Government spending and credit market: Evidence from Italian (NUTS 3) provinces

This study examines the effects of government spending shocks on the Italian credit market using NUTS 3 data over the sample period 2011–2018. The empirical methodology is based on a local projection IV and the identification of a public spending shock is achieved by constructing a Bartik instrument. The empirical evidence shows a mild positive effect of 1% increase in government spending relative to GDP on the growth of the volume loans relative to GDP. However, the empirical findings show that government spending does not help to ameliorate neither the “size bias,” that is the financial constraints which small firms face relative to larger ones, nor the “home bias” in lending related to the process of bank consolidation in Italy.     

Social capital,social economy and economic resilience of Italian provinces

This paper investigates the relationship between the social capital and economic resilience of Italian provinces during the Great Recession. It focuses on social economy organizations' internal and external relational dimensions to proxy forms of bonding and bridging social capital. Through an econometric analysis, I find that indicators depicting the diffusion of volunteering and cooperative employment are positively related to a measure of resilience, confirming the hypothesis that social capital can shape local reactions to crises. I also find a negative relationship between the local resilience and social cooperatives' density, highlighting how the latter indicator does not seize virtuous forms of social capital.     

Low-skill jobs and routine tasks specialization: New insights from Italian provinces

This paper analyses the relationship between the specialization in routine tasks and the growth of low-skill jobs in Italian provinces. At this aim, we use data of the Italian Labour Force survey and map the US information on tasks content by occupation into a detailed (3 digit) classification of Italian occupations. We find two main results. First, the degree of specialization in routine-tasks has a positive effect on the growth of low-skill jobs at province level. Second, the local specialization in routine tasks favours the growth of the graduated workers employed in low-skill jobs and, then, the over-education pattern in Italy. Finally, our findings are robust to spatial heterogeneity and endogeneity issues.     

Migration and institutional quality across Italian provinces: The role of human capital

A recent literature strand has emphasized the importance of international migration on the institutional quality of sending and receiving countries. On the contrary, there is no evidence of the effects of intra-national, interregional mobility on government quality, a phenomenon which is particularly relevant in countries affected by significant internal dualism. Using a system generalized method of moments (SYS-GMM) estimator on a 2004–2012 panel dataset, this paper empirically investigates the relationship between internal net-migration and institutional quality of Italian provinces. The findings show that migration has a relevant and positive effect on the quality of institutions only when the human capital content is taken into account.     

Territorial determinants and NUTS 3 regional performance: A spatial analysis for Italy across the crisis

This paper analyses the differential impact of several territorial determinants of the economic performance of Italian provinces (NUTS 3 level). as measured by per capita GDP, export and employment growth from 1999 to 2014. It covers both the pre-crisis and the crisis period and stresses the role of geographical proximity in shaping local performance over a wide set of explanatory variables. In order to do so, we employ, firstly, a spatial Durbin model which enables us to discriminate between direct and indirect effects and to highlight the possible contagion or crowding-out spatial effects for each territorial dimension affecting growth. Then, we extend the analysis by allowing for the possibility of two regimes (pre-crisis and post-crisis). The performance of the provinces before and during the crisis relates to specific territorial components and geographic proximity appears to influence differently the results and their interpretation.     

Economic growth and regional income inequality in Brazil

This paper analyses the evolution of regional inequality in Brazil in the period 1939–1995. Based on a data set organized by the author, indicators of per capita income dispersion among states and regions are presented and their evolution over time is analyzed. The correlation between the regional initial level of per capita income and its growth is considered, testing for Beta convergence. The speed of convergence is calculated in two different forms, the neoclassical model and the coefficient of variation, the later allowing for the analysis of oscillations in inequality over time and its relationship to national economic growth rates. The Kuznetz hypothesis, relating regional income inequality and level of development, is tested. The results indicate the presence of signs of regional income convergence in Brazil, but with important oscillations in the evolution of inequality over time as well as across regions within the country. The association of regional inequality with national income growth produced interesting results, indicating a promising line for future research. Received: April 1996/Accepted: February 2000     

Economic growth in Brazil: a spatial filtering approach

This paper examines the importance of space to per capita GDP growth in Brazil for the period 1980–2004 at the micro-regional level. The role of space is investigated by applying a spatial filter that eliminates the spatial dependence of the data and allows comparison with the original data. The conditioning variables become insignificant after removing spatial dependence. This suggests that the statistical significance of the growth determinants is intrinsically linked to geographical location and indicates the importance of space to regional growth in Brazil. Moreover, these results show that the convergence process is different across spatial regimes after removing this dependence.     

湘桂边界古建筑

漫山红杜鹃盛开的清明时季,追赶着春声儿,我们来到湘桂边界的桂北恭城瑶乡。春光里的凉亭、花桥、吊脚楼愈显得婀娜多姿,我沿着青石板铺就的冗长巷道,尽情分享这一派古朴、幽静的瑶乡风情。在这方圆不到两平方公里的恭城县府所在地,就集中有孔庙(文庙)、武庙、周王庙(周谓祠)、湖南会馆四大省级重点文物保护古建筑群,而且这些古建筑的建筑规模宏伟壮观,建筑艺术精美绝伦,形成了恭城瑶乡一道独特而亮丽的艺术风景线。这道风景线与享誉海内外的恭城瑶乡自然生态农业景观完美地融合在一起,常令游人陶醉赞叹、流连忘返。五年前,山东曲阜的一位副市长来到广西恭城,面对这个深藏在桂北山区的古建筑群惊叹不已,挥毫写下了“曲阜恭城庙相连,瑶汉人民情意长”的题词。也难怪这位副市长有这样的感慨,清同治年间的恭城古县志有这样的记载“古恭僻在南陲,地瘠民稀,籍其田赋所入,直一毛之于泰华,一滴之于沧海耳”,就是这样一个“地瘠民稀”少数古建筑奇葩——孔庙民族边远地区,竟然有如此一座规模宏伟的孔庙。那么,广西恭城瑶乡为什么要建这样一座孔庙呢?原来,恭城瑶乡自古有尊师重教、崇尚孔孟儒家文化的传统美德和良好风尚,但一直到明朝鼎盛时期,恭城县内从未考取出一个文状元。人们便...     

经济增长、快速城市化和贫困

在当今迅速发展和城市化的世界，城市是经济增长不可或缺的推进器。但是，印度住房和城市扶贫部长KumariSelja说道，我们也看到了这种城市化的负面影响，例如贫民窟增长、住房和公共基础设施匮乏等。在对首届亚太地区住房和城市发展部长级会议的这篇评论总结中，她告诫人们注意日益增长的贫困的影响。[编者按]     

Regional growth with spatial dependence: A case study on early Italian industrialization

This paper estimates a conditional β‐convergence model of labour productivity growth in Italy's manufacturing industry during 1871–1911, accounting for spatial dependence. The empirical evidence is based on a recent set of data at provincial (NUTS 3) level on manufacturing value added at 1911 prices, and a new set of data on human and social capital, political participation, and infrastructures. By focusing on a country and a time when the agglomeration forces and spillover effects advocated by the new economic geography were only starting to operate, we can investigate a particularly interesting case study. Our results suggest that human capital, a cooperative culture, and initial productivity in neighbouring provinces can explain much of the geographical variability of productivity growth in manufacturing in nineteenth‐century Italy.     

Economic growth and urbanization: a study of Japan

In Japan economic growth and urbanization have occured within a dualistic framework in which modern (imported) and traditional (indigenous) elements coexist, and their interaction has essentially determined the pattern of industrialization. Japan's economic growth has influenced and been influenced by the shifts of population from primary to nonprimary activities and from traditional nonprimary to modern nonprimary activities. By simulating with a computable general equilibrium model calibrated with 1960 data, insight into this process is provided. This kind of model analyzes urbanization and industrialization by examining the mobility of factors of production as a response to various rates of return. The mobility described is primarily intersectoral but a certain share of the laborers who shift from primary to nonprimary is assumed to stay within the rural areas. The size of this share is a function of agricultural and various nonagricultural wage rates. The model used is described and the results of various dynamic sensitivity analyses are reported. The model is a 6-sector computable general equilibrium model, similar to the model by Karlstrom. Only the distinctly different specifications are described here. These include: sector divisions and use of vintage capital in some sectors; macro closure; wage determination; investment determination; migration determination; and import determination. 4 lessons can be learned from the set of experiments presented here. The inclusion of spatial aspects of population movements into the model offers insight into the different sectoral developments, but for macroeconomic effects a careful inclusion of spatially differentiated social capital becomes important. Expanded investment in either nonagricultural or agricultural sectors increases migration with the latter lagging behind the former. The share of laborers remaining in rural areas who have left agricultural employment goes up monotonically in the urban modern sector (HMIV) and urban traditional sector (HTIV) runs and goes down in the agricultural sector (HAIV) run until lower agricultural wages stimulate urban investment. High urban modern wages depress both intersectoral shifts and the share of nonmovers. If the social capital cost needs in urban areas are higher than in rural areas for any job shifter, a larger number of nonmoving shifters (those who change jobs without moving) means a higher potential in the medium run. Economic growth in Japan in the 1960s may be characterized by the decisions of investors who considered the supply of quality labor as virtually unlimited.     

东北三省协会携手共谋中小水泥企业发展方向

本刊讯为认真贯彻落实国家节能、减排、淘汰落后水泥生产能力的发展战略;同时为在此次淘汰落后生产能力中受到冲击的中小水泥企业的退出、转产、改造开辟一条有效途径、打造一个良好平台,促进东北三省中小水泥企业的可持续发     

县域经济发展与小城镇建设

我国小城镇的全面发展始于新中国成立,按其发展的不同历史阶段以及发展速度和规模, 可分为改革开放前和改革开放后两个不同的阶段。 一、小城镇的地位和作用 (一)、 有利于加快农村剩余劳动力向非农产业转移　　小城镇发展将提高农村地区第二产业和第三产业的比重,特别是提高第三产业的比重。尽管全国小城镇第三产业占总量比重的水平还不高,但这主要是小城镇发展不足造成的,第三产业比重与小城镇的规模有明显的相关性。据在全国其他省的调查,镇区人口2万人以上的建制镇的第三产业劳动力比重一般在30%以上,小城镇发展对于吸纳农村剩余…     

办公建筑的意式对话

意大利人崇尚自由、追逐时尚、充满热情,他们的生活方式被概括为享受休闲阳光比工作更重要。意大利的办公建筑中意式语言鲜明,即便是工作环境中,景观、时尚、阳光元素的加入依然至关重要。建筑设计应该积极回应场地信息和尊重当地文脉早已不是新鲜话题,不同建筑的具体设计过程因项目的个性差异而思路迥异。     

沿海省份欠发达城镇工业空间布局引导

位于沿海省份福建省的诏安县,经济发展面临被边缘化的不利局面,产业发展、工业空间布局方面更是存在不少困惑。本文在分析研究诏安县工业空间布局存在的问题、影响工业空间布局的主要动因后,在优化空间结构、充分利用交通条件、集聚城市发展资源等方面,提出了＂重点发展资源型产业、大力发展外来型产业＂的沿海地区欠发达城镇工业发展的思路,提出构建＂‘四园’＋飞地工业园＂的县域工业布局空间引导。     

晋徽民居建筑装饰性格比较研究

通过对比两地建筑装饰的不同风貌以及探求两地不同的社会文化,论证得出晋居建筑装饰具有外向性格与徽居建筑装饰具有内向性格的结论,进而更好地理解中国传统民居的建筑装饰,为进一步研究民居建筑提供了参考依据。     

Economic growth through entrepreneurship: Determinants of self-employed income across regional economies

Knowledge of the determinants of self-employment income is critical to entrepreneurial development strategies if the development goal is to increase incomes not just employment. Using American Community Survey data, unconditional quantile regression is used to investigate differences in the relationship between entrepreneurial income and an array of individual, industry, and regional characteristics across the self-employment income distribution. Personal attributes, such as education, race, age, and gender, both explain differences in self-employment income and vary in importance across the income distribution. Regional agglomerative effects are significantly positive and stronger at the upper end of the self-employed income distribution.