|
on Economic Geography |
|
Issue of 2025–06–23
five papers chosen by Andreas Koch, Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung |
| By: | Pauline Carry; Benny Kleinman; Elio Nimier-David |
| Abstract: | Why are wages in cities like New York or Paris higher than in others? This paper uses firm mobility to separate the role of “location effects” (e.g., local geography, infrastructure, and agglomeration) from the spatial sorting of workers and firms. Using French administrative records and U.S. commercial data, we first document that firm mobility is widespread: 4% of establishments relocate annually. Establishments retain their main activity and structure as they move, but adjust their workforce and wages. Combining firm and worker mobility, we then decompose wage disparities across French commuting zones. We find that spatial wage differences are largely driven by the sorting and co-location of workers and firms: location effects account for only 2–5% of disparities, while differences in the composition of workers and establishments account for around 30% and 15%, respectively. The remaining half is accounted for by the co-location of high-wage workers and firms, especially in cities with high location effects. Revisiting the elasticity of local wages to population density, we find a significant coefficient of 0.007 - two to three times lower than estimates not controlling for firm composition. |
| JEL: | F0 J0 R0 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33779 |
| By: | Carolina Castaldi; Nicola Cortinovis; Milene S. Tessarin |
| Abstract: | Economic geography has offered several insights to understand the role of geography in shaping creativity, innovation and the way they are connected in space. Unfortunately, most attention has been devoted to analyzing cities and urban regions as the ideal context where creativity and innovation come together. Emerging counter-narratives are challenging this urban perspective and proposing that creativity-led innovation can also thrive in rural, often more peripheral, places. Theoretically, different arguments have been proposed, yet a clear conceptualization is lacking. We propose to link these arguments to two complementary ways in which creativity-led innovation might be at play, either as innovation in creative industries or as creative workers contributing to innovation across industries. Methodologically, most evidence comes from intriguing case studies and country-specific surveys, yet comparative quantitative evidence is missing or misleading. In this study, we propose to use trademarks as an alternative indicator to patents, better fitting creativity-led innovation. We illustrate the opportunities from our conceptualization and measurement with a comparative study of European regions. Using a database combining large scale occupational data with patent and trademark activity for the period 2011-2019, we analyze the relationship between creative occupations and innovation activity in rural regions. Our findings suggest that creativity-led innovation processes operate in rural regions but can only be uncovered when using trademarks as innovation indicators. These findings bear key policy implications, as they inform efforts towards formulating and monitoring the role of creativity and innovation for rural contexts. |
| Keywords: | creativity, innovation, regions, rural, urban, creative occupations, patents, trademarks |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2517 |
| By: | Lorena M. D’Agostino (University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy.); Rosina Moreno (AQR-IREA, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain.); Damián Tojeiro-Rivero (ESADE-University Ramon Llull, Spain.) |
| Abstract: | Taking the long-established evidence on knowledge spillovers that states that part of the new created knowledge spills over to other firms mostly located in the physical proximity, we aim at providing evidence on the role of green knowledge spillovers on firms’ innovation. We posit that in addition to internal factors, firm innovation is determined by external regional factors, among which we specifically focus on the spillovers generated by environmental EU-funded research at the regional level. The results indicate that the presence of partners engaged in EU-environmental projects in a region has a positive and significant effect on process innovation. |
| Keywords: | innovation; environment; EU-funded research; Framework Programme; region; firm. JEL classification: R11, O31, O44. |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ira:wpaper:202423 |
| By: | Marc Garcia-Ruiz (Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain.) |
| Abstract: | In recent decades, decentralization has become a prominent topic in both academic and political discussions, with research increasingly focusing on its implications for economic development. This paper explores a specific facet of this debate by examining how decentralization influences business creation and the survival of new enterprises at the local level. By leveraging a panel dataset covering regions across multiple countries, we assess whether decentralization promotes entrepreneurship and sustains new businesses, particularly through the mediating role of institutional quality. Our findings suggest that while decentralization encourages business creation, it may reduce short-term firm survival rates. Additionally, strong institutional quality seems to amplify decentralization's positive effect on entrepreneurship and mitigate its adverse impact on the survival rate. |
| Keywords: | Local Economies; Decentralization; Entrepreneurship. JEL classification: L26, O43, O52, R11. |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ira:wpaper:202413 |
| By: | Abagna, Matthew Amalitinga; Hornok, Cecília; Mulyukova, Alina |
| Abstract: | This paper provides novel evidence on the impact of a prominent place-based policy – Special Economic Zones (SEZs) – on the economic well-being of African households. Exploiting time variation in SEZ establishment on a dataset of repeated cross-sections of households in 10 African countries during 1990-2020, we show that households living near SEZs become wealthier relative to the national average after SEZ establishment. The effect accrues mostly within 10 km of SEZs, is not driven by selective migration, and is accompanied byimproved access to household utilities, higher consumption of durable goods, increased educational attainment and a shift away from agricultural activities. |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwkie:318396 |