Knowledge Spillover Agents and Regional Development

It is widely recognised that knowledge and highly skilled individuals as "carriers" of knowledge (i.e. knowledge spillover agents) play a key role in impelling the development and growth of cities and regions. In this paper we discuss the relation between the mobility of talent and knowledge flows. In this context, several issues are examined, including the role of highly skilled labour for regional development, the features that characterise knowledge spillovers through labour mobility, the key factors for attracting and retaining talent as well as the rise of "brain gain" policies. Although the paper deals with highly skilled mobility and migration in general, a particular attention will be paid to flows of (star) scientists.Series: SRE - Discussion Paper

More information, better jobs? : occupational stratification and labor market segmentation in the United States' information labor force

This article examines the mix of good and bad jobs in the restructuring of United States' labor markets for information work between 1900 and 1980. ls the information sector still growing relative to other occupational sectors? What is the relative proportion of good to bad jobs in the information sector today? ls the mix of good bad jobs within the information sector changing over time? To answer these questions, we examine changes in the relative size of the information sector's labor markers and changes in five occupational strata within it - professional, semiprofessional, supervisory and upper-level sales personnel, clerks, and blue-collar workers.The information occupations mushroomed in size from 17% of the United States workforce in 1900 to over 50% in 1980. Information sector jobs vary widely in quality. Few information sector jobs are fully professional, and clerical jobs form the largest single occupational stratum. When we examined the growth of the various strata between 1900 and 1980, we found that clerical jobs became more dominant, not less dominant. But this distribution has been masked by the steady growth of information sector jobs in the highly professional and semiprofessional strata, as well as clerical jobs. The occupational stratum between clerks and semiprofessionals - the supervisory and upper-level sales workers - has steadily declined in relative size.Two lower strata - clerks and sales and supervisory workers - account for 55% of the jobs in the information sector. Our data suggest that information labor markets are divided into relatively impermeable segments. As the information sector expanded, it took on many characteristics of the overall economy. It includes a mix of jobs that are diverse in their pay, status, and power. Its internal divisions reflect patterns of segmentation that have developed elsewhere in the society - a dual labor market. Overall, the information sector has become sufficiently large that it is not an alternative to the dominant social order - it simply reproduces many of its features

The Path of Exchange Rates in the Polish Economic Transformation

This study examines the path of adjustments of the exchange rate system in the transforming economy of Poland. It emphasizes the relative advantage of flexible exchange rates over the currency peg. It focuses on several aspects of the exchange rate policy that have not been adequately discussed. One of them is the rationale for returning to a currency peg to the leading currencies of the European Union (EU) and, in the future, to the Euro as a part of necessary preparations of the economy of Poland for accession to the Union. A return to a peg means the reversal from the path of the exchange rate system adjustments that has prevailed during the first five years, or in the first stage of the economic transformation. The study evaluates the rationale of applying a currency peg, thus “borrowing” monetary policy credibility from abroad, when the program of disinflation fails and the government loses a chance to stabilize the economy. High inflation that persists over a long time period is usually caused by automatic indexation, and adaptive expectations. Such chronic or inertial inflation continues long after the expiration of corrective inflation, or inflation stemming from price liberalization, cuts in subsidies and trade liberalization.exchange rate, Poland, economic transition

Knowledge Spillover Agents and Regional Development

It is widely recognised that knowledge and highly skilled individuals as “carriers” of knowledge (i.e. knowledge spillover agents) play a key role in impelling the development and growth of cities and regions. In this paper we discuss the relation between the mobility of talent and knowledge flows. In this context, several issues are examined, including the role of highly skilled labour for regional development, the features that characterise knowledge spillovers through labour mobility, the key factors for attracting and retaining talent as well as the rise of “brain gain” policies. Although the paper deals with highly skilled mobility and migration in general, a particular attention will be paid to flows of (star) scientists.DYNREG

Currency Substitution in the Transition Economy : A Case of the Czech Republic 1993-2001

Currency substitution appears to be an important issue affecting the design of monetary policy, especially in transition economies. Therefore, this paper strives to analyze the particular relevance of a currency substitution phenomenon for the Czech Republic is case. We initially discuss various approaches and definitions of currency substitution that found in the literature. Subsequently, we discuss the role of currency substitution in small open economies in transition with some illustrations relating to the Czech Republic - we distinguish and analyse a locally and globally substituting currency from a substituted one and consequences of euroization. The empirical part of this paper presents estimations of modified Branson and Henderson portfolio model for the Czech Republic’s case. This provides a multi-perspective approach to currency substitution in a broad sense. Further, we attempt to intensify the robustness of our estimation, applying several cointegration techniques. These are namely the Johansen procedure, the ARDL, the DOLS and the ADL. Finally, we discuss potential implications of currency and assets substitution according to our estimates present in the Czech economy.Currency substitution ; demand for money ; transition ; Czech Republic ; cointegration

Reviewing its self image and redefining its role as a regional power : contemporary Japan and international population movement

What sort of change in policy may be possible if a state reviewed its structural conditions and the significance of its own power with regard to other actors in international relations? This paper asks this question with regard to contemporary Japan’s policy towards an issue arising from the arrival of migrants in post-Cold War years, in particular whether to provide safety to migrants within the country. Japan used to be ‘a country without migration’ until the 1970s, but from the 1980s onwards has been in transition to be a key destination for international population movement (IPM). This paper surveys the literature on Japan’s international relations, examines theories of IPM, and describes the history of modern Japan focusing particular attention on its experiences of international migration. If Japan did not provide a safe environment for migrants, that would be questionable as being a differential form of treatment. What obstructs the provision of safety is a world view informed by an atomistic view of international relations and an understanding of history which is only focused on a limited time period. In contrast, what can contribute to reducing such a barrier will be a combination of natural law thinking, a relational view of international relations, an understanding of history with a time frame over several decades, and a recognition that current IPM is a reflection of Japan’s economic power in the neighbouring regio

Access, justice and education: : two characterisations of injustice in relation to schooling

The theme of differential access to education plays a significant role in variously characterising the problem of social justice and education. It does so in concert with other key concepts and practices. This paper explores these mutually reinforcing relations and how they vary in two different analytical contexts

Spatial development

We present a theory of spatial development. Manufacturing and services firms located in a continuous geographic area choose each period how much to innovate. Firms trade subject to transport costs and technology diffuses spatially across locations. The result is a spatial endogenous growth theory that can shed light on the link between the evolution of economic activity over time and space. We apply the model to study the evolution of the U.S. economy in the last few decades and find that the model can generate the reduction in the employment share in manufacturing, the increase in service productivity starting in the second part of the 1990s, the increase in the value and dispersion of land rents in the same period, as well as several other spatial and temporal patterns.