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on Economic Geography |
| By: | Gavin Cameron (Dept of Economics, University of Oxford); John Muellbauer (Nuffield College, Oxford); Anthony Murphy (Nuffield College, Oxford) |
| Abstract: | We present and discuss an annual econometric model of regional house prices in Britain estimated over the period 1972 to 2003. The model, which consists of a system of inverted housing demand equations, is data consistent, incorporates spatial lags and errors, has some spatial coefficient heterogeneity, has a plausible long run solution and includes a full range of explanatory variables. We use our results to explain the periods of boom and bust and the ripple effect from London house prices to house prices elsewhere. We also address the issue of whether there has been a bubble in the British housing market |
| Keywords: | House Prices; Ripple Effect; Bubble |
| JEL: | C51 E39 |
| Date: | 2005–12–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpa:wuwpma:0512003&r=geo |
| By: | Kenneth M. Chomitz (The World Bank); Daniel da Mata (Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA)); Alexandre Ywata de Carvalho (Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA)); João Carlos Magalhães (Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA)) |
| Abstract: | There was substantial spatial variation in labor market outcomes in Brazil over the 1990s. In 2000, about one-fifth of workers lived in apparently economically stagnant municipios where real wages declined but employment increased faster than the national population growth rate. More than one-third lived in apparently dynamic municipios, experiencing both real wage growth and faster-than-average employment growth. These areas absorbed more than half of net employment growth over the period. To elucidate this spatial variation, the authors estimate spatial labor supply and demand equations describing wage and employment changes of Brazilian municipios. They use Conley's spatial GMM technique to allow for instrumental variable estimation in the presence of spatially autocorrelated errors. The main findings include: (1) a very strong influence of initial workforce educational levels on subsequent wage growth (controlling for possibly confounding variables such as remoteness and climate); (2) evidence of positive spillover effects of own-municipio growth onto neighbors' wage and employment levels; (3) an exodus from farming areas; (4) relatively elastic response of wages to an increase in labor supply; and (5) evidence of a local multiplier effect from government transfers. |
| Keywords: | Rural development, Labor and employment |
| Date: | 2005–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3752&r=geo |
| By: | Xubei Luo (The World Bank) |
| Abstract: | The author discusses regional development patterns in China and examines effective ways of using development aid to attain regional balanced growth through optimizing growth spillover effects. Based on provincial panel data from 1978-99 she constructs an indicator "neighborhood performance" to measure the geographic spillover effects of aggregate growth from and to different provinces according to their relative richness and geographic position. Analysis of a Solow-type growth model suggests that positive spillover effects dominate negative shadow effects at the national level as well as the regional level, and some coastal provinces provide growth pull and growth push forces for their neighbors and serve as locomotives. The results show that the rapid takeoff of the coastal provinces has the largest spillover effects on the Chinese economy, but at the expense of a widening regional gap. A policy of encouraging the growth of the non-coastal regional hubs would have strong forward and backward linkages with the inland and western regions and thus reduce the regional development gap without sacrificing much aggregate growth. The author offers support for the policy of developing inland hubs, and argues that directing development aid to Hubei and Sichuan would optimize the growth spillover impacts on inland regions. |
| Keywords: | Macroeconomics and growth |
| Date: | 2005–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3652&r=geo |
| By: | Daniel da Mata (DIRUR, Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada (IPEA), Brasilia); Uwe Deichmann (The World Bank); J. Vernon Henderson (Brown University); Somik V. Lall (The World Bank); Hyoung Gun Wang (Brown University) |
| Abstract: | The share of urban population in Brazil increased from 58 to 80 percent between 1970 and 2000 and all net population growth over the next 30 years is predicted to be in cities. This paper explores population growth and its implications for economic dynamics and income generation among 123 urban agglomerations. Incomes are higher in larger agglomerations and in the South, but there is some indication of regional convergence with higher rates of income growth in poorer areas. In particular, agglomerations in the North and Central-West are growing faster than the more established urban centers in the South. Economic dynamics point to a process of increased diversification among larger cities, and greater specialization among medium-sized agglomerations. In bigger centers there is a trend toward deconcentration toward the periphery. The paper provides a simple analysis of correlates of labor supply, as measured by population growth and economic productivity, which is proxied by changes in per capita income. |
| Keywords: | Infrastructure, Urban development, Public sector management |
| Date: | 2005–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3724&r=geo |
| By: | Loren Brandt (University of Toronto); Carsten Holz (Hong Kong University of Science & Technology) |
| Abstract: | Prices differ across space: from province to province, from rural (or urban) areas in one province to rural (or urban) areas in another province, and from rural to urban areas within one province. Systematic differences in prices across a range of goods and services in different localities imply regional differences in the costs of living. If high- income provinces also have high costs of living, and low-income provinces have low costs of living, the use of nominal income measures in explaining such economic outcomes as inequality can lead to misinterpretations. Income should be adjusted for costs of living. We are interested in the sign and magnitude of the adjustments needed, their changes over time, and their impact on economic outcomes in China. In this article, we construct a set of (rural, urban, total) provincial- level spatial price deflators for the years 1984-2002 that can be used to obtain provincial-level income measures adjusted for purchasing power. We provide illustrations of the significant effect of ignoring spatial price differences in the analysis of China’s economy. |
| Keywords: | spatial deflators, inequality, income differences, regional absolute price levels, China |
| JEL: | D3 D31 C43 D63 O18 O53 |
| Date: | 2005–12–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpa:wuwpmi:0512001&r=geo |
| By: | Daniel da Mata (DIRUR, Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada (IPEA), Brasilia); Uwe Deichmann (The World Bank); J. Vernon Henderson (Brown University); Somik V. Lall (The World Bank); Hyoung Gun Wang (Brown University) |
| Abstract: | The authors examine the determinants of Brazilian city growth between 1970 and 2000. They consider a model of a city that combines aspects of standard urban economics and the new economic geography literatures. For the empirical analysis, the authors construct a dataset of 123 Brazilian agglomerations and estimate aspects of the demand and supply side, as well as a reduced form specification that describes city sizes and their growth. Their main findings are that increases in rural population supply, improvements in interregional transport connectivity, and education attainment of the labor force have strong impacts on city growth. They also find that local crime and violence, measured by homicide rates, impinge on growth. In contrast, a higher share of private sector industrial capital in the local economy stimulates growth. Using the residuals from the growth estimation, the authors also find that cities that better administer local land use and zoning laws have higher growth. Finally, their policy simulations show that diverting transport investments from large cities toward secondary cities does not provide significant gains in terms of national urban performance. |
| Keywords: | Infrastructure, Urban development, Public sector management |
| Date: | 2005–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3723&r=geo |
| By: | Patricio Aroca (Universidad Católica Del Norte Antofagasta, Chile); Mariano Bosch (The World Bank); William F. Maloney (The World Bank) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the spatial dimension of growth in Mexico over the past three decades. The literature on regional economic growth shows a decrease in regional dispersion from 1970 to 1985, and a sharp increase afterward coinciding with the trade liberalization of the Mexican economy. Using spatial econometric, tools the authors analyze how the process of convergence/divergence has mapped spatially and whether it makes sense to talk about spatial regions in Mexico. Although the rich North-poor South dichotomy has dominated this phenomenon, interesting patterns emerge. Namely the distribution of growth after Mexico's post-liberalization seems to be much less associated with distance to the United States than the authors had initially expected. |
| Keywords: | International economics, Macroeconomics and growth |
| Date: | 2005–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3744&r=geo |
| By: | Maurice Catin (CRERI, University of South Toulon-Var, France); Xubei Luo (The World Bank); Christophe Van Huffel (CRERI, University of South Toulon-Var, France) |
| Abstract: | Rapid development, a widening regional gap, and growing concentration of activities have characterized the Chinese economy since the reforms in the late 1970s. This paper examines the spatial disparities of the economic concentration in different stages of development from a geographic approach in the case of China. It aims at offering empirical supports on (1) how concentrated the economic activities are; (2) what factors determine the economic concentration; and (3) whether this concentration differs in the coastal and inland regions. The results show that the high-technology industries highly concentrate in the coastal provinces. The limited diffusion of the labor intensive activities within the coastal region does not significantly modify the major trend of the location and specialization of the industries in the inland region, and does not contribute to narrowing the regional disparities. The paper argues that in order to stimulate the geographic diffusion of economic activities to the inland region, it is important to appropriately alleviate internal migration control, reduce unnecessary state intervention, and further encourage domestic market integration. |
| Keywords: | Macroeconomics and growth |
| Date: | 2005–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3706&r=geo |
| By: | Gonzalo Duran (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile) |
| Abstract: | : During the last couple of decades, the migratory movements in Chile have been minimum, regions are far from achieving match in the per capìta income, situation that would give persistence to the regional inequity. According to studies, in 52 years, half of the gap between a rich and a poor region would be closed. What generates this apparent motionless? a possible explanation, are the education subsidies, those act like an anchor element. The subject is covered using an enlarged specification of the Harris and Todaro’s model (1970), working trough cross section estimations. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Convergence, Education Subsidies. |
| JEL: | O15 R23 |
| Date: | 2005–12–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpa:wuwppe:0512007&r=geo |
| By: | Branko Milanovic (The World Bank and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace) |
| Abstract: | The paper studies regional (spatial) inequality in the five most populous countries in the world: China, India, the United States, Indonesia, and Brazil in the period 1980-2000. They are all federations or quasi-federations composed of entities with substantial economic autonomy. Two types of regional inequalities are considered: Concept 1 inequality, which is inequality between mean incomes (GDP per capita) of states/provinces, and Concept 2 inequality, which is inequality between population-weighted regional mean incomes. The first inequality speaks to the issue of regional convergence, the second, to the issue of overall inequality as perceived by citizens within a nation. All three Asian countries show rising inequality in terms of both concepts in the 1990s. Divergence in income outcomes is particularly noticeable for the most populous states/provinces in China and India. The United States, where regional inequality is the least, shows further convergence. Brazil, with the highest level of regional inequality, displays no trend. A regression analysis fails to establish robust association between the usual macroeconomic variables and the two types of regional inequality. |
| Keywords: | Poverty |
| Date: | 2005–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3699&r=geo |
| By: | Antonio Morillas (Universidad de Málaga); Bárbara Díaz (Universidad de Málaga); Jesús González (Universidad de Málaga) |
| Abstract: | In this paper it is proposed a fuzzy multiple attribute analysis, that we have called comparative concordance, as a help instrument to the decision-making process in an environment of lack of precise information as it generally is the decision-making in regional planning. Through an application to the selection of proceeding programs of the Environmental Plan of Andalusia, 1995-2000, it will be compared to other methods. |
| Keywords: | fuzzy sets, multiple attribute decision, environmental planning |
| JEL: | R |
| Date: | 2005–12–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpa:wuwpur:0512004&r=geo |
| By: | Somik V. Lall (The World Bank); Taye Mengistae (The World Bank) |
| Abstract: | How do differences in the local business environment influence location of industry within countries? How do the benefits of a good business environment compare with those from good market access and agglomeration economies from industry clustering? The authors examine these questions by analyzing location decisions of individual firms. Using data from a recently completed survey of manufacturing firms in India, they find that both the local business environment and agglomeration economies significantly influence business location choices across cities. In particular, excessive regulation of labor and of other industrial activities reduces the probability of a business locating in a city. The authors' findings imply that in order to attract industrial activity, smaller or remoter cities need to offer even more attractive policy concessions or reforms to offset the effects of their relatively adverse (economic) geography. Their methodology pays special attention to the identification of agglomeration economies in the presence of unobserved sources of natural advantage. |
| Keywords: | Infrastructure, Industry, Private sector development, Governance, Urban development, Macroeconomics and growth |
| Date: | 2005–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3675&r=geo |
| By: | Somik V. Lall (The World Bank); Taye Mengistae (The World Bank) |
| Abstract: | The authors' analysis of manufacturing plants sampled from India's major industrial centers shows large productivity gaps across cities. The gaps partly reflect differences in agglomeration economies and in market access. However, they are also explained to a greater extent by differences in the degree of labor regulation and in the severity of power shortages. This is an indication that governments can help narrow regional disparities in industrial growth by fostering the "right business environment" in locations where industry might otherwise be held back by powerful forces of economic geography. There is indeed a pattern in the data whereby geographically disadvantaged cities seem to compensate partially for their natural disadvantage by having a better business environment than more geographically advantaged locations. |
| Keywords: | Infrastructure, Industry, Private sector development, Governance, Urban development, Macroeconomics and growth |
| Date: | 2005–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3664&r=geo |
| By: | Rita Almeida (World Bank Research Department) |
| Abstract: | The author tests how the local economic structure-measured by a region's sector specialization, competition, and diversity-affects the technological growth of manufacturing sectors. Most of the empirical literature on this topic assumes that in the long run more productive regions will attract more workers and use employment growth as a measure of local productivity growth. However, this approach is based on strong assumptions about national labor markets. The author shows that when these assumptions are relaxed, regional adjusted wage growth is a better measure of regional productivity growth than employment growth. She compares the two measures using data for Portugal between 1985 and 1994. With the regional adjusted wage growth, the author finds evidence of Marshall-Arrow-Romer (MAR) externalities in some sectors and no evidence of Jacobs or Porter externalities in most of the manufacturing sectors. These results are at odds with her findings for employment-based regressions, which show that concentration and region size have a negative and significant effect in most of the manufacturing sectors. These employment-based results are in line with most of the existing literature, which suggests that using employment growth to proxy for productivity growth leads to misleading results. |
| Keywords: | Urban development |
| Date: | 2005–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3728&r=geo |
| By: | Antonio Morillas (Universidad de Málaga); Laura Moniche (Universidad de Málaga); J Marcos Castro (Universidad de Málaga) |
| Abstract: | En este trabajo se evalúan los efectos ex-post del MAC 1994-1999 en Andalucía (España), los efectos directos e indirectos de las inversiones dentro de la región y los efectos fuga producidos hacia el resto del país (cross-border leakage). Utilizando un modelo multisectorial de dos regiones, la andaluza y el resto de España, se comparan los estímulos inducidos por los fondos estructurales en es resto de la economía nacional con los producidos en la economía andaluza. Los resultados muestran que, al menos a corto y medio plazo, los resultados sobre la convergencia real pueden ser poco o nada relevantes. Podría afirmarse que las regiones más desarrolladas del país han sido grandes beneficiarias indirectas de los fondos destinados a las regiones de objetivo 1. |
| Keywords: | Structural Funds Evaluation; Regional Convergence; Cross- Border Leakages |
| JEL: | R |
| Date: | 2005–12–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpa:wuwpur:0512008&r=geo |
| By: | Peter Maskell; Harald Bathelt; Anders Malmberg |
| Abstract: | Business people and professionals come together regularly at trade fairs, exhibitions, conventions, congresses, and conferences. Here, their latest and most advanced findings, inventions and products are on display to be evaluated by customers and suppliers, as well as by peers and competitors. Participation in events like these helps firms to identify the current market frontier, take stock of relative competitive positions and form future plans. Such events exhibit many of the characteristics ascribed to permanent spatial clusters, albeit in a temporary and intensified form. These short-lived hotspots of intense knowledge exchange, network building and idea generation can thus be seen as temporary clusters. The present paper compares temporary clusters with permanent clusters and other types of inter-firm interactions. If regular participation in temporary clusters can satisfy a firm’s need to learn through interaction with suppliers, customers, peers and rivals, why is the phenomenon of permanent spatial clustering of similar and related economic activity so pervasive? The answer, it is claimed, lies in the restrictions imposed upon economic activity when knowledge and ideas are transformed into valuable products and services. The paper sheds new light on how interaction among firms in current clusters coincides with knowledge-intensive pipelines between firms in different regions or clusters. In doing so, it offers a novel way of understanding how inter-firm knowledge relationships are organized spatially and temporally. |
| Keywords: | Economic geography; knowledge; clusters; temporary clusters; trade fairs; conventions; pipelines |
| JEL: | D83 L22 O17 O18 R12 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aal:abbswp:05-20&r=geo |
| By: | Díaz Bárbara (Universidad de Málaga); Cruces Eugenia (Universidad de Málaga); Morillas Antonio (Universidad de Málaga) |
| Abstract: | En este trabajo se utiliza la información estadística referente a los indicadores regionales, suministrada por Eurostat, para elaborar una clasificación y caracterizar el espacio socioeconómico europeo en base a los mencionados indicadores, que, como se sabe, se refieren básicamente a datos demográficos, de mercado de trabajo y producto interior bruto. Para conseguir tal objetivo, se realiza una aproximación metodológica en dos fases: en primer lugar se utiliza un análisis cluster, con los indicadores regionales más relevantes, para evaluar las posibilidades de clasificación y número de grupos a formar. En una segunda etapa, se aplica un análisis discriminante con un doble objetivo: evaluar la bondad de las distintas clasificaciones derivadas del método anterior y encontrar los indicadores más significativos para diferenciar los diferentes espacios socioeconómicos obtenidos. Por último, se analizan las características socioeconómicas de las distintas agrupaciones regionales obtenidas. |
| Keywords: | european regions, multivariate clustering, regional economics |
| JEL: | R |
| Date: | 2005–12–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpa:wuwpur:0512002&r=geo |
| By: | Stel, A.J. van; Suddle, K. (Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), RSM Erasmus University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the relationship between new firm formation and regional employment change in the Netherlands. Using a new regional data base for the period 1988-2002, we examine the time lags involved in the relationship. We also investigate whether the relationship differs by time period, by sector and by degree of urbanization. We find that the maximum effect of new businesses on regional development is reached after about six years. Our results also suggest that the overall employment impact of new-firm startups is positive but that the immediate employment effects may be small in the Netherlands. Furthermore, we find that the relation between new businesses and regional development has been stable during the period under investigation, that the employment impact of new firms is strongest in manufacturing industries and that the employment impact of new firms is stronger in areas with a higher degree of urbanization. |
| Keywords: | Startups;Entrepreneurship;Regional Development;the Netherlands; |
| Date: | 2005–11–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:eureri:30007804&r=geo |
| By: | Mercader-Prats M; Levy H (Institute for Social & Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we use statistical tools and graphic devices in order to give a comprehensive picture of income inequality levels in a set of 100 EU-15 regions at the end of the XX century before and after the operation of the tax-benefit. Our analysis is based on EUROMOD, the first multi-country tax-benefit model built with a common framework that includes detailed information on taxes and benefits paid and received by individuals and/or households from samples that are representative for the 15 EU countries. Our analysis focuses on intraregional inequality and it explores the relationship between regional inequality levels (both in market incomes and disposable incomes) and economic performance. Our main findings indicate that tax-benefits systems in Europe notably reduce market inequality in all EU regions and that the size of this reduction (i.e. redistributive effect) depends crucially on (i) the market inequality level of the region (positively), (ii) the relative economic performance of the region in the country (negatively) and (iii) the country to which the region belongs. |
| Keywords: | Regions, European Union, inequality, redistribution, economic performance |
| JEL: | C81 D31 I38 |
| Date: | 2004–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:emodwp:em9/04&r=geo |
| By: | Jean-François, RICHARD; Henry, TULKENS; Magali, Verdonck |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to test econometrically the existence of fiscal interactions between Belgian municipalities. At the time of writing, the motivation was to provide scientific support to the lively debate on fiscal competition that took place among Belgian politicians in the late nineties. Two types of taxes are considered, for which Belgian municipalities have the decision power as to rates : the “centimes additionnels” on the personal income tax and the “précompte immobilier” which is a property tax. A dynamic adjustment model is specified and estimated using panel data for 598 municipalities over 15 years. The empirical results obtained bear upon two main points : (i) Some interaction definitely has prevailed between the municipalities’ fiscal choices made during the observation period, for both taxes; (ii) However, the adjustment reactions to the other municipalities’ fiscal choices have occured over time at the very low yearly pace of 6% and 10% respectively, of the discrepancy between the actual rates and the preferred rates. |
| Date: | 2005–06–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvec:2005039&r=geo |
| By: | Daniel Kaufmann (The World Bank); Frannie Léautier (The World Bank); Massimo Mastruzzi (The World Bank) |
| Abstract: | The authors contribute to the field of urban governance and globalization through an empirically-based exploration of determinants of the performance of cities. They construct a preliminary worldwide database for cities, containing variables and indicators of globalization (at the country and city level), city governance, city performance (access and quality of infrastructure service delivery), as well as other relevant city characteristics. This city database, encompassing hundreds of cities worldwide, integrates existing data with new data gathered for this research. The findings suggest that good governance and globalization (at both the country and city level) do matter for city-level performance in terms of access and quality of delivery of infrastructure services. The authors also find that globalization and good city governance are significantly related with each other. Furthermore, the evidence suggests that there are complex interactions between technology choices, governance, and city performance, as well as evidence of a nonlinear (U-shaped) relationship between city size and performance, challenging the view that very large cities necessarily exhibit lower performance and pointing instead to potential agglomeration economies. The framework also suggests a way of bridging two seemingly competing strands of the literature, namely viewing the city as a place or as an outcome. The authors conclude by pointing to the need for expanding the database and the econometric framework, and suggest research directions and policy implications emerging from this initial investigation on governance and the city. |
| Keywords: | Private sector development, Governance, Urban development, Public sector management |
| Date: | 2005–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3712&r=geo |
| By: | Poh Kam Wong (National University of Singapore); Yuen Ping Ho (National University of Singapore); Annette Singh (National University of Singapore) |
| Abstract: | The city-state of Singapore has achieved rapid economic development in the past by its positioning as an efficient business hub in Asia. To remain competitive in the global knowledge economy, however, Singapore needs to move beyond efficiency by developing a strong "innovative" edge as well. This paper examines the challenges that Singapore faces in seeking to do so through an explorative survey of 40 firms from three innovative sectors: high-tech manufacturing industries, knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS), and creative content industries. Overall, while the survey confirms Singapore's continuing competitive strength in efficiency infrastructure, it also finds a favorable perception of Singapore as an innovative city. Indeed, many of the industry actors indicated that an efficient business infrastructure is a prerequisite for locating their innovative activities in Singapore, suggesting that the relationship between innovation and efficiency is complementary, rather than substitutional. While the study found that intellectual property and its protection are widely recognized by actors in all three sectors, interesting differences exist. In particular, intellectual property protection appears to be of greater concern to the high-tech research and development-intensive manufacturing sector and the creative contents sector than to the KIBS sector. Another interesting difference is that while competition in high-tech innovation tends to be global, competition in creative content tends to have a stronger local or regional dimension. Public policy in East Asia has traditionally emphasized the development of technological innovation capabilities in the manufacturing sector. In light of the findings, public policymakers may need to be more sensitive to the nuanced differences in policies needed to promote the new creative content industries and the associated supporting KIBS. |
| Keywords: | Industry, Private sector development, Urban development |
| Date: | 2005–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3568&r=geo |
| By: | Judy Baker (The World Bank); Rakhi Basu (The World Bank); Maureen Cropper (The World Bank and University of Maryland); Somik Lall (The World Bank); Akie Takeuchi (University of Maryland) |
| Abstract: | This paper reports the results of a survey of 5,000 households in the Greater Mumbai Region conducted in the winter of 2004. The goal of the survey was to better understand the demand for transport services by the poor, the factors affecting this demand, and the inter-linkages between transport decisions and other vital decisions such as where to live and work. This paper, the first of several research outputs, describes the salient facts about travel patterns in Mumbai for both poor and non-poor households. A striking finding of the survey is the extent to which all households-especially poor households-rely on walking. Overall, 44 percent of commuters in Mumbai walk to work. The proportion of the poor who walk to work is even higher-63 percent. Walking is an even higher modal share for nonwork than for work trips. A second finding is that public transit remains an important factor in the mobility of the poor, and especially in the mobility of the middle class. Overall, rail remains the main mode to work for 23 percent of commuters, while bus remains the main mode for 16 percent of commuters. The modal shares for bus are highest for the poor in zones 1-3 (21 percent of the poor in zone 2 take the bus to work), while rail shares are highest for the poor in the suburbs (25 percent of the poor in zone 6 take rail to work). Is the cost and lack of accessibility to transit a barrier to the mobility of the poor? Does it keep them from obtaining better housing and better jobs? This is a difficult question to answer without further analysis of the survey data. But it appears that transport is less of a barrier to the poor who live in central Mumbai (zones 1-3) than it is to the poor who live in the suburbs (zones 4-6). The poor who live in zones 1-3 (central Mumbai) live closer to the non-poor than do poor households in the suburbs. They also live closer to higher-paying jobs for unskilled workers. Workers in these households, on average, commute short distances (less than 3 kilometers), although a non-negligible fraction of them (one-third in zone 2) take public transit to work. It is true that the cost of housing for the poor is higher in central Mumbai than in the suburbs, but the quality of slum housing is at least as good in central Mumbai as in the suburbs. The poor who live in the suburbs of Mumbai, especially in zones 5 and 6, are more isolated from the rich than the poor in central Mumbai: 37 percent of the poor live in zones 5 and 6, whereas only one-fifth of higher income groups do. Wages for skilled and unskilled labor are generally lower in zones 5 and 6 than in the central city, and it appears that unemployment rates for poor males are also higher in these zones. The lower cost of slum and chawl housing in zones 5 and 6 may partly compensate for lower wages. However, a larger proportion of workers in poor households leave zones 5 and 6 to work than is true for poor workers in other zones. Commuting distances are much higher for poor workers in the suburbs than for poor workers in zones 1-3. |
| Keywords: | Infrastructure, Urban development, Poverty |
| Date: | 2005–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3693&r=geo |
| By: | Antonio Morillas (Universidad de Málaga); Elías Melchor (Universidad de Granada); J Marcos Castro (Universidad de Málaga) |
| Abstract: | En este trabajo se relaciona la especialización productiva de una región española (Andalucía) con el crecimiento económico, el consumo de recursos naturales y la polución atmosférica. Para ello, nos hemos centrado en dos de los recursos naturales básicos, como son el agua y la energía, así como en otros indicadores de calidad atmosférica, tales como las emisiones de CO y SO2. La metodología seguida parte de la aplicación de la dinámica de sistemas, proponiendo un modelo que pone en relación ciertas variables medio ambientales con las de otros subsistemas (laboral y macroeconómico). En el modelo se integran las tablas input-output de Andalucía (Instituto de Estadística de Andalucía) y los resultados recientes, respecto a consumos de agua, energía y emisión de contaminantes, obtenidos en la contabilidad ambiental, elaborada por la Consejería de Medio Ambiente de esta Comunidad Autónoma. |
| Keywords: | environment economics, dymamic systems, input-output analysis, regional analysis |
| JEL: | R |
| Date: | 2005–12–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpa:wuwpur:0512003&r=geo |
| By: | Antonio Morillas (Universidad de Málaga) |
| Abstract: | En este trabajo se hace uso del concepto de grafo, en general, y de grafo de influencia (valuado) asociado a un modelo lineal (modelo de Leontief), en particular, y se aplica al estudio de los cambios habidos en la estructura productiva española, vistos a través de las tablas input-output de 1980 y 1995 |
| Keywords: | graphs theory, input-output analysis, structural analysis |
| JEL: | R |
| Date: | 2005–12–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpa:wuwpur:0512007&r=geo |
| By: | Jici Wang (Peking University); Xin Tong (Peking University) |
| Abstract: | The authors examine the diverse prospects of innovative sectors in Beijing and Shanghai using available indicators and data collected for this study through surveys. Beijing is the first choice for companies locating in China, but foreign employees prefer Shanghai for living convenience and cultural amenities. While Shanghai lags behind Beijing in knowledge creation and the generation of startup companies in the innovative sectors, it takes the lead in the commercialization of technological innovations and the development of creative cultural industries. The municipal authorities of Beijing and Shanghai have improved the innovation environment of the cities, but certain elements still stunt the growth of innovative industries, which cannot be removed easily. Three kinds of knowledge-intensive enterprises included in innovative sectors in the survey are high-tech manufacturers, knowledge-intensive business services, and creative content providers. The survey found that the clustering of the firms arose from the attraction of preferential policies and the purchase by governments or state-owned enterprises of information technology products. The survey shows that interaction among firms is inadequate in the knowledge-based industrial clusters in both Beijing and Shanghai. Hence, it may be some time before clustering leads to substantial gains in collective efficiency for innovative industry in Beijing and Shanghai. |
| Keywords: | Industry, Private sector development, Urban development |
| Date: | 2005–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3545&r=geo |
| By: | Bárbara Díaz (University of California at Berkeley); Laura Moniche (Universidad de Málaga); Antonio Morillas (Universidad de Málaga) |
| Abstract: | La búsqueda de los sectores clave de una economía ha sido y es uno de los temas más recurrentes del análisis input-output. Además de su liderazgo para impulsar el desarrollo, concepto demasiado amplio e impreciso, un sector puede ser clave desde una determinada perspectiva y menos o nada importante desde alguna otra diferente. También, probablemente, puede serlo para varias cuestiones a la vez, en distinto grado. En este trabajo se propone un enfoque multidimensional para clasificar a los sectores productivos de la tabla input-output española de 1995, basándose en tres grupos de variables: las relacionadas con su integración productiva, su peso específico en la economía y su dinámica económica. Además, se incorpora al análisis el nivel tecnológico, que por ser variable categórica plantea problemas metodológicos especiales. Todas estas cuestiones se abordan aplicando un análisis cluster robusto y difuso que arroja como resultado una clasificación de sectores ilustrativa del papel que juega cada uno de ellos en la economía española. |
| Keywords: | key sectors, fuzzy clustering, input-output analysis |
| JEL: | R |
| Date: | 2005–12–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpa:wuwpur:0512006&r=geo |
| By: | Ana Salomé García (Universidad de Oviedo); Antonio Morillas (Universidad de Málaga); Carmen Rueda (Universidad de Oviedo) |
| Abstract: | El análisis input-output es una herramienta de gran potencialidad que permite profundizar en el conocimiento de la estructura productiva de un espacio económico. Por otro lado, el entramado sectorial constituye uno de los posibles factores determinantes en la capacidad de innovación de un territorio. En este trabajo, desde la óptica de la teoría de redes, se estudian algunas características estructurales de la red productiva de la economía andaluza relevantes en la difusión de la innovación y la tecnología. En particular, se exponen y calculan diversos indicadores relacionados con el concepto topológico de centralidad. |
| Keywords: | graphs theory, input output analysis, innovation |
| JEL: | R |
| Date: | 2005–12–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpa:wuwpur:0512005&r=geo |
| By: | Antonio Morillas (Universidad de Malaga) |
| Abstract: | En este trabajo se utiliza la teoría de grafos (graphs theory) y el análisis input-output (input-output analysis) para analizar los cambios habidos en la economía de la región de Andalucía (España) entre 1980 y 1990. |
| Keywords: | graphs theory, input-output analysis, structural analysis |
| JEL: | R |
| Date: | 2005–12–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpa:wuwpur:0512001&r=geo |