Agglomeration externalities and technical efficiency in French pig production

The objective of the paper is to assess the effects of spatial agglomeration on the technical efficiency of French pig farms. We use a two-stage method with the first stage consisting of calculating the efficiency scores of pig activity with the non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method, and the second stage being a regression of these scores on agglomeration variables. Data consist of 936 French pig producers in 2004. Results suggest that these farms were as much affected by positive agglomeration externalities (in the form of knowledge spillovers due to the density of farms, and arising from their closeness to downstream markets) as any other businesses. Our analysis also sheds light on the specificity of the sector, namely that environment pressures can force pig farmers to be more efficient, an effect that may be counteracted when legal dispositions relating to manure spreading are too stringent.technical efficiency, Data Envelopment Analysis, agglomeration, environmental regulation, hog production, France

Analysis of Educational Distribution in Europe: Educational Attainment and Inequality Within Regions

The aim of this paper is to visualise and describe the educational attainment and inequality distributions and to detect patterns of global and local spatial autocorrelation, using the European Community Household Panel dataset for 102 regions over the period 1995-2000. It investigates the space-time dynamics of the European educational distributions measured as education level completed and age when the highest education level was completed. This paper also highlights the importance of spatial interaction and geographical location in the human capital performance of the European regions. Without imposing any prior restrictive assumptions on distributions, the exploratory analysis shows that education is geographically autocorrelated due to knowledge and skill diffusion and to the guidelines for education systems and structures which are, as a general rule, set nationally. Thus not only geographical factors such as location, but also institutional ones matter for spatial dependence. The exploratory analysis of the European educational distribution also illustrates the systematic differences between urban and rural areas and between North and South regions. Economies within a cluster interact more with each other than with those outside. Educational attainment is higher in the North and in urban areas, while educational inequality is lower in these areas. Hence spatial dependence and spatial heterogeneity are indeed required features of the European educational analysis.DYNREG, educational attainment, educational inequality, Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis, regions, Europe, urbanisation, EU North-South divide.

INDUSTRIAL ENLARGEMENT AND COMPETITIVENESS INDEX

Over the last decade Slovenia has achieved clear and positive macro-economic results that have placed it among the most sucessful transitions countries. The basic indicators show that it has been integrating and catching up with European Union member states at an ever increasing pace. Despite this, the challenges of a global economy-where only innovation and entrepreneurship can compete succesfully, and the relative lag in the competitive capacity of our economy behind numerous other countries in the world rankings, require drastic changes to be made to Slovenia’s economic structure to adopt as much as possible to the demans of the knowledge based economy. That means the transformation from an economy with low added value whose competitiveness is based on low operative costs into an economy based on production and service activities whose competitive advantages are high added value, quality, innovation and entrapreneurship. Entrepreneurship and the diffusion of innovation, which considerably increase the speed at which new high-quality and low cost products replace existing products, are two driving forces of the knowledge based economy and they are changing the economic structure of leading countries....national competitiveness, benchmarking, development strategy, industrial policy

Industrial transformation and upgrade model of local industrial clusters: the case of Zhongshan city, China

This thesis focuses on the difficulties of transforming and upgrading Zhongshan specialized town and solutions for development. Under the background that the economy of Zhongshan has entered into the post-industrialization era, innovation-driven development has become the inevitable way to transform and upgrade Zhongshan specialized town economy. The purpose of the dissertation is to seek and crack the development dilemma of the transition between old and new momentums and find feasible solutions. Firstly, the thesis describes how Zhongshan used to be an industrial-based traditional specialized town which mainly depended on rural competition, and how this traditional and characteristic economic development and factor-based growth model became unsustainable. Afterwards, we have done a comparative analysis of the current positioning, resource and endowments of Zhongshan in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. We also explain in the study the mechanisms and historical evolution of the cluster economy of Zhongshan specialized towns through a cluster analysis. Then, we developed a case study on Zhongshan lighting town Guzhen town and its specialized town intellectual property right protection mechanism as an example of innovation and high-tech enterprises fixation. Finally, we use a framework with four dimensions, which are Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area urban agglomerations, Zhongshan clustering economy, traditional industry knowledge economy, and innovation entities (high-tech enterprises) to develop a model of transformation and upgrading for Zhongshan.A presente dissertação foca nas dificuldades de transformação e elevação do nível de desempenho de Zhongshan, uma região tecnológica altamente especializada do sul da China. Tendo em conta que a economia de Zhongshan entrara na era pós-industrial, o elemento da inovação tornou-se inevitável no desenvolvimento e recapacitação da sua economia. O objeto principal deste trabalho está na descoberta de novas soluções de desenvolvimento regional e na quebra do dilema de transição entre a velha e a nova economia industrial. A parte inicial do trabalho descreve como tem sido o desenvolvimento de Zhongshan que partira de uma base industrial tradicional de âmbito rural e que se tornou insustentável devido ao esgotamento do modelo de crescimento baseado em factores. Desenvolvemos, ainda, um estudo comparativo com base em cluster analysis a respeito do posicionamento estratégico e dos recursos, contrapondo Zhongshan e as mais importantes cidades da grande área da baía de Guangdong que incluem Hong Kong e Macau. Seguidamente, desenvolvemos um caso de estudo sobre a cidade de Guzhen da região de Zhongshan. A cidade de Guzhen é especializada em iluminação, protegida em termos de direitos de propriedade intelectual e colonizada por um vasto leque de empresas de base tecnológica inovadora. Por fim, construímos um modelo de análise e prospetiva baseado em quatro dimensões, a saber, a aglomeração urbana de Área da Grande Baía de Guangdong – Hong Kong – Macau, a economia em cluster de Zhongshan, a economia industrial tradicional e a inovação tecnológica para desenhar um modelo de desenvolvimento transformacional e de elevado desempenho para a região de Zhongshan

Location choices of multinational firms in Europe: the role of EU cohesion policy

In this paper we examine the determinants of location choices of multinational firms in Europe. In particular, we focus on the role of EU Cohesion Policy in attracting foreign investors from both within and outside Europe. Using data on 5,509 foreign subsidiaries established in 50 regions in 8 EU countries over the period 1991-1999, we estimate a mixed logit model of the determinants of MNFs’ location choices. We find that, after controlling for the role of agglomeration economies as well as a number of other regional and country characteristics and allowing for a very flexible correlation pattern among choices, Structural and Cohesion funds allocated by the EU to laggard regions have indeed contributed to attracting multinationals. These policies as well as other determinants play a different role in the case of European investors as opposed to non European ones.Europe; Foreign Direct Investments; Location Choice; Mixed Logit Models

Sustainable Smart Cities and Smart Villages Research

ca. 200 words; this text will present the book in all promotional forms (e.g. flyers). Please describe the book in straightforward and consumer-friendly terms. [There is ever more research on smart cities and new interdisciplinary approaches proposed on the study of smart cities. At the same time, problems pertinent to communities inhabiting rural areas are being addressed, as part of discussions in contigious fields of research, be it environmental studies, sociology, or agriculture. Even if rural areas and countryside communities have previously been a subject of concern for robust policy frameworks, such as the European Union’s Cohesion Policy and Common Agricultural Policy Arguably, the concept of ‘the village’ has been largely absent in the debate. As a result, when advances in sophisticated information and communication technology (ICT) led to the emergence of a rich body of research on smart cities, the application and usability of ICT in the context of a village has remained underdiscussed in the literature. Against this backdrop, this volume delivers on four objectives. It delineates the conceptual boundaries of the concept of ‘smart village’. It highlights in which ways ‘smart village’ is distinct from ‘smart city’. It examines in which ways smart cities research can enrich smart villages research. It sheds light on the smart village research agenda as it unfolds in European and global contexts.

Evolution of the spatiotemporal pattern of PM2.5 concentrations in China – a case study from the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region

Atmospheric haze pollution has become a global concern because of its severe effects on human health and the environment. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration is located in northern China, and its haze is the most serious in China. The high concentration of PM2.5 is the main cause of haze pollution, and thus investigating the temporal and spatial characteristics of PM2.5 is important for understanding the mechanisms underlying PM2.5 pollution and for preventing haze. In this study, the PM2.5 concentration status in 13 cities from the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region was statistically analyzed from January 2016 to November 2016, and the spatial variation of PM2.5 was explored via spatial autocorrelation analysis. The research yielded three overall results. (1) The distribution of PM2.5 concentrations in this area varied greatly during the study period. The concentrations increased from late autumn to early winter, and the spatial range expanded from southeast to northwest. In contrast, the PM2.5 concentration decreased rapidly from late winter to early spring, and the spatial range narrowed from northwest to southeast. (2) The spatial dependence degree, by season from high to low, was in the order winter, autumn, spring, summer. Winter (from December to February of the subsequent year) and summer (from June to August) were, respectively, the highest and lowest seasons with regard to the spatial homogeneity of PM2.5 concentrations. (3) The PM2.5 concentration in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has significant spatial spillovers. Overall, cities far from Bohai Bay, such as Shijiazhuang and Hengshui, demonstrated a high-high concentration of PM2.5 pollution, while coastal cities, such as Chengde and Qinhuangdao, showed a low-low concentration

Competitiveness of Port-Cities: The Case of Marseille-Fos - France

This working paper offers an evaluation of the performance of the port of Marseille-Fos, an analysis of the impact of the port on its territory and an assessment of policies and governance in this field. It examines declining port performance over the last decades and identifies the principal factors that have contributed to it. The effect of the ports on economic and environmental questions is studied and quantified where possible. The value added of the port cluster of Marseille-Fos is calculated and its interlinkages with other economic sectors and other regions in France delineated. The paper outlines the impact of the ports? operations, and shows how their activities spill over into other regions than the one in which the port of Marseille-Fos is located. The major policies governing the ports are assessed, along with policies governing transport and economic development, the environment and spatial planning. These include measures instituted by the port authorities, as well as by local, regional and national governments. Governance mechanisms at these different levels are described and analysed. Based on the report?s findings, recommendations are proposed with a view to improving port performance and increasing the positive effects of the port of Marseille-Fos on its territory