Authors:Anil Rupasingha; Kyungsoon Wang Pages: 15 - 41 Abstract: Abstract In this paper, we use geographic and time variation of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) small business loans to study the effects of access to capital on small business growth in the USA at the county level. Grounded in theoretical models of imperfect financial markets and entrepreneurship dynamics, we use a panel of 3050 counties over the 1996–2010 period and find that, in general, CRA loans have a statistically significant positive effect on small business growth for the full sample of 3050 counties. This effect holds for different estimation techniques and robustness checks. More importantly, the results hold when we correct for the endogeneity of the CRA loans. The results also hold when the counties are classified into urban, rural, and low and moderate income. PubDate: 2017-07-01 DOI: 10.1007/s00168-017-0814-9 Issue No:Vol. 59, No. 1 (2017)
Authors:Xiafei Chen; Zhiying Liu; Chaoliang Ma Pages: 43 - 68 Abstract: Abstract The implementation of innovation-driven strategy is of great significance. Analysis of the driving factors of innovation performance from quantitative and systematic perspectives is needed for policy making. By drawing upon the LMDI model, this study identifies the driving factors and their corresponding contributions in the innovation performance of 30 Chinese provincial-level regions during the period 2000–2012. The innovation performance is decomposed into the regional economic structure effect, R&D intensity effect, innovation efficiency effect, and economic development effect according to the driving mechanism. The results indicate that the third effect in this list, innovation efficiency, contributes the most to innovation performance at 54.28%, followed by the regional R&D intensity at 27.49%, and China’s economic development at 19.92%. The effect of the regional economic structure is negative, at −1.69%. This study further analyzes four major economic areas of China and identifies the channels through which each area conducts their innovation activities. The empirical findings provide information for policy measures to implement innovation-driven strategies. PubDate: 2017-07-01 DOI: 10.1007/s00168-017-0818-5 Issue No:Vol. 59, No. 1 (2017)
Authors:Hien Thu Tran; Enrico Santarelli Pages: 69 - 100 Abstract: Abstract The prevalence of entrepreneurship varies not only across regions but also among industries. Using a unique panel dataset of 60 two-digit industries across 64 provinces from 2000 to 2010 in Vietnam, we investigate the importance of spatial and sectoral heterogeneity in an analysis of the determinants of entrepreneurship and empirically explore the interaction effect of geographic conditions and industry dynamism. Overall, our results confirm the significance of industry structural variables and their joint effect with geographic conditions in fostering new firm formation. Particularly, (i) growth-driven entries are generally higher in provinces that offer higher salaries; (ii) technology-intensive industries within regions that have strong knowledge spillover effects are appealing to new entries. Others noteworthy findings include: (i) ‘necessity entrepreneurship’ is prevalent in Vietnam, but limited to extractive and service industries that are typically labor intensive; (ii) firms tend to concentrate more in agglomerated locations. This effect, however, evaporates for high-tech industries; and (iii) industry profitability and niche dynamism all play a crucial role in stimulating new start-ups. We apply the system generalized method of moments to obtain empirical evidence in the study. PubDate: 2017-07-01 DOI: 10.1007/s00168-017-0819-4 Issue No:Vol. 59, No. 1 (2017)
Authors:Thi Xuan Thu Nguyen; Javier Revilla Diez Pages: 101 - 138 Abstract: Abstract In many Southeast Asian countries, such as Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia, the appearance of multinational enterprises (MNEs) as a consequence of open and liberal market reforms is increasing the concentration process, especially in and around the capital regions. MNEs are attracted by positive externalities provided by the large agglomerations. Additionally, Vietnam introduced an open-door policy with the initiation of the transition process in 1986. The question arises of whether MNEs will contribute to a regional increase or decrease in the spatial concentration of economic activities. In short, the paper analyzes the locational pattern of MNEs and their spatial impact. Since the economic transition to a socialist-oriented market economy in 1986, a large inflow of FDI has come mainly to the two most important economic regions in Vietnam, namely the Red River Delta (RRD) and the Southeast. Historically, the business climate in the Southeast is more market-oriented, whereas the socialist heritage of the planning system is stronger in the RRD. At first sight, industry in the RRD is less highly concentrated compared to the Southeast because MNEs try to avoid the locations with socialist remains. However, by means of an analysis using the continuous spatial concentration index, we detect that industrial production is also becoming more concentrated in the RRD. PubDate: 2017-07-01 DOI: 10.1007/s00168-017-0820-y Issue No:Vol. 59, No. 1 (2017)
Authors:Giuseppe Calignano; Rune Dahl Fitjar Pages: 139 - 169 Abstract: Abstract Studies of the effects of specific policy measures for innovation have focused mainly on actions based on direct R&D support. However, the innovation studies literature sees innovation as an interactive process, emphasising the role of knowledge exchange for successful innovation. Furthermore, it is increasingly accepted that co-location is not sufficient for knowledge exchange to occur. Consequently, there is also a need to assess the effectiveness of policy measures to promote knowledge exchange between co-located actors. The objective of this paper is to narrow this gap by exploring the outcome of an indirect policy in stimulating coordination and networking. The paper analyses policies for increased networking in a mechatronics district located in the peripheral and less innovative region Apulia (Southern Italy). The success of the coordination and networking action is examined by adopting a longitudinal approach. In order to assess the association of the policy with the overall network structure, social network analysis is used to analyse the data. We compare characteristics of the network in the early and later phase of the district across five dimensions of knowledge exchange, identifying a large increase in the use of partnerships as the main effect of the policy. PubDate: 2017-07-01 DOI: 10.1007/s00168-017-0821-x Issue No:Vol. 59, No. 1 (2017)
Authors:Hector M. Nuñez; Dusan Paredes; Rafael Garduño-Rivera Pages: 171 - 187 Abstract: Abstract Since Roback’s seminal work (J Polit Econ 90(6):1257–1278, 1982), the literature on hedonic prices has evaluated the role of amenities in equilibrating regional differentials in nominal wages and prices. While these studies generally find evidence for traditional amenities and disamenities in developed countries, there remains little research on how characteristics such as violence affect the equilibrium in less developed countries. This article explores violence and other local characteristics as an amenity or disamenity for Mexico and employs the hedonic wage and rent theory proposed by Roback. This research uses a multilevel estimation technique using data from the Mexican Household Income and Expenditure Survey, along with other information from the municipal and state levels. This article finds evidence to suggest that illegal earning opportunities outweigh crime disamenity by inhabitants of some traditional drug-trafficking regions, because such crime appears to be the modus vivendi in those regions in a way that does not reduce economic performance. PubDate: 2017-07-01 DOI: 10.1007/s00168-017-0823-8 Issue No:Vol. 59, No. 1 (2017)
Authors:Theresa Chaudhry; Muhammad Haseeb; Maryiam Haroon Pages: 189 - 208 Abstract: Abstract In this article, we explore whether localization of industries can reduce economic distortions and dispersion in total factor productivity (TFP) among firms in Punjab, Pakistan’s largest province economically. We consider two types of misallocation: (i) dispersion in the distribution of output-based TFP (TFPQ), in particular the survival of low productivity firms in the left tail; and (ii) dispersion in revenue-based TFP (TFPR), indicative of allocative inefficiency. The results are mixed: On the one hand, we find that the distribution of TFPQ is less dispersed in more agglomerated areas, measured by the localization quotient, local productive concentration, and average firm size. At the same time, we find that average TFPQ is also positively related to localization, especially the presence of small firms in the same sector, even though own-firm TFP is lowest for small firms. On the other hand, we do not find evidence that agglomeration improves allocative efficiency measured as deviations in TFPR from the sector average, concluding rather that greater localization of small firms is associated with firms being more output and capital constrained. PubDate: 2017-07-01 DOI: 10.1007/s00168-017-0824-7 Issue No:Vol. 59, No. 1 (2017)
Authors:Gillian Bristow; Adrian Healy Abstract: Abstract The varying rates of recovery of European regional economies from the 2007 to 2008 economic crisis have raised interesting questions about the sources of economic resilience. Policy discourse has increasingly asserted the role played by innovation in facilitating rapid recovery from economic shocks, whilst evolutionary thinking has highlighted the specific importance of innovation capacity. However, empirical evidence on this is lacking. This paper addresses this gap by providing new empirical analysis of the relationship between regional innovation capacity and the resilience of European regions to the crisis. It finds that regions identified as Innovation Leaders at the time of the crisis were significantly more likely to have either resisted the crisis or recovered quickly from it (i.e. within 3 years). This provides important insights for evolutionary approaches theorising the relationship between innovation and resilience. PubDate: 2017-07-26 DOI: 10.1007/s00168-017-0841-6
Authors:Daniel Coronado; Esther Flores; M. Ángeles Martínez Abstract: Abstract Several studies have revealed that R&D funds, university-level characteristics and the internal university environment determine the number of patents applied for by universities. However, only a few papers have analysed the effect of the demand side on the production of patents. This study looks into the extent to which patents generated by European universities are related to the regional specialization of host regions. Drawing on a sample of 3330 university-owned patents from the European Patent Office, covering the period 2001–2004, and several count models, our results suggest that the regional economic specialization significantly affects the production of university patents in high-technology sectors. We did not find any significant relationship between the regional specialization and the production of medium and low university-patented technologies. PubDate: 2017-07-21 DOI: 10.1007/s00168-017-0843-4
Authors:Kelsi G. Hobbs; Albert N. Link; John T. Scott Abstract: Abstract In this paper, we present a generalized model of US university science and technology parks, and we identify covariates that might serve as target variables not only to perpetuate the growth of existing parks but also to provide information for those nations, regions, and universities starting new parks. Relevant covariates are the distance between the park and the university and if the park was founded during the information and communications technology (ICT) revolution (post-2000). PubDate: 2017-07-19 DOI: 10.1007/s00168-017-0842-5
Authors:Yiming Zhou Abstract: Abstract This paper explores the impact of interplay between transport costs and commuting costs on urban wage inequality and economic distribution within a new economic geography model. As in former studies, workers tend at the same time to agglomerate in order to limit transport costs of manufactured good and to disperse in order to alleviate the burden of urban costs. In this paper, we pay special attention to wages and spot light on how the urban wage inequality is determined by interplay between urban costs and transport costs. We also solve analytically the break points and the sustain points and disclose their relationships with transport costs and commuting costs in a general equilibrium model. PubDate: 2017-07-19 DOI: 10.1007/s00168-017-0840-7
Authors:Kyung-Min Nam Abstract: Abstract This study explores whether China’s population distribution is excessively biased toward large cities or coastal regions. The test is based on a fixed effects model estimated from a 5-year panel dataset for 101 countries, and two spatial inequality measures are computed from \(0.25^{\circ }\times 0.25^{\circ }\) population grids for a parallel cross-country comparison. The results show that the spatial Gini coefficient for China does not deviate from a general trend, while Moran’s I index is biased upward. This suggests that the spatial inequality of China’s population distribution tends to be more obvious at the regional level than at the city level. PubDate: 2017-07-10 DOI: 10.1007/s00168-017-0839-0
Authors:Xin Li; Kyung-Min Nam Abstract: Abstract In this study, we demonstrate the existence of bimodality in China’s city-size distribution and develop an urban-growth forecast model that incorporates this bimodality. Main data for our analysis are \(0.{25}^{\circ }\times 0.{25}^{\circ }\) population density grids for the past 32 years, created from China’s official census data and county-level statistics. Our results show that the mixture of two Gaussian distributions outperforms unimodal distributions in explaining China’s historic urban-growth patterns, suggesting that the conventional unitary urban-hierarchy assumption lacks ground in China’s context. We also find that the higher-density mixture component increasingly dominates the entire distribution, and this gradual transition toward a unimodal city-size distribution is partly related to increased domestic population mobility. PubDate: 2017-06-29 DOI: 10.1007/s00168-017-0838-1
Authors:I-Ju Tsai Abstract: Abstract A new economic geography model is used to assess the impacts of trading arrangements on the industrial development of a small economy with footloose entrepreneur movement toward China. With three regions—the small economy, the large economy (China), and the global market—the simulation results show that, to maintain itself as an industrial core, the small economy should pursue a decentralizing trade arrangement, either by significantly lowering its trade costs with the global market, or by serving as a trading hub. Without reducing the small economy’s trade costs with a third region, the trade liberalization between the small and the large economy will cause the core–periphery effect, even if labor costs rise in the large economy. PubDate: 2017-06-26 DOI: 10.1007/s00168-017-0836-3
Authors:J. Sebastian Leguizamon; Susane Leguizamon Abstract: Abstract Previous studies argue that homosexuals can affect house prices through two mechanisms: an esthetic–amenity premium and a tolerance (or open culture) premium. We find that this relationship varies with respect to areas with different compositions of educational attainment and race. While we find evidence of a premium in areas with higher share of college-educated individuals, we find no premium in low-educated areas. Based on the mechanisms above, these results suggest either that low-educated individuals and homosexuals diverge in their preferences for types of amenities, or that the open culture preference from buyers could be biased toward highly educated areas. Interestingly, the magnitude of the premium (or discount for areas with low shares of educated residents) is lower when the number of black residents increases. This suggests that the presence of blacks may help the ‘openness’ perception for areas with low levels of educational attainment, but also highlights differences in preferences for amenities between African-Americans and homosexuals. PubDate: 2017-06-20 DOI: 10.1007/s00168-017-0835-4
Authors:Katja Görlitz; Sylvi Rzepka Abstract: Abstract Using data from the National Educational Panel Study of 2009/2010, this paper investigates the correlation between regional training supply and employees’ training participation. Controlling for other regional factors such as the local unemployment rate, the educational level, the population density and the regional industry composition, the results indicate that training participation is significantly higher in regions with many firms in the training supply market. The predictive power of the other regional factors is rather minor. PubDate: 2017-05-22 DOI: 10.1007/s00168-017-0831-8
Authors:Stefano Manzocchi; Beniamino Quintieri; Gianluca Santoni Abstract: Abstract We analyse productivity differentials across about 63,000 manufacturing firms located in 103 Italian counties, in order to shed light on the relation between the business environment and firm performance. We find that a limited set of local variables related to institutional quality, local credit development, market access and innovation environment significantly contribute to explaining manufacturing productivity differentials in Italy. Our empirical findings confirm that firm competitiveness reacts to the local business environment on a multidimensional scale. This suggests that better targeted regional policies at the national and EU level, including measures for fostering convergence or decentralizing wage negotiations, should take into account the interdependence between productivity and the economic environment. PubDate: 2017-05-13 DOI: 10.1007/s00168-017-0830-9
Authors:Runsen Zhang; Kakuya Matsushima; Kiyoshi Kobayashi Abstract: Abstract Urban agglomeration has attracted attentions of urban planners, economists, and policymakers. For the sake of urban agglomeration simulation, this paper attempts to develop a computable urban economic (CUE) model incorporated with economies of scale, through the approach of new economic geography. It is assumed that each firm produces a product variant in a monopolistic competition market, and the number of firms is explicit and determined endogenously. The Dixit–Stiglitz type utility function with product variety is adopted into the households’ behavior to reflect consumers’ preference for variety. On the other hand, internal increasing returns to scale and fixed cost are introduced in firms’ behavior to extend the model with economies of scale. The model’s parameter estimations and calibration are conducted on the basis of empirical data from several approved sources for Changzhou in 2008. Numerical computations are implemented by employing the extended CUE model incorporated with economies of scale to explain and examine how the urban agglomeration comes into being. Simulation results show that the extended model incorporated with economies of scale is able to commendably represent the urban agglomeration mechanism, providing a promising simulation tool for urban planning and policymaking. PubDate: 2017-05-08 DOI: 10.1007/s00168-017-0829-2
Authors:Ferhan Gezici; Burçin Yazgı Walsh; Sinem Metin Kacar Abstract: Abstract The geography of the manufacturing industry has been changing due to technological development, flexible production and reducing transportation costs regarding the new specialization and distribution process in the world. While manufacturing production has been moving from developed countries to the relatively less developed ones, which have become the emerging economies over the last two decades, the concentration of these activities within the countries has always received the attention of researchers. On the other hand, not only the geographical shift but also structural shifts have increasingly been an important phenomenon of the twenty-first century. It is known that the level of technology and innovation makes a significant contribution to regional economic development. Determinants of manufacturing agglomerations have created a wide literature based on different empirical studies. Moreover the structural changes of industry need to be investigated regarding the spatial agglomerations. The aim of this paper is to explore how the factors of manufacturing agglomerations have differentiated due to the technological level across the country. Furthermore, we assume that the agglomeration mechanism is likely to vary across the space. Therefore, we have run both global and local regression models based on the employment data of the 81 NUTS III level regions (provinces) of Turkey in 2012. The results point out that the factors of agglomerations are different in the east and west provinces, while GWR has significantly improved global results. PubDate: 2017-05-05 DOI: 10.1007/s00168-017-0827-4
Authors:Alan T. Murray Abstract: Abstract This paper was originally presented as a presidential address for the 56th Annual Meeting of the Western Regional Science Association, held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on February 15–18, 2017. The intent of the paper is to discuss the continued importance of analytical methods to further knowledge and understanding, and in doing so contribute to enhanced analysis, planning, policy and decision making in a variety of contexts. Regional science is founded on the principle of being a multi-disciplinary effort, bringing together a range of quantitative approaches to study societal issues and concerns through planning and policy efforts, hopefully to bring about positive change. Analytics is an increasingly popular reference to the methods employed by a discipline or specialty area. Given the prominence of methods in regional science, it is suggestive of a more nuanced term like regional analytics. It is hoped that reflecting on regional analytics will reinforce the significance and strength of our discipline in the coming years and decades. It is only through our actions that we will make a difference, and we hope that such actions are based on the best information and scientific reasoning possible. PubDate: 2017-04-13 DOI: 10.1007/s00168-017-0825-6
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