Public policy,locational choice and the innovation capability of high-tech firms: A comparison between Israel and Ireland

Using survey data from Irish and Israeli firms we examine the influence of public policy on the characteristics, location and innovation capability of high-tech firms. The innovation activities of Israeli firms in Israel are found to be much more locationally sensitive than that of Irish companies. Regional policy incentives, involving the dispersal of high-tech firms to peripheral areas of Ireland are therefore likely to have had little negative effect on firms' innovation capabilities. In Israel, however, inducing highly R&D intensive firms to locate away from the main metropolitan areas may be counter-productive. Received: 28 November 2000 / Accepted: 26 September 2002     

Industry–research co‐operation within and across regional boundaries. What does innovation policy add?

The paper aims to show how regional policy‐makers can stimulate firms' co‐operation with research organizations by granting an R&D subsidy. Using an original dataset for the Italian region of Emilia‐Romagna, propensity score matching is first applied to identify the impact of the subsidy received. A generalized propensity score technique is then employed to investigate the effect of an increasing amount of support. The firm's co‐operation is policy sensitive. The award of a subsidy to regional firms affects their intra‐regional more than their extra‐regional co‐operation. The propensity toward the latter appears subject to a monetary effect and is influenced by the amount of public funding received providing the subsidy overcomes a minimum threshold.     

The geography of innovation in a small metropolitan region: An intra‐regional approach in Luxembourg

The objective of the paper is to analyse the local determinants of innovation in a small European metropolitan region. First, we examine the extent to which geographic space is a determinant of innovation for five intra‐regional units. Second, we investigate whether innovation is dependent on accessibility to the mean centre. In both cases we examine innovation propensity and innovation output using microdata from the Community Innovation Survey carried out in Luxembourg. The paper provides evidence of a link between the effects on innovation at the intra‐regional level of firms' profiles and agglomeration externalities.     

Regional convergence in the European Union: From hypothesis to the actual trends

Economic convergence or non-convergence between countries and regions continues to attract analytical attention in Europe. To converge in real terms and not only in terms of nominal variables is one of the basic aims of the European Union Treaty. A first objective of this paper is to offer an overview on what is actually happening in the European Union in contrast to some generally accepted hypotheses and models predicting regional convergence. Empirical evidence shows that after a period of (relative) regional convergence in GDP per capita as well in terms of labour productivity, this process has almost completely ended. Possible explanations go from the most pro-convergence theories (optimists) to those that outweigh real obstacles to theoretical assumptions (pessimists). As a second objective the paper examines two important facts that can contribute to explaining the actual trends. The first is named the `national effect', where regions of each country have economic behaviour strongly linked to the national economy as a whole. The second is the `differential' behaviour of many European regions in terms of economic outcomes.  Some suggestions and conclusions are drawn from the facts and the trends observed in the European integration process. Received: May 2000/Accepted: December 2000     

Non‐linearities in regional growth: A non‐parametric approach

This paper analyses the determinants of regional economic growth in the European Union adopting a non‐parametric approach. Although the local‐linear kernel estimator applied does not explicitly take into account the spatial dimension of the data, it is found to be consistent in our context. In addition, the geographically weighted regression turns out to be less efficient. We obtain evidence of a non‐linear relationship between regional growth and its determinants in the form of parameter heterogeneity and threshold effects. These non‐linearities mainly affect the initial productivity of labour, the human capital endowment and, as a novelty, the level of infrastructures.     

Specialization and diversity as drivers of economic growth: Evidence from High‐Tech industries

This paper contributes to the literature of regional economics by concerning the linkages between regional industrial structure and economic growth. In order to shed light on this debatable issue, we study the role of the high technology sector, especially its industrial structure in regional economic growth. Using data from the Finnish regions during 1994 to 2008, we find diminishing marginal returns to high technology diversity with respect to regional growth, once we control for other determinants of growth. Through this paper we hope to give our contribution to one of the central themes of current EU regional policy discussion, namely smart specialization.     

Micro‐geographies of creative industries clusters in Europe: From hot spots to assemblages

The aim of this paper is to provide basic stylized facts about the spatial patterns of location and co‐location of clusters of creative industries in Europe. The research proposes a novel methodology for detailing the spatial delimitation of clusters, based on a geo‐statistical algorithm and firm‐based micro‐data. The procedure is applied to a continuous space of 16 European countries and 15 creative industries in 2009. The investigation reveals that creative firms are highly clustered, and that clusters are concentrated in a ‘creative belt’ stretching from the South of England to the South‐east of Germany. These clusters are predominantly metropolitan, heterogeneous, cross borders, and may co‐locate to form assemblages.     

‘One for all and all for one’: Cluster,employment, and the global economic crisis. Evidence from the German mechanical engineering industry

How regional clusters – and the firms constituting it – respond to major economic shocks has only recently become the centre of attention in regional research. Taking the concept of ‘adaptive resilience’ as a point of departure, and using a mixed methods approach (firm survey, multivariate analysis, expert interviews), this study explores the response of cluster and non‐cluster firms of the German mechanical engineering sector during the initial phase of the crisis (2008–2009). Findings show a significantly more positive employment trend in cluster firms than in non‐cluster firms. Further analyses of the mechanisms that allow cluster firms to exhibit more resilience than other firms suggest that solidarity and altruism among regional actors were of particular importance in the beginning of the crisis.     

Regional and company‐specific factors for high growth dynamics of ICT companies in Germany with particular emphasis on knowledge spillovers

Two hundred ICT companies based in Germany were interviewed to find out which regional and company specific factors may have a measurable direct impact on corporate growth. The analysis found that firm age and size, export ratio, expenditure on research and development, product innovation, venture capital and concrete co‐operation between companies seem to have a direct effect on the growth of ICT companies. Surprisingly, the presented ordered probit cross section analysis indicates that active participation in an ICT cluster is associated with low growth perspectives of ICT firms.     

Explaining inter‐provincial migration in China

China's growth has led to massive flows of migrants. To analyse the determinants of inter‐provincial migration hypotheses from the classical migration theory, the new economic geography, gravity approach, and the new economics of labour migration have been derived. All traditional assumptions could be confirmed. Inter‐provincial differentials of urban poverty and differentials in inequality do matter. Inequality is regarded as opportunity and motivation to move. The analysis of push‐pull factors of gross migration suggests that pull factors are average wages, unemployment rates, urbanization and income disparity. Urban poverty can be regarded as a counter‐pull factor. Rural poverty and average wage are push factors.     

spMorph: An exploratory space‐time analysis tool for describing processes of spatial redistribution

This paper introduces an exploratory space‐time analysis tool for determining the two components of a spatial redistribution process: (i) the shock, which is the moment that triggers a spatial redistribution process; for example, a new policy, a war, an earthquake, etc.; and (ii) the duration of the regime fade, which is the time between the shock and the moment in which a new regime emerges as a better representation of the spatial distribution of the attribute. Two examples are provided: the first uses China's provincial per capita GDP between 1978 and 2008, and the second uses state level housing price and unemployment rate data for the US between 2002 and 2012.     

Examining homelessness in Germany: The impact of regional housing market conditions on homelessness in North Rhine‐Westphalia,Germany

This paper proposes a simple model of the housing market and homelessness by taking into consideration both flat size and quality. A critical income ensuring positive housing consumption can be determined. The empirical analysis of districts in North Rhine‐Westphalia suggests that conditions on the housing market, income levels and several variables depicting a district's social environment are important drivers of homelessness: high rents and relatively few vacant small flats lead to an increase in homelessness. The condition of vacant flats significantly affects homelessness levels too. Homelessness also increases when the share of those with a very low income is higher, since this makes it more difficult to reach the critical income.     

Collaboration objectives and the location of the university partner: Evidence from the Piedmont region in Italy

This study examines firms' decisions to collaborate with universities in their region as opposed to non‐regional universities, focusing on the role of collaboration objectives. Through a survey of a representative sample of manufacturing firms in the Piedmont region (Italy), we find that firms seeking business advice are more likely to collaborate with regional universities while firms seeking R&D support and testing and analysis services are more likely to collaborate with both regional and non‐regional universities. The partner university's location is endogenous to the level of investment in the collaboration; and the collaboration objectives provide good instruments. Some implications for regional policy are discussed.     

Self‐employment and local economic performance: Evidence from US counties*

This study explores the relationship between self‐employment and income growth, employment growth, and change in poverty in metro and non‐metro areas in the United States using county‐level panel data. We investigate the impact of the relative size of the self‐employment sector measured by the share of non‐farm proprietorships (NFPs) in total full and part‐time employment on three key economic performance indicators. We first estimate an income growth model to analyse the effects of self‐employment on income growth. Then we investigate the independent effects of self‐employment on employment growth and changes in family poverty rates. Our results indicate that higher self‐employment rates are associated with statistically significant increases over time in income and employment growth, and reductions in poverty rates in non‐metro counties. We find similar effects on metro county income and employment, but not on poverty dynamics.     

Urban spatial structure,agglomeration economies,and economic growth in Barcelona: An intra‐metropolitan perspective*

This paper presents an intra‐metropolitan approach to analyse the impact of urban spatial structure on local economic growth. Focusing on the Barcelona metropolitan region (BMR) between 1986 and 2001, we estimate a municipal employment growth model in which dynamic agglomeration economies related to urban spatial structure are considered using distance to employment centres, to assess metropolitan effects, and distance‐weighted variables, to measure neighbourhood effects. The results obtained show the existence of neighbourhood specialization economies and metropolitan urbanization‐localization economies fostering local growth. All of this leads to the paper's main conclusion: urban spatial structure is important for economic growth in an intra‐metropolitan context.     

The great asymmetric divide: An empirical investigation of the link between indigenous and non‐indigenous economic systems in Northern Australia

This empirical study explores financial links between indigenous and non‐indigenous economic systems in a remote river catchment in Northern Australia (the Mitchell). It finds evidence of a profound and asymmetric ‘disconnect’ between these economies: an exogenous increase in indigenous incomes raises the incomes of non‐indigenous people, but the reverse is not true. Evidently, those seeking to improve the incomes of indigenous people in Northern Australia cannot simply seek to (i) increase payments to indigenous people, or (ii) expand the non‐indigenous sector hoping that some benefits will ‘trickle down’. Instead, structural change is required.