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on Economic Geography |
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Issue of 2019‒11‒04
eleven papers chosen by Andreas Koch Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung |
| By: | Iammarino, Simona |
| Abstract: | The transformations in the worldwide division of labour brought about by globalisation and technological change have shown an unintended negative effect, particularly evident in advanced economic systems: uneven spatial distribution of wealth and rising within-country inequality. Although the latter has featured prominently in recent academic and policy debates, in this paper we argue that the relevance of connectivity (here proxied by foreign capital investments, FDI) for regional economic development is still underestimated and suffers from a nation-biased perspective. As a consequence, the relationship between the spatial inequality spurred by the global division of labour and the changes in the structural advantages of regions remains to be fully understood in its implications for economic growth, territorial resilience and industrial policy. Furthermore, even though connectivity entails bi-directional links – i.e. with regions being simultaneously receivers and senders – attractiveness to foreign capital has long been at the centre of policy attention whilst internationalisation through investment abroad has been disregarded, and sometimes purposely ignored, in regional development policy agendas. We use three broad-brushed European case-studies to discuss some guiding principles for a place-sensitive regional policy eager to integrate the connectivity dimension in pursuing local economic development and territorial equity. |
| Keywords: | FDI; multinational enterprises; regions; connectivity; regional development policy |
| JEL: | F21 F23 O1 O52 R11 R58 |
| Date: | 2018–10–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:90285&r=all |
| By: | Gornig, Martin; Schiersch, Alexander |
| JEL: | R11 R12 R15 D24 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc19:203597&r=all |
| By: | Klick, Larissa; Schaffner, Sandra |
| JEL: | J31 R23 R31 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc19:203621&r=all |
| By: | Niebuhr, Annekatrin; Peters, Jan Cornelius; Schmidke, Alex |
| JEL: | D22 O31 R12 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc19:203584&r=all |
| By: | Dauth, Wolfgang; Haller, Peter |
| JEL: | D90 J31 J64 R12 R40 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc19:203611&r=all |
| By: | Iammarino, Simona; Guy, Frederick; Filippetti, Andrea |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates one particular aspect of human capital formation: the relative effectiveness of training, as reflected in its effect on the probability of securing continued employment during the recent financial crisis. It uses a panel of 3983 individuals for the period 2008–11 and focuses on how the effects of training differ between the South and the North of Italy and across workers with different levels of education. The most striking result is that the effect of training on continued employment is notably stronger in the South than in the North of the country. |
| Keywords: | training in employment; South and North of Italy; education; economic crisis; Intra-European Fellowship; FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF-298167-REGIO_SPIN; PIEF-GA-2011-298167 |
| JEL: | J2 R1 R23 |
| Date: | 2019–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:87466&r=all |
| By: | Takano, Keisuke; Okamuro, Hiroyuki |
| Abstract: | This paper compares the effects of local R&D support programs on firm performance between neighboring three prefectures in the same district in Japan. Particularly, we evaluate the policy effect on regional and sectoral diversification of transaction networks. One of these prefectures, A, has a large industrial agglomeration around world-leading manufacturers, which is not the case for the other prefectures, B and C. Empirical evaluation based on firm-level dataset available through TDB-CAREE shows that the programs in Prefectures B and C promoted market development of recipient firms in unexplored sectors or regions, whereas Prefecture A’s program did not. |
| Keywords: | place-based policy, R&D support, interregional trade, diversification |
| JEL: | L25 L52 O38 R11 R12 R58 |
| Date: | 2019–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:tdbcdp:e-2019-02&r=all |
| By: | Holger Graf (Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Economics Department); Tom Broekel (University of Stavanger, Business School, Stavanger, Norway, and Centre for Regional and Innovation Economics, University of Bremen, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Cluster policies are often intended and designed to promote interaction in R&D among co-located organisations, as local knowledge interactions are perceived to be underdeveloped. In contrast to the popularity of the policy measure little is known about its impact on knowledge networks, because most scientific evaluations focus on impacts at the firm level. Using the example of the BioRegio contest, we explore cluster policy effects on local patent co-application and co-invention networks observed from 1985 to 2013, in 13 German regions. We find that the initiative increases network size and innovation activities during the funding period but not afterwards. The impact of the BioRegio contest on network cohesion is moderate. In contrast, general project-based R&D subsidisation is found to support cohesion more robustly. |
| Keywords: | Cluster Policy, Knowledge Networks, Network Analysis, Patent Data, Regional Innovation, Policy Evaluation |
| JEL: | O31 Z13 |
| Date: | 2019–10–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2019-007&r=all |
| By: | Colin Davis; Ken-ichi Hashimoto |
| Abstract: | We study the effects of import competition on industry locations patterns in a small open economy with two regions. Domestic productivity growth converges to the international rate through firm-level investment in process innovation. With firms locating production and innovation in their lowest cost locations, the concentration of industry in the larger region is linked with firm-level innovation through an import competition effect that is increasing in the market share of imported goods and the productivity differential of domestic firms with the rest of the world. We show that increased import competition, through either a larger number of imported goods or a faster international rate of productivity growth, leads to greater industry concentration by reducing domestic market entry and decreasing the relative productivity of domestic firms. We also consider the implications of improved regional and international economic integration. |
| Date: | 2019–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpr:wpaper:1066&r=all |
| By: | Bauer, Thomas K.; Rulff, Christian; Tamminga, Michael M. |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the determinants of internal migration in Germany. Using data on the NUTS-3 level for different age groups and Pseudo-Poisson Maximum Likelihood (PPML) gravity models, the empirical analysis focuses on the relevant push and pull factors of internal migration over the life cycle. Labor market variables appear to be most powerful in explaining interregional migration, especially for the younger cohorts. Furthermore, internal migrants show heterogeneous migration behavior across age groups. In particular the largest group, which is also the youngest, migrates predominantly into urban areas, whereas the oldest groups chose to move to rural regions. This kind of clustering reinforces preexisting regional heterogeneity of demographic change. |
| Keywords: | internal migration,gravity model,demographic polarization |
| JEL: | R23 J11 O18 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:823&r=all |
| By: | Michael Fritsch (Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany); Korneliusz Pylak (Maria Curie Skłodowska University of Lublin, Poland); Michael Wyrwich (University of Groningen, The Netherlands, and Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Persistence of entrepreneurship over longer periods of time could indicate a culture of entrepreneurship among the local population that may be an important factor for regional development, but does persistence of economic activity require cultural transmission? We exploit the diverse historical developments in the territory that is Poland today to analyze the level and the sources of persistence from the 1920s until today. Persistence is mainly found in those regions that were part of Germany before World War II. This persistence is noticeable despite the exchange of most of the pre-war population, ruling out that persistence is driven by transmission of culture. In most regions that were already part of Poland before World War II, the relationship between historical and current levels of entrepreneurship is not significant. Persistence of entrepreneurship is related to the historical success of regions, which we capture by the pre-war level of and self-employment in manufacturing industries, particularly in those that can be regarded as knowledge intensive. Our main conclusion is that persistence of entrepreneurship requires a certain level of successful economic development that we capture by the degree of industrialization in the early 20th century, but it does not necessarily require persistence of the local population. |
| Keywords: | Persistence, entrepreneurship, self-employment |
| JEL: | L26 M13 O1 O18 R11 |
| Date: | 2019–06–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2019-003&r=all |