|
on Urban and Real Estate Economics |
| By: | Laura Fernández-Durán; Alicia Llorca; Nancy Ruiz; Soledad Valero; Vicente Botti |
| Abstract: | The location of a residential property in a city directly affects its market price. Each location represents different values in variables such as accessibility, neighbourhood, traffic, socio-economic level and proximity to green areas, among others. In addition, that location has an influence on the choice and on the offer price of each residential property. The development of artificial intelligence, allows us to use alternative tools to the traditional methods of econometric modelling. This has led us to conduct a study of the residential property market in the city of Valencia (Spain). In this study, we will attempt to explain the aspects that determine the demand for housing and the behaviour of prices in the urban space. We used an artificial neutral network as a price forecasting tool, since this system shows a considerable improvement in the accuracy of ratings over traditional models. With the help of this system, we attempted to quantify the impact on residential property prices of issues such as accessibility, level of service standards of public utilities, quality of urban planning, environmental surroundings and other locational aspects. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1595&r=ure |
| By: | Dan Rickman; Belal Fallah; Mark Partridge |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the spatial pattern of U.S. county employment growth in high-tech industries. The spatial growth dimensions examined include industry cluster effects, urbanization effects, proximity to a college, and proximity in the urban hierarchy. Growth is examined for overall high-tech employment and for employment in various high-tech sectors. Econometric analyses are conducted for a sample of all counties and for metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties separately. Among our primary findings, we do not find evidence of positive localization or cluster growth effects, generally finding negative growth effects. We instead find some evidence of positive urbanization effects and growth penalties for greater distances from larger urban areas. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p518&r=ure |
| By: | Hugo Priemus |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1267&r=ure |
| By: | Katarzyna Kopczewska |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a methodology to measure spatial effects of roads and local authorities’ seats in a diffusion of business activity, which usually follows the distance decay patterns, from core to periphery. Regional development policy, pursued by regional authorities, directed to local units and designed to support local economies is implemented as a centrifugal diffusion process. This invisible flow of policy will be modeled with one-way spatial interaction model represented by multinomial distance-decay function on the integrated spatial dataset. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p720&r=ure |
| By: | Zeynep Gamze Mert; Serhat Yilmaz; Ertan Mert |
| Abstract: | More recently Turkey has witnessed fast housing development and real estate sector growth because of the mortgage preparations. With this development, property location quality has been considered important for selecting and paying them. This study uses a data set of new single family housing units in Kocaeli University Campus Area. By using 4 location quality criteria, 27 single family housing units are graded at the neighborhood level. It is aimed to examine the applications of grading property at the neighborhood level based on property location quality by testing with three methods. Traditional method and fuzzy logic method were discussed in our antecedent studies. In this study, an easy used numerical calculation method; Neural Networks (NN), is introduced. Its grading performance is compared with the previous methods. NN method is found to be more accurate and realistic than traditional grading approach where its designing stage is more practical and faster than fuzzy logic approach. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p966&r=ure |
| By: | Ferhan Gezici; Kemal Çetin |
| Abstract: | Economists who have been working on economic geography (Krugman, 1991; Porter, 1994) have emphasized that space should be taken into account as local rather than national as a mainstream of the studies of economic geography. Therefore, the relationship between the geographic location and industrial concentration and their performance has become the main concern (Malmberg, Sölvell and Zander, 1996). The studies which are looking at the relationship between the firm size and concentration indicate that small plants are concentrated in central locations and bigger ones have moved to peripheral cities, while another one points out “the relationship between establishment size and clustering is roughly characterized by an inverted u-shape, which means clustering increases up to some size threshold and then decreasesâ€Â. The aim of this paper is to explore intra-metropolitan distribution of manufacturing firms in Istanbul Metropolitan Area, while there has been an economic structural change in the metropolitan city. Ripley's K function is used to analyse whether the firms clustered or dispersed weighted by employment. The K function provide analysing co-location between firms of different industries. As a result of the analysis, mostly the concentration of manufacturing firms is in the central and first ring on the European side. Being in the center seems to provide the advantages of supplier, market and deep networks through the traditional structure of manufacturing activities. Further, the firms locating in the first ring use the positive impacts of transportation infrastructure. Another result indicates that there is a relationship between the firm size and its location; while the small and medium sized firms are clustered in the center, the big ones move to the periphery. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p146&r=ure |
| By: | Augusto Cusinato; Fabiano Compagnucci |
| Abstract: | The spatial implications of fordist and district-based patterns of development have had a profound effect on the debate about the role of the city. While the city is reputed to be the crucial provider of basic public goods within the fordist model, its role seems more nuanced, if not disputable, when the district model prevails. This disregard for the city is probably due (a) to the fact that the revival of the debate on marshallian districts has placed strong emphasis on the agglomeration economies internal to the districts themselves, while relatively omitting the urban ones, when not emphasising the burden of urban diseconomies; (b) to the countryside roots of most district pioneers. The quarrel was further fuelled with the advent of ICTs, the fragmentation of the productive processes and the possibility of displacing phases at a global level. The paper argues that this is only the early part of the history. The advent of ICTs has had not only functional although important consequences on the internal organisation of firms and industry and on economic geography as a whole; it has also, however, made innovation and knowledge ? rather than cost-saving policies ? the crucial drivers of the competitiveness of firms and local economic systems. The notion of knowledge has profoundly changed too, and the main change consists in the shift that is occurring from Learning I to Learning II, that is from the “production and accumulation†of knowledge according to pre-established codes, to its “generation and articulation†thanks to an endless reshaping of cognitive codes. On this prospect, while firms, places and regions are increasingly conceptualised as Learning II milieus, cities are proving to be a crucial and irreplaceable milieu for knowledge generation. As a consequence, it is becoming necessary to reassess the relationships between industry and the city. Within this new situation, industrial districts may suffer a severe condition of marginality from the central driver of knowledge generation, owing to their lack of internal competences in dialoguing with the city, and/or the lack of suitable mediators. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p237&r=ure |
| By: | Rosa Grazia De Paoli |
| Abstract: | The renewal of the city started from the examination of urban conditions of comfort/discomfort (safety, mobility, environment, social cohesion); this required the direct involvement of the city’s inhabitants as experts of the urban environment, and therefore able to suggest solutions. Nowadays in Italy the renewal tools of the city cannot be found in planning laws, but in new tools with participated procedures. These participated procedures have put the public administration and the private entrepreneurial class in agreement. In the '90’s, the so-called Complex Programs both in the national and regional domain have been realized. The Complex Programs aim to propose urban improvement through innovative procedures to improve urban life quality. Among the Complex Programs, the District Contracts have been realized in January '98 and proposed in 2002 by the Infrastructure Administration. They set the aim of district renewal in places characterized by buildings degradation, urban environment lacking services, scarce social cohesion and marked housing problems as well as the presence of an elevated seismic vulnerability. This paper underlines a methodology of urban retraining with participated procedures applied in a historical centre of a town in southern Italy. Keywords: Building Experimentation, seismic vulnerability, district renewal, strategic planning. JEL classification: R52, Q01, Q54 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1822&r=ure |
| By: | Daniel Shefer |
| Abstract: | Different regions are endowed with production factors and characteristics that offer different opportunities for specialization, which can be transform to a regional comparative advantage. Many outlying regions (peripheral regions) suffer from a high rate of unemployment, low level of per capita income and net out migration. Outlying areas attract less investment in comparison to central regions. This is because of the low marginal productivity of factors of production in the outlying areas. In order to alleviate these hardships, inflicted on outlying regions, central governments often devise incentive and investment programs whose main objective is to reduce the gap between regions in the country and thus reduce regional inequalities. To attract high tech industries to outlaying regions is now in vogue. In reality we observe a distinct geographical distribution between centers of R&D and large mass production plants. This is due primarily to agglomeration economies and industrial cluster in central regions. Mass production, because of their needs for a large number of relatively unskilled labors gravitates towards the edge of Metropolitan regions and the outlying areas. But then their contribution to the wellbeing of the population in these regions is limited. Public/private investment in large scale facilities (or infrastructures), like highways and railways, Technological Incubators, R&D Centers, universities and hospitals, are among the projects proposed in order to facilitates economic growth in outlying areas. However investing in these projects is not necessarily the panacea for outlaying areas. Because of scarce resources it is paramount to select the most cost-effective program which will take into account the profile of the region under consideration, its natural endowments, and the administrative and political structure of the local government and its ability, together with the region's population, to turn the chosen program to a success. In this paper we critically discuss the spatial implications of selected public investment programs design to facilitate the development of peripheral regions. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1192&r=ure |
| By: | Sergey Kirillov |
| Abstract: | Transport and industrial enterprises are the reasons for the basic pollution of the environments of large cities. This problem is particularly acute in Russia, where strict environmental standards either do not exist or are not enforced. Improving the management of ecological and economic system of urban environmental resources usage is largely dependent on functional type of the city and the number of people inhabiting it. In this context, the author distinguishes the following urban areas: Capital (Moscow); Major regional centers of Russia, including St. Petersburg; Multifunctional cities; Medium-sized cities with one or two city-forming enterprises; County towns and other settlements. The author proposes a model for designing an economic mechanism of environmental management in large cities depending on management methods used at the present time, their ecological and economic efficiency and possibility of including new management tools into the mechanism. During the modeling of ecological-economic mechanism of urban land use it is necessary to choose a rational variant of regulative instruments which will lead the system of urban land use to the expected form. According to the author, there are three aims that could be achieved in the cities: reducing pollution, improving the stability of the system, increasing the profitability of the land due to optimization of its usage. The aims are interrelated but the local authorities must define in what direction the land affairs will develop. The combination of specific tools in ecological-economic mechanism of urban land use determines the features of urban environment and quality of life. The usage of market and administrative management tools of the urban land use mechanism changes the economical system, the environment, the transportation system, urban landscape and the structure of urban area zoning. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1068&r=ure |
| By: | John Gilderbloom; Katrina Anaker; Gregory Squires; Matt Hanka; Joshua Ambrosius |
| Abstract: | Foreclosures have become one of the most important urban problems faced by contemporary cities. Our goal is to better understand factors that affect foreclosure rates in a typical, mid-sized U.S. city. While previous research has found that a key explanatory variable positively affecting foreclosures is the percentage of minorities in a neighborhood, our model finds that the effect of percent non-white is impacted by several key intervening variables, such as the presence and proximity of EPA listed Super-Fund Sites along with walkability, in these majority black neighborhoods. In the past, these factors have been ignored by social scientists because they are difficult to measure. Firstly, we look at how speculators in majority black neighborhoods account for a significant share of foreclosures in these neighborhoods. Secondly, we examine the effect of EPA-listed Superfund Sites and find that in this instance almost all are located either near or within many of these majority black neighborhoods and finally we look at walkability and its effect on foreclosures. We find that these three variables help explain the causes of greater foreclosures occurring in majority black neighborhoods. These three key variables add to previous explanations of high foreclosures resulting from unfavorable loan terms offered in black neighborhoods. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1597&r=ure |
| By: | Lubor Hruska-Tvrdy; Ivana Foldynova |
| Abstract: | New social risks are key factors for social cohesion of local community and society. Currently new social risks which are caused by changes in a society appears more frequently than efore. While previously the groups of underprivileged were counted in endangered groups, now middle class can be affected as well. This report shows a spatial distribution of these risks. How to obtain this result is shown on a concrete example of the city of Ostrava. This report seeks to establish future influence of industrial city cohesion. Mainly processes of industrialization and desindustrialization are examined in a detail especially their effect to demo-social structure of the city. Results are based on the research of the project named „Industrial society in postindustrial city“ under which were large sociological research of Ostrava and long term monitoring of statistical indicators realised. All the social problems lead to disability to keep housing. Social risk distribution is surveyed in a context of large area, specifically in the Moravian-Silesian Region, where a centre of the agglomeration is just city of Ostrava. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1079&r=ure |
| By: | Fernando Rubiera Morollón; Mario Polèse |
| Abstract: | The spatial distribution of employment in service industries is compared for Spain and Canada for nine (9) industry classes. The empirical and theoretical literature on modern services stresses the importance of agglomeration economies for high-order services. The relationship between city-size and location is examined with emphasis on cases that deviate from predicted patterns. The results for Spain and Canada reconfirm the weight of city-size as a determinant of location for high-order services. However, once one goes beyond this fairly predictable result, national differences in geography, institutions, and development come to the fore, making generalizations more difficult. Unlike most manufacturing industries, the definition and the spatial behavior of many service sectors is highly sensitive to institutional factors, creating unique patterns largely fashioned by national context. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p209&r=ure |
| By: | Narcissa Balta; Eric Ruscher |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the interactions between household wealth, mortgage decisions and savings in a single empirical framework and identifies an important role for a "down-payment channel" in the euro area. Contrary to the traditional housing wealth channel, the "down-payment channel" posits a positive relation between household savings and house prices: a rise in house prices forces credit-constrained households who wish to acquire a house to accumulate more savings in order to cover a higher down-payment (i.e. the share of the housing acquisition value that is not covered by a mortgage). The overall effect of a rise in house prices on private consumption can be seen as the result of two offsetting forces: a rise in house prices tends to push up consumption via the traditional housing wealth channel but it also tends to depress the consumption of credit-constrained households who wish to acquire a house via the down-payment channel. Estimates based on a structural VEC model for the euro area suggest that the down-payment effect tends to dominate in the medium term, translating into an overall negative impact of higher house prices on consumption in the euro area. |
| JEL: | E21 E44 D12 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:euf:ecopap:0445&r=ure |
| By: | Luisa Alamá Sabater; Laura Marquez Ramos; Celestino Suarez Burguet |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to analyze whether the existing logistics platforms network in Spain affects Spanish transport demand by using a spatial framework. In particular, we use demand for transport to export goods to other Spanish provinces as a proxy for logistics infrastructure demand in Spain. Then, we obtain data for trade flows between provinces (NUTS3) in the year 2007. We also obtain data about the number and area of logistics platforms existing in each Spanish province to proxy for the transportation network structure in Spain. In a first step, we construct weight matrixes considering first-order contiguity and we obtain that spatial dependence is significant in a spatial econometric model of commodity flows (LeSage and Polasek, 2008). Secondly, we incorporate logistics network structure dependence into the model so that the spatial lags measure the impact and significance on trade flows from all origins to all destinations by considering the importance of logistics performance in the neighboring provinces. Finally, we perform the analysis for different economic activities. The results obtained provide evidence about the role of the location of logistics platforms for satisfying existing demand for transport structure in the Spanish provinces.. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1737&r=ure |
| By: | Hiroshi Sakamoto |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the question of inter-regional spillovers in Fukuoka Prefecture. Fukuoka Prefecture is located on the west side of Japan, and is near the Korean peninsula. There are two government-designated major cities in Fukuoka Prefecture. One is Fukuoka City, which is the central city in Fukuoka Prefecture. The other is Kitakyushu City, which is a big city with a population of about one million. The relationship between Fukuoka City and Kitakyushu City is not without problems. Because the two cities are independently administered, each government can execute the policy that best suits its own interest. On the other hand, it is important for Fukuoka Prefecture that both cities economy cooperate. We analyze this question within the framework of three or more than three regions vector-autoregressive (VAR) model. To express the economic relationship in this study, Fukuoka Prefecture is divided into Fukuoka City, Kitakyushu City, and the rest of Fukuoka Prefecture. We subject to extensive sensitivity analysis, with particular attention paid to the effects on the results of strong common output movements. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p360&r=ure |
| By: | Zsuzsanna Váradi; Szilvia Kovács |
| Abstract: | The presentation deals with a current urbanization phenomenon in Hungary, and highlights the cause-effect relationship of urbanization from interdisciplinary aspect and underlines the weakspots of sustainable urban development. After the Transition in 1990 the patterns of the settlement system were radically changed in Hungary too, which were transferred mainly the new urbanization trends, especially the suburbanization processes. The spreading of the urban areas and agglomerations started a new stage of territorial consumption. Based on the international and Hungarian literature it is well known, that more and more people moved out from the cities to live outside, but their working places, schools, their everyday life, their consumption and social contacts are realised in the cities. They ‘territorial consumption’ is increasing in the outside, so the spreading of the suburban settlements is doubtless, but the inhabitants’ everyday-life consumption take place in the cities, which usually caused sustainability problems and social, political and institutional conflicts as well, between the core cities and the surrounding settlements. The most visible problems of the phenomenon could be seen at the transport problems, at the service gaps and at the ecological problems. In order to link these aspects, the presentation focuses on the socially, economically and territorially defined consumption in the Budapest Metropolitan Region. It highlights the characteristic usage of urban space by several specified social groups, with the methods of empirical analysis . Firstly it would like to underline the main features and models of everyday life activities by localizing their consumption scenes, such as places of work, education and shopping. It would like to present the consequences of the new regional social structure and the reorganisation of the territorial consumption habits together, their dependence on each other, and the local or global consumption patterns of the different social groups. In addition, the lecture shows the consumer locations of public service and space among the different groups: it discusses the utilization of various urban public spaces and public institutions, the social infrastructure of the different social and territorial groups and the determining factors of these public consumer habits territorially. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1657&r=ure |
| By: | Burge Elvan Erginli; Tuzin Baycan |
| Abstract: | Urban spaces are dynamic entities and to understand the socio-spatial processes of these entities is hard to analyze and evaluate. Residential mobility is one of the most important socio-spatial dynamics proceeding in an urban space through which socio-economic changes are produced consistently. This study aims to figure out the intra-metropolitan mobility in Marmara Region and to find out the interaction between the districts of Istanbul and the other districts in Marmara Region. Residential mobility of the individuals within Marmara Region has been analyzed and evaluated in order to map out the interaction between the districts of Istanbul and the other districts of Marmara Region. All quantitative data of the study is derived from the census of 1990 and 2000. Turkish Statistical Institute's (TURKSTAT) both censuses of 1990 and 2000 contain 5% sample of all population in Turkey. Two different methods have been consecutively used for the analysis of the data. First, Lebart's Procedure based on Combined Use of Cluster Analysis has been used to summarize and depict the qualitative contrast invisible to the naked eye. Second, Correspondence Analysis -a variant of factor analysis devised for reducing large data sets- has been deployed. By clustering the origin and destination units according to their distinctive and similar arrival and departure profiles, a chaotic picture of a huge original interaction matrix of 1985-1990 and 1995-2000 mobility flows can be perceptible. The results of the empirical study show that the mobility patterns in both periods are very similar to each other. From the south-west, people significantly moved to the south-west, and from the districts of Bursa, people significantly moved to the districts of Bursa. The mobility patterns in the north-east of Marmara and Thracian districts are different in two periods. In the 1985-1990 period, these districts are placed with the districts of Istanbul as origin units. However, in the 1995-2000 period, the interaction between these districts decreased and they generate different groups according to their arrival profiles. Key words: Intra-metropolitan mobility, residential mobility, Marmara Region, Istanbul, interaction, correspondence analysis, Lebart's procedure, data reduction |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p125&r=ure |
| By: | Roberto Dopeso Fernandez |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes to what extent marshallian agglomeration economies affect the creation of new entrepreneurial ventures at the metropolitan level. The measuring of agglomeration economies is based on the construction of indexes using the methodology of Glaeser and Kerr (2009). The indexes attempt to capture the effects of resource sharing, labor matching and knowledge spillovers according to the taxonomy proposed by Marshall (1920). Also an index to measure the influence of small suppliers to attract new business ventures, following Chinitz (1961), is constructed. Data on new firms and employment generated is accounted for the period 2000-2008. The analysis is based on the activity of the 15 largest metropolitan areas in Spain. Sixty two-digit industries (CNAE-93) are considered. The results show that jobs created by entrepreneurs are highly influenced by the ability to share suppliers and customers. Firm creation is influenced by those factors as well as the presence of small suppliers and the proximity to innovative activity. Agglomeration indexes with sector and city fixed effects explain more than 90% of new entry and employment generated. The potential multicollinearity among indexes is tested using principal component analysis. This analysis shows some complementarities among the indexes. New regressions using the factorized terms show that traditional measures of localization economies hide specific information about the process of agglomeration. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1771&r=ure |
| By: | Maksim Belitski; Julia Korosteleva |
| Abstract: | We investigate variation in entrepreneurial activity across 98 Eastern Neighbourhood cities. The aim of study is twofold: to bridge the city-level gap in empirical research on entrepreneurship in the Eastern Neighbourhood urban areas; to focus on urban heterogeneity in entrepreneurship unlike regional level studies which deal both with urban and rural areas where entrepreneurial activity has different characteristics. Finally, in accordance with urban incubator hypothesis the incidence of entrepreneurship is higher in urban agglomerations. To measure entrepreneurship a number of small businesses is used which has been widely used in a number of studies for capturing entrepreneurial activities. We employ the System GMM estimator to establish our model, which is determined by the need to address some econometric problems, including the problem of potential endogeneity of some of our regressors; the presence of predetermined variables, namely the lagged dependent variable; the presence of fixed effects which may be correlated with the repressors; finite sample. We find that the heterogeneity in entrepreneurship is largely explained by the agglomeration effects and city socio-economic characteristics such as level of poverty. On the one hand this is puzzling, as the general perception of the nature of entrepreneurial activity in these countries is that it is necessity-driven. On the other hand, the role of the government and social benefits still seem to play an important role in the countries of transition discouraging individuals from considering entrepreneurship as a way out of poverty. We fail to support the hypothesis of Moscow proximity as an important driver for small business activity in these cities. At the same time our findings support capital-city hypothesis as an incubator for business start-ups. Unfortunately, the level of capital stock and criminality add little in explaining the variation of entrepreneurship. We also do not find any robust effect of transition reforms, including small-scale privatisation, banking transformation and business regulation on entrepreneurial entry in the Eastern Neighbourhood cities. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p288&r=ure |
| By: | Pablo Marti; Almudena Nolasco |
| Abstract: | The rate of land consumption in the coastal area of Alicante has been over the last decades, one of the highest among all Spanish Mediterranean provinces. This new territorial tendency has involved important changes in the use of land and has led to a new spatial and functional reality. The objective of this paper is to address two specific concerns related to the identification and characterization of these recent artificial surfaces, focusing on the assessment of quantitative details (land consumption surface, density, population, etc.) and qualitative features (morphologies, landscape impact, etc.). The methodological approach is based on graphic and statistical analysis. On the one hand, starting by first identifying artificial areas by comparing satellite imagery (source: the European project Corine Land Cover – 1990, 2000 and 2006). It is possible then, to study in detail the new developments thanks to the aerial photographs (1993, 2002 and 2008). On the other hand, the variety of statistical databases –local, regional and state statistics such as census, registers and other government studies- make possible to quantify and qualify the details of these new urban areas. Thus, the foreseen results are related to the characterization and definition of new urban patterns along the coast of Alicante, taking in account that the identification of the new patterns of urban and territorial occupancy is an important clue in order to establish future planning in both local and regional level. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p968&r=ure |
| By: | Deniz Deniz |
| Abstract: | In urban areas, fear of crime constitutes as much a problem as crime itself. Fear of crime is often associated with fear for one’s personal safety, particularly, safety from violent crimes and physical or sexual harassment in public areas. The fear of crime and feelings of insecurity keeps people off the public places where crime or anti-social behaviour are likely to occur and also limits people’s behaviour to access to opportunities and facilities in their public environment. In other words, it creates a barrier to participation in the public life which reduces the liveability and sustainability of the city. It is obvious that, level of the fear of crime is unequally distributed considering the varied user profiles and places of cities. This paper is aimed to analyse how fear of crime is influenced by a variety of factors including actual crime rate, physical and social characteristics of the environment etc. with a specific case study from İzmir, Turkey in order to create safer and livable cities. Note: The alternative choice was to put this abstract under : ZW-SS 'Turkish cases in Contemporary issues/dimensions for regional development' |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1176&r=ure |
| By: | Roberto Cervelló Royo; Ruben Garrido-Yserte; Baldomero Segura GarcÃÂa del RÃÂo |
| Abstract: | This work provides an analysis and an optimization model of the spatial impact for the externalities derived from the state interventions in terms of urban regeneration and rehabilitation of degraded and segregated historic areas. From the amount invested and state intervention locations, an impact index is put forward. The spatial distribution of these impact indexes in the interventions' area of influence will be the basis for the analysis; hence, by setting some specific objectives of the decision agent about this distribution homogeneity and with the aim of avoiding inner segregation and facilitate the development and cohesion of the neighborhood as a whole, we propose a model which will allow us to allocate the budget available among the different locations fixed a priori. By means of a comparison between the spatial distributions of impact indexes obtained in both situations, a measure of the intervention process and its impact can be obtained. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p213&r=ure |
| By: | Susanne Linder |
| Abstract: | At the moment, interest in electric vehicles (EVs) is increasing worldwide, mainly due to concerns about climate change and rising prices of fossil fuels. EVs still have some significant drawbacks compared to gasoline-powered cars. However, a small part of the population is expected to adopt this technology already within the next years, because higher purchase costs and lower driving range are of less concern to them. They are called the “Early Adopters†of EVs. In this study we developed scenarios for the spatial diffusion of EVs up to 2020 in private households in the municipalities and urban districts of the metropolitan region of Stuttgart in Germany. First, hypotheses of Early Adopters of EVs were constructed based on social mobility profiles and the demands of car drivers. Secondly, the number of these potential adopters was calculated with statistical data for each municipality and urban district. In a third step, we developed a Bass diffusion model with System Dynamics to simulate the spatial diffusion of EVs in the region of Stuttgart. The increase of EV-ownership in each Early Adopter-type in a single municipality depends on the chosen values of the parameters “Advertisement effectivenessâ€, “Contact Rate†and “Adoption Fraction†of the Bass model. Furthermore, neighbourhood effects were modeled such that the increase of EVs in one municipality also depends on the increase of EVs in the neighbouring municipalities. In the baseline scenario, significant spatial differences in the diffusion of EVs up to 2020 become apparent: the highest number of EV-holders will be found in the urban areas of the region. There exist also differences in the number of EVs present at each Early Adopter-type: The “Urban trend-setter†is prevalent in the central districts of Stuttgart, while the “Multi-car family†is mostly located in the more rural municipalities of the region of Stuttgart. The “Dynamic senior citizen†is almost equally distributed in the urban and rural areas. The results of the spatial distribution of potential adopters of EVs can be used for the automobile industry’s marketing campaigns as well as to identify the regional demand for EV charging infrastructure. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p557&r=ure |
| By: | Dominik Weiß; Claus Michelsen |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to explain the mechanisms that have lead to the remarkable improvement of the East German Housing Market during transition after the political change in 1989 and the reunification of Germany in 1990. Theoretical analysis suggests, that housing policy of the former GDR did not maximize consumer`s utility. Socialistic housing and construction policy limited the welfare with and distorted construction costs and rent control. The reason for that was not alone a lack of quantity but also a lack of quality and diversity. Therefore we argue that diversification of quality and te-nure in the post communist era enhanced the welfare of consumers. We propose that welfare on the East German Housing market was significantly increased by creating a new variety of housing types and qualities which fits better with different preferences of the households. A filtering model predicts theoretically the observable trends of seg-mentation and the development of a higher diversity of housing market segments. But additionally to the transition a bunch of subsidies were set up during transition. There-fore the paper is focused on the interdependency between housing market subsidies, the supply cost function, the qualitative development of the housing stock and the choice of demand. Empirically we observe the change and qualitative improvement of housing conditions in East Germany during transition and quantitative effects like increased vacancy risk in a shifted hierarchy of housing qualities. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p505&r=ure |
| By: | Emanuele Fabbri; Luciana Lazzeretti |
| Abstract: | Recently at the European level the theme of innovation has been further fostered with the Smart Specialization Strategy underlined within the COM(2010) 553 “Regional policy contributing to smart growth in Europe 2020â€. The aim of this study is to investigate the co-evolutive dynamics of the technological transfer processes at regional level, and in particular the issue of transversality and bases of knowledge between networks according to an evolutionary perspective. Transversality is analysed considering networks’ differences and proximities in terms of industry of application, applied technology, and local dimensions of relationships. In order to analyze these phenomena, we apply the Social Network Analysis to investigate the structural features of the space of relations and relational flows, and to roles and attributes of the universe of the co-funded actors. The structural analysis of the relations’ system (centrality, closeness, betweenness, local dimension) has been analyzed across five regional initiatives, studying over 150 networks and over 1300 co-funded actors. Relations between and within networks have been normalized and the role of specific agents has been underlined with regards to transversality dynamics. As conclusion, policy implications can be drawn, in particular as far as supply-led and demand-led innovation policy. The study is structured as follows. After the introduction describing the context of regional innovation policies over the last Regional Planning period (SPD 2000-2006), the first paragraph describes the main characteristics of the concept of transversality, with connections to RIS model and innovation networks. The second paragraph describes the Social Networks Analysis methodology used to study the evolutionary process of agglomeration with regards to bases of knowledge and transversality. The third paragraph deals with the results of the analysis and the fourth paragraph presents conclusive remarks on policy implication in terms of industrial policies. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p507&r=ure |
| By: | Elif GUNDUZ; Rahmi ERDEM |
| Abstract: | Mardin represents a distinctive variety of natural and cultural resources. It is considered a major destination for seasonal tourism in Turkey. However, the city suffers from a serious shortage in urban infrastructure necessary for sustainable tourism development. A field survey is carried out to identify the type and range of such problems in relation to the existing infrastructure system. The survey also examines both the role of local community in tourism development and potential revenues. This study analyses the major aspects of such shortages and their effects on tourism sustainability. The paper attempts to present and discuss 1) the effect of inadequate urban infrastructure (roads, waste disposal, and water supply) on the site tourism potential and local standards of living that represent a challenge for sustainable cultural tourism; 2) the role of locals' involvement in tourism development (e.g. safeguarding heritage sites) and in poverty alleviation mechanisms in addition to identifying main heritage assets and related tourism opportunities. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p214&r=ure |
| By: | Roberto Cervelló Royo; Fernando GarcÃa GarcÃa; Francisco Guijarro-MartÃnez; Ismael Moya-Clemente |
| Abstract: | The equilibrium set of housing units (alternatives) can be characterized from the standpoint of both the demander and the supplier. The current work describes an application of the multicriteria single price model to the ranking of alternatives. By a generalization of the single price model and from both viewpoints an efficiency index can be calculated. We demonstrate how, in equilibrium, the two viewpoints result inevitably in inverse orders of ranking. The model is illustrated by a sample of housing units in the city of Valencia, Spain. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p314&r=ure |
| By: | Xiaofei Li; Brigitte Waldorf; Raymond Florax |
| Abstract: | Please note: Abstract uploaded as a pdf document (like a full paper) |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1493&r=ure |
| By: | Kutlu Demirer |
| Abstract: | Turkey has achieved great success in the tourism sector which started a greater than ever trend towards hotel investments. While, new investors are entering to the market, international brands are pursuing strategies to increase their existing supply. Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, besides being a world-famous tourist attraction, also draws substantial foreign investment which escalates both the demand and supply in the hotel market. In the light of previous researches conducted by Dökmeci and Balta (1999) this research focuses on the supply side and the spatial development of high-end hotels in Istanbul. By revisiting the works of von Thünen and Alonso, compares rings of urban location for hotels in Istanbul in terms of rent as overnight room rates. Location data are accumulated from Ministry of Tourism, local municipalities, chambers and unions. Overnight hotel rates were collected through internet booking sites, telephone inquiries and visits during October, November and December of 2010. As the polycentric development of the city has increased over the last decade and many functions have been decentralized or shifted, the analysis reveals valuable insight into urban tourism pattern. The results coincide with the concentric rings described by the previous researches although many new hotels were constructed, new sub-centers had formed and the importance of sub-centers has increased dramatically. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1030&r=ure |
| By: | Sinan LEVEND; Rahmi ERDEM |
| Abstract: | In Turkey, The law of Institutional Strategic Planning (ISP) issued in order to compliance with European Union is unfortunately insufficient recovering spatial-oriented strategic planning (SSP) decisions. There is not a fundamental Spatial Strategic Planning model based on strategic spatial planning and an integrated structure that can be coordinated with both the strategic plans prepared by municipalities and strategic plans prepared by the government. Strategic Spatial Planning (SSP) process that sub-units have to correspond is not clearly defined although the Public Strategic Plan is mandatory by the legal regulation. İstanbul as a metropolis has got a lot of urbanization problems. Its operational planning boundaries surpasess its provincial boundaries. It exposes to a high level of risk because of earthquake, and its natural and cultural values are under threat because of rapid urbanization. The need for a planning organization that is taken as a whole up to the scale of urban design, transparent, comprehensive participated, cooperative and continuous is the major undisputed fact. This paper aims to evaluate SSP approach in Turkey in the case of İstanbul. For this purpose, firstly a literature review is conducted to define Strategical Planning. Eventually, in Istanbul Institutional Strategical Planning and Environment Arrangement Planing (100000 scale) are analyized and these plans are evaluated in terms of adequacy of strategical planning approach. Key Words: strategic, strategical spatial planning, İstanbul |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p481&r=ure |
| By: | Gary Bosworth |
| Abstract: | This paper reports on findings from business surveys and face to face interviews conducted in the North East and East Midlands regions of the UK. Previous studies into residential counterurbanisation have shown a range of factors influencing individuals’ choices to move house. Here, it is hypothesised that for some commercial counterurbanisers, those rural in-migrants running businesses in their new rural locality, there will be different influences. Focusing on two groups of commercial counterurbanisers, the planned and un-planned business starters, it is also hypothesised that the different expectations and influences will affect their subsequent perceptions of the rural area as a place to do business. Greater understanding of the characteristics of place that are attractive to business starters and latent entrepreneurs can guide spatial economic policy which has become increasingly concerned with “place competitiveness†(Bristow, 2011). Keywords: Commercial Counterurbanisation, entrepreneurship, place competition, competitiveness, rural business, rural economy. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1662&r=ure |
| By: | Antonio Fuster Olivares; Jose Miguel Giner Pérez; MªJesús Santa MarÃa Beneyto |
| Abstract: | In recent years, several contributions have been focused on a new sort of productive systems that share some characteristics with Marshallian industrial districts. These contributions have analysed the competitiveness of these new areas and how have been promoted by policy makers. In this line, the Marshallian concept of industrial district has been increasingly related to high technology and innovation in order to analysis technological districts or clusters. The aim of this research is to show how these new areas have characteristics are not similar to those shown by traditional industrial districts. Therefore, framework and techniques for analysis that have been traditionally used for industrial districts must be adapted for identifying technological districts. Specifically, some reflections about the framework analysis of sector and spatial units are introduced in the first part of this research as well as those techniques that can be useful to identify and analyse technological districts. Next, the analysis is focused on the identification of technological districts in Spain. A multivariate analysis will be applied to calculate a synthetic index that will be used to identify those areas with a high degree of specialization in high and medium technology activities. This synthetic index will collect data about those technological activities that are involved not only in manufacturing but also in activities of innovation and R&D. Until now, there have been not many attempts to identify technological clusters through the application of quantitative methodologies; therefore, the purpose of this research is to contribute to the enhancement of knowledge about these areas in Spain. Keywords: technological districts, clusters, location, spatial agglomerations. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1541&r=ure |
| By: | Jean-Claude Thill; Chunhua Wang |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how a respondent’s socioeconomic characteristics influence her willingness to support tax increases for spending on highway transportation infrastructure and four modes of public transportation (i.e., bus, light rail, commuter rail, and streetcar) in a fast growing urban area in the United States. We use and analyze detailed survey data at household level collected from a phone interview survey conducted in the Charlotte, North Carolina, area. We consider two types of response bias in the survey data. One is a systematic response bias which arises from protest zeros and respondents’ tendency to under-report their willingness. The other is from the randomized response when a respondent answers survey questions by guessing because she does not have memory or knowledge of the questions and choices. Along with random utility model, these two response bias models are estimated and compared to each other. Empirical results show that an individual’s attitudes towards paying higher taxes are affected by the individual’s location, home ownership, and the level of educational attainment. It is found that respondents tend to grossly under-report their willingness to support higher taxes for investments on highways, bus, and commuter rail in the survey. Respondents also exhibit positive tendency to choose no increase in taxes in the survey about highway, bus, and commuter rail, although they actually prefer an increase over no increase. They have positive chance of randomly choosing slightly higher taxes for more investment on streetcar whatever her true preference is. We discuss policy implications of the empirical results. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1449&r=ure |
| By: | Fabio Sforzi; Silvia Lombardi; Flavio Verrecchia |
| Abstract: | Chinese migration flows represent a relatively new phenomenon in Italy. Its entrepreneurial nature is reflected in massive flows Chinese businessman employed both in manufacturing and commercial activities, with a dense concentration in correspondence of some industrial districts. The aim of the paper is to shed some light on current Chinese specialization of economic activities and localization across Italian regions and industrial districts, to test interpretative research hypothesis on Chinese entrepreneurship models and identify agglomeration forces underlying the emergence of so-called Chinese ethnic businesses. Some reflections on the manufacturing and commercial attitude of Chinese entrepreneurship will also be considered. The utilization of native-Chinese entrepreneurs as unit of observation represents an innovative methodological contribution based on ASIA-ISTAT archives. The exercise of explorative analysis based on data processing and spatial analysis will finally highlight business migration patterns, which represent new socio-economic challenges for Italian industrial districts |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p626&r=ure |
| By: | Dan Zheng |
| Abstract: | Abstract: This paper investigates the effects of economic policy on regional specialization of China¡¯s high-tech industries for the period 1996 to 2005. Results indicate that the average level of regional specialization increases over years. Moreover, high-tech industry sector is highly localized in coastal regions. Using a dynamic panel data approach, we find that the implementation of high technology oriented export policy and subsidies for science and high technology activities encourage regional specialization, whereas local government¡¯s protections for local high-tech enterprises impede it. The empirical study also confirms the important role of high-skilled labor in determining regional specialization. Keywords: economic policy; specialization; high-tech industry; dynamics |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1086&r=ure |
| By: | Harvey Goldstein; Edward Bergman; Gunther Maier |
| Abstract: | University researchers are now considered by many as key actors in the building of knowledge economies in their regions, as universities are assumed to be important engines of regional economic well-being. Yet within the academy not all faculty are accepting of these roles for their institutions, for a variety of reasons. We measure faculty attitudes towards their universities being involved in (a) assisting regional economic development and (b) the commercialization of knowledge more generally using web-based surveys. Then using secondary data from a variety of sources, we attempt to explain the variation in attitudes among faculty in terms of: (i) individual attributes and professional experiences, (ii) scholarly disciplinary of the faculty member, (iii) institutional characteristics of their respective university, and (iv) regional economic conditions. Using ordered logit models, we test to see if faculty view a distinction in appropriateness of universities assisting economic development versus appropriateness of the commercialization of knowledge, whether there are differences between U.S. and EU faculty in their attitudes towards each type of activity, and whether faculty in regions undergoing industrial restructuring or in economic distress have more favorable attitudes towards each activity. Results to-date indicate that faculty have more favorable attitudes towards their universities assisting regional economic development compared to commercialization of knowledge, that universities individual and disciplinary variables are more important than institutional and regional economic variables, and that there are strong similarities in attitudes between U.S. and EU faculty attitudes, but with a few interesting exceptions. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p301&r=ure |
| By: | Ben Gardiner; Andries Brandsma; Olga Ivanova; d'Artis Kancs |
| Abstract: | This paper describes some of the features of a new dynamic general equilibrium framework (RHOMOLO) being developed at the European Commission (JRC-IPTS, together with DG REGIO) for evaluating EU Cohesion Policy. The design of the model reflects the objectives of Cohesion Policy, and a broader understanding of impact analysis which goes beyond pure economic effects and also considers environmental and social indicators. The model has both regional and sectoral dimensions – regionally, the aim is for complete NUTS2 (NUTS1 for Germany) coverage of the EU27, while the potential sector coverage is 23 – all of which leads to very large modelling dimensions and presents challenges in terms of data availability. The model is constructed using the concept of Dynamic Spatial Computable General Equilibrium (DSCGE), which ensures Walrasian equilibrium in a sequence of model solutions over time, and also incorporates elements of New Economic Geography (NEG) in the way it captures the forces of economic agglomeration and dispersion. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p672&r=ure |
| By: | Roberta Capello; Camilla Lenzi |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates over the way in which regions innovate. The conceptual framework departs from the simple idea that scientific activities equates knowledge, assuming that the presence of local knowledge produced by research centers, universities and firms was a necessary and sufficient condition for increasing the innovative capacities in local firms, fed by local spillovers. In particular, the paradigmatic jump in interpreting regional innovation processes lies in a conceptual framework interpreting not a single phase of the innovation process, but the different modes of performing the different phases of the innovation process, highlighting the context conditions (internal and external to the region) that accompany each innovation pattern. The paper conceptually identifies different territorial patterns of innovation, and empirically test their existence in Europe. Interesting results emerge from the European territory, witnessing the existence of large differences in the territorial patterns of innovation. These results strongly support normative suggestions towards thematically/regionally focused innovation policies. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1900&r=ure |
| By: | Ana Fuentes Sanchéz; FabÃola Sabino Gil; Luisa Alama Sabater; Tomaz Dentinho |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to define what problems the city of Angra do HeroÃsmo (Terceira Island, Azores) faces in what regards urban sustainability, so as to improve the quality of life of the residents and to ensure the adequate growth and progress of the city in all areas, as possible. The main themes approached in this work were urbanism, the city’s current development level, public security, environment, culture and education, economy, funding, governance, migration, public participation and poverty. Selected stakeholders ranked statements pertaining each of these themes, from which we extracted three distinct social perspectives, one concerned with employment and the recovery of the city, another that praises the quality of human resources and a third that trusts the quality of the social infrastructure. All perspectives seem to agree that there are no public security problems in Angra, and that rebuilding is a more sustainable option. They also believe that there is adequate support for migrants, good dialogue between public bodies and social organizations, and that the population is willing to play a greater role in the city’s governance. Key-words: urban sustainability, q methodology, stakeholder perspectives |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1718&r=ure |
| By: | Gunther Maier; Michaela Trippl |
| Abstract: | This paper seeks to enhance our understanding about the opportunities and limits of new path creation in traditional regional innovation systems. Due to their inherited historical legacies, such systems are usually thought of being ill-equipped to give rise to high-tech or knowledge intensive activities. Departing from recent insights on research concerned with the transformation of innovation systems and evolutionary economic geography we identify in a conceptual way enabling and constraining factors for the rise of new development paths in traditional regions. Empirically, we focus on the case of the “Software Park Hagenberg†(SPH) located in the old industrial region of Upper Austria. We examine key events triggering the emergence and subsequent evolution of the SPH and explore the role of the RIS in shaping the development trajectory of the SPH. Moreover, applying social network analysis tools, we investigate the pattern of networking between firms, research organisations and educational bodies within the SPH and we provide some evidence on the diffusion of knowledge and innovation generated though these interactions throughout the regional economy. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1830&r=ure |
| By: | Imola Rittgasszer |
| Abstract: | Today airports are increasingly becoming full transport junctions. The location of their networks provides strategic benefits, which makes them possible to attract a wide range of economic activities, therefore to operate as new development poles. Nowadays it is widely accepted that the airports of Europe have considerable economic and social impacts on the surrounding regions. These impacts reach much deeper than the direct impacts an airport has on the environment of its operation, since the availability of air services are advantageous both for the regional business interests and for the consumers. Air transport means a fundamental infrastructural background, which facilitates the economic growth of the regions; furthermore, the global accessibility is one of the key factors of being successful in terms of the settlement of business activities and for every region in Europe. The primary aim of the study is the theoretical review of the impacts of airports on economy. In addition, the study makes an attempt to review and analyse the international benchmark examples developed for the analysis of the economic impacts of airports. Based on the international literature, the methods and procedures are identified which are theoretically suitable for the economic impact study of airports. Afterwards, the procedures are selected of which the methodological clarity is suitable to found the empirical study of the impacts of an optional airport on the local economy. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1588&r=ure |
| By: | Giuseppe Mazzeo |
| Abstract: | The European space is marked by the recent beginning of the dualism nation-region. In it the cities take on a fundamental role because their success becomes the success of the territories around. Manuel Castell has maintained that the city is the social structure in which any territorial phenomena (from the economical development processes to the relations between classes or ethnic groups, from the public intervention to the financial accumulation) takes on its bigger strength because in it are concentrated the focusing in the territorial transformations. Obvious the cities are not the same, for physical or functional dimension; besides every innovation adds and modifies the relational system previously created. Aim of the paper is to analyse the factors generating the urban hierarchies to the European level and the impact on it of the new high velocity nets. In the first section it is carried out a reading/analysis of the hierarchies in the urban European system, as outlined in a series of studies. The second section analyses the role of the communication infrastructures in the building of the hierarchies and, in the third, is deepen the impact of the building of European high speed network on the fluctuations in the cities hierarchy. The paper asserts that the hierarchy is influenced by the growing of this infrastructure only for the second level positions, while the head positions are not influenced by it. One of the possible conclusion is that in a mature situation as the European territorial system, the urban structure seems to be well organized around poles with a strong persistence. This does not mean that a city could not climb the hierarchies, although this is possible only if a number of preconditions and of support policies are verified and with the remarks that this does not seem to affect the head positions, characterized by large stability. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p485&r=ure |
| By: | Coro Chasco; Julie Le Gallo |
| Abstract: | Air quality is one of the major concerns in big cities. It is therefore of interest to evaluate properly air pollution. Specifically, this paper aims at measuring how air quality is incorporated in transaction prices in downtown Madrid. For that purpose, we use multilevel models since our sample is hierarchically organized into 3 levels. Our first-level consists of 5,080 house prices. The second level consists of 759 census tracts while the third level consists of 43 neighbourhoods. We have variables available for each level, individual characteristics for the first level and various socio-economic data for the other levels. The outline of the paper is as follows. First, we combine a set of noise and air pollutants measured at a number of monitoring stations available for each census tract. Second, we apply kriging to match the monitoring station records to the census data. Third, we estimate hedonic models in order to measure the marginal willingness to pay for air quality in downtown Madrid. While the conventional approach to estimate hedonic models is to use ordinary least squares, we exploit the hierarchical nature of our data and estimated multilevel models instead. These allow for a more reliable statistical inference. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p168&r=ure |
| By: | Sylvain Amisse; Paul Muller; Caroline Hussler; Patrick Rondé |
| Abstract: | The present contribution develops on the analysis of clusters in terms of proximities by exploring the issue of distant inter-cluster collaborations. We mobilize different forms of proximity (geographic, cognitive, social) discussed in the literature in order to identify their respective influence on intercluster collaboration by taking the example of French Pôles de Compétitivité. Our results echo previous results applied to intra-cluster collaborations since inter-cluster collaboration mostly relies on a form of social capital due to the key roles played by relational and cognitive proximity. Finally, our results exhibit a negative influence of geographic distance on collaboration. JEL: C45, R12, R58 Keywords: clusters, network analysis, proximities, intercluster collaboration |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1896&r=ure |
| By: | Manuel Lopez-Estornell |
| Abstract: | ABSTRACT The dissemination of knowledge in industrial districts (ID) and clusters has often been linked to the existence of a specific tacit knowledge. Thus, the companies belonging to ID specialization sector might sustain a distinctive competitive advantage against isolated firms. However, the observation of technological changes in recent decades and the presence of ID whose technological intensity has dramatically increased in the same period suggest the existence and need for codified knowledge in these agglomerations. As result of tacit knowledge decline, the economic performance of ID could move backwards, given the greater ease to imitate and reproduce their contextual knowledge by competitor firms located in not district areas. The paper discusses the above assumptions, suggesting the existence of combinations/hybridizations of both types of knowledge in ID, which we have named locational-translational knowledge. This third type of knowledge could explain the maintenance of ID contextual advantages even in presence of higher doses of codified knowledge. This would require the presence of agents acting as interfaces able to absorb new pieces of codified knowledge in order to combine them with local knowledge for adjusting the specific needs of ID. However, we argue the existence of several constraints, such as the size of 'creative market district’, in ID which may require the opening of ID to knowledge imported from academic institutions and other formal research organizations, in contrast with autarky or isolation suggested by tacit knowledge. Finally, an analysis of the ID evolution enables us to appreciate that the process of absorption, combination and dissemination of external knowledge may have existed throughout the life cycle of ID but supported, at each stage, for different institutional agents: the 'impannatore', the 'cappofiliera' firm and, lastly, for formal knowledge-oriented institutions such as the above referred. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p368&r=ure |
| By: | E.Umran Topcu |
| Abstract: | Abstract The neighborhood is prominent in contemporary urban studies. One reason for choosing neighborhood as a unit of action is that the neighborhood provides an efficient scale within which to measure any change in target population’s circumstances. Neighborhood here is defined as the bundle of spatially based attributes associated with clusters of residences. This bundle of attributes is multidimensional consisting of everything from topography and structures and demography to social interactions. For most people, residence and the context in which it exists, that is to say neighborhood, is the largest consumption item of a lifetime. How much an individual’s needs and aspirations are met by his neighborhood is a concern for researchers and planners. This study expresses a belief in the value of the concept of place as part of the neighborhood question. There are now many established ways of looking at the neighborhood, as place, as network, as image, as property and as administrative unit. These all have something to offer individually and deserve continuing attention to help counteract some of the deficiencies of our contemporary society. In this study respondents from two districts of Istanbul are asked for their subjective assessments of a set of domains associated with neighborhood satisfaction. The neighborhoods are chosen to be one traditional and one modern context. The results indicate significant differences among the residents of traditional and modern neighborhoods. Keywords: Neighborhood satisfaction, context, subjective assessment, traditional, modern |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1738&r=ure |
| By: | Alina - Irina Popescu |
| Abstract: | The impact of higher education institutions on the regional economy is now more important the ever, due not only to their role as providers of education and research, but also to their linkages to the economic, social and cultural surroundings. The paper explores the relationship between the higher education and the regional development, bringing evidence from the eight development regions of Romania: Bucharest and Ilfov, Center, West, North-West, North-East, South-East, South, and South-West, on the most widely used development indicators, according to the methodology proposed by OECD for the assessment of the local engagement of higher education institutions. The analysis reveals the needs to improve the relevance of university education, to widen and strengthen the collaboration between higher education institutions and the business environment, to improve the flexibility of the workforce by re-skilling and up-skilling through lifelong learning. In collaboration with regional and local authorities, universities are in the need to develop and expand learning and skills development programmes, research activities and outreach efforts to support the cultural and creative industry development of the regions they are embedded in, taking also into consideration the international dimension by building stronger connections with students, researchers and professionals from Europe and abroad. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1327&r=ure |
| By: | Fernando Rubiera Morollon; Ana Viñuela |
| Abstract: | What is region? From an economic point of view, a region is a unit in which capital and labour move freely and goods and services are totally open to trade with other regions without any frontiers or limitations. The openness of the regions and their interaction with other regions are their main characteristics. From a statistical point of view internal homogeneity and also heterogeneity between the regions are both desirable properties of a set of regions. The objective of this chapter is revise the concept of region and propose a division of the territory which satisfy the statistical and economical region concept requirements in the way of propose a classification that has economic theoretical meaning but, at the same time, satisfy the internal homogeneity and heterogeneity among classes. Using micro data from the latest Census available, the Spanish territory can be divided into functional regions that emphasize the importance of location and agglomeration economies (a classification with theoretical economic meaning). A set of contrast and indexes is applied to prove that, when studying labor economic issues, such classification based on economic criteria results on more convenient regions than the administrative ones commonly used. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p206&r=ure |
| By: | Davide Furceri, Dr; Fabio Mazzola, Dr |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of economic downturns on regional inequalities. From a theoretical point of view regional inequalities may change in the aftermath of economic downturns if different regions have a different degree of resilience to a common shock or/and a different speed of adjustment. To test for this hypothesis we estimate the dynamic response of regional inequalities to economic downturns, controlling and interacting for country’s structural and policy variables associated to regional inequalities. The set of such variables includes, among others, the share of rural population, demographic changes, educational disparities, production diversification, the level of country development, the size of fiscal transfers and social spending. The approach we propose consists of estimating Impulse Response Functions (IRFS) based on local projections (Jordan, 2005) of the effect of downturns on regional inequalities. For each period, we estimate a direct and and an indirect effect which takes into account the interaction between the downturn occurrence and the structural/policy variables. Using an unbalanced panel of 29 OECD countries from 1993 to 2005, the paper shows that economic downturns are associated with a significant and long-lasting reduction in regional inequalities. The effect is a function of the severity of the downturn and it varies across countries. The empirical results are economically and statistically significant, and robust. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1204&r=ure |
| By: | Arthur Grimes |
| Abstract: | A transportation investment that materially improves links between centres opens up previously unavailable options for new activities. Traditional cost-benefit analysis, that focuses on valuing benefits such as reduced travel time and safety improvements, does not adequately account for increased options for new activities arising from such an investment. Instead, real options theory must be added to the analysis to evaluate the full benefits of the new link. Two inter-related problems with real options analysis for practical use are that: (a) the nature of the options potentially being created are difficult to value, and (b) the standard mathematics of real options analysis is complex. Nevertheless, the intuition behind the role of real options analysis is straight-forward. This paper uses a specific example – Auckland’s Harbour Bridge and the Northern Motorway that stretches beyond it – to illustrate the importance of real options analysis. It combines an illustrative, multi-period model of the real options problem, that clearly identifies the option value created by a new investment, with data on the effects of the Harbour Bridge and related investments. The illustrative model highlights that the inclusion of real options factors may either increase or decrease the attractiveness of a proposed investment, and it identifies the type of factors that would lead one to invest even where a standard benefit-cost ratio is less than one. These factors are considered in the context of the Harbour Bridge investments, demonstrating their practical, as well as theoretical, importance. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p332&r=ure |
| By: | Ercan Dulgeroglu; Sibel Bali Eryigit; Kadir Y. Eryigit; Filiz Gaygusuz |
| Abstract: | The Role of Physical, Human and Social Capital in Regional Financial Development Differences: An Analysis of Turkish Provinces Ercan Dulgeroglu , Sibel Bali Eryigit , Kadir Y. Eryigit and Filiz Gaygusuz Abstract With the undeniable importance of the financial markets in the economy, the factors stimulating financial development have started to be researched, particularly in recent times in a more intensive way. Starting from this point, the driving force of this study is both to contribute to international literature in this field and to fill a gap in the literature related to Turkey. The main purpose of this study is to explain the causes of regional financial development differences on the basis of capital accumulation. In order to answer the question ‘What is the effect and degree of importance of physical, human and social capital on the differences in regional financial development?’, in this study some indexes for financial development and each type of capital accumulation will be calculated using kernel principle components analysis and depending on the annual data of 81 provinces covering the period 2005 – 2009. As an index, the capital measurements can be seen in a comprehensive form allowing for more accurate measurement and evaluation of both the capital accumulation and financial development. By using the calculated indexes, then, financial development differences are evaluated with spatial panel data methods developed by Elhorst (2003). In this context, to our knowledge, this study is the first to take into account the effects of each type of capital on financial development in a model simultaneously. Keywords: Financial development, physical capital, human capital, social capital, spatial panel data analysis, |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1539&r=ure |
| By: | Mark Partridge; Rose Olfert |
| Abstract: | Throughout the second half of the 20th Century, urbanization, new technologies, rapid labor-saving productivity growth in primary industries, and improved highways combined to create large-scale rural-urban functionally integrated regions. These forces have raised the stakes for regions in their pursuit of economic development and growth, making successful regional policy even more important. Changes to the governance structures consistent with the increased interdependence within broad rural-urban regions will improve the region's competitiveness; adopting fad-based approaches and policies aimed at “picking winners†will be less fruitful. Going forward, continuing globalization and environmental sustainability have the potential to fundamentally reshape relative regional attractiveness. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1655&r=ure |
| By: | Manuel Lopez-Estornell; Ignacio Fernández de Lucio |
| Abstract: | ABSTRACT The first aim of the paper is to analyze the presence of knowledge in innovative firms located in industrial districts (ID) in order to contrast it with this kind of firm located in non industrial districts areas (NID). This approach assumes the presence of an industrial district effect, i.e., the presumption of a better performance of knowledge and economic results in the first group of firms. Second, we have attempted to identify the existence of interdistrict effect, i.e., the emergence of gaps in knowledge of innovative firms located in ID with different technological intensity. For both purposes we have chosen the Valencian ID in Spain. Besides, with the introduction of innovative firms as units of analysis we have assumed that: a) They reflect a superior use of knowledge resources as inputs for business innovation generation and b) Their greatest use of such resources facilitate the absorption of knowledge spillovers that flow through the district. The empirical analysis has used an unprecedented database containing information of 5,553 innovative companies we have found in the region. The mean analysis applied has allowed us to identify the variables with statistically significant differences, as a preliminary step to isolate the groups of firms with more pronounced central values. The results have shown the presence of differences characterizing differently innovative companies of ID and NID as well as the groups of innovative firms belonging to districts of different technological level. In the first case the superiority of innovative companies has not arisen and, consequently, we cannot confirm the existence of a district effect. Nevertheless, we have detected some evidence of inter-industrial effect in the gradation performance of innovation firms of shoes, textiles and tales. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p361&r=ure |
| By: | LuÃs MartÃnez-Cháfer; Josep Capó-Vicedo; F. Xavier Molina-Morales |
| Abstract: | In recent times, the international competitive panorama has undergone intense rapid change, due especially to the presence of new competitors, new technology and new markets. These changes and their repercussions have had a significant impact on many industrial districts, which has left many of these agglomerations in critical condition. When facing these new circumstances, the function of local institutions takes on a much greater importance in how these districts adapt to the new competitive context, connecting companies with external networks which give access to new sources of information and knowledge. Furthermore, the role of local institutions will always be conditioned by the context in which they are found. For instance, there are significant differences between traditional or low-tech districts and high-tech districts which offer technologically more advanced products and services. Thus, while for the second category there is a great deal of theoretical and academic evidence that supports the idea that institutions act as leader actors in processes of innovation and improvement, in districts which operate in traditional sectors there is a shortage of research that analyzes the role played by institutions in these low-tech districts. To fill this gap in the literature, we aim with this work to analyze the links established by the companies of two industrial districts, with different levels of innovation activity, with local institutions. We especially analyze the intermediary and pollinating function that these institutions can have within these districts. We have applied Social Network Analysis techniques, analyzing the structure and properties of networks in the district as well as the role played by institutions. Our aim is to contribute to the debate by establishing a way to measure the flows of information and knowledge between companies and local institutions in two different districts through a social network analysis. The results obtained are of particular interest and are in contrast with the more traditional view that assumes a positive association between the companies’ opportunities for learning and the cohesion of the network. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1521&r=ure |
| By: | Andrés RodrÃÂguez-Pose; Tobias Ketterer |
| Abstract: | Most immigration theories tend to highlight that migration follows wealth and economic dynamism, but is this also the case across regions in Europe? The aim of the paper is to investigate whether migrants in Europe indeed follow the money and to contrast this with a variety of potential alternative explanations, including the presence of migrants from a similar origin. The analysis is based on panel data estimations including 133 European regions over a time period of 17 years. Different lag structures have been employed in order to distinguish between short- and long-run effects. The results cast some doubt about the prominence of pecuniary factors as a determinant of cross regional migration in Europe, with little evidence to support the idea that migration follows economic dynamism. Network effects, human capital related-, and ‘territorially embedded' innovation enhancing regional characteristics, by contrast, seem to play a much stronger role than hitherto considered. The study also reveals important differences among EU countries in the factors which determine regional migration. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p191&r=ure |
| By: | Raul Silveira Neto; Carlos Azzoni |
| Abstract: | We decompose the recent changes in regional inequality in Brazil into its components, highlighting the role of spatially blind social programs. We aggregate personal income micro data to the state level, differentiating 9 income sources, and assess the role of these components in the observed changes in regional inequality indicators. The main results indicate that the largest part of the recent reduction in regional inequality in Brazil is related to the dynamics in the market-related labor income, with manufacturing and services favoring inequality reduction. Labor income in agriculture, retirement and pensions, and property rents and other sources favored concentration. The social programs Bolsa FamÃlia and BenefÃcios de Prestação Continuada are responsible for more than 24% of the reduction in inequality, although they account for less than 1.7% of the disposable household income. Such positive impact on regional concentration is impressive, since the goals of the programs are clearly non-spatial. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p659&r=ure |
| By: | Alejandra Trejo; Cristina Ibarra |
| Abstract: | In an environment of growing globalization, which goes along with a relative increase of factor mobility, the role of territories and its competitiveness is under debate. In order to spur local attraction territories often enter in competition with each other. At this respect it is commonplace that governments at various territorial levels apart from other public and private institutions concern about providing the conditions that make attractive their countries, regions or cities for productive activities and in so doing they get involved in the race for competitiveness. Even though competition involves the actions of multiple actors, these often are connected with each other through local policy makers. By and large, local government and regional development policy are regarded to play a central function in territorial competition and in fact can be considered that the competitive success of regions and cities cannot be achieved without the active action of local governments. To the extent to which governments are more conscious about the actual territorial competitive environment they will try to formulate more policies for the development of competitive capabilities. The actions and efforts may take many forms (marketing, assisting local businesses, constructing infrastructure, information and land provision, taxation and so on). Particularly governments may use programs or apply funds, which are available as a result of national or regional policy, to attend to local interests. However local governments’ actions depend to a large extent on their financial capabilities. The federal government in Mexico provides most of the financial support to states and municipalities on an ongoing basis through transfers and participations. These are federal transfers supporting specific policy areas or unconditional transfers.This paper is concerned with presenting an integrated framework for territorial competition analysis which emphasises the fundamental role of local government action and assessing the role of federal aid on the competitive results of Mexican regions. The methodology proposed will develop a series of competitive results indicators for Mexican regions and use a multivariate analysis to assess the influence of transfers and participations. The periods include those years when Mexico has been and opened and liberalised economy. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1486&r=ure |
| By: | Concepcion Roman; Juan Carlos Martin; Raquel Espino |
| Abstract: | In order to determine the level of satisfaction of the public transport services, the passengers jointly evaluate the various attributes that represent the different aspects of the level of service. From a methodological viewpoint this means finding the weighting that individuals use to evaluate those attributes within what is considered as the level of global satisfaction or utility. In this paper we obtain indicators that permit the aggregate measurement of the quality of the public transport bus services on Gran Canaria in Spain. The analysis focuses on obtaining the preferences using designs of Stated Preferences (SP) that give the individual the choice between the current service and a hypothetical service defined, from a combination of the most relevant variables. With this information multinomial logit models are estimated that permit us to obtain a linear representation of the utility function parameters, from which a measure of the global quality of the service is obtained. The results of the analysis demonstrate that passengers have clearly different behaviour, depending on whether they are urban or interurban users; this is especially relevant in their perception of certain attributes such as frequency, and to some extent the willingness to pay relative to the components of total travelling time. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p86&r=ure |
| By: | Ismael Ahamdanech; Carmelo GarcÃa-Pérez; Hipolito Simon |
| Abstract: | The research examines wage inequality in the Spanish labour market from a regional perspective, drawing on stochastic dominance techniques. The field of study is of particular interest because wage determination in Spain incorporates an important territorial component, facilitated by certain specific institutional elements, given that Spain is one of the few developed countries in which collective bargaining is mainly developed through industry-wide agreements on an infra-national scale applied exclusively to provinces or regions. The main empirical findings are that wage inequality exhibits a significant regional heterogeneity and that both regional differences in workforce heterogeneity and the mix of jobs and workplaces and differences in their wage returns are influential factors in the explanation of regional heterogeneity in the levels of wage inequality. Consequently, the infrequent regional dimension of collective bargaining on an industry level implies the presence in Spain of wage determination mechanisms that are differentiated by region, which give rise to the existence of significant differences in regional wage structures. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1074&r=ure |
| By: | Joan Trullen |
| Abstract: | Abstract: The notion of “Marshallian Industrial District†proposed by Giacomo Becattini in the first seventies has led a revolution in the local economic analysis around the world. The paper offers a methodological interpretation of the approach adopted by Becattini. The roots are clearly Marshallian. He understands the economy as a complex social science that operates in historical time. But Becattini goes beyond because he proposes a new unity of analysis for the local economic development. The paper identifies similarities and differences between the original concept of “Industrial District†proposed by Marshall and the concept of “Marshallian Industrial District†in the Becattini’s approach. The paper uses the distinction between logical time, real time and historical time. The “Marshallian Industrial District†approach proposes the study of economic process located in specific areas and explained in historical time. Keywords: industrial district, Marshallian industrial district, methodology of economics, Schumpeter’s economic analysis, historical time, economic process. JEL: B31, B41 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1168&r=ure |
| By: | Anthony Flegg; Timo Tohmo |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the use of location quotients (LQs) in constructing regional input-output tables. Its focus is on the modified FLQ formula proposed by Flegg and Webber (1997). Using data for 20 Finnish regions, ranging in size from very small to very large, we determine appropriate values for the unknown parameter delta in this formula. We also develop a regression model that can be used to select an appropriate value for delta. We find that the FLQ yields results far superior to those from standard LQ-based formulae. Our findings should be very helpful to any regional analyst who is contemplating making use of the FLQ formula to generate an initial set of regional input-output coefficients. These coefficients could be used either as part of the RAS procedure or as the non-survey foundations of a hybrid model. We consider possible improvements to the FLQ formula but find that including a regional specialization term in this formula only marginally enhances its performance. On balance, we would recommend using the original FLQ formula. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p334&r=ure |
| By: | Eduarda Marques Da Costa; Patricia Abrantes; Ana Louro; Paulo Morgado |
| Abstract: | The evaluation of territorial programs and plans has been gaining importance, both in political-institutional speeches and practices and in academic reflections. In Portugal, the structure of planning, operacionalized on a vast number of quite recent instruments, requires an effort of articulation in the guidelines to various scales (from European until the municipal) and of the various fields (some sectoral, others, of more transversal nature). The development of monitoring systems, as well as the generalisation of the evaluation procedures, answer to the need of articulation between policies and support the strategic nature that is planning today. As a part of the Research Project SPOTIA - Sustainable Spatial Policy Orientations and Territorial Impact Assessment - Contribution to Portuguese context' (Centre of Geographical Studies – University of Lisbon to the Ministry of Science and Technologies), this paper aims to present an example of the first outputs of this research on the analysis of coherence between three different instruments planning, such as the National Policy Planning (PNPOT), a guiding document of national level, the Regional Spatial Plan to Northern Territory (PROT-Norte), the regional guidance document, and the Regional Operational Programme (PO-Norte), the regional program associated to a financing plan and program implementation. The analysis of coherence between these documents is not only between their general, strategic and specific objectives, but also by the indicator system assessment of each document. With this analysis we can reach the domains that are constantly, or not, present in these documents. In this context, a first essay of a methodological approach on evaluation of public policies in Portuguese context will be presented. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1804&r=ure |
| By: | Serkan Degirmenci |
| Abstract: | Many cross-country studies acknowledge the indispensable role of institutions in promoting economic growth and in sustaining economic development. So, their emphases have shifted to determine the most influential institution(s) in order to be specific. While these papers are widespread in the recent literature, the role of institutions within-country level has not been yet discussed in detail. Although the formal institutional structures of many nation-state countries apply to their all regions, results may differ depending upon various conditions. Considering these differentiated outcomes, this study aims to discuss the roles and functions of institutions in regional economic growth and development. To that end, first objective of this paper is to provide an introductory background by surveying and systematically documenting the evidences on the impact of institutions on regional growth and development outcomes from both the theoretical and empirical studies within a voluminous literature. Second objective is to elaborate this survey by classifying these studies with respect to their different conceptions about “institutions†and to their methodological approaches adopted. By doing that, this paper try to propose an analytical framework that identifies the channels of influence between institutions and economic performance outcomes. As the main concern of that study, third objective is to discuss whether institutions really matter for regional economic growth and development and, if so, how can institutions be included in the regional growth and development policies. Turkey is a convenient example for this discussion. Although its fundamental written institutions have a countrywide validity, their density and quality varies among regions. So, lastly, it is planned to be done an empirical exercise to reveal the linkages between prominent characteristics of these regional institutions and economic performances of regions for the case of Turkey. To sum up, the novelty of this paper is to provide an extensive but a systematic survey of many studies in related literature and to contribute in part to the empirics of the relationship between institutions and regional economic growth and development. Finally, it is expected to obtain a sound understanding about the institutional approach both in economic growth and economic development spheres within the regional context. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1180&r=ure |
| By: | Manuela Pulina |
| Abstract: | Only in the 80’s cultural activity has began to be viewed as a part of tourism (OECD, 2009). The UNWTO estimated that cultural tourism accounted for 40% of all international tourism, up from 37% in 1995 (Mintel, 2011). Museums play a relevant role as repositories of education, social cohesion and personal development. They are a stimulus for the economy, since culture consumers generally have a higher spending propensity than other consumers’ segments (Europa Inform, 2004). Museums are expected to produce positive externalities that can be called cultural spill-over. A museum will not benefit only the public (private) investor but society as a whole because new knowledge will enter society’s pool of cultural knowledge. This study predicts the repeat visitation to the MART of Rovereto, one of the most important museums of modern and contemporary art in Italy. The survey data were obtained during autumn 2009 on site. Via a zero-truncated Poisson estimation, a positive effect on the odds of having a repeat visitation to the museum, is given by either the presence of a temporary exposition or a permanent and temporary exposition; the probability to revisit the museum within the same year; visitation of the annex “Casa Deperoâ€, an important futurist arts exposition, restored in January 2009; visitation of any other city that hosted MART. Negative effects on the odds are given by the distance; number of people travelling with the interviewed visitor; the probability to recommend the museum to friends and family. |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p1411&r=ure |
| By: | Mariasole Bannò; Marika Vezzoli; Maurizio Carpita |
| Abstract: | Innovation virtuously impacts on the degree of international growth, which in turn positively influences innovation activities and then firms�™ performance (Filipescu et al., 2009). Many authors have tried to identify and explain the relationship between these two phenomena at firm level. Only recently, few empirical studies investigate them at a more aggregate level (see e.g. Mariotti et al., 2008). Moreover the literature focuses only on one direction of causality, while scant attention has been paid to inspect empirically innovation and internationalization together (Kafouros et al., 2008; Filippetti et al., 2009; Frenz and Ietto-Gillies, 2007). This paper provides an empirical analysis of the mutual relationship of these two phenomena, taking into account various features of the regions themselves. The empirical study is conducted on data concerning 20 Italian regions covering the period 2000-2008. To better understand the complex relationship between internationalization and innovation, we refer to the Structural Equation Models (SEM). These are multivariate regression type models, in which response variables could in turn act as dependent and predictor within a system of equations, and all variables are assumed to influence one-another reciprocally, either directly or through other variables as intermediaries (Bollen, 1989; McAdam et al., 2010). Through the SEM the relationships are expressed by a set of parameters which explain the magnitude of the effect (direct or indirect) between independent (either observed or latent) and dependent variables. Indeed, internationalization and innovation could act as both dependent and predictor which measurement could be difficult then suggesting the use of latent variables, and where the system of indicators is complex enough to lead at a model specified through two-way relations intrinsically connected. Using SEM approach we are able to specify flexible models dealing with non-standard relations stylized along panel data structure, in which spatial and temporal dimensions do matter |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa11p195&r=ure |