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on Economic Geography |
| By: | Pierre-Alexandre Balland; Ron Boschma; Joan Crespo; David L. Rigby |
| Abstract: | Smart specialization has become a hallmark of the EUÕs Cohesion Policy. Envisaged as a bottom-up initiative identifying local knowledge cores and associated competitive advantages, the operationalization of smart specialization has been rather limited, as a coherent set of analytical tools to guide the policy directives remains elusive. To tackle the weak underpinning of smart specialization policy, we propose a policy framework around the concepts of relatedness and knowledge complexity. We use EPO patent data to provide evidence on how EU regions develop new technologies in the period 1990-2009. We find that diversifying into more complex technologies is highly attractive but difficult for EU regions to accomplish. Regions can overcome this diversification dilemma by developing new complex technologies that build on local related capabilities. We use these findings to construct a policy framework for smart specialization that highlights the potential risks and rewards for regions of adopting competing diversification strategies. We show how potential costs of alternative strategies in regions may be assessed by making use of the relatedness concept, and how potential benefits of various smart specialization strategies can be derived from estimates of the complexity of technologies. A series of case-studies of different types of regions illustrate the utility of this policy framework. Length: |
| JEL: | O25 O38 R11 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1717&r=geo |
| By: | Benjamin Montmartin (UniversitŽ C™te dÕAzur, France; GREDEG CNRS); Marcos Herrera (CONICET - IELDE; National University of Salta, Argentina); Nadine Massard (GAEL UMR 1215; UniversitŽ Grenoble Alpes, France) |
| Abstract: | Using a unique database containing information on the amount of R&D tax credits and regional, national and European subsidies received by firms in French NUTS3 regions over the period 2001-2011, we provide new evidence on the efficiency of R&D policies taking into account spatial dependency across regions. By estimating a spatial Durbin model with regimes and fixed effects, we show that in a context of yardstick competition between regions, national subsidies are the only instrument that displays total leverage effect. For other instruments internal and external effects balance each other resulting in insignificant total effects. Structural breaks corresponding to tax credit reforms are also revealed. |
| Keywords: | Additionality, French policy mix, R&D investment, Spatial panel, Structural break |
| JEL: | H25 O31 O38 |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2017-22&r=geo |
| By: | George Marbuah (Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences); Franklin Amuakwa-Mensah (Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to an emerging literature on the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) relationship between pollution and income at the local level by analyzing emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOX), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) and total suspended particulate (TSP). We conduct several spatial statistical and econometric tests to account for spatial dependence between 290 Swedish municipalities on the selected emissions. Results highlight evidence that the pollution and income relationship is significantly characterized by spatial interaction effects. That is, municipality per capita emissions are strongly influenced by emissions trajectories in neighbouring municipalities. Implications of our findings on policy are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Kuznets curve, Spatial econometric analysis, Emissions, Sweden, |
| JEL: | Q53 Q55 R12 |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fae:wpaper:2017.12&r=geo |
| By: | Tommaso Agasisti (Politecnico di Milano School of Management); Cristian Barra (Università di Salerno); Roberto Zotti (Università di Salerno) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we test whether there is a link between the performance of universities and the local economic development of the territory where they operate. The performance of academic institutions is measured through an efficiency concept, estimated by means of an innovative Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA), and considering indicators of teaching, research and ‘third mission’ as outputs. A system generalized method-of-moments (Sys- GMM) dynamic panel estimator, instrumented with time lags and differences is estimated over the period from 2006 to 2012 to solve the potential endogeneity of the explanatory variables. Our findings reveal that the presence of efficient universities fosters local economic development, and that knowledge spillovers occur between areas through the geographical proximity to the efficient universities. |
| Keywords: | Higher education; knowledge spillovers; local economic development; efficiency of universities |
| JEL: | I21 E01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipu:wpaper:60&r=geo |
| By: | Michele Capriati (Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro); Marialuisa Divella (Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the way in which innovation and absorptive capacity affect the productivity of Italian provinces. It builds on the Neo-Schumpeterian literature which investigates how technology gaps explain development disparities between countries and regions. The study is carried out at the provincial level, which allows a more fine-tuned analysis of the resource endowment linked to knowledge generation and economic performance. Moreover, it distinguishes between two very different types of innovation: those directly dependent on R&D and new knowledge generation which are generally measured by the number of patents; and those relying on the adaptation of processes, products and materials and thus mostly based on the exploitation of already existing knowledge, which are here measured by a new index based on registered utility models and industrial designs. Main results indicate a case of divergence in productivity levels instead of one of catching up among the Italian provinces; moreover, they suggest that the main effort to get productivity gains in this country has been carried out through a reduction of employment and of its related costs instead of via increasing R&D and human capital. |
| Keywords: | innovation, patents, utility models, industrial designs, provinces, proximity |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cme:wpaper:1702&r=geo |
| By: | Cardoso-Vargas, Carlos-Enrique |
| Abstract: | This document examines whether the probability of entering new external markets or the increase in export products on the part of Mexican firms are related to the proximity of diverse multinational firms exporting under different trade regimes. The evaluation was made using a panel based on data from Mexican Customs and from a sampling of national firms from 2003-2010. The results show that export spillovers are far from homogeneous in their effects on Mexican firms, since their existence is related to the export activity of neighboring foreign firms. Moreover, such spillovers are more likely to appear in places where neighboring national and foreign firms have not only common trade regimes, but also common technological level of production. |
| Keywords: | international trade; spillovers; agglomerated economic activity |
| JEL: | D22 F14 R12 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:79929&r=geo |
| By: | Russell Weinstein (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes an important shock to local labor demand in the financial services sector: firm relocation to Delaware following a Supreme Court ruling and state legislation in the 1908s. Using synthetic controls and bordering states, I find significant effects on employment growth, the unemployment rate, and participation in the first decade. Employment spillovers to the nontradable sector and migration appear larger than estimates from shocks to the tradable sector. Effects persist for 10 to 20 years after Delaware loses its original policy-induced advantage. The shift towards a low unemployment sector explains this persistence, rather than direct productivity effects or agglomeration. |
| Keywords: | Labor demand shocks, regulatory competition, migration, local labor markets |
| JEL: | R10 J20 G20 |
| Date: | 2017–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upj:weupjo:17-276&r=geo |
| By: | Giuseppe Arcuri; Maurizio La Rocca; Nadine Levratto |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the role of local context, with regard to the effect of local financial development and banking concentration, on a new firm’s probability of bankruptcy. Our empirical setting is based on the Logit Multilevel Model that better allows the treatment of data referring to different levels of aggregation (firm and local variables) applied to new firms located in Italian provinces. We find that a higher level of financial development in a province decreases the likelihood of a new firm’s bankruptcy. This result is robust considering a 2SLS regression in which we use instruments for the local financial development and for the concentration of bank branches. In addition, our estimations suggest that the effect of local financial development and bank concentration is shaped by size. Local financial development is particularly significant for small start-ups, which traditionally suffer from great difficulty in accessing credit, whereas local banking concentration reduces the probability of bankruptcy for large, new firms. |
| Keywords: | Probability of bankruptcy, new firms, multilevel model, local banking structure |
| JEL: | C26 C30 M13 R11 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2017-31&r=geo |
| By: | Antonelli, Cristiano; Colombelli, Alessandra (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an extended CDM approach to analyse jointly the simultaneous effects of knowledge spillovers in the knowledge generation function and in the technology production function. It introduces the distinction between imitation and knowledge externalities and articulates the hypothesis that spillovers yield their effects via three well distinct mechanisms: i) knowledge externalities that exert positive and direct effects on the knowledge production function, and ii) indirect effects on the technology production function via their effects on the cost of knowledge; iii) imitation externalities exert direct and positive effects on productivity in the technology production function. We test our hypotheses on a large panel of Italian companies distributed in the NUTS2 regions for the period 2005 – 2009. The econometric analysis consists in a model comprising a system of equations that test the simultaneous role of spillovers in the knowledge generation function and the technology production function with the inclusion of endogenous knowledge costs. The results confirm that the access to external knowledge – as an input in the knowledge generation function – plays a key role in increasing the knowledge output and – as an input in the technology production function – has positive indirect and direct effects on the productivity of firms. |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:201728&r=geo |
| By: | Lawless, Martina; McQuinn, Kieran; Walsh, John A. |
| Abstract: | Since 2013, researchers in the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) have compiled a hedonic rental index for the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB). The indicator estimates a standardised rental index on a national, Dublin and outside of Dublin basis based on the 950,000 rental properties registered with the RTB. The provision in late 2016 of detailed geographical identifiers has enabled an alternative series of indicators to be estimated. In particular, hedonic rental indicators for 137 local electoral areas (LEAs) are now available on a quarterly basis from 2007 quarter 3 to 2016 quarter 4. By providing a more accurate assessment of regional trends in rental supply and demand, the indicators should enable a more precise implementation of policies in the rental market. They should also serve as a proxy for measuring underlying economic activity in these regions on an ongoing basis. |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp567&r=geo |