Regional Economic Growth (regional + economic_growth)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Related Variety, Trade Linkages, and Regional Growth in Italy

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, Issue 3 2009
Ron Boschma
abstract This article presents estimates of the impact of regional variety and trade linkages on regional economic growth by means of export and import data by Italian province (NUTS 3) and sector (three-digit) for the period 1995,2003. Our results show strong evidence that related variety contributes to regional economic growth. Thus, Italian regions that are well endowed with sectors that are complementary in terms of competences (i.e., that show related variety) perform better. The article also assesses the effects of the breadth and relatedness of international trade linkages on regional growth, since they may bring new and related variety to a region. Our analysis demonstrates that regional growth is not affected by simply being well connected to the outside world or having a high variety of knowledge flowing into the region. Rather, we found evidence of related extraregional knowledge sparking intersectoral learning across regions. When the cognitive proximity between the extraregional knowledge and the knowledge base of a region is neither too small nor too large, real learning opportunities are present, and the external knowledge contributes to growth in regional employment. [source]


Which type of tourism matters to the regional economic growth?

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM RESEARCH, Issue 2 2008
Italy, The cases of Spain
Abstract Recently, the attention given to the importance of tourism in economic growth has significantly increased. However, research in this area mainly refers to international tourism and to the national level. This paper focuses on the influence of tourism on the economic growth of Spanish and Italian regions. Both international and domestic tourism are analysed and geographical location criteria are considered. Dynamic panel data techniques are applied. The results reveal that both international and domestic tourism have a significant and positive role for regional economic growth in Spain and Italy, although the pattern of these effects differs among different types of region. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Location and Growth in the Brazilian Northeast

JOURNAL OF REGIONAL SCIENCE, Issue 4 2003
Somik V. Lall
Much of this work, however, has been aspatial, implying that the influence of location attributes on growth has been largely ignored. In this paper, we examine the contribution of location to regional economic growth using municipio-level data for the Brazilian Northeast,a historically lagging region of the country. We test if productivity among northeastern municipios is converging to a steady state and whether spatial externalities are linked to productivity growth in individual municipios. We find that, conditional on structural characteristics, productivity among municipios is converging at about 3 percent per year. Further, productivity in individual municipios is positively associated with own-structural characteristics but negatively associated with productivity growth in neighboring municipios. This means that there are negative spatial externalities coming from productivity improvements in neighboring regions. [source]


Modelling the geography of economic activities on a continuous space,

PAPERS IN REGIONAL SCIENCE, Issue 4 2001
Giuseppe Arbia
Birth-death processes; economic geography; geographical concentration; Markov fields; regional economic growth Abstract In the present article we propose a spatial micro econometric approach for studying the geographical concentration of economic activities. We analyse the incentives to use this approach rather than the traditional one based on regional aggregates. As an example, we present our prototypical theoretic model , to be seen as a continuous space version of Krugman's concentration model , that includes birth, survival and growth components. We present a numerical estimation of the birth model for a set of data referring to the concentration of the manufacturing industries in the San Marino Republic. [source]


A micro-simulation model of firms: Applications of concepts of the demography of the firm

PAPERS IN REGIONAL SCIENCE, Issue 2 2000
Leo van Wissen
Demography of the firm; regional economic growth; micro-simulation; firm formation; firm dissolution Abstract. Recently, there is an increasing demand in spatial planning for models based on the demographic concepts of birth and death of firms. This article describes the structure of a spatial demographic simulation model of firms, and its application within The Netherlands. The model structure is essentially of the familiar demographic cohort component type, where an initial cohort of firms ages in a number of discrete steps, and where in each step additions and subtractions to and from the population are modelled using birth, death and migration components. Apart from the central processes of birth, death and migration, the type of economic activity and firm size are highly important for understanding firm behaviour over time. The article describes the transition functions for each of the demographic components and for firm growth. In addition, some empirical results are presented of a number of model simulations in The Netherlands. The results were partly validated using observed economic demographic data. It is concluded that a substantial amount of work remains to be done in this new field. The model presented here has direct implications for the research agenda of the study of the demography of the firm. [source]


The Role of Universities in Building Local Economic Capacities

POLITICS & POLICY, Issue 2 2008
Michael Taylor
As the knowledge economy develops and intensifies, increasing pressure is being placed on universities to help in local economic capacity building to meet the challenges of globalization. This article explores this expanded university role from the perspective of the provision of policy analysis and advice they can provide. It proposes the use of mixed-methods analysis, combining informed empirical modeling and "intensive" case studies to reveal local economic processes. An analysis of Australia's regional problems to exemplify this approach highlights the significance of "enterprising human capital" in promoting regional economic growth and suggests a policy prescription that includes enterprising education. In contradistinction, using U.K. evidence, the pitfalls of entrepreneurship education are outlined as it relates to the role of universities in local economic capacity building. The study calls for dialogue to bring about radical rethinking of policy analysis, advice, and the role universities can play in local economic capacity building. [source]