higher impact on prices (around 10-13%). Hence, it suggests that churches and cemeteries are regarded as amenities or positive externalities. Overall, the results show that even in secularised societies, culturally charged places such as churches can have tangible economic value in the urban landscape. |
| Keywords: | Church; Cemeteries; Capitalisation; House Prices |
| JEL: | R14 R21 R31 Z12 |
| Date: | 2025–12–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:kthrec:2025_014 |
| By: | Omer Majeed; Günther G. Schulze (Department of International Economic Policy, University of Freiburg) |
| Abstract: | This study uncovers a powerful, yet overlooked geographic dimension to ter rorismâs macroeconomic impact. Our findings reveal that terrorâs harm to FDI is profoundly shaped by attack location. Using Pakistan as a case study we show that assaults on economic and political centers cause far greater damage to FDI than attacks in peripheral areas. From 2001â2021, terrorism cost Pakistan $8.1 billion in lost FDI, eroding nearly 30% of its foreign capital stock. These results carry broad relevance, highlighting how localized violence can generate systemic, uneven macroeconomic consequences, which supports geographically calibrated policy responses to terror. |
| Keywords: | terror, FDI, time series analysis, economic geography, core-periphery, Pakistan. |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fre:wpaper:53 |
| By: | Kikuchi, Tatsuru |
| Abstract: | This paper tests whether demographic aging shocks propagate across Japanese municipalities through spatial and economic network channels. Using quarterly panel data on 4, 547 municipalities from 2018 to 2024, I apply the spatial treatment effect framework from \citet{kikuchi2024dynamical} and \citet{kikuchi2024stochastic}, extended with a Lévy–Brownian process \footnote{A temporal jump-diffusion process combining continuous Brownian motion with Lévy jumps.} to capture discontinuous crisis events alongside continuous evolution. The central finding contradicts conventional assumptions: aging shocks remain strictly localized with zero spillovers despite connected infrastructure and dense networks. Five analyses establish this result. Perturbative decomposition shows 99.82 percent of variation explained by direct effects. Treatment effect estimates (ATT=0.355pp, ATE=0.541pp) exclude spillover components. General equilibrium multipliers of 1.04 indicate minimal amplification. Stochastic uncertainty quantification reveals that while Lévy jumps raise crisis probability from 3 to 12 percent, tail risk remains localized. Temporal trends document increasing regional isolation. The absence of spillovers reflects fundamental isolation: Tokyo concentration, infrastructure decay, service withdrawal, and economic hollowing transform Japan's spatial structure from integrated to fragmented. Regional coordination policies are ineffective; local interventions are sufficient. |
| Keywords: | Population aging, demographic spillovers, regional isolation, spatial econometrics, Levy processes, Japan |
| JEL: | C14 C21 C31 C51 J11 R23 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:126742 |
| By: | Nobre, Francisco; Kitsos, Tasos; Tranos, Emmanouil; Donegani, Chiara Paola |
| Abstract: | We focus on the relationship between exposure to gambling shops and gambling-related harms. Gambling is now a public health concern, but its economic geography and associated harms are underexplored. We propose a framework that combines proximity and density, use data on gambling shops matched with surveys and measure the impact of gamblogenic environments on problem gambling using probit models and coarsened exact matching. Living closer to and in high densities of gambling shops, increases the likelihood of gambling and being a problematic gambler. The spatial distribution of gambling venues matters and calls for targeted interventions to mitigate harms. |
| Date: | 2025–12–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:uj6y8_v1 |
| By: | Forsberg, Erika (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy) |
| Abstract: | Individuals working in larger labor markets tend to earn more than those working in smaller labor markets, but the reason for this is still unclear. This paper studies whether larger cities provide better occupational skill matches by combining machine learning techniques with data on individuals’ productive skills matched with employer data to construct a novel measure of match quality. I show that occupational skill-match quality is higher for individuals living in large local labor markets. Conditional on skills, differences in match quality explain around 30 percent of the city-size wage gap. The higher match quality in larger labor markets is related to a more diversified occupation structure and more learning possibilities in these markets. |
| Keywords: | Matching; Agglomeration; Occupational choice |
| JEL: | J24 J31 R12 R23 |
| Date: | 2025–12–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2025_024 |
| By: | Sebastien Bourdin (Métis Lab EM Normandie - EM Normandie - École de Management de Normandie = EM Normandie Business School); Nicolas Jacquet (Métis Lab EM Normandie - EM Normandie - École de Management de Normandie = EM Normandie Business School) |
| Abstract: | This article examines how European cities and regions engage with circular economy (CE) strategies through the lens of territorial intermediation. Based on the analysis of 54 strategic planning documents, it identifies a range of local rationales – predominantly environmental – supporting CE commitments. The findings reveal a selective and often downstream-oriented framing of CE priorities. Local authorities assume three main roles in structuring circular transitions: promoter, facilitator and enabler, each operationalised through distinct policy instruments. Rather than following a uniform model, CE strategies take different forms depending on local priorities, challenges and development goals. The article contributes to the literature by clarifying how territorial intermediation mediates ecological transitions at the local scale. |
| Keywords: | Place-based ecological transition, Content analysis, Territorial strategies, Territorial intermediation, Local authorities, Circular economy |
| Date: | 2025–10–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05376815 |
| By: | Sébastien Bourdin (Métis Lab EM Normandie - EM Normandie - École de Management de Normandie = EM Normandie Business School); Arsène Perrot (GSSI - Gran Sasso Science Institute) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the persistence of CO 2 emissions across European regions through the analytical lenses of path dependence and socio-technical lock-ins. It introduces the concept of the "regional carbon trap" to account for enduring emission patterns. Drawing on data for EU NUTS-2 regions from 1990 to 2022, the analysis identifies key factors that either constrain or enable progress towards a low-carbon transition. The study proposes a novel typology distinguishing four regional trajectories: Virtuous Loop, Carbon-Intensive Trap, High-Emission Trap and Evolution Trap. The results underscore the pivotal influence of industrial specialisation, governance quality and economic diversification in shaping emission trajectories. Based on these findings, the paper formulates policy recommendations focused on targeted exnovation, economic diversification and technological leapfrogging. These recommendations stress the importance of adopting place-sensitive strategies to meet the European Union's decarbonisation objectives. |
| Keywords: | Regional disparities, Carbon lock-in, Transition, Carbon emissions, Development trap, Regional path dependence |
| Date: | 2025–11–21 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05376844 |
| By: | Hiroki KONDO |
| Abstract: | This study examines how urban agglomeration is influenced by both family public goods, which has the advantage of proximity within a family, and human capital, which increases productivity with increasing proximity of residents within a city. In some cases, proximity advantages reinforce agglomeration forces, while in others, they work in the opposite direction and weaken them. When proximity advantages exist among family members, urban population density increases beyond what exists without such advantages. This situation discourages further migration of unskilled workers from more distant regions, thereby considerably dividing society. In these regions, families perpetually remain in the regions as unskilled workers, with lower substantial incomes. The analytical framework and findings of this study provide an important basis for evaluating several important policies. First, the model exhibits multiple human capital agglomeration patterns: a monocentric equilibrium and polycentric urban structure with multiple core cities. Among them, the polycentric equilibrium enhances overall economic welfare and mitigates persistent social disparities across regions and generations. Thus, Japan should promote such an urban structure by expanding the geographical and administrative scope of local governments, as proposed by the doshusei reform. Second, the study examines the impacts of social security systems that provide family public goods to the elderly. The fact that this also mitigates social gap by encouraging parents to invest more in their children’s education is also demonstrated in the study. |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:25120 |
| By: | Claude Diebolt; Joel Huesler |
| Abstract: | In 1685, Louis XIV’s revocation of the Edict of Nantes expelled some 200, 000 Huguenots—one of the most skill-selective forced migrations in early modern Europe. While their contributions to England, Prussia and the Dutch Republic are well documented, the economic losses borne by the French regions they left behind have remained surprisingly unmeasured, despite the Huguenots’ disproportionate role in textiles, luxury crafts, finance and international trade. This paper provides the first economy-wide, micro-quantitative estimate of the long-run cost of this exodus for France. Using a newly assembled parish-level panel of Protestant baptism registers (1570–1700) linked to the industrial censuses of 1839 and 1860, we trace how a seventeenth-century demographic shock shaped regional development nearly two centuries later. We uncover three core results. (1) A one-standard-deviation decline in Huguenot baptisms (≈–20%) led to enduring losses:–5.8% industrial employment, –4.4% establishments and–5.1% wages in 1839, with output deficits still visible in 1860. (2) These effects persisted remarkably: by 1860, industrial production remained 2.8% lower—about 480, 000 francs per arrondissement. (3) The impact hinged on institutional and intellectual complementarities: regions distant from universities, printing presses, commercial hubs or Parliaments suffered the deepest scars. Together, these findings show how the removal of a highly skilled minority durably reshaped France’s economic geography, leaving an imprint that lasted for nearly two centuries. |
| Keywords: | Huguenots; Forced migration; Human capital; Economic persistence; Industrialization; Regional development; Historical shocks; Microhistorical data; Skill-selective migration. |
| JEL: | N33 N34 J61 O15 R11 F22 C23 N93 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2025-48 |