R&;D accessibility and regional export diversity

This paper examines the influences of accessibility to R&D on the export diversity in Swedish regions. A theoretical model with fixed R&D cost predicts that spatial knowledge spillovers generate external economies of scale in R&D activities. These external effects are presumed to increase regions’ innovative capacity. Moreover, the model implies that the effects of R&D on regional export performance are reflected by the size of the export base rather than by the export volumes. The empirical analysis focuses on three different indicators of export diversity: the number of exported goods, the number of exporting firms and the number of export destinations. The hypothesis that regional accessibility to R&D facilities in the private business sector, on the one hand, and university research departments on the other hand, increases the export diversity in regions is tested in a spatial cross-regressive model. Since knowledge cannot be regarded as a spatially trapped resource the empirical analysis includes two measures of R&D accessibility: intra-regional and inter-regional. The empirical results indicate that the three indicators of regional export diversity are positively affected by the intra-regional accessibility to company R&D in commodity groups that have a relatively high R&D-intensity in production. Inter-regional accessibility to company R&D has significant positive impacts on the number of export goods and the number of export destinations also in less R&D-intensive industries. In the case of university R&D, the empirical results are weaker, in particular in the case of intra-regional accessibility. Yet, the inter-regional accessibility to university R&D has a significant positive impact on the number of export goods and the number of export destinations in the majority of commodity groups.     

Estimating population change with a two-category shift-share model

Shift-share analysis is an accounting procedure that identifies three separate effects for regional employment change. But the analysis is ordinarily restricted to only one category: usually, industry employment. This paper presents a new shift-share model that simultaneously addresses both occupation employment and industry employment. Community-level occupation-in-industry employment effects (both mix and competitive) occurring in the 1980s are then used to estimate population change in the 1990s. Separate estimates are given for two data sets comprised of different-sized non-metropolitan U.S. communities – small towns and micropolitan centers. This expanded two-category model is shown to generate estimates that are clearly superior to those of the traditional one-category model.The first version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers in September, 2001. The senior author has benefited from various conversations with Kingsley Haynes regarding shift-share analysis. The authors also thank three referees and the editor for their comments on an earlier version of the paper.     

Outsourcing in the innovation process: Locational and strategic determinants

Abstract. There is now substantial evidence that locational and agglomeration influences can have a significant positive effect on innovation performance. Networking and boundary-spanning activities are also increasingly recognised as important contributors to innovation success. In this article we attempt to discover whether these factors are associated: in particular, is there any link between plant location, agglomeration effects and the extent of outsourcing in the innovation process? Using data for a large sample of UK and German manufacturing plants, we find that organisational and strategic factors play a much greater and more consistent role than locational influences in shaping the level of outsourcing in the innovation process. Strategic approaches to outsourcing may also benefit plants in obtaining economies of scope in the management or governance of outsourcing within the innovation process.     

Spatial dominance: a new approach to the estimation of interconnectedness in regional input-output tables

In the first, theoretical part, the paper gives an overview of possible measures of the impact of loops and feedbacks in an input-output structure. In the second part, the paper provides indicators that measure interregional connectedness. Applying the influence graphs theory, a distinction is proposed between partial interconnectedness (between two or three regions, sectors, ...) and global interconnectedness (between all regions, sectors, regional sectors ...). Lastly, this approach is illustrated by a comparison of two French tables (1982 and 1992), computed by a simple method of biproportion, and consisting of 6 large regions and 6 large sectors.Received: December 2000 / Accepted: May 2003     

An empirical analysis of competing explanations of urban primacy evidence from Asia and the Americas

This paper tests the relationship between primacy and economic development for countries in Asia and the Americas. It tests explanations for primacy drawn from several social-science disciplines – demography, economics, geography, political science, and sociology. The study is one of the first to use panel-data estimators for the tests. Economic and domestic political variables are found to be important determinants of primacy. In particular, rent-seeking and dictatorial governments are associated with primacy, but the association exists independent of the level of economic development. The implication from dependency and world-system theories that current international economic interactions promote primacy is not supported. It also examines the hypothesis that primacy first increases and then decreases with GDP per capita.     

An empirical analytical framework for agglomeration economies

This paper proposes an empirical analytical framework for agglomeration economies based on a translog production-inverse input demand system. Estimation of the system allows us to identify effects on total factor productivity (TFP), partial factor productivity, factor prices and factor demands. It also provides a decomposition of the aggregate agglomeration elasticity into returns that arise from the increased efficiency of factor inputs and a “direct” agglomeration effect which exists over and above any factor augmentation. This enables us to indirectly address the problem of unobserved heterogeneity in factor “quality”. The paper provides an empirical application of the model using firm level data for UK manufacturing and service industries.     

Administrative spatial structure: a note on an alternative approach

This note explores the manner in which the administrative system may be related to an economic or functional system in terms of spatial structure. Following the specification of criteria for the spatial structure of a viable administrative system, the salient features of a functional system are outlined. It is shown that when the administrative system is required to correspond to such a functional system in all respects, a crucial criterion cannot generally be satisfied. If, however, this particular criterion is imposed on the administrative system, a feasible structure is possible, which co-exists with the functional system. The two emphases (involving correspondence and co-existence, respectively) are brought together in a worked example, which also demonstrates how a common feature of administrative systems can be accommodated.     

Edge city formation and the resulting vacated business district

The effects of edge city formation on the structure of an existing core city are investigated. Focus is put on the phenomenon of ``vacated business district' in the core city. It is hypothesized that some area of land in an existing business district becomes vacant due to edge city formation because of the transformation and/or adjustment costs of land. Equilibrium configuration in a metropolitan area is investigated, and various comparative static analysis is performed by numerical simulation method. Received: January 2004 / Accepted: July 2004 The previous version of this paper was presented at the ARSC meeting (at Osaka) and the European Congress of Regional Science (at Dublin). We are grateful to the participants of both conferences for their helpful comments. We also thank to anonymous referees and the editor of this Journal for their useful comments and suggestions.     

A metropolitan input-output model: Multisectoral and multispatial relations of production,income formation,and consumption

This study formulates a metropolitan input-output model (hereafter MIO) that incorporates the multispatial and multisectoral nature of an urban economic system. Two main features can be highlighted which distinguish the MIO model from other input-output models as applied to the urban context. The MIO model integrates information on intrametropolitan flows of people, commodities and services through the embedding approach within an input-output framework. Accordingly, the model has been built in one methodological framework (input-output framework) and operated by using one calculation system (inversion of input coefficient matrix), taking interspatial and intersectoral linkages into consideration. Another unique characteristic of the proposed model is that the input coefficient matrix of the MIO model consists of three partitioned matrices that have different spatial dimensions: interindustrial technical coefficients by place of production; the income coefficients by place of residence, and consumption coefficients by place of consumption. The MIO model can be applied for the impact analysis of a variety of urban policy evaluations. The main sets of results are derived as outputs from the MIO model: gross output and employment by zone, by sector, by income group, and by repercussion type.The early version of this paper was presented at the Western Regional Science Association (WRSA), February 25-28, 2001, Palm Springs, CA. This Research was supported by the Chung-Ang University Special Research Grants in 1999.     

Distribution of regional income and regional funds in Europe 1989–1999: An exploratory spatial data analysis

The efforts of the European Commission to reduce regional inequalities over its territory continue to attract the attention of researchers. The purpose of this paper is to perform an exploratory investigation of the relationship between the spatial distribution of regional income and of regional development funds among 145 European regions over 1989–1999. Using a set of tools of spatial statistics, we first detect the presence of global and local spatial autocorrelation in the distribution of regional per capita incomes, traducing that rich (poor) regions tend to be clustered close to other rich (poor) regions, and in the distribution of regional growth rate and regional funds. Second, the results of LISA statistics conclude to the presence of spatial heterogeneity in the form of two spatial clusters of rich and poor regions over the decade, highlighting the persistence of a significant core-periphery pattern among European regions. Finally, an exploratory analysis reveals a negative correlation between growth and initial income, that tends to indicate -convergence. A positive relationship between regional growth and structural funds is identified among the significant results as well. Only Andalucia, Galicia and Sterea Ellada show atypical linkages. These results suggest that further research should include spatial effects and the distribution of regional funds in the spatial econometric estimation of regional convergence in Europe.Received: March 2003/Accepted: November 2003This paper has been written while I was a Fulbright Visiting-Researcher at the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA). I have benefited from useful comments of the participants of the 49^th Annual North American Meeting of the RSAI and the participants of the 42^nd Annual Meeting of the WRSA. I would like to thank most especially Julie Le Gallo, Phil Rees and two anonymous referees for their valuable suggestions. Financial support from the Région Aquitaine (France) is gratefully acknowledged.     

The effects of trade openness on regional inequality in Mexico

This paper attempts to shed light on the debate about the effect of trade openness on regional inequality, by exploring the specific mechanisms through which this relationship might operate. It does so by testing the hypothesis, based on endogenous growth theory, that a region’s ability to capture the benefits of trade openness depends on key regional characteristics—its critical endowments—and therefore the degree to which trade will reduce regional inequality in a given country is mediated by the geographic distribution of its endowments. I test the hypothesis in Mexico, using statistical analysis of an original sub-national dataset that runs from 1940 to the present. The results indicate that opening up to trade benefits more those regions with lower levels of education, thereby tending to reduce regional inequality. However, opening up to trade also benefits more those regions with higher levels of income and infrastructure, thereby tending to increase regional inequality. This latter effect is greater than the former, so that the overall effect of trade openness is to increase regional inequality.     

A multi-scale analysis of urban form and commuting change in a small metropolitan area (1990–2000)

Issues of growth, especially the spatial nature of recent urban development and its implications for travel patterns, have received a great deal of attention. In particular, questions persist as to how the spatial distribution of workers and jobs influences commute patterns. This paper investigates changes in commuting and land use patterns using measures of jobs–housing balance, commuting efficiency and other statistics. A smaller urban area is chosen for study (Tallahassee, FL, USA)and data on its workers, jobs, and commute patterns are obtained from the Census Transportation Planning Package for 1990 and 2000. The key research questions investigated probe whether there were substantial changes in urban form and commuting over the period. A two-tiered approach is taken where change is explored at the regional and local scales using GIS, optimization procedures, and inferential statistical techniques. The results reveal the extent of the spatial changes in the study area between 1990 and 2000. Major findings included stability in urban structure over the time period, as well as a persistent strong relationship between land use and commute patterns. These results are discussed in light of their implications for other cities and for future work.     

Factor distribution, capital intensity and spatial agglomeration

This paper investigates the effect of capital on agglomeration behavior within a framework of the core-periphery model. Capital is interregionally mobile in the short-run, whereas labor is mobile in the long-run. In conclusion, (i) capital and industries are distributed among regions more equally than workers when transport costs are sufficiently high, and the relation is reversed when transport costs are sufficiently low; (ii) a rise in capital intensity stimulates agglomeration in the economy.Received: July 2003/Accepted: February 2004I am indebted to Professors M. Fujita and K. Yamamoto for valuable comments on an earlier draft. I also wish to thank Professors T. Mori, T. Kinugasa, T. Kuroda, M. Makabenta and two anonymous referees for helpful suggestions.     

Knowledge–capital meets new economic geography

This paper introduces multinational firms in a new economic geography model. There, unskilled labor mobility leads to less concentration of production than skilled labor mobility does. This is in line with empirical evidence that agglomeration of production in Europe is less pronounced than in the United States. The different patterns in (skilled versus unskilled) labor mobility together with the presence of multinational firms form one explanation of the actual differences in the spreading of industries in Europe as compared to the US     

Measuring world city formation – The case of Shanghai

One of the important issues related to world cities studies is the lack of systematic measurement of the formation of world cities. Such a measurement technique would be a useful tool for cities aspiring to attain world city status, especially those cities in Pacific Asia, such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, and Shanghai. This paper approaches this task by devising a measurement methodology based on quantifiable indicators to generate a World City Index and then uses Shanghai as a case study to test how the city stands compared to 32 current and potential world cities. This paper is a part of the result of the research projects sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Science Foundation of China with project numbers KZCX2-307 and 40171036.     

The general urban model: Retrospect and prospect

The general urban model is viewed in brief retrospectively, mainly emphasizing the transition for the monocentric 'classical' elements of such a model to the multicentric. The emphasis of the paper, however, is on future prospects. It is argued that it could be developed as the basis of a model-based 'big picture' of urban development through five layers of disaggregation – from the global to the local. There are many opportunities for submodel development but the main future challenge is the modelling of urban and regional evolution. Progress in modelling urban and regional systems as complex nonlinear systems with particular reference to path dependence and phase transitions is reviewed. The idea of urban and regional 'DNA' is introduced which leads to a 'genetic medicine' view of aspects of planning.     

Alternative approaches to trip distribution modelling: A retrospective review and suggestions for combining different approaches

Abstract.  Various alternative approaches are available in the literature for modelling trip distribution. The objective of this paper is to provide a review of this literature with the view of summarising the general nature of the current state of practise and what is now available for practical modelling work. Both aggregate and disaggregate destination choice models are considered, a classification of them will be proposed and suggestions for further research will be given as well. One outcome of this review is that significant contributions are emerging from mixed models (e.g., gravity-opportunity, random utility, intervening opportunities models, etc). In particular, the review will highlight the benefit of integrating different approaches like the introduction of intervening opportunities factors within random utility models.     

ERSA Conference participation: does location matter?

Abstract.  This article analyses participation in the annual European congresses of the Regional Science Association (ERSA) from 1998 through 2003. We formulate goals that the ERSA conferences should aim at and based on these aims we formulate hypotheses about conference participation. In the empirical part we test hypotheses with regard to the spatial distribution of the participants over countries, the distribution of the frequency of attendance among the participants, and the presence of distance decay in participation. All hypotheses are confirmed. We also pay attention to the relation between the frequency of attendance and distance. In the conclusions we derive implications for future conferences.     

Multinationals and regional indigenous development

We investigate in how far foreign multinationals have fostered regional indigenous development in Ireland. Specifically, we examine whether foreign presence has induced indigenous plant entry within the same regions and in bordering regions. To this end we employ an entry rate model on an exhaustive panel level data set for Irish manufacturing plants. Our results show that multinationals can foster local development both within and in surrounding regions, although the extent of these effects varies between policy preferential and non-preferential regions.Received: December 2002/Accepted: January 2004This research has benefited from financial support through the RTN research project Specialization versus diversification: the microeconomics of regional development and the spatial propagation of macroeconomic shocks in Europe of the European Commission (grant No. HPRN-CT-2000-00072). We would like to thank Rosella Nicolini for helpful comments. The second author gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Belgian FNRS and the third author acknowledges support from a Marie Curie grant. Usual disclaimers apply.     

Do localization economies derive from human capital externalities?

One of the most robust findings emerging from studies of industrial agglomeration is the rise in productivity that tends to accompany it. What most studies have not addressed, however, is the potential role played by human capital externalities in driving this relationship. This paper seeks to do so using data from the 1980, 1990, and 2000 US Census covering a collection of 77 (primarily) three-digit manufacturing industries across a sample of more than 200 metropolitan areas. The analysis generates two primary results. First, a variety of education- and experience-based measures of average human capital rise significantly as an industry’s employment in a metropolitan area increases. Hence, clusters of industry do tend to be characterized by larger stocks of human capital. However, second, even after accounting for the level of human capital in a worker’s own industry, the overall size of the industry remains strongly associated with wages. Such results cast some doubt on the notion that localization economies emanate from education- or experience-based knowledge spillovers. The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not represent the official positions of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis or the Federal Reserve System.