Showing papers in "Journal of Regional Science in 2008"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose spatial weight structures that model dependence among the N OD pairs in a fashion consistent with standard spatial autoregressive models, which is an extension of the spatial regression models described in Anselin (1988).
Abstract: Standard spatial autoregressive models rely on spatial weight structures constructed to model dependence among n regions. Ways of parsimoniously modeling the connectivity among the sample of N=n2 origin-destination (OD) pairs that arise in a closed system of interregional flows has remained a stumbling block. We overcome this problem by proposing spatial weight structures that model dependence among the N OD pairs in a fashion consistent with standard spatial autoregressive models. This results in a family of spatial OD models introduced here that represent an extension of the spatial regression models described in Anselin (1988).
494 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a new empirical test for multiple equilibria was developed and applied to data for 114 Japanese cities in eight manufacturing industries, showing no support for the existence of multiple equilibrium.
Abstract: Theories featuring multiple equilibria are widespread across economics. Yet little empirical work has asked if multiple equilibria are features of real economies. We examine this in the context of the Allied bombing of Japanese cities and industries in World War II. We develop a new empirical test for multiple equilibria and apply it to data for 114 Japanese cities in eight manufacturing industries. The data provide no support for the existence of multiple equilibria. In the aftermath even of immense shocks, a city typically recovers not only its population and its share of aggregate manufacturing, but even the industries it had before.
231 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate the impact of trade openness on the distribution of firms across marginal cost levels and find that more open industries are characterized by a smaller dispersion of costs across active firms.
Abstract: We use Italian firm-level data to investigate the impact of trade openness on the distribution of firms across marginal cost levels. In so doing, we implement a procedure that allows us to control not only for the standard transmission bias identified in firm-level TFP regressions but also for the omitted price bias due to imperfect competition. We find that more open industries are characterized by a smaller dispersion of costs across active firms. Moreover, in those industries the average cost is also smaller.
184 citations
TL;DR: This paper outlines and compares two approaches, the spatial econometric and the eigenfunction-based spatial filtering approach, to deal with the issue of spatial autocorrelation among flow residuals.
Abstract: Spatial interaction models of the gravity type are widely used to model origin–destination flows. They draw attention to three types of variables to explain variation in spatial interactions across geographic space: variables that characterize an origin region of a flow, variables that characterize a destination region of a flow, and finally variables that measure the separation between origin and destination regions. This paper outlines and compares two approaches, the spatial econometric and the eigenfunction-based spatial filtering approach, to deal with the issue of spatial autocorrelation among flow residuals. An example using patent citation data that capture knowledge flows across 112 European regions serves to illustrate the application and the comparison of the two approaches.
184 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a point-pattern methodology is used to explore the detailed location patterns of U.K. manufacturing industries, including the location of entrants and exiters versus continuing establishments, domestic versus foreign-owned, large versus small, and affiliated versus independent.
Abstract: We use a point-pattern methodology to explore the detailed location patterns of U.K. manufacturing industries. In particular, we consider the location of entrants and exiters versus continuing establishments, domestic- versus foreign-owned, large versus small, and affiliated versus independent. We also examine colocalization between vertically-linked industries. Our analysis provides a set of new stylized facts and confirmation for others.
181 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used a novel geographical information system database of county-urban proximity measures to examine the nexus between poverty in rural U.S. counties and their remoteness, particularly in regard to their geographical proximity to larger urban centers.
Abstract: Despite strong growth during the 1990s economic expansion being accompanied by significant reductions in measures of U.S. poverty, high poverty persisted in remote rural areas. Therefore, this study uses a novel geographical information system database of county-urban proximity measures to examine the nexus between poverty in rural U.S. counties and their remoteness, particularly in regard to their geographical proximity to larger urban centers. We find that poverty rates are positively associated with greater rural distances from successively larger (higher-tiered) metropolitan areas ( ceteris paribus ). We explain this outcome as arising from the attenuation of urban agglomeration effects at greater distances and incomplete labor supply adjustments in remote rural areas in the form of commuting and migration. Yet, although our results suggest that they are at a disadvantage in terms of reduced benefits from urban agglomeration economies, remote rural areas also may particularly benefit from place-based economic development policies in terms of their effect on poverty.
148 citations
101 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide theoretical and empirical analyses of the effect of transportation subsidies on urban sprawl in a two-mode urban spatial model and find that the spatial size of the urbanized area shrinks with an increase in transit subsidies but increases at a decreasing rate with auto subsidies.
Abstract: This paper provides theoretical and empirical analyses of the effect of transportation subsidies on urban sprawl in a two-mode urban spatial model. Comparative static analysis shows, among other things, that the urban area contracts with a public transit subsidy but expands with an auto subsidy. The paper provides the first empirical test of these hypotheses and finds that the spatial size of the urbanized area shrinks with an increase in transit subsidies but increases at a decreasing rate with auto subsidies.
85 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify a strong negative log-linear relation between the number and the average (population) size of metro areas in which a given industry is found, which they designate as the Number-Average Size (NAS) Rule, and show mathematically that in the presence of the Hierarchy Principle, this NAS Rule is essentially equivalent to the Rank Size Rule.
Abstract: The spatial intensities of both industries and population are highly uneven across space. Moreover, these intensities differ not only across industries, but also change through time. Nevertheless, we show using Japanese data for metropolitan areas in two time periods that the location intensities of both industries and population are linked by surprisingly simple and persistent patterns. In particular, we identify a strong negative log-linear relation between the number and the average (population) size of metro areas in which a given industry is found. This relation, which we designate as the Number-Average Size (NAS) Rule, is also shown to be intimately connected to both the Rank-Size Rule and Christaller's (1966) Hierarchy Principle applied to metropolitan areas. In particular, we show mathematically that in the presence of the Hierarchy Principle (which holds quite well in Japan) this NAS Rule is essentially equivalent to the Rank Size Rule.
84 citations
TL;DR: Using nonparametric descriptive tools developed by Duranton and Over- man (2005, Review of Economic Studies, 72, 1077-1106), this article showed that both new and old auto supplier plants are highly concentrated in the eastern United States.
Abstract: Using nonparametric descriptive tools developed by Duranton and Over- man (2005, Review of Economic Studies, 72, 1077-1106), we show that both new and old auto supplier plants are highly concentrated in the eastern United States. Conditional logit models imply that much of this concentration can be explained parametrically by distance from Detroit, proximity to assembly plants, and access to the interstate highway system. New plants are more likely to be located in zip codes that are close to existing supplier plants. However, the degree of clustering observed is still greater than implied by the logit estimates.
65 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine whether migration between two periods occurs in the presence of correlation between unmeasured factors present in both earnings during the first period and the subsequent decision to migrate.
Abstract: Research in regional and labor economics has established that economic incentives play a significant role in the process of internal migration. The most common approach is to view migration as a form of human capital investment undertaken by individuals who expect to benefit from the standpoint of increased earnings. One of the central concepts in these models is self-selection. Individuals who self-select the option of migration tend to differ from the nonmigrant population in ways that are not measured in most data sets. The contribution of this paper is in its distinction between two aspects of migrant selection. On one hand, some workers possess unmeasured traits that might simultaneously affect their wages and their propensity to engage in risky human capital investment such as migration. On the other hand, measured earnings might exert a direct effect on migration. Based on samples of employed Swedish males and females at two points in time, this study seeks first to examine whether migration between the two periods occurs in the presence of correlation between unmeasured factors present in both earnings during the first period and the subsequent decision to migrate. Second, it looks for an explicit role of earnings per se in the migration decision. Results of the study provide support for selection based on unmeasured traits for both genders. For females, there is also evidence of selection based on measured earnings.
TL;DR: This paper proposed an approach to delineating metropolitan areas that is more general than the standard approaches in three respects: First, it uses the fraction of land prices attributable to economies of urban agglomeration instead of using com- muting intensities as an indicator of economic integration between metropolitan centers and their hinterlands.
Abstract: This paper proposes an approach to delineating metropolitan areas that is more general than the standard approaches in three respects: First, it uses the fraction of land prices attributable to economies of urban agglomeration instead of using com- muting intensities as an indicator of economic integration between metropolitan centers and their hinterlands. Second, it identifies metropolitan centers endogenously instead of determining them exogenously. And third, it takes metropolitan subcenters explicitly into account. An empirical illustration is used to show that the approach tends to de- lineate fewer but larger metropolitan areas in densely populated regions, and smaller metropolitan areas in sparsely populated regions. 1. MOTIVATION Metropolitan areas play an important role as subjects of regional eco- nomic policy, urban planning, and economic analysis in various countries. The metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) in the U.S. or the functional urban regions (FUR) in Western Europe are prominent examples. Metropolitan areas are usu- ally defined as sets of consecutive local administrative areas that comprise at least one larger core city and the adjacent administrative areas that have a high degree of social and economic integration with that core city (e.g., USCB, 2006). In virtually all delineations of metropolitan areas, the commuting inten- sity between a local administrative area and a core city is used as the indicator for the degree of economic integration. The U.S. MSAs, for example, comprise at least one core city with a population of 50,000 or more as well as any adjacent counties from where at least 25 percent of the employed residents commute to the core city's county (OMB, 2000). Similarly, the Western European FURs com- prise at least one core "urbanized area" with 20,000 or more jobs as well as any adjacent NUTS3 regions from where more workers commute to that core than to any other core (Cheshire and Hay, 1989). See Karlsson and Olsson (2006) for a recent survey of the various commuting-based delineation concepts.
TL;DR: In this article, a mixed logit model was proposed to explain the propensity to migrate and destination choice among four categories of area (urban centres, suburbs, rural areas under urban influence, rural LMAs), for three age groups.
Abstract: Migration flows between urban and rural areas in developed countries show a strong difference in migration destinations with regard to age. Our paper analyses, in the French case, who rural areas attract or repel and what their so-called “pull-factors” are. Our goal is to explain the propensity to migrate and the destination choice among four categories of area (urban centres, suburbs, rural areas under urban influence, rural LMAs), for three age groups. Mixed logit models, that do not rely on the IIA assumption and allow for heterogeneity in individual behaviours are estimated on a large French sample. The results show that the educational level of young people and the labour market characteristics of their initial residential area particularly influence their destination choices. The labour market variables have little influence on the migration decisions of the middle-aged, for whom residential motivations appear to be predominant. The migration decisions of 45-64 years old are clearly residentially motivated changes.
TL;DR: The authors empirically examined labor market matching as a source of urban agglomeration economies and found evidence that young men change jobs more frequently in their early career if they live in larger or in more educated urban areas.
Abstract: The paper empirically examines labor market matching as a source of urban agglomeration economies. We work from the hypothesis that job turnover leads to tighter labor matches and estimate the relationship between urbanization and the job mobility of young men. Using a panel from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we find evidence that young men change jobs more frequently in their early career if they live in larger or in more educated urban areas. The sensitivity of the results to whether the young men were "movers" or "stayers" suggests the possible endogeneity of location.
TL;DR: In this paper, the rank-size rule and Zipf's law for city sizes have been examined by means of OLS estimation and the t test, and it is shown that the t statistic explodes asymptotically even under the null, indicating that a mechanical application of t test yields a serious type I error.
Abstract: The rank-size rule and Zipf's law for city sizes have been traditionally examined by means of OLS estimation and the t test. This paper studies the accurate and approximate properties of the OLS estimator and obtains the distribution of the t statistic under the assumption of Zipf's law (i.e., Pareto distribution). Indeed, we show that the t statistic explodes asymptotically even under the null, indicating that a mechanical application of the t test yields a serious type I error. To overcome this problem, critical regions of the t test are constructed to test the Zipf's law. Using these corrected critical regions, we can conclude that our results are in favor of the Zipf's law for many more countries than in the previous researches such as Rosen and Resnick (1980) or Soo (2005). By using the same database as that used in Soo (2005), we demonstrate that the Zipf law is rejected for only one of 24 countries under our test whereas it is rejected for 23 of 24 countries under the usual t test. We also propose a more efficient estimation procedure and provide empirical applications of the theory for some countries.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors report evidence on the geographic pattern of income inequality, both within and between neighborhoods, across a sample of 359 U.S. metropolitan areas between 1980 and 2000, and find that overall income inequality within a metro area tends to be driven by variation within neighborhoods, not between them.
Abstract: This paper reports evidence on the geographic pattern of income inequality, both within and between neighborhoods, across a sample of 359 U.S. metropolitan areas between 1980 and 2000. The results indicate that overall income inequality within a metro area tends to be driven by variation within neighborhoods, not between them, although we find that between-neighborhood differences rose dramatically during the 1980s and subsided somewhat during the 1990s. While this trend is similar to what existing research has found, our findings reveal potentially important differences in the magnitudes of the changes depending on whether neighborhoods are defined by block groups or tracts.
TL;DR: The authors used the National Establishment Time-Series database to describe shifts in the geographic dispersion of employment and ownership of firms and found that increased employment in the state by firms headquartered elsewhere, resulting in California's share of national employment holding quite constant.
Abstract: We use the National Establishment Time-Series database to describe shifts in the geographic dispersion of employment and ownership of firms. Focusing on data on business establishments in California, and establishments anywhere in the United States that are owned by firms headquartered in California, we find shifts in the operations of businesses headquartered in California to other states. However, this shift has been offset by increased employment in the state by firms headquartered elsewhere, resulting in California's share of national employment holding quite constant. The evidence points to increasing geographic dispersion of firms' operations, especially in industries with lower communication costs.
TL;DR: The authors investigated the social transmission of parental preferences using data on the geographic distribution of names in France and found that the importance of geographic distance is declining over time while differences in class and national origins have increasing explanatory power.
Abstract: Using data on the geographic distribution of names in France, we investigate the social transmission of parental preferences. Drawing on recent work on nonmarket interactions, we develop a linear discrete choice model that relates choices made in one location to those made in nearby areas. We explain the shares of parents that give their children Saint, Arabic, and American-type names. We also examine the effect of distance between locations on differences in naming patterns. We find that the importance of geographic distance is declining over time while differences in class and national origins have increasing explanatory power.
TL;DR: This paper used spatial Markov chain techniques to describe the evolution of the entire cross-section regional income distribution in terms of its intra-distributional characteristics during the post-Apartheid period.
Abstract: South Africa is one of the wealthiest countries on the African continent. The high national level (and growth) of GDP per capita, however, masks significant differences in economic performance across South Africa's regions. This paper uses (spatial) Markov chain techniques to describe the evolution of the entire cross-section regional income distribution in terms of its intra-distributional characteristics during the post-Apartheid period. The results indicate a heavily diverging regional income distribution. Relatively poor regions are likely to remain poor or become even poorer and the richest regions will maintain their lead in terms of income levels. Explicitly taking account of space furthermore shows that these high-income regions are acting as local growth poles, absorbing economic activity from their immediate surroundings. Location, trade, education, and the variable fortune of the gold mining industry seem to be important determinants of the observed evolution.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the relationship between an individual's occupation choice and destination choice and portrayed the relationship as an interaction between the supply of occupational skills by individuals and demand by different labor-market regions.
Abstract: This study examines the relationship between an individual's occupation choice and destination choice. It portrays the relationship as an interaction between the supply of occupational skills by individuals and demand by different labor-market regions. The unusual merger of a multinomial logit model of occupational choice and the conditional logit model of destination choice in a simultaneous equation framework requires derivation of a unique variance–covariance matrix. Results indicate strong association between supply of (migration) and demand for (industry mix) an individual's occupational skills. These effects are especially strong for destinations experiencing slow economic growth, while relatively unimportant for high-growth locations.
TL;DR: The Learning Region : Foundations, State of the Art, Future edited by Roel Rutten and Frans Boekema as mentioned in this paper is a collection of articles about the learning region.
Abstract: The Learning Region : Foundations, State of the Art, Future edited by Roel Rutten and Frans Boekema
TL;DR: This paper introduces a new and novel error assessment approach arising due to the existence of multiple objectives and introduces enhancements for spatial coverage abstraction in primary and secondary coverage location modeling.
Abstract: An important goal in many planning contexts is maximizing primary and secondary (or backup) coverage while locating a specified number of service facilities. In general, we are interested in providing the greatest level of coverage to demand that is continuously distributed across space. A critical issue is how to represent continuous demand in coverage analysis, reducing or eliminating error and uncertainty. This paper evaluates representation issues in primary and secondary coverage location modeling. To overcome representational limitations, enhancements for spatial coverage abstraction are introduced and incorporated in a mathematical optimization model. In addition to model improvements, this paper introduces a new and novel error assessment approach arising due to the existence of multiple objectives. Surveillance sensor siting in an urban area is utilized to assess enhanced modeling capabilities.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine how space is represented in economic theory, focusing on the representation of distance and proximity, with possible consequences for inferences when modeling, and the treatment of spatial dependence as substantive and/or just a nuisance.
Abstract: Since spatial issues have become more important in economic theory, it is of interest to examine how space is represented. In empirical terms, this concerns at least the representation of distance and proximity. Both of these may be represented and operationalized in a number of ways, with possible consequences for inferences when modeling. This question is related to the representation of spatial entities, and itself plays into the treatment of spatial dependence as substantive and/or just a nuisance. Because other disciplines face similar questions—for example ecology or epidemiology, their conceptualizations and operationalizations of space will also be used for comparative purposes.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provided empirical evidence that the state growth effects of FDI differ by source country and attributed these differential growth effects to the relative differences in factor endowments between the source countries and the state.
Abstract: It has long been surmised that firms controlled by different countries may have unequal effects on the host economies in which they locate. By looking at the seven major source countries of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the United States, we provide empirical evidence that the state growth effects of FDI differ by source country. We attribute these differential growth effects to the relative differences in factor endowments between the source country and the state. The implication of this result is that technology transfer, believed to be the engine of economic growth, becomes more costly the more dissimilar the endowments.
TL;DR: The authors found evidence of past and future polarization in aggregate regional labor productivity in EU-15 by using the distributional approach, which is robust to alternative definitions of the spatial units used and does not appear to be the result of regional structural change.
Abstract: Working within the “distributional approach,” this research offers evidence of past and future polarization in aggregate regional labor productivity in EU-15 This finding is robust to alternative definitions of the spatial units used and does not appear to be the result of regional structural change Spatial effects are found but are of rather localized nature Turning to separate sectoral analyses suggests that past and future polarization in labor productivity across European regions may be associated with regional productivity differences in the services sectors
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed identification strategies utilizing spatial bidding patterns to detect possible collusion in auction markets and examined bidder behavior using data drawn from nearly 3,000 auctions (over 10,000 individual bids) for cutting rights of standing timber in British Columbia for the period 1996-2000.
Abstract: This study develops identification strategies utilizing spatial bidding patterns to detect possible collusion in auction markets. The identification strategy is applied to examine bidder behavior using data drawn from nearly 3,000 auctions (over 10,000 individual bids) for cutting rights of standing timber in British Columbia for the period 1996–2000. Results suggest that observed patterns of behavior are inconsistent with a model of perfectly competitive bidding. Further, changes in such patterns across geographic space are remarkably consistent with patterns of decay in the transmission of knowledge reported in previous empirical work on spillovers.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors develop a dominant firm model of transport services where one firm (the railroad) has market power, but competes in space with a competitive alternative (truck-barge).
Abstract: Transport firms compete over space. We develop a dominant firm model of transport services wherein one firm (the railroad) has market power, but competes in space with a competitive alternative (truck-barge). When constrained, the dominant firm prices to "beat the competition", which impedes efficiency when demand has some elas- ticity. We extend the basic model in a number of directions that include the relationship between monopoly prices and the generalized concavity of the shipper demand functions, the effects of multiple terminal markets, the role of joint production (fronthaul-backhaul markets), and the effects of capacity constraints.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated changes in immigrant/native earnings disparities for workers in U.S. cities along the international border with Mexico vis-a-vis the U.,S. interior during the 1990s.
Abstract: Using 1990 and 2000 U.S. census data, this study investigates changes in immigrant/native earnings disparities for workers in U.S. cities along the international border with Mexico vis-a-vis the U.S. interior during the 1990s. Our findings—based on estimating earnings functions and employing the Juhn-Murphy-Pierce (1993, JPE) wage decomposition technique—indicate that the average earnings of Mexican immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border improved relative to those accrued by their counterparts in the U.S. interior and by otherwise similar U.S.-born Mexican Americans between 1990 and 2000. However, when comparing Mexican-born workers to U.S.-born non-Hispanic whites, the immigrant border-earnings penalty remained statistically unchanged.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide a generalization of Brueckner and Smirnov's analysis, allowing for a more general form of the rule governing the evolution of population attributes.
Abstract: Analysis of social interactions has recently become an important area of economic research, and the focus of researchers in this area has increasingly shifted toward dynamic models In one recent contribution, Brueckner and Smirnov (2006) analyze the evolution of population attributes in an exceedingly simple model where an agent’s attributes at time t are equal to the average attribute value among his acquaintances The pattern of acquaintances in the population is determined by the social network, and Brueckner and Smirnov (BS) explore the effect of network characteristics on the convergence of population attributes over time They show that some simple sufficient conditions on the network structure ensure convergence to a “melting-pot” equilibrium, where attributes are uniform across agents The present paper provides a generalization of BS’s analysis, allowing for a more general form of the rule governing the evolution of population attributes The analysis shows that BS’s previous conclusions continue to hold under this generalization, while also providing a result that can be applied more generally to other models