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on Economic Geography |
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Issue of 2024‒05‒13
seven papers chosen by Andreas Koch, Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung |
| By: | Luca, Davide; Özgüzel, Cem; Wei, Zhiwu |
| Abstract: | The paper maps the spatially uneven diffusion of working from home across 30 European countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. We summarise the determinants of remote working and show that its uptake was lower than in the US, and substantially uneven across/within countries, with most remote jobs concentrated in cities and capital regions. We then apply a variance decomposition procedure to investigate whether the uneven distribution of remote jobs can be attributed to individual or territorial factors. Results underscore the importance of composition effects as, compared to intermediate-density and rural areas, cities hosted more workers in occupations/sectors more amenable to working remotely. Overall, findings highlight how working from home is unlikely to substantially alter the current patterns of spatial inequality between core urban areas and peripheral rural regions. |
| Keywords: | work from home; Europe; spatial inequality; Covid-19; coronavirus; telework; remote work |
| JEL: | I18 J20 O52 P25 |
| Date: | 2024–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:122651&r=geo |
| By: | Maruseva, Valeria; Kroll, Henning |
| Abstract: | Large and economically diverse countries often face a problem of regional imbalances which goes beyond a simple division between a core and a periphery. In large countries regions "out of the core" demonstrate substantial variety in economic, social and cultural terms, they have difference resource and technological base. These local specifics determine to large extent new their path development and ability to grasp the opportunities provided by ongoing socio-technological transformation. This paper suggests classification of non-core regions of Germany under relational perspective, taking into account not only geographical remoteness of these regions, but also their social, economic and demographic characteristics. Breaking down the periphery of Germany to several more homogeneous groups allows us to evaluate their resilience and potential in a more precise manner, providing thus a base for policy implications and future research. |
| Keywords: | regional development, non-core regions, regional classification, structural change, lock-in |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fisidp:289596&r=geo |
| By: | Willem P Sijp; Anastasios Panagiotelis |
| Abstract: | A new methodology is proposed to approximate the time-dependent house price distribution at a fine regional scale using Gaussian mixtures. The means, variances and weights of the mixture components are related to time, location and dwelling type through a non linear function trained by a deep functional approximator. Price indices are derived as means, medians, quantiles or other functions of the estimated distributions. Price densities for larger regions, such as a city, are calculated via a weighted sum of the component density functions. The method is applied to a data set covering all of Australia at a fine spatial and temporal resolution. In addition to enabling a detailed exploration of the data, the proposed index yields lower prediction errors in the practical task of individual dwelling price projection from previous sales values within the three major Australian cities. The estimated quantiles are also found to be well calibrated empirically, capturing the complexity of house price distributions. |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2404.05178&r=geo |
| By: | Aldén, Lina (Linnaeus University); Hammarstedt, Mats (Linnaeus University); Skedinger, Per (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | Our use of longitudinal register data combined with a unique survey allows us to offer a more comprehensive picture of rural self-employment than in previous studies. We find that self-employed in rural settings are more likely than those in metropolitan regions to employ others, but self-employment rates in rural areas are lower. There is substantial heterogeneity among the rural self-employed; in-movers are quite different from stayers in terms of their perceptions of the conditions necessary for business success and their employment practices. Policy initiatives aimed at fostering development in rural areas should consider these distinctions. |
| Keywords: | Self-Employment; Labor Mobility; Regional Development; Rural Economics |
| JEL: | J24 J61 R11 |
| Date: | 2024–04–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1487&r=geo |
| By: | Matte Hartog; Andres Gomez-Lievano; Ricardo Hausmann; Frank Neffke |
| Abstract: | Between the mid-19th and mid-20th century, the US transformed from an agri- cultural economy to the frontier in science, technology and industry. We study how the US transitioned from traditional craftsmanship-based to today’s science-based innovation. To do so, we digitize half a million pages of patent yearbooks that describe inventors, organizations and technologies on over 1.6M patent and add demo- graphic information from US census records and information on corporate research activities from large-scale repeated surveys on industrial research labs. Starting in 1920, the 19th-century craftsmanship-based invention was, within just 20 years, overtaken by a rapidly emerging new system based on teamwork and a new specialist class of inventors, engineers. This new system relied on a social innovation: industrial research labs. These labs supported high-skill teamwork, replacing the collaborations within families with professional ties in firms and industrial research labs. This shift had wide-ranging consequences. It not only altered the division of labor in invention, but also reshaped the geography of innovation, reestablishing large cities as epicenters of technological progress and introduced new barriers to patenting for women and foreign-born inventors that have persisted into the 21st century. |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2408&r=geo |
| By: | Rocco Rante (The Louvre Museum); Federico Trionfetti (Aix-Marseille Univ., CNRS, AMSE, Marseille, France); Priyam Verma (Aix-Marseille Univ., CNRS, AMSE, Marseille, France) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we bring fresh evidence on the city size distribution from a ‘lab’ represented by the region of Bukhara observed in the 9th CE. At that time this region was homogeneous in all respects (technology, amenities, climate, culture, language, religion, etc.) and yet cities had different sizes. We rationalize the city size distribution of this economy in a simple general equilibrium spatial model of which we estimate the parameters using the method of moments. The estimated model predicts very well the 9th century city size distribution. Spatial centrality is the major determinant of city size. The silk road contributes to explain what centrality cannot. We find little evidence of persistence of the urban structure when comparing the 9th and the 21st century. We find instead that centroid of the region has moved towards the economic core of the Uzbek economy. |
| Keywords: | Spatial Model, Archaeological Data, Centrality |
| JEL: | R12 R13 F1 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aim:wpaimx:2413&r=geo |
| By: | CURTALE Riccardo (European Commission - JRC); SCHIAVONE Matteo; DEUSTER Christoph (European Commission - JRC); ALESSANDRINI Alfredo; UEFFING Philipp (European Commission - JRC); NATALE Fabrizio (European Commission - JRC); DIJKSTRA Lewis (European Commission - JRC); BATISTA E SILVA Filipe (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | Demographic and economic projections are valuable analytical tools for policy-making, but these are typically produced at country-level aggregations. In this report, we propose a new model that allows to regionalise socioeconomic and demographic projections from the country level to the NUTS3 regional level: the Demography-Economy-Land use interaction (DELi) model. DELi relies on a set of linked equations that integrate empirically-derived assumptions regarding future regional growth, and estimate regional levels of GDP, employment, population and land use recursively and in an integrated manner, thus capturing demography-economy feedbacks as well as ongoing, expected or assumed processes of divergence and convergence across regions. The model can be configured to generate different regionalisation scenarios based on the same or different input country-level projections. DELi was built as a modular, flexible structure that allows to expand or substitute any of its components by alternative methodological approaches or assumptions. To the best of our knowledge, a comprehensive, integrated, transparent and flexible framework to regionalise socioeconomic projections like DELi was still lacking for EU policy support. DELi can be used to quantify scenarios of regional socioeconomic trends for anticipatory policy support on domains with a strong regional or territorial dimension. Concretely, DELi can be used to explore scenarios of regional convergence or divergence, demographic change, land use policies, and their territorial implications at NUTS3 level. DELi is still an exploratory tool, with substantial room for future improvement. As it stands, the model presents some limitations such as the lack of sectoral detail, and limited degrees of freedom to deviate from given country-level projections. However, DELi offers already a valuable template to regionalise or even generate socio-economic projections and can be subject to further methodological improvement and expanded in its scope, functionality and applications. |
| Date: | 2024–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc136498&r=geo |