Optimal and reference adaptive processes for the control of regional income disparities

This paper reports on studies into the controllability of the regional income disparities arising from multi-regional economic growth. The necessary condition is that no significant band of regional income disparities should result at the end of the planning period. The regional disparities among nine regions in Japan are explored using the interregional input-output technique and regional production functions. Furthermore, some potentially interesting research probes into the controllability of regional income disparities using the reference adaptive control technique are discussed.     

Interregional capital transfers and interest rate differentials: An empirical note

Over the last several years, considerable attention has been directed to the analysis of interregional and international capital transfers. A few of these studies have been concerned with the persistence of interregional interest rate differentials over time. In this vein, Davis and Banks have argued that between regions within the United States there have been persistent regional differences in going interest rates over very long periods and a tendency for particular regions to show persistently higher or lower than average rates for a variety of different instruments. Unfortunately, the Davis-Banks argument is based upon casual observation rather than upon formal empirical testing. In analytical terms, it has been elsewhere shown that persistent interregional interest rate differentials, if they in fact do exist, may be entirely compatible with conventional economic theory once it is recognized that there may exist barriers of one form or another to the interregional flow of funds. Using this framework of analysis as a point of departure, this paper examines whether the interregional flow of funds within the United States over time has in fact been insensitive to interest rate differentials.     

Migration in an interregional macroeconometric model of the United States: will net outmigration from the Northeast continue?

"This paper reports on the specification, estimation and simulation of an interregional net migration model of the United States. The model makes use of time series data including, as explanatory variables, wage rates, unemployment rates, and population density. Simulation experiments are undertaken by joining the migration model with a multi-regional macroeconometric model to examine the effect [on] migration patterns of changes in national economic growth. In particular, the net outmigration trends in the Northeast are examined under alternative scenarios including faster national economic growth and a different energy pricing policy."     

Interregional labour migration and real wage disparities: Evidence from Japan

This paper empirically tests the relationships between interregional labour migration and regional real wages based on a multi-region economic geography model, which describes bilateral migration flows. In particular, this paper highlights real wage disparities in the migration analysis. Our empirical methodology contains two steps. First, we structurally estimate a gravity model using manufacturing workers’ migration flows across the 47 Japanese prefectures. Second, using the estimates of the structural parameters, we examine the impact of the real wage on the net migration rate. We find that migrants respond to real wage disparities, rather than to nominal wage disparities.     

REGIONAL CONVERGENCE IN THE EUROPEAN MONETARY UNION

ABSTRACT This paper analyzes the effects of European Monetary Union (EMU) on regional convergence. First information is provided about the magnitude and the evolution of regional disparities. Subsequently, the relation between economic integration and long run regional convergence is discussed. Third, regional convergence is shown to be dependent on flexible regional adjustment to changing economic conditions. In the transition to and in the final stage of EMU sufficient regional wage flexibility will be requires to cope with adverse economic shocks. The last part of the paper estimates the reponse or regional labor income to region-shape and national shocks.     

Does wage differential driven migration continue to exist? Tests on the role of regional economic structure in wage differential driven migration

This paper explores the role of regional economic structure in the wage differential driven migration among the US Metropolitan Statistical Areas for three discrete time periods from 1993 to 2004. Rapidly increasing interregional trade attributes to the restructuring process of production internationally and interregionally. Both trade and migration can contribute to the equilibrium conditions in regional labor markets. When fragmentation increases intra-industry trade (IIT) in interregional trade, do we expect to see the increasing roles of interregional trade toward the equilibrium condition in regional labor markets? Fragmentation may force some production stages to the other regions, in other words, firms may benefit from relocating to the regions where they can minimize labor costs with cheaper wage rates. In this restructuring process, similarities in regional economic structures may increase the volumes of IIT and as a result, we may expect to see the increasing complementary role of trade in factor price equalization to migration. In contrast, when regional economic structures are quite different, migration rather than trade plays more important role in factor price equalization. Consequently, the main flows of interregional migration caused by wage differentials are more likely to be found among the regions where regional economic structures are dissimilar.     

A framework for exploratory space-time analysis of economic data

The development of exploratory spatial data analysis methods is an active research domain in the field of geographic information science (GIS). At the same time, the coupled space-time attributes of economic phenomena are difficult to be represented and examined. Both GIS and economic geography are faced with the challenges of dealing with the temporal dynamics of geographic processes and spatial dynamics of economic development across scales and dimensions. This paper thus suggests a novel way to generalize the characteristics and the structure of space-time data sets, using regional economic data as the example. Accordingly, a reasonable number of general questions (data analysis tasks) can be abstracted. Then, tools (methods) may be suggested on that basis. The cross-fertilization between exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) and spatial economics is also identified and illustrated by the capabilities of these components, which have uncovered some interesting patterns and trends in the spatial income data of China and the United States. Through exploratory analysis of economic data, the detection of rich details of underlying geographical and temporal processes would be the first step toward such cross-fertilization. In addition, this exploratory analytical framework can be applied to other data sets that are also measured for areal units at multiple points in time.     

University mission creep? Comparing EU and US faculty views of university involvement in regional economic development and commercialization

The attitudes of university faculty towards the expansion of universities’ missions to include assisting regional economic development and technology development by knowledge commercialization are analysed. Based upon surveys of faculty in the EU and in the United States, as well as secondary data on the institutional characteristics of universities and their regional economic conditions, we find that faculty are significantly more supportive of their universities assisting regional economic development compared to knowledge commercialization that attitudes between the US and EU faculty are remarkably similar, and that individual factors, including academic discipline, are more powerful explanators of the variation in attitudes compared to institutional characteristics or regional economic conditions.     

Regional trade flows of manufactured products

Little is known about regional trade flows in the United States. Using tonnage data from theCensus of Transportation, this study develops dollar estimates of the trade of manufactured products between the census regions. The technique utilized makes it possible to construct import-export matrices for 19, two-digit S.I.C. industries for the years 1963 and 1967. Total imports, exports, and resulting balances of trade are estimated for each census region. It is found that, quantitatively, interregional trade is much more important to the various regions than international trade is to the United States.     

Factor mobility,the elasticity of substitution and interregional wage differentials

The analysis of non-neutral technical change has emphasized the element of factor intensity while ignoring the impact of changes in the elasticity of factor substitution on interregional wage differentials. This paper provides a formalized treatment of changes in the elasticity of factor substitution on interregional wage-rate differentials in the case where labour mobility is present. The paper demonstrates that changes in this element of non-neutral technical change (unlike changes in the factor intensity element) will have differing impacts on regional wage-rates depending on the existing labour-capital ratio in the region. The paper concludes by relating changes in factor intensity to the elasticity of factor substitution to demonstrate the interaction of both elements on non-neutral technical change on regional wage rates.     

THE LIMITS OF SPATIAL PLANNING: REGIONAL EXPERIENCES OF THE SOVIET EPOCH

ABSTRACT This article discusses the long-term changes in regional economic disparities, mainly of production, in the Soviet Union. Previous studies, based largely on data from the time of the Khrushchev "thaw" onwards, have linked up with Williamson's (1965) theory of the inverted U-curve to suggest that the USSR was at the stage where regional disparities were increasing. When data from the pre-Khrushchev period are brought in, however, what emerges is that these regional disparities in the USSR described a right-way-up U-curve of which earlier studies had only observed the latter part. This result is interpreted to mean that the extremely unbalanced industrialization strategy of the Stalin era was based on extensive exploitation of raw materials which required spatial dispersion of production. When the economy eventually had to move into a balanced phase, growth was concentrated in the most developed parts of the country. What happened in the Soviet Union, therefore, can be characterized as paradoxical when compared with both the neo-classical theory's equalization and Myrdal's self-reinforcing polarization. Imbalance of economic structure went hand in hand with regional equalization, while the shift towards balanced economic structure brought increased regional disparities.     

Regional economic dynamics and convergence in the European Union

This paper uses an alternative approach to convergence analysis, which, in our opinion, is richer than those traditionally proposed. We believe that the evolution of the whole regional distribution is what matters, not that of an average or representative economy, implicit in the or convergence concepts. Moreover, when analyzing inequality among regional economies, geographic space acquires a preeminent role. We therefore apply spatial association tests recently developed in the spatial econometrics literature and relate them to convergence analysis. Specifically, we apply this methodology to the analysis of regional dynamics and convergence in the European Union (EU). In this context, the progress made in the integration process has highlighted the question of economic disparities at regional level. The process of convergence came to an end in the late seventies, coinciding with major changes in economic activity. This paper shows how these factors appear to have provoked a regionally differentiated response which, though significant, did not, in all likelihood, exacerbate the decrease in regional inequalities.     

1980年代以来我国区域城市化差异的演变——及其影响因素

综述了关于我国城市化区域差异的研究成果,运用差异系数、基尼系数和泰尔指数测算了1980年代以来我国城市化水平的区域差异。研究发现全国省际城市化水平的相对差异一直在缩小,但2000年后发生了变化——全国分省的相对差异加速缩小,而三大区域之间的相对差异变得更加显著,并主导了全国的区域城市化差异。不仅如此,三大区域的绝对差异也越来越占据主导地位。进一步的研究发现,除了历史、地理和区位因素外,区域政策、经济发展差异、经济全球化、行政区划调整和省际人口迁移影响了区域城市化差异的演变趋势。最后本文提出了对未来城市化区域差异演变趋势的判断,并阐述了缩小城市化区域差异的现实政策意义。     

Impacts of regional development strategies on growth and equity of Korea: A multiregional CGE model

This paper is concerned with the assessment of major regional development strategies such as the three Coastal area development strategies (East Coast Development, South Coast Development, and West Coast Development) and the Seoul-Pusan development corridor strategy in terms of efficiency and equity. Multiregional Computable General Equilibrium for Korea is developed to capture the economic impact of regional investment expenditures, estimating the time-series influences of regional development alternatives on economic growth, inflation, welfare, income distribution, and interregional economic inequality for ten periods. In a sense that the main point of concern in the national development planning of Korea is with the question of improvement of national competitiveness with more equitable interregional income distribution, it is necessary to promote the West Coast region rather than the Seoul-Pusan development corridor. The West Coast regional development can lead to substantial gain in GDP and reduction in regional income disparity. In a multinational economic perspective, this regional development is expected to contribute to the economic cooperation of Northeast Asia and to enhancing the joint comparative advantages between China and Korea. However, it might worsen the income inequality in the long run. Received: September 1999/Accepted: September 2001     

On factor specificity,trickle down effects and regional disparities in income

This paper sets up a three commodity, three factor (with one factor both industry and region specific) and two region model to examine the implications of specific and non-specific factor accumulation on regional disparities in income. Factor specificity is a real world phenomenon and may, for example be caused by geographic reasons. For instance oil wells, beaches and so on are geographically immobile inputs—oil wells for production of oil and beaches for production of tourism. This paper analyses the implications of above type of factors on regional income and contrasts it with the case of non-specific factor accumulation. The main results obtained are given below. First, region specific factor accumulationmay raise both the per capita and absolute income in the region endowed with the specific factor. Second, under certain plausible assumptions, region specific factor accumulation has no “trickle down” effects on the other region. Thus specific factor accumulation may lead to increasing regional inequalities under very mild looking restrictions. This is a disturbing result because it shows that a industry booming on account of region specific factor accumulation may have no impact on other regions of the economy. The paper thus highlights the cnditions for the absence of interregional “trickle down” effects. In contrast non-specific factor accumulation has no impact on interregional per capita distribution of income—highlighting yet again the importance of region specificity of a factor of production.     

The national and regional commodity markets in the USSR: Trends and contradictions of the transition period

In this paper, qualitative and quantitative characteristics of interregional (interrepublican) commodity circulation in the former Soviet Union are analyzed. The distinction is made between three historical stages: (a) the development of the planned economy beforeperestroika; (b) the transformation of the Soviet economy (1988–1991) and the associated disintegration of its economic space; and (c) the beginning of the active transition to a market economy. The quantitative analysis of the economic interdependence between the Soviet republics is based on data for 1987. At that time, the interrepublican commodity exchange had reached its maximum intensiveness. Some results of computations are presented, carried out on the basis of regional and interregional inputoutput systems. These include the evaluation of the consequences of a break in interrepublican relations and of the formation of stable republican coalitions.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 31st European Congress of the RSAI, Lisbon, Portugal, August 1991. Editor's Note: The terminology used in this paper to refer to the economic structure of the former Soviet Union is chosen by the author and may seem unfamiliar to western readers. It is left unchanged in the paper to reflect the author's perspective. Additional information on data sources not listed in the references may be obtained directly from the author. The translation of the references to English was done by Alexander Gershunov at the Editorial Office in Santa Barbara.     

Land use,migration, and occupation: problems of development

The settlement of the northern border regions of Mexico over the past three centuries is described. The author notes that land use has changed over time from the use of vacant lands to urbanization and industrialization, and that these changes are closely linked to economic conditions in the southwestern United States.     

Sectoral differences in the determinants of the location of foreign direct investment in American manufacturing

Foreign direct investment in the United States is an integral part of the competition among global industrial core regions. Most foreign investment in the U.S. originates in Europe, Canada, and Japan. Acquisition rather than new plant establishment is the favored mode of investment and the interregional supply of potential acquisition candidates constrains foreign investors' locational choices. This paper provides an analysis of the location of foreign employment in 15 disaggregated sectors across U.S. states in 1990. The results show that foreign firms concentrate employment in existing regions of production. Foreign investments in most raw materials processing sectors particularly favor these places. Some decentralization has occurred in several sectors, especially food, paper, chemicals and petroleum, rubber and plastics, stone, clay and glass products, and primary metals. Other significant determinants of location include labor force characteristics and certain regional preferences. No evidence was found in our analysis of disaggregate sectors that foreign investors avoid strong unions more than their domestic counterparts.     

Emerging challenges in regional input-output analysis

The changing interests and focus of research in the field of regional input-output analysis is examined. After reviewing some of the recent trends and suggesting the tenor of the prevailing philosophy in the field, attention is focused on three, interdependent emerging trends. These are characterized as (1) the conceptualization of input-output within the traditions of econometric analysis; (2) the integration of input-output with other regional and interregional models and (3) attempts to link input-output analysis with regional growth and development theory.