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on Economic Geography |
| By: | Pierre-Philippe Combes (Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille); Laurent Gobillon (Institut National d'études Démographiques (INED)) |
| Abstract: | We propose an integrated framework to discuss the empirical literature on the local determinants of agglomeration effects. We start by presenting the theoretical mechanisms that ground individual and aggregate empirical specifications. We gradually introduce static effects, dynamic effects, and workers' endogenous location choices. We emphasise the impact of local density on productivity but we also consider many other local determinants supported by theory. Empirical issues are then addressed. Most important concerns are about endogeneity at the local and individual levels, the choice of a productivity measure between wage and TFP, and the roles of spatial scale, firms' characteristics, and functional forms. Estimated impacts of local determinants of productivity, employment, and firms' locations choices are surveyed for both developed and developing economies. We finally provide a discussion of attempts to identify and quantify specific agglomeration mechanisms. |
| Keywords: | Agglomeration Gains; Density; Learning; Location Choices and Sorting |
| JEL: | J31 R12 R23 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/1kv8mtgl748r0ahh12air9erdc&r=geo |
| By: | Piotr Ciżkowicz; Magda Ciżkowicz-Pękała; Piotr Pękała; Andrzej Rzońca |
| Abstract: | We estimate the set of panel and spatial panel data models of employment and investments for 379 Polish counties over the period 2003-2012. We take advantage of a unique firm-level dataset for Polish Special Economic Zones (SSEs), which includes about 30,000 observations. We find that SSEs have substantial positive effects on employment: jobs in a given SSE create jobs outside the SSE in hosting county and even more jobs in neighbouring counties. Effect of SSEs on investments is weaker, but still positive. Investments in a given SSE neither crowd out nor crowd in investments outside the SSE. Thereby, they add one to one to capital stock in hosting county. Our findings are robust to changes in estimation methods, sample composition, set of explanatory variables and selection of spatial weight matrix. |
| Keywords: | special economic zones, regional economic development, economic policy tools, panel data models, spatial panel data models |
| JEL: | H25 H32 R3 C21 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbp:nbpmis:208&r=geo |
| By: | Angela Parenti; Cristina Tealdi |
| Abstract: | In this paper we study how the determinants of regional commuting in Italy have evolved in the past fifteen years. Using labour force data from 1992 to 2008 we estimate a model where the probability of commuting is regressed on a wide set of individual, job, firm and regional characteristics. Specifically, we focus on understanding how the increased flexibility of the labour market in the late nineties/early twenties have affected the individual decision to commute across regions. Consistent with the previous literature, we identify specific types of individual working in firms with well-defined features who are more keen to commute. However, even though temporary employ-ees tend to commute more than permanent employees, the increased utilization of temporary contracts did not have a strong impact on the commuting decisions of Italian workers. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Labour Mobility, Labour Flexibility, Italian regions |
| JEL: | C25 J41 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2015–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pie:dsedps:2015/203&r=geo |
| By: | Dobis, Elizabeth A.; Delgado, Michael S.; Florax, Raymond J.G.M; Mulder, Peter |
| Abstract: | In much of the literature focusing on the growth and structure of the urban system, the difference between contagious and hierarchical interrelations across cities comprised in the urban system are obfuscated. In this paper, we clearly distinguish and quantify the effects of both. In other words, we focus on how the structure of the urban system influences population growth by using central place theory as a theoretical basis for addressing the research question: what natural and man-made locational characteristics influence population growth? We make three major contributions to the existing literature. First, we utilize a unique dataset of urban areas with decennial observations from 1990 to 2010 which captures the agglomerated economic activity and built extent of urban locations with at least 2,500 inhabitants, to include all but the smallest rural communities. Second, our analysis includes both the hierarchical relationship among cities of differing sizes and the continuous nature of proximity to other cities. The novel use of a spatially-lagged hierarchical linear model allows us to include both these critical aspects of the urban system in our analysis. Third, we include man-made amenities and characteristics of cities, which have been omitted from previous studies in an effort to avoid endogeneity in the analysis. By focusing on the intercept and lagged population variables in the urban area equation, we use this model to empirically explore the debate on whether there is random or deterministic growth in the distribution of cities in the United States. |
| Keywords: | population growth, urban hierarchy, spatial lag, hierarchical linear models, Community/Rural/Urban Development, R110, R120, R150, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205869&r=geo |