Interregional Infrastructure Research Articles

Study of Biopharmaceutical Agricultural Development in Karanganyar Regency

Agriculture in Karanganyar Regency is not considered a primary sector in the Solo Raya area; however, it possesses untapped potential that needs to be developed. Medicinal plants, or bio-pharmaceutical commodities, are among the prominent potentials, with Karanganyar Regency ranking among the top 10 highest producers in Central Java Province and having seven sub-districts as centres for medicinal plant cultivation. Ginger, turmeric, and galangal are outstanding commodities in the Agricultural Region of Karanganyar, identified as potential and key commodities based on linkage system analysis, agropolitan subsystem analysis, spatial structure analysis, LQ and shiftshare analysis, policy analysis, and land carrying capacity analysis. The analysis reveals the presence of potential and challenges as driving and inhibiting factors. Nevertheless, the bio-pharmaceutical agriculture sector faces several issues, such as inadequate support in terms of facilities and infrastructure, as well as imbalances in inter-regional infrastructure conditions that impact marketing disparities. Additionally, monitoring and reporting of agricultural sector development programs are not yet optimal. Therefore, further analysis and studies are needed to develop the agricultural sector, particularly in the bio-pharmaceutical commodities domain.

How to Cope With Strategic Infrastructure Disparities in West Java? (A Post-Pandemic Economic Recovery Analysis )

The availability of energy and telecommunication facilities has been claimed as two strategic infrastructures supporting the West Java economy during and the post-pandemic. However, researchers found that the West Java electricity and telecommunication infrastructure is inter-regionally inequitable. This paper aims to identify the recent electrical energy access of households and the existing condition of telecommunication infrastructure; to configure the investment data in the last five years, and to analyze the opportunities and challenges of investment, and development of electricity and telecommunication network in the future. This research uses the Desk Study method by collecting primary data from bureaucrats and secondary data from relevant Government agencies. The results show that electricity and telecommunications infrastructure conditions in West Java are still unequal between the Northern and Southern regions, particularly in terms of electrification ratio, cellular phone signal strength, and internet signal quality. Furthermore, investment in West Java was very unequal, with about two-thirds of foreign and domestic investment in Bekasi and Karawang districts in the last-five-years. This study formulates recommendations for policy in the investment, electricity, and telecommunications sectors in dealing with interregional infrastructure development disparities as well as economic challenges during and after the pandemic.

Theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of interregional interactions in ensuring economic security

The adoption of strategies for the spatial development of the Russian Federation, national and economic security has brought the study of inter-regional interactions up to date. In this regard, the authors have reviewed the theoretical and methodological approaches of domestic and foreign scientists to the issues of interregional cooperation in various branches of science and production. Interpretations of the concepts “inter-regional interaction”, “economic security” and “economic security of the region” are analysed. The role of inter-regional cooperation, especially inter-regional investment projects, as critical factors in ensuring regional economic security is emphasised. Groups of potential risks and risk-forming factors for joint inter-regional infrastructure projects are identified. Interregional projects are classified according to their scope and purpose: 1) in the production sphere; 2) projects promoting innovation; 3) projects aiming at infrastructure development. Examples of existing interregional projects in the Ural Federal District are presented. The study uses general scientific methods, in particular, analysis and synthesis. The results of the study can serve as a basis for the further development of new theoretical and methodological approaches to solving the problems of inter-regional cooperation.

Interregional infrastructure, competition for capital, and local public expenditure policies: Evidence from China's high‐speed rail network

AbstractInterregional infrastructure promotes market integration and enhances the mobility of capital, thereby intensifying fiscal competition among local governments. Exploiting the expansion of China's high‐speed rail (HSR) network as plausibly exogenous shocks, this study examines how Interregional infrastructure affects the fiscal competition among local governments. We find that after connecting with the HSR network, city governments tend to dedicate a lower proportion of public spending to consumption goods, which benefit immobile households, and invest more in productive inputs, which attract mobile firms. We also find that the negative effect of HSR connection on the proportion of consumption goods is more pronounced in peripheral cities than core cities because periphery cities face a larger increase in capital mobility due to the core–periphery effects of trade integration induced by HSR. Our findings indicate that the behavioural responses of local governments should be accounted for when assessing the social welfare of interregional infrastructure.

A policy perspective for an integrated regional power pool within the Africa Continental Free Trade Area

The Africa Continental Free Trade Area presents an opportunity for the creation of a single continental electricity market in Africa. This market has the potential to promote the efficient development of electricity infrastructure and symbiotic electricity trading between members of Africa's five regional electric power pools. A framework is proposed to harness the opportunities presented by the African Continental Free Trade Area through the coordination of technical and commercial endeavors of the regional power pools in Africa. This includes fostering sharing mechanisms of best practices that support the development of national and international institutions, harmonizing regulations and grid codes, and promoting electricity trading opportunities that will catalyze the development of inter-regional infrastructure projects. In this paper, the authors propose a bilateral contract market that aligns with and complements the existing regional power pools without encumbering them with unnecessary bureaucracy. The paper's policy recommendations are designed to promote proactive adoption and compliance with the recommended best practices, market rules and regulations by market participants, motivated by their self-interests.

THE ROLE OF THE MOSCOW AGGLOMERATION IN THE SOCIO- ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF CENTRAL RUSSIAN REGIONS

The paper presents comparative analysis of strategies of socio-economic development of 4 subjects of Russia — Vladimir, Ivanovo, Ryazan, and Yaroslavl regions, development scenarios, taking into account the influence of the Moscow agglomeration. The analysis includes Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats associated with the proximity of the regions to Moscow and the Moscow region, as reflected in the SWOT analysis of the regions. It reflects the advantages of implementing interregional infrastructure projects for each of the regions.

ЭКОНОМЕТРИЧЕСКИЙ АНАЛИЗ ИНФРАСТРУКТУРНЫХ ЭФФЕКТОВ РЕГИОНАЛЬНОГО ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКОГО РОСТА

Infrastructure provides stimulus to the national and region economy. This paper develops theoretical and practical framework for estimating the economic effects generated from infrastructure. Its three types are considered: roadway, railway, and telecommunications. The hypothesis is that the infrastructure has a positive impact on regional economic development and there are spatial external effects. Estimation showed that road and telecommunications have a positive impact on economic development for Russia, and their external effects also appear. The contribution of railways to increasing labor productivity was insignificant for western and eastern regions. At the same time, the mobile communications per capita is a significant factor for western and eastern regions. The results indicate the necessity to adjust the strategy aimed at implementation of large-scale interregional infrastructure projects.

Congested Interregional Infrastructure, Road Pricing and Regional Labour Markets

Traffic congestion and the policies to combat it have been studied extensively. However, most studies neglect the labour market impacts of congestion. Many also fail to account for the simultaneity between commuting and migration. This paper models impacts such as unemployment disparities, changes in commuting flows and changes in the flow of migrants by adopting an agent based simulation approach. This approach has the strength that it allows the simultaneous consideration of commuting, migration and labour force participation decisions. The results obtained have important theoretical and policy implications and show how an optimal charge may, in fact, be sub-optimal.

Agglomeration economies and productivity in Indian industry

The primary objective of this paper is to examine the extent to which agglomeration economies contribute to economic productivity. We distinguish three sources of agglomeration economies: (1) at the firm level from improved access to market centers, (2) at the industry level from intra-industry localization economies, and (3) at the regional level from inter-industry urbanization economies. There is considerable variation in the sources and magnitudes of agglomeration economies between industrial sectors—in particular, our results indicate that access to markets through improvements in inter-regional infrastructure is an important determinant of firm level productivity, whereas benefits of locating in dense urban areas do not appear to offset associated costs.

Evidence on the political economy of the urbanization process

Urbanization and economic development go hand-in-hand as a country moves from a rural-agricultural base to an urban-industrial base. This paper argues that urbanization per se occurs in response to the basic sector shift out of agriculture, and government policies such as price controls and trade protection of industry affect the process only indirectly through their effect on sector composition. However, urban concentration, the extent to which a country's urban resources are concentrated in one or two large cities as opposed to more evenly spread, is much more directly affected by policies and politics. The paper finds specifically that investments in inter-regional infrastructure facilitates urban deconcentration away from primate to hinterland cities, as does increasing democratization or increasing fiscal decentralization. The findings move beyond establishing basic correlations in the data to trying to quantify causal effects in a panel framework with instrumental variables estimation.

TOWARDS A MODELLING FRAMEWORK FOR INTERREGIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING

TOWARDS A MODELLING FRAMEWORK FOR INTERREGIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING