|
on Economic Geography |
| By: | Nils Ellwanger; Ron Boschma |
| Abstract: | In economic geography, geographical proximity has been identified as a key driver of M&A activity. In this context, little attention has yet been drawn to the effect of industrial relatedness, which refers to the similarity and complementarity of business activities. We examine 1,855 domestic M&A deals announced between 2002 and 2008 in the Netherlands, and we assess the extent to which geographical proximity and industrial relatedness affect M&A partnering. Our study shows that geographical proximity drives domestic M&A deals, even at very detailed spatial scales like the municipality level. We also found evidence that companies that share the same or complementary industries are more likely to engage in an M&A deal. Logistic regressions show that the effect of industrial relatedness is stronger than the effect of geographical proximity. |
| Keywords: | mergers and acquisitions, Netherlands, geographical proximity, home bias, industrial relatedness |
| JEL: | O18 R00 R11 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1319&r=geo |
| By: | Juyoung Cheong (School of Economics, The University of Queensland); Do Won Kwak (School of Economics, The University of Queensland); Kam Ki Tang (School of Economics, The University of Queensland) |
| Abstract: | The empirical trade literature has long been puzzled by the finding of a large and non-decreasing distance coefficient in the gravity equation amid falling transportation costs over time. To shed new light on this puzzle, the recent theoretical literature shifts its focus to the differential effects of distance on the extensive and intensive margins of trade. However, so far there is a lack of corresponding contributions from studies of empirical gravity equations. This paper provides the first evidence using data for about 150-200 countries between the years 1980 and 2009. Extensive and intensive margins are measured based on bilateral trade data of more than 3100 product items. It is found that the distance effect on the extensive margins declines while that on the intensive margins rises over time. The same conclusion is reached when the distance effects are allowed to be sector-specific. |
| Date: | 2013–10–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qld:uq2004:488&r=geo |
| By: | C�cile BATISSE; Mary-Fran�oise RENARD; Nasser ARY TANIMOUNE (Universit� Ottawa) |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates the importance of spatial dependences on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) localization across Chinese provinces over the 1992-2009. Based on exploratory spatial data analysis, spatial sigma-convergence and spatial Durbin specifications, we present a much clearer picture of FDI dispersion and spatial convergence across China by highlighting the spillover effects of FDI localization in Chinese provinces and regions. Our results are threefold. First, FDI convergence is more pronounced compared to the Central region, whereas the dispersion is greater when the Coastal and the Western regions are taken as reference points. Second, at the province level, FDI localization seems to present a substitutable configuration. Third, when controlling for the spatial distribution of FDI at the level of regions, it seems, conversely, that the FDI localization presents a complementary configuration. The finding resulting from the opposing configurations of the FDI localizations observed at the region and province levels seems to argue in favor of promoting FDI attractiveness policies based on regional complementarities. |
| Keywords: | China, Convergence, FDI, spatial panel data, spatial Durbin model |
| JEL: | R12 O53 C33 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdi:wpaper:1462&r=geo |
| By: | Ernest Miguélez (Economics and Statistics Division, World Intellectual Property Organization & AQR-IREA & CReAM); Rosina Moreno (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to assess the extent to which regions’ absorptive capacity determines knowledge flows’ impact on regional innovation intensity. In particular, it looks at the role of the cross-regional co-patenting and mobility of inventors in fostering innovation, and how regions with large absorptive capacity make the most of these two phenomena. The paper uses a panel of 274 regions over 8 years to estimate a regional knowledge production function with fixed-effects. Network and mobility variables, and interactions with regions’ absorptive capacity, are included among the r.h.s. variables to test the hypotheses. We find evidence of the role of both mobility and networks. However, inflows of inventors are critical for wealthier regions, while have more nuanced effects for less developed areas. It also shows that regions’ absorptive capacity critically adds an innovation premium to the benefits to tap into external knowledge pools. Indeed, the present study corroborates earlier work on the role of mobility and networks for spatial knowledge diffusion and subsequent innovation. However, it clearly illustrates that a certain level of technological development is critical to take advantage of these phenomena, and therefore “one-size-fits-all” innovation policies need to be reconsidered. |
| Keywords: | absorptive capacity, inventor mobility, spatial networks, patents, regional innovation. JEL classification: |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aqr:wpaper:201308&r=geo |
| By: | Mohammad Tavassoli; Nunzia Carbonara |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the effect of variety and intensity of knowledge on the innovative capability of regions. Employing data for Swedish functional regions, the paper tests the role of the variety (related and unrelated) and intensity of (i) internal knowledge generated within the region and also (ii) external knowledge networks flowing into the region in explaining regional innovative capability, as measured by patent applications. The empirical analysis provides robust evidence that both the variety and intensity of internal and external knowledge matter for regions’ innovative capability. When it comes to variety, related knowledge variety plays a superior role. |
| Keywords: | Knowledge intensity, Knowledge variety, Related variety, Unrelated variety, Internal knowledge, External knowledge, Patent applications, Functional regions |
| JEL: | O32 F14 R12 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1317&r=geo |
| By: | Mauro Pisu; Henrik Braconier |
| Abstract: | Several studies have reported a large negative effect of national borders on the volume of trade. We provide new estimates of the border effect for continental Europe using road rather than great circle – or “as-crows-fly” – distance. Road distances for 48 180 European city pairs have been extracted from Bing Maps Routing Services. As our dataset also has information on travel time, we are able to consider costs related to time in addition to those depending on distance. We find that for the same great circle distance and the same city size, the road distance between two cities located in the same country is around 10% shorter than that between cities located in different ones. Travel speed is also higher between cities in the same country. We find that by using measures based on the actual road distance rather than the great circle distance, the negative effect of international borders on goods trade in a standard gravity equation is lowered by around 15%. Time-related trade costs account for an additional 10% reduction in the border effect. Overall these results point to the importance of road networks – and road transport policy in general – to enhance market integration. |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:not:notgep:13/06&r=geo |
| By: | Dornbusch, Friedrich; Neuhäusler, Peter |
| Abstract: | It is generally claimed that universities provide the scientific basis for future technological progress. Still, empirical evidence of the impact of direct links between universities and firms remains weak and is often at least inconsistent. This paper aims at contributing to the literature by analyzing how direct academic involvement affects the output of inventive activities of research teams in different organizational backgrounds. By applying a unique dataset of German academic and corporate patents, we find that boundary-spanning knowledge production with academic inventors raises the innovative performance of SMEs and MNEs. Furthermore, geographical proximity between team members is generally shown to be valuable for team performance in terms of the influence on future technological developments. At the same time, the results indicate that academic involvement helps inventor teams to profit from spatially distant knowledge sources. -- |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fisidp:37&r=geo |
| By: | Ron Boschma; Rikard Eriksson; Urban Lindgren |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the relationship between labour market externalities and regional growth based on real labour flows. In particular, we test for the importance of labour mobility across so-called skill-related industries. We make use of a sophisticated indicator that measures the degree of skill-relatedness between all industries, and we employ actual labour flows between 435 4-digit industries within 72 Swedish functional labour market regions to estimate how labour market externalities are related to regional growth in the period 1998-2002. Both our fixed effect models and GMM-estimates demonstrate that a strong intensity of intra-regional labour flows between skill-related industries impacts positively on regional productivity growth, but less so on regional employment growth. Labour mobility between unrelated industries tends to dampen regional unemployment growth while a high degree of intra-industry labour flows is only found to be associated with rising regional unemployment. |
| Keywords: | agglomeration externalities, related variety, regional growth, labour mobility, related labour market externalities, skill-relatedness |
| JEL: | R11 R12 O18 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1318&r=geo |
| By: | Alessia Naccarato; Benassi Federico |
| Abstract: | The paper is based on the idea that the organization of services by local authorities should take into account both the demographic features of the resident population and the spatial dimension of the territory involved. As regards the former, it seeks to identify homogeneous and spatially contiguous areas between the municipal and regional levels in Tuscany, the region analysed in this study. Demographic indicators of usually resident population plus the spatial attributes of each tuscan municipality have been used as the input of a spatial clustering and regionalization model in order to obtain n areas that minimize the inner heterogeneity of the demographic structure under the constraint of spatial contiguity. |
| Keywords: | Spatial clustering, Regionalization, Spatial demography, Regional planning. |
| JEL: | R58 R14 R15 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rtr:wpaper:0184&r=geo |
| By: | Eva Dettmann; Iciar Dominguez Lacasa; Jutta Günther; Björn Jindra |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the determinants of spatial distribution of foreign technological activity across 96 German regions (1996-2009). We identify foreign inventive activity by applying the ‘cross-border-ownership concept’ to transnational patent applications. The descriptive analysis shows that foreign technological activity more than doubled during the observation period with persistent spatial heterogeneity in Germany. Using a pooled count data model, we estimate the effect of various sources for externalities on the extent of foreign technological activity across regions. Our results show that foreign technological activity is attracted by technologically specialised sectors of regions. In contrast to existing findings this effect applies both to foreign as well as domestic sources of specialisation. We show that the relation between specialisation and foreign technological activity is non-linear and that it is influenced by sectoral heterogeneity. Externalities related to technological diversification attract foreign R&D only into ‘higher order’ regions. |
| Keywords: | foreign direct investment, technology, Europe, patent data |
| JEL: | O32 O33 R12 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iwh:dispap:12-13&r=geo |
| By: | Camille Hémet (Department of Economics, Sciences Po - Sciences Po, AMSE - Aix-Marseille School of Economics - Aix-Marseille Univ. - Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [EHESS] - Ecole Centrale Marseille (ECM)) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the determinants of victimization at the neighborhood level, using data from the French victimization survey. Its contribution to the economics of crime literature is threefold. First, I provide evidence that neighborhood characteristics explain victimization better than individual characteristics. Second, I find that local unemployment rate is one of the most important factor explaining victimization, with a particularly large effect on small crimes such as motorbike theft or vandalism. I then tackle the endogenous location selection issue, by adopting the strategy developed by Bayer et al. (2008), based on the fact that the study is conducted at a very low geographic level. Third, I take advantage of the precise localization of the data to adopt a spatial approach, comparing the effect of unemployment rate in the reference neighborhood and in adjacent neighborhoods. The results support the idea that criminals are mobile across neighborhoods for more serious economic crimes, in line with the Beckerian theory of crime, but that petty crimes and vandalism do not involve any mobility, relating to the social disorganization theory. |
| Keywords: | victimization; neighborhood effects; unemployment; geography |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00873530&r=geo |
| By: | Raul Ramos (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona); Jordi Suriñach (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | Due to ageing population and low birth rates, the European Union (EU) will need to import foreign labour in the next decades. In this context, the EU neighbouring countries (ENC) are the main countries of origin and transit of legal and illegal migration towards Europe. Their economic, cultural and historical links also make them an important potential source of labour force. The objective of this paper is to analyse past and future trends in ENC-EU bilateral migration relationships. With this aim, two different empirical analyses are carried out. First, we specify and estimate a gravity model for nearly 200 countries between 1960 and 2010; and, second, we focus on within EU-27 migration flows before and after the enlargement of the EU. Our results show a clear increase in migratory pressures from ENC to the EU in the near future, but South-South migration will also become more relevant. |
| Keywords: | absorptive capacity, inventor mobility, spatial networks, patents, regional innovation. JEL classification: |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aqr:wpaper:201309&r=geo |