Source versus Residence. A comparison from a New Economic Geography perspective

Recently, issues of international taxation have also been analysed from a New Economic Geography perspective. These discussions show that agglomerative forces play a non negligible role. In the paper, we introduce explicitly taxation into a Footloose Capital Model and compare implications of taxation according to the residence principle and the source principle from a New Economic Geography perspective. We confirm that agglomerative effects change the results substantially compared to the standard analysis and that the two taxation principles have different implications for industry agglomeration. (author's abstract)Series: Discussion Papers SFB International Tax Coordinatio

Bayesianism, Infinite Decisions, and Binding

We pose and resolve several vexing decision theoretic puzzles. Some are variants of existing puzzles, such as ‘Trumped’ (Arntzenius and McCarthy 1997), ‘Rouble trouble’ (Arntzenius and Barrett 1999), ‘The airtight Dutch book’ (McGee 1999), and ‘The two envelopes puzzle’ (Broome 1995). Others are new. A unified resolution of the puzzles shows that Dutch book arguments have no force in infinite cases. It thereby provides evidence that reasonable utility functions may be unbounded and that reasonable credence functions need not be countably additive. The resolution also shows that when infinitely many decisions are involved, the difference between making the decisions simultaneously and making them sequentially can be the difference between riches and ruin. Finally, the resolution reveals a new way in which the ability to make binding commitments can save perfectly rational agents from sure losses

Assessing overall network structure in regional innovation policies: a case study of cluster policy in the West Midlands in the UK

Revisiting the theoretical roots of the key concepts of “embeddedness” and “networks” that underpin many recent regional innovation polices, this paper strives to achieve a more systematic understanding of the overall network structure of geographic agglomerations, which helps to form a more convincing model of regional development based on learning. This also helps to establish an analytical framework with indicators to assess the overall network structure in regional innovation policies. Employing the framework, the examination of cluster policy in the West Midlands highlights its weakness in addressing the overall cluster network structure and the contingent factors influencing the structure. The analysis suggests that there may be similar weaknesses in other regional innovation policies and the theories underpinning them as they share a common weakness in addressing the structural characteristics of overall networks

Determining the Effects of Central-Peripheral interactions on the Distribution of Human Activity in Space

Natural advantages determine where agglomerations emerge. Also, efficiency and economies of scale determine how many agglomerations subsist and how they interact, forming complex urban hierarquies. Moreover, physical characteristics influence the way humans divide land into irregular parcels we call administrative regions. If, on one hand, initial location advantages are responsible for defining where the main urban nodes will grow and subsist because of lock-in effects, central-peripheral relations play a decisive role in defining the distribution of activity in space. This paper explores the importance of location in relation to the main centripetal nodes. A central-peripheral model, taking into account spatial heterogeneity patterns, explains how activity is organized in Continental Portugal. A bayesian framework will allow the comparison of posterior densities for distinct parts of the country.

Rethinking the Roles of Universities and Polytechnics in a Regional Innovation Environment

The article discusses the case of Finnish universities and polytechnics in re-defining their roles in regional development and especially in regional innovation environment. The so-called third task of universities, together with the regional relevance of polytechnics, has been a central topic in current regional and educational policies. The Finnish system of higher education and research is highly decentralised, including about 50 non-independent regional university units, most of them founded in order to enhance the regional effectiveness of universities. The article introduces the concept of “third task organisations” to describe these units within universities and polytechnics with regional effectiveness as their primary mission. In the article, the role of these units as both regional and scientific actors is discussed. The analysis identifies certain “non-traditional” forms of regional effectiveness of universities and polytechnics in the context of regional innovation environment. Building on this analysis, a new conceptual model of regional effectiveness is developed. As a case study, three different third task organisations within polytechnics and regional university units are analysed. It is argued that they form a challenge to the way universities, and perhaps polytechnics, too, define their role in regional innovation activities. They also problematise the common understanding of the way universities and polytechnics define their division of labour in regional development.

Modeling Spatial Sustainability: Spatial Welfare Economics versus Ecological Footprint

A spatial welfare framework for the analysis of the spatial dimensions of sustainability is developed. It incorporates agglomeration effects, interregional trade, negative environmental externalities and various land use categories. The model is used to compare rankings of spatial configurations according to evaluations based on social welfare and ecological footprint indicators. Five spatial configurations are considered for this purpose. The exercise is operationalized with the help of a two-region model of the economy that is in line with the ‘new economic geography’. Various (counter) examples show that the footprint method is not consistent with an approach aimed at maximum social welfare.Agglomeration effects, Trade advantages, Negative externalities, Population density, Spatial configuration, Transport

Forms of Emergence and the Evolution of Economic Landscapes

Over the past two decades, the notion of ÔemergenceÕ has attracted increasing attention and controversy across the social sciences, as par of a growing interest in the applicability of complexity theory to socio-economic-political systems. Within this context, as economic geographers, our concern in this paper is with the usefulness of the idea of emergence for studying the economic landscape and its evolution. We examine three ÔordersÕ of emergence, and focus attention especially on the third type, Ôdevelopmental or evolutionaryÕ emergence. Despite its limitations, the notion of third order emergence is a potentially valuable organizing concept in economic geography. It provides a framework for exploring how it is that the spatial forms of the economy - clusters, regions, firm networks and so on Ð are recursively related to economic action.Emergence, Supervenience, Downward causation, Evolution, Economic landscape

The Ontology of Knowledge, logic, arithmetic, sets theory and geometry (issue 20210304)

In Issue 20210304 the paragraph "intuition of space" is reworded/improved. At ordinary scales, the ontological model proposed by Ontology of Knowledge (OK) does not call into question the representation of the world elaborated by common sense or science. This is not the world such as it appears to us and as science describes it that is challenged by the OK but the way it appears to the knowing subject and science. In spite of the efforts made to separate scientific reasoning and metaphysical considerations, in spite of the rigorous construction of mathematics, these are not, in their very foundations, independent of modalities, of laws of representation of the world. The OK shows that logical facts Exist neither more nor less than the facts of the World which are Facts of Knowledge. The mathematical facts are facts of representation. Indeed : by the experimental proof, only the laws of the representation are proved persistent/consistent, because what science foresees and verifies with precision, it is not the facts of the world but the facts of the representation of the world. Beyond the laws of representation, nothing proves to us that there are laws of the world. Remember, however, that mathematics « are worth themselves » and can not be called into question « for themselves » by an ontology. The only question is the process of creating meaning that provides mathematics with their intuitions a priori. The first objective of this article will therefore be to identify and clarify what ruptures proposed by the OK could affect intuitions a priori which found mathematics but also could explain the remarkable ability of mathematics to represent the world. For this, three major intuitions of form will be analyzed, namely : the intuition of the One, the intuition of time and the intuition of space. Then considering mathematics in two major classes : {logic, arithmetic, set theory ...} on the one hand and geometry on the other hand, we will ask the questions : - How does the OK affect their premises and rules of inference  ? - In case of incompatibility, under what conditions can such a mathematical theory be made compatible with the OK? - Can we deduce a possible extension of the theory