Regional Distribution Of Economic Activity Research Articles

Methodological issues of assessing the results of the development of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Russian Federation in terms of state support and regional distribution of economic activity in the entrepreneurial environment

Methodological issues of assessing the results of the development of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Russian Federation in terms of state support and regional distribution of economic activity in the entrepreneurial environment

Spatial concentration and regional distribution of economic activities in the Republic of Croatia

Spatial concentration and regional distribution of economic activities in the Republic of Croatia

Firm Formation and Agglomeration Under Monopolistic Competition

In the presence of agglomeration economies one might expect a relocation and concentration of industries. Then firm start-up activities may be assumed to reveal those effects. We introduce an empirical testable model inspired by the New Economic Geography and human capital externalities literature. The novelty of this paper is that it derives a measure of agglomeration economies founded on microeconomic analysis based on households' and firms' maximization behavior, namely the real market potential. Besides agglomeration forces, dispersion and human capital effects can be separated and explicitly controlled for. The paper sheds new light on the general mechanisms of intra-industrial agglomeration forces because it explicitly considers the regional distribution of economic activities. It offers clear evidence for the empirical relevance of the New Economic Geography.

INTERNATIONAL INTEGRATION AND REGIONAL INEQUALITIES: HOW IMPORTANT IS NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE?*

I investigate how international trade and national infrastructure interact to affect the regional distribution of economic activity within a country involved in a process of economic integration. Building on a new economic geography model I show that, in general, there is no simple relationship between regional inequality and changes in trade costs. Whereas trade liberalization in developing countries with poor infrastructure and mostly autarkic regions may well exacerbate spatial inequalities, countries with better infrastructure and larger volumes of interregional trade may experience a more balanced spatial development through the redispersion of economic activity.

Standort und Raumstruktur

Summary The paper surveys traditional and more recent contributions to the Theory of Regional Economics. It starts by introducing the basic research questions in this field. Then the contributions of von Thünen, Weber and Christaller, explaining the regional distribution of economic activity in agriculture and industry are presented and put in perspective, together with the generalizations of Lösch and von Böventer. Center-periphery issues, agglomeration-deglomeration forces and the relations between Regional and International Economics are discussed. Finally the paper shifts to the new set up oft the field, called New Economic Geography. The revitalization of the program owns much to Krugman, whose basic model is outlined as a starting point. The paper hints to several attractive extensions of this basic model. The paper, acknowledging the model’s simple and elegant structure, raises however some doubts on its empirical relevance and its value for policy makers. In addition it seems quite poor in institutional detail, compared to the earlier literature.

Marshallian theory of regional agglomeration

AbstractMost models of regional agglomeration are based on the new economic geography (NEG) model in which returns to scale are pecuniary. We investigate the implications for regional agglomeration of a ‘Marshallian’ model in which returns to scale derive from technological externalities. Workers are assumed to have heterogeneous ‘home region’ preferences. The model is designed to explain how ‘second nature’ determines regional wage inequality and the regional distribution of economic activity. We show that agglomeration is not a necessary outcome of Marshallian externalities. However, if centrifugal or positive externalities are sufficiently strong relative to their centripetal or negative counterparts, the model generates multiple agglomerating equilibria. These equilibria multiply if, in addition, there are scale economies in amenities. A dynamic version of the model is developed in which external economies and inter‐regional labour mobility grow over time. Regional wage inequality overshoots its long run equilibrium and, there is more agglomeration in the long run.ResumenLa mayoría de modelos de aglomeración regional están basados en el modelo de la nueva geografía económica (NEG, por sus siglas en inglés) en el que los retornos de escala son monetarios. Investigamos las implicaciones para la aglomeración regional de un modelo “marshaliano” en el que los retornos de escala provienen de externalidades tecnológicas. Se asume que los trabajadores tienen preferencias heterogéneas en cuanto a su región local. El modelo está diseñado para explicar como lo “instintivo” determina la desigualdad salarial regional y la distribución regional de la actividad económica. Mostramos que la aglomeración no es necesariamente un resultado de externalidades marshalianas. Sin embargo, si las externalidades centrífugas o positivas son lo suficientemente poderosas en relación a sus contrapartidas centrípetas o negativas, el modelo genera múltiples equilibrios de aglomeración. Estos equilibrios se multiplican si además hay economía de escala en servicios. Se desarrolla una versión del modelo en el que las economías externas y la movilidad de mano de obra interregional crecen con el tiempo. La desigualdad de salarios regional excede su equilibrio a largo plazo y a la larga hay más aglomeración.

Does Land Use Planning Shape Regional Economies? A Simultaneous Analysis of Housing Supply, Internal Migration and Local Employment Growth in the Netherlands

Why has job growth over the past decades been weaker in the Dutch Randstad area than in surrounding regions? In a simultaneous equations analysis, we find that employment adjusts to the regional supply of labour. Net internal migration is predominantly determined by regional housing supply and not by employment growth. Growth of the regional housing stock responds only moderately to changes in the number of people and jobs. This lack of responsiveness to demand conditions is plausibly related to restrictions on residential development, implying that the regional distribution of economic activity in the Netherlands reflects land use planning decisions.

Does land use planning shape regional economies? A simultaneous analysis of housing supply, internal migration and local employment growth in the Netherlands

Why has job growth over the past decades been weaker in the Dutch Randstad area than in surrounding regions? In a simultaneous equations analysis, we find that employment has adjusted to the regional supply of labour. Net internal migration was predominantly determined by regional housing supply, and not by employment growth. Growth of the regional housing stock appeared insensitive to changes in the number of people and jobs. This lack of responsiveness to demand conditions is consistent with the presence of strong restrictions on residential development near the main Dutch cities, suggesting that the current regional distribution of economic activity in the Netherlands reflects land use planning decisions.

How endogenous asymmetries in interregional market access trigger regional divergence

We investigate how asymmetric trade patterns in differentiated products affect the regional distribution of economic activities. The asymmetry in interregional market access is an endogenous result of price competition and industry location and arises for intermediate values of trade costs. We show that the emergence of one-way trade in differentiated products gives rise to strong agglomeration forces and leads to the absorption of the smaller region's industry by the larger region. The number of spatial equilibria increases once the pattern of trade is endogenously accounted for.

International Integration and Regional Inequalities: How Important is National Infrastructure?

I investigate how international trade and national infrastructure interact to affect the regional distribution of economic activity within a country involved in a process of economic integration. Building on a new economic geography model I show that, in general, there is no simple relationship between regional inequality and changes in trade costs. Whereas trade liberalization in developing countries with poor infrastructure and mostly autarkic regions may well exacerbate spatial inequalities, countries with better infrastructure and larger volumes of interregional trade may experience a more balanced spatial development through the redispersion of economic activity.

Infrastructure and Education as Instruments of Regional Policy: Evidence from Spain

Regional policy and Spain infrastructure and education as instruments of regional policy: evidence from Spain Governments have often tried to influence the regional distribution of economic activity through supply-side measures such as investment in training and infrastructure. Using evidence from Spain, we examine whether such policies can have an impact and whether they have done so in the past. Our results indicate that disparities in the stocks of human and public capital account for a third of observed regional inequality, about evenly split between the two factors. Hence public investment can in principle be used to reduce regional disparity. Its actual impact, however, will depend both on its overall volume and on the extent to which its regional allocation does indeed vary with regional need. In Spain, investment in infrastructure has made only a small contribution to regional convergence, primarily because it has not in practice been allocated to redistribute across regions to any great extent. In contrast, EFRD transfers have clearly been allocated among regions with redistribution in mind. The impact of the Fund has been significant, but it has been limited by the relatively small size of the programme. — Angel de la Fuente and Xavier Vives

Macro Evaluations of the Impact of Regional Policy in Britain: A Review of Recent Research

Regional policies may be assessed from at least three separate perspectives: their impact on the regional distribution of economic activity (their primary purpose), their aggregate efficiency effect on the economy (contribution to national output net of resource cost) and their financial impact on the national Treasury (net Exchequer costs). This paper reviews the considerable effort directed since the turn of the 1970s towards evaluation of these effects in Britain. So far as the impact of policy on the regional distribution of economic activity is concerned, the paper classifies studies according to quantitative methods used (simple statistical analysis, shift-share analysis and regression analysis) and emphasises the strengths of the latter over the others, showing that, without as yet being used entirely satisfactorily, models useful for policy assessment are developing. So far as aggregate policy effects (economic and financial) are concerned, there is more ground to be broken, although the outline of a basic model is emerging.

Macro Evaluations of the Impact of Regional Policy in Britain: a Review of Recent Research1

Regional policies may be assessed from at least three separate perspectives: their impact on the regional distribution of economic activity (their primary purpose), their aggregate efficiency effect on the economy (contribution to national output net of resource cost) and their financial impact on the national Treasury (net Exchequer costs). This paper reviews the considerable effort directed since the turn of the 1970s towards evaluation of these effects in Britain. So far as the impact of policy on the regional distribution of economic activity is concerned, the paper classifies studies according to quantitative methods used (simple statistical analysis, shift-share analysis and regression analysis) and emphasises the strengths of the latter over the others, showing that, without as yet being used entirely satisfactorily, models useful for policy assessment are developing. So far as aggregate policy effects (economic and financial) are concerned, there is more ground to be broken, although the outline of a basic model is emerging.

Regional Transport Development and Economic Growth

Transportation plans and economic development plans for regional development are postulated with the presumption that the resulting pattern of land uses and activities resulting therefrom are mutually supportive. A study of rural regions in Iowa relating urban development goals to transportation policy and programs had resulted in a method of quantifying the regional distribution of transportation accessibility and the regional distribution of economic activity. Comparing the distribution of manufacturing activity with the distribution of retail activity provides a socioeconomic structuring of rural regions. This structuring of regions can then be compared to the distribution of transportation accessibility within regions and among regions to assess the consistency of the respective development planning. The analysis methodology has implied application beyond the study locations.

The regional distribution of research and development (a note)

The aim of the paper is to analyze the regional structure of R & D potential within a country and to verify, on the grounds of the obtained statistical data, the suggested model of R & D unit localization. The growing impact of R & D on the economic and social development also raises for research policy, the question of to what extent the regional distribution of R & D potential in a country may exert influence on its social and economic inter-regional balance. The statistical analysis indicates that the R & D potential is concentrated in a few localities which are usually centres of state administration, educational and cultural life in the country. There is no correlation with the regional distribution of economic activities. A closer analysis of this aspect by considering the structure of industries shows, however, a more significant relationship between, the economic factors and R & D potential in their regional cross section, especially in research-oriented industries. Attention is also paid to different aspects of the problem in the spheres of basic research and industrial research.

Further thoughts on the shift and share approach

Stilwell F. J. B. (1970) Further thoughts on the shift and share approach, Reg. Studies 4, 451–458. This article is a general appraisal of the contribution of the shift and share analysis to the study of regional growth. The technique itself is shown to have little relevance to the theory of regional growth. However, the organization of information achieved by the shift and share method is useful in the analysis of historical data on either population or employment, and also in forecasting the future regional distribution of economic activity. Many conceptual and empirical limitations are considered, but more ambitious use of the technique in forecasting is advocated because of its ability to handle large amounts of information when used in conjunction with regression analysis.

Planning Techniques for Regional Development Policy

Among the fundamental issues for public policy consideration at this time is the question of what constitutes an appropriate or good regional distribution of economic activity. What course is the American economy taking in distributing population, industry, income, and employment between urban, suburban, and rural places and among the various geographic regions of the country? Should that direction be controlled or altered? How? This paper reports on planning tools and analyses developed to investigate those questions. The study was undertaken as part of the program planning and budgeting efforts of the Economic Development Administration, where the year 1975 was used as a planning horizon. Specifically, the paper describes the following components of the analysis: (1) alternative regional projections (to 1975) of employment and income (alternatives depended on various assumptions as to national growth); (2) alternative population projections (to 1975) for comparable regions (alternatives depended on migration assumptions); (3) comparisons of labor force availabilities, and demands for labor by region. The results of the analysis indicate, first, the importance of a national migration policy as a complement to and possibly a substitute for industrial location policies as tools for directing the regional pattern of economic growth. Second, the analysis shows that the urban centers of the country have the potential for unacceptably high unemployment rates by the year 1975.