Modeling knowledge networks in economic geography: a discussion of four methods

The importance of network structures for the transmission of knowledge and the diffusion of technological change has been recently emphasized in economic geography. Since network structures drive the innovative and economic performance of actors in regional contexts, it is crucial to explain how networks form and evolve over time and how they facilitate inter-organizational learning and knowledge transfer. The analysis of relational dependent variables, however, requires specific statistical procedures. In this paper, we discuss four different models that have been used in economic geography to explain the spatial context of network structures and their dynamics. First, we review gravity models and their recent extensions and modifications to deal with the specific characteristics of networked (individual level) relations. Second, we discuss the quadratic assignment procedure that has been developed in mathematical sociology for diminishing the bias induced by network dependencies. Third, we present exponential random graph models that not only allow dependence between observations, but also model such network dependencies explicitly. Finally, we deal with dynamic networks, by introducing stochastic actor-oriented models. Strengths and weaknesses of the different approach are discussed together with domains of applicability the geography of innovation studies.     

Universities’ functions in knowledge transfer: a geographical perspective

Universities’ functions in knowledge transfer have been thoroughly investigated by scholars from different disciplines in the last decades. However, a complete picture of universities’ contribution to regional, national and international knowledge transfer is still missing. In this paper, we pull together the strings of various scholarly works produced by economic geographers, economists, regional scientists and others, thereby taking stock of achievements and shortcomings and elaborating avenues for further scientific work. We analyse the various functions of universities by using four conceptual frameworks, namely the regional innovation systems approach, the new production of technology theory, the triple helix model and social network theory. These different frameworks help to integrate the functions of universities into local-regional, national and international relationships theoretically. Empirically, universities’ relationships have been investigated by case studies, surveys and increasingly by social network analysis. Our exercise results in a critical discussion of a predominantly regional focus of investigation. Looking at knowledge transfer from a regional, national and international perspective leads to a different way of developing theoretical concepts and matching them with empirical tools. In particular, we find that social network analysis and its theoretical basis, i.e., social network theory, will give more body to understanding knowledge transfer functions of universities.     

Long-run effects of regional policy in an economic union

Regional policy in economic unions (e.g. in the European Union) is usually conducted with the objective of overcoming regional disparities. By developing a two-regional growth model with endogenous technological change, we address the long-term implications of regional policy measures. We show that regional policies aiming to support the less-developed region do not only change the location of production between the regions but also affect the overall growth performance of the union. By altering the incentive to accumulate knowledge capital, regional policies influence the steady-state growth rate. Our analysis shows that a potential trade-off between regional equity and dynamic efficiency exists.     

空间可达性衡量方法评述

空间可达性(以下简称可达性)作为一项分析工具已经被广泛应用于城市规划、交通规划和地理等学科的研究及应用领域,用以了解人们所能获得的活动机会以及开展经济建设活动所能获得的潜在经济效益等。但是从目前频繁使用的一些过于简单的衡量方法可以发现,人们对其丰富的内涵、差异化的类型认识不足,这容易导致对研究问题的误判。本文介绍了3种经典的可达性定义以及相应的3种衡量方法;采用横向对比法,从假设前提的合理性、计算过程的复杂性、衡量结果的相似性和应用领域对比了3种衡量方法的差异;介绍了可达性经典衡量方法在内涵扩充、数据质量和分析单元等方面的应用现状;最后就选择合适的可达性衡量方法提出相应原则。     

Comparing Rural and Urban Social and Economic Behavior in Uganda: Insights from Mobile Voice Service Usage

Abstract

The analysis of Call Detail Record (CDR) data sets generated by mobile telephony networks has generated much interest in recent years, particularly as an easily accessed source of large volumes of data capable of reflecting the dynamic behavior of humans across a range of temporal and spatial scales. This paper presents a study focused on examining human social and economic behavioral patterns in Uganda through the analysis of a CDR data set generated in a Ugandan mobile telephone network in 2010. By examining the response of subscribers to a service incentivizing higher mobile phone call rates through the offering of discounts, economically motivated differences in subscriber behavior in poorer versus wealthier regions of the country are identified. The paper also presents an analysis which suggests a high degree of social insularity within the regions of Uganda which is most likely related to regionally economic development levels in addition to the high levels of ethnic homogeneity within those regions. A methodology for identifying centers of economic activity using the data set alone is also presented and the accuracy and implications of the resultant regional patterns are discussed. Finally, measures of human mobility, and its relationship with economic and social regional characteristics, are examined through the use of graph theoretic based analysis techniques.     

The use of game theory in regional economics: A quantitative retrospective

One of the most powerful tools within social science in general and economics in particular is game theory. This methodology allows for the formal analysis of the interactions among economic agents and, therefore, it is particularly useful for the study of economic decisions regarding spatial issues. For this reason, a quantitative systematization of the use of this tool on regional economics research is a relevant topic in the agenda concerned with progress in regional science. In this paper we study research in regional economics and provide a quantitative retrospective of the use of game theory in this field. Our main goal is twofold. First, we intend to categorize the contributions in the use of this analytical tool – by main research subjects, by authors' affiliations, by journal, etc. – using a bibliometric approach. Second, by analysing co‐authoring and using social network analysis, we want to test the existence of structures of knowledge upon which distinct co‐authorship emerges. The results of this research provide a framework for analysing the potential use of game theory in regional economics, suggesting new future research directions.     

Embeddedness of regions in European knowledge networks: a comparative analysis of inter-regional R&D collaborations,co-patents and co-publications

This paper investigates the embeddedness of European regions in different types of inter-regional knowledge networks, namely project-based R&D collaborations within the European framework programmes (FPs), co-patent networks and co-publication networks. Embeddedness refers to the network positioning of regions captured in terms of social network analytic (SNA) centrality measures. The objective is to estimate how region-internal and region-external factors influence network embeddedness in the distinct network types, in order to identify differences in their driving factors at the regional level. In our modelling approach, we apply advanced spatial econometric techniques by means of a mixed effects panel version of the spatial Durbin model (SDM) and introduce a set of variables accounting for a capacity specific, a relational as well as a spatial dimension in regional knowledge production activities. The results reveal conspicuous differences between the knowledge networks. Internal capacity- and technology-related aspects but also spatial spillover impacts from surrounding regions prove to be particularly important for centrality in the co-patent network. We also find significant—region-internal and region-external—impacts of general economic conditions on a region’s centrality in the FP network. However, we cannot observe substantial spillover effects of region-external factors on centrality in the co-publication network. Thus, the distinctive knowledge creation foci in each network seem to find expression in the network structure as well as its regional determinants.     

Regional advantage and the geography of networks: Explaining global–local knowledge sourcing patterns

There is a dearth of systematic evidence concerning the extent to which being located in economically advantaged regions assists firms in accessing knowledge from global sources. This paper explores the issue by utilizing data from a survey of firms in the UK. It shows that local knowledge sourcing widely assists firms in economically advantaged regions by acting as a springboard for international knowledge sourcing, whilst this is not the case for their counterparts in disadvantaged regions. The analysis suggests that the springboard effect and the geography of external knowledge networks are associated with regional economic context.     

Collaboration networks,geography and innovation: Local and national embeddedness

The relationship between collaboration, geography and innovation has been analysed in economic geography. However, little is known from a social-network perspective about whether different geographical levels of embeddedness may determine the way networks affect innovation. To address this issue, we compare the effects of regional vs. country-level Spanish networks on future patenting. If we consider the country-wide network, our statistical analysis reproduces the findings of the previous literature. However, negative effects prevail at the regional level, while the influence seems to be rather positive at the country level. We thus conclude that the embeddedness at different geographical scales exerts differing influence on innovation.     

Urban Tourism and Evolutionary Economic Geography: Complexity and Co-evolution in Contested Spaces

Urban tourism is an important research topic whether in mass tourism resort areas where tourism is the economic staple or in metropolitan areas where it is one (or more) development path(s) among many. Urban areas are dynamic and fast-paced environments but are also places where social and economic inequalities are most stark. Economic geography is one theoretical perspective through which researchers address urban tourism. The recent “evolutionary turn” in economic geography is finding its way to tourism studies but has only been applied to a few urban tourism cases. This paper sets out the potential of evolutionary economic geography (EEG) as a conceptual framework for urban tourism studies. The analysis draws on recent studies of urban tourism from an evolutionary perspective to highlight the strengths of taking such an approach and a number of avenues yet to be explored are put forward. Urban tourism affects large numbers of residents and businesses as well as influencing labour flows, and so understanding the dynamic nature of its development paths is vital. Tourism development does not occur in a vacuum, and urban tourism is one area where the complexity of the tourism economy and its place within broader regional development strategies is most obvious. Under recent neoliberal policies of urban development, tourism has become closely associated with place-based competition and large capital investments. Urban tourism also enters the fray in matters of contested urban spaces with issues of local governance, such as privatisation of public space, moving increasingly to the fore. The paper concludes with a list of future approaches to evolutionary studies of urban tourism to broaden the scope beyond the dominant financial metrics of tourism success.     

Demand for information and communication technology-based services and regional economic development

The relationship between the uptake of Information and Communication Technology-based services (ICT) and regional economic development is examined here; we address in particular the idea that ICT will promote regional economic convergence. We argue that ICT can generate contradictory trends of regional convergence and divergence and that, under conditions of non-regulated market supply, the effects leading to divergence can be dominant. The approach is based on the development of a regional demand model, which is the combination of two sub models, one dealing with the effects of network externalities and the other based on the concept of potential demand for ICT. The main conclusion is that less populous, more peripheral and poorer regions with weaker existing social and economic networking will encounter problems of insufficient demand. This in turn will delay the launch of new services and slow the rate of uptake. Negative dynamic effects of low ICT use on economic performance will generate a vicious circle of cumulative disadvantage. Received: 2 October 2000 / Accepted: 6 December 2001 RID="*" ID="*" Thanks are due to Miguel Jardim and Jo?o Marques for technical assistance with the graphics.     

Agglomeration economies, inventors and entrepreneurs as engines of European regional economic development

In economic agglomeration studies, the distinction of various externalities circumstances related to knowledge spillovers remains largely unclear. This paper introduces human capital, innovation and several types of entrepreneurship as potential drivers of regional economic performance with an impact of agglomeration economies. We use measures of specific types of entrepreneurship, discerned at the individual level, as well as human capital and invention through patenting activity for the period 2001–2006. The empirical application on 111 regions across 14 European countries investigates their relation with observed regional productivity rates in 2006. Our main findings indicate that (i) human capital, patenting activity and entrepreneurship are all linked to regional performance, more so in regions containing large as well as medium-sized cities; (ii) they act as complements rather than substitutes, facilitating productivity differently; and (iii) accounting for patenting activity and entrepreneurship captures agglomeration externalities effects previously subscribed only to the density of resources of regional performance. The particular role of regions with medium-sized cities next to regions with large cities complies with observed growth trends as well as recently proposed place-based development approaches that assume that interactions between institutions and geography are critical for regional economic performance.     

Integration of Sustainability Issues in Strategic Transportation Planning: A Multi‐criteria Model for the Assessment of Transport Infrastructure Plans

Abstract: Last decades have witnessed significant advances in transportation planning methodologies, facilitated by the development of computational algorithms, technologies, spatial modeling tools—such as geographical information systems (GIS) and decision support systems (DSS). However, at strategic planning levels, a commonly accepted assessment model integrating the sustainability paradigm is still lacking. This work presents a novel contribution to this research line, with the proposal of a multi‐criteria assessment model embedded in a GIS. The criteria have been designed covering the three dimensions of sustainability: economic, social, and environmental. This assessment model constitutes an interdisciplinary approach tightly linking network analysis, spatial geography, regional economic, and environmental issues in a GIS‐based computer framework. The validity of the methodology is tested with its application in a case study: the extension of the high speed rail (HSR) network included in the Spanish Transport and Infrastructure Plan 2005‐2020 (PEIT).     

Scalable shift-share analysis: Novel framework and application to France

The shift-share analysis (SSA) of regional employment growth disparities aims at disentangling the effects of regional differences in industry mix and industrial competitiveness. Yet, the spatial concentration of industry is a blindspot of this approach. We generalize the SSA to encompass this salient feature of the economic geography. Besides, industry emergence and catastrophic growth events—booming or collapsing industries—are integrated in our framework. This novel method is applied to study regional disparities in manufacturing employment growth in France in a dynamic way over a 22-year period at a fine geographical level.     

新经济地理学方法在城市成长管理中的应用

新经济地理学具有很强的区域分析能力,将其应用于城市空间成长的研判具有很强的现实意义。二者的结合点是新经济地理学方法适用于城市空间成长的机理研究和不同政策背景下的情景分析。对新经济地理学的发展历程、基本假设与关注重点进行梳理,阐述了新经济地理学与城市空间成长管理关注重点的一致性和差异性,提出了新经济地理学应用于城市成长管理的基本设想。     

论创意阶层与城市发展

当代社会,知识与创意正在替代传统自然资源和有形劳动成为城市经济增长的主要源泉,而创意型人才则自然而然成为城市可持续发展的决定性力量.创意阶层作为工人阶层、服务阶层之外兴起的又一个新的社会阶层,是培育基于学习、革新和时尚生活方式的新城市经济动力.从地理上看,创意阶层具有独特的区位偏好,创意阶层往往集中在那些能够提供宽松的社会氛围和各种就业机会的多样化城市和区域,创意阶层的密集度与地方多样性呈正相关.从城市发展来看,创意阶层的相对密度与地方经济增长呈正相关,一个城市和地区对于移民、艺术家、同性恋、波希米亚风以及社会经济和种族融合的开放程度与其经济质量的高低有着密切的关系,而创意阶层的集中程度与地方创新和高科技产业生长也有一定的相关性,创意阶层集中的城市往往也是创新和高科技产业发达的创意中心.     

Beyond neoclassical orthodoxy: A view based on the new economic geography and UK regional wage data

Abstract.  The article examines the performance of two competing non-nested models of regional wage variations in Great Britain, one motivated by the Solow-Swann neoclassical growth model which assumes constant returns to scale, the other by new economic geography theory, which assumes internal and external increasing returns. Both models also include controls for labour efficiency variations across regions. The empirical analysis, which is based on the bootstrap J test, shows that the neoclassical model does not reject the new economic geography specification, but the converse is not true and the model with a basis in new economic geography has significantly superior explanatory power. This adds support to the notion that in order to correctly understand differential regional economic development, we should move beyond neoclassical orthodoxy and that an increasing returns stance is more appropriate. However, the article also highlights some limitations of new economic geography theory.     

Institutions vs. ‘first‐nature’ geography: What drives economic growth in Europe's regions?

The debate on whether institutions or geography prevail in driving economic growth has been rife (e.g., Sachs 2003 vs. Rodrik et al. 2004). Most of the empirical analyses delving into this debate have focused on world countries, whose geographical and institutional conditions differ widely. Subnational analyses considering groups of countries with, in principle, more similar institutional and geographical conditions have been limited and tended to highlight that geography is more important than institutions at subnational level. This paper aims to address whether this is the case by investigating how differences in institutional and ‘first‐nature’ geographical conditions have affected economic growth in Europe's regions in the period 1995–2009. In the analysis we use a newly developed dataset including regional quality of government indicators and geographical characteristics and employ two‐stage least squares (2SLS) and instrumental variables‐generalized method of moments (IV‐GMM) estimation techniques with a number of regional historical variables as instruments. Our results indicate that at a regional level in Europe institutions rule. Regional institutional conditions – and, particularly, government effectiveness and the fight against corruption – play an important role in shaping regional economic growth prospects. This does not imply, however, that geography is irrelevant. There is evidence of geographical factors affecting regional growth, although their impact is dwarfed by the overriding influence of institutions.     

A framework for exploratory space-time analysis of economic data

The development of exploratory spatial data analysis methods is an active research domain in the field of geographic information science (GIS). At the same time, the coupled space-time attributes of economic phenomena are difficult to be represented and examined. Both GIS and economic geography are faced with the challenges of dealing with the temporal dynamics of geographic processes and spatial dynamics of economic development across scales and dimensions. This paper thus suggests a novel way to generalize the characteristics and the structure of space-time data sets, using regional economic data as the example. Accordingly, a reasonable number of general questions (data analysis tasks) can be abstracted. Then, tools (methods) may be suggested on that basis. The cross-fertilization between exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) and spatial economics is also identified and illustrated by the capabilities of these components, which have uncovered some interesting patterns and trends in the spatial income data of China and the United States. Through exploratory analysis of economic data, the detection of rich details of underlying geographical and temporal processes would be the first step toward such cross-fertilization. In addition, this exploratory analytical framework can be applied to other data sets that are also measured for areal units at multiple points in time.     

Network proximity in the geography of research collaboration

This paper deals with the questions of how network proximity influences the structure of inter‐regional collaborations and how it interacts with geography. I first introduce a new, theoretically grounded measure of inter‐regional network proximity. Then, I use data on European scientific co‐publications in the field of chemistry between 2001 and 2005 to assess those questions. The main findings reveal that inter‐regional network proximity is important in determining future collaborations but its effect is mediated by geography. Most importantly, a clear substitution pattern is revealed showing that network proximity mainly benefits international collaborations.