The Geography of Knowledge Spillovers between High-Technology Firms in Europe - Evidence from a Spatial Interaction Modelling Perspective

The focus in this paper is on knowledge spillovers between high-technology firms in Europe, as captured by patent citations. High-technology is defined to include the ISIC-sectors aerospace (ISIC 3845), electronics-telecommunication (ISIC 3832), computers and office equipment (ISIC 3825), and pharmaceuticals (ISIC 3522). The European coverage is given by patent applications at the European Patent Office that are assigned to high-technology firms located in the EU-25 member states, the two accession countries Bulgaria and Romania, and Norway and Switzerland. By following the paper trail left by citations between these high-technology patents we adopt a Poisson spatial interaction modelling perspective to identify and measure spatial separation effects to interregional knowledge spillovers. In doing so we control for technological proximity between the regions, as geographical distance could be just proxying for technological proximity. The study produces prima facie evidence that geography matters. First, geographical distance has a significant impact on knowledge spillovers, and this effect is substantial. Second, national border effects are important and dominate geographical distance effects. Knowledge flows within European countries more easily than across. Not only geography, but also technological proximity matters. Interregional knowledge flows are industry specific and occur most often between regions located close to each other in technological space.

The Geography of Knowledge Spillovers between High-Technology Firms in Europe. Evidence from a Spatial Interaction Modelling Perspective

The focus in this paper is on knowledge spillovers between high-technology firms in Europe, as captured by patent citations. High-technology is defined to include the ISIC-sectors aerospace (ISIC 3845), electronics-telecommunication (ISIC 3832), computers and office equipment (ISIC 3825), and pharmaceuticals (ISIC 3522). The European coverage is given by patent applications at the European Patent Office that are assigned to high-technology firms located in the EU-25 member states (except Cyprus and Malta), the two accession countries Bulgaria and Romania, and Norway and Switzerland. By following the paper trail left by citations between these hightechnology patents we adopt a Poisson spatial interaction modelling perspective to identify and measure spatial separation effects to interregional knowledge spillovers. In doing so we control for technological proximity between the regions, as geographical distance could be just proxying for technological proximity. The study produces prima facie evidence that geography matters. First, geographical distance has a significant impact on knowledge spillovers, and this effect is substantial. Second, national border effects are important and dominate geographical distance effects. Knowledge flows within European countries more easily than across. Not only geography, but also technological proximity matters. Interregional knowledge flows are industry specific and occur most often between regions located close to each other in technological space

On proximity and hierarchy : exploring and modelling space using multilevel modelling and spatial econometrics

Spatial econometrics and also multilevel modelling techniques are increasingly part of the regional scientists‟ toolbox. Both approaches are used to model spatial autocorrelation in a wide variety of applications. However, it is not always clear on which basis researchers make a choice between spatial econometrics and spatial multilevel modelling. Therefore it is useful to compare both techniques. Spatial econometrics incorporates neighbouring areas into the model design; and thus interprets spatial proximity as defined in Tobler‟s first law of geography. On the other hand, multilevel modelling using geographical units takes a more hierarchical approach. In this case the first law of geography can be rephrased as „everything is related to everything else, but things in the same region are more related than things in different regions‟. The hierarchy (multilevel) and the proximity (spatial econometrics) approach are illustrated using Belgian mobility data and productivity data of European regions. One of the advantages of a multilevel model is that it can incorporate more than two levels (spatial scales). Another advantage is that a multilevel structure can easily reflect an administrative structure with different government levels. Spatial econometrics on the other hand works with a unique set of neighbours which has the advantage that there still is a relation between neighbouring municipalities separated by a regional boundary. The concept of distance can also more easily be incorporated in a spatial econometrics setting. Both spatial econometrics and spatial multilevel modelling proved to be valuable techniques in spatial research but more attention should go to the rationale why one of the two approaches is chosen. We conclude with some comments on models which make a combination of both techniques

Comparative approaches for assessing access to alcohol outlets: exploring the utility of a gravity potential approach.

BackgroundA growing body of research recommends controlling alcohol availability to reduce harm. Various common approaches, however, provide dramatically different pictures of the physical availability of alcohol. This limits our understanding of the distribution of alcohol access, the causes and consequences of this distribution, and how best to reduce harm. The aim of this study is to introduce both a gravity potential measure of access to alcohol outlets, comparing its strengths and weaknesses to other popular approaches, and an empirically-derived taxonomy of neighborhoods based on the type of alcohol access they exhibit.MethodsWe obtained geospatial data on Seattle, including the location of 2402 alcohol outlets, United States Census Bureau estimates on 567 block groups, and a comprehensive street network. We used exploratory spatial data analysis and employed a measure of inter-rater agreement to capture differences in our taxonomy of alcohol availability measures.ResultsSignificant statistical and spatial variability exists between measures of alcohol access, and these differences have meaningful practical implications. In particular, standard measures of outlet density (e.g., spatial, per capita, roadway miles) can lead to biased estimates of physical availability that over-emphasize the influence of the control variables. Employing a gravity potential approach provides a more balanced, geographically-sensitive measure of access to alcohol outlets.ConclusionsAccurately measuring the physical availability of alcohol is critical for understanding the causes and consequences of its distribution and for developing effective evidence-based policy to manage the alcohol outlet licensing process. A gravity potential model provides a superior measure of alcohol access, and the alcohol access-based taxonomy a helpful evidence-based heuristic for scholars and local policymakers

Mapping environmental injustices: pitfalls and potential of geographic information systems in assessing environmental health and equity.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have been used increasingly to map instances of environmental injustice, the disproportionate exposure of certain populations to environmental hazards. Some of the technical and analytic difficulties of mapping environmental injustice are outlined in this article, along with suggestions for using GIS to better assess and predict environmental health and equity. I examine 13 GIS-based environmental equity studies conducted within the past decade and use a study of noxious land use locations in the Bronx, New York, to illustrate and evaluate the differences in two common methods of determining exposure extent and the characteristics of proximate populations. Unresolved issues in mapping environmental equity and health include lack of comprehensive hazards databases; the inadequacy of current exposure indices; the need to develop realistic methodologies for determining the geographic extent of exposure and the characteristics of the affected populations; and the paucity and insufficiency of health assessment data. GIS have great potential to help us understand the spatial relationship between pollution and health. Refinements in exposure indices; the use of dispersion modeling and advanced proximity analysis; the application of neighborhood-scale analysis; and the consideration of other factors such as zoning and planning policies will enable more conclusive findings. The environmental equity studies reviewed in this article found a disproportionate environmental burden based on race and/or income. It is critical now to demonstrate correspondence between environmental burdens and adverse health impacts--to show the disproportionate effects of pollution rather than just the disproportionate distribution of pollution sources

Human Resource Management Diffusion and Productivity Imbalances

In this study, we explore spatial variance in management practices and assess its potential contribution to regional imbalances in productivity. The research builds on a growing body of evidence which indicates that differences in management practices can account for a substantial share of cross-country differences in total factor productivity, and which identifies an important role for management practices in explaining differences in productivity between firms in the UK. We contribute to this literature by studying regional variation in HRM and related management practices using workplace-level (i.e. plant-level) data in Britain, taken from the Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS). We use these data to map spatial variance in HRM intensity in Britain. We then seek to account for that variance and, in doing so, establish whether regional variance in HRM can help to account for regional variance in productivity. This analysis is complemented by a comparative investigation of equivalent data for France, where levels of productivity and HRM are both higher and less dispersed

Travel choices in Scotland - the effect of local accessibility on non-work travel

Accessibility features prominently in the developing transport policies of both the United Kingdom Government and the devolved Scottish Executive which aim to promote social inclusion in particular and the integration of transport and land use planning more generally. It follows that a detailed understanding of the relationship between accessibility, personal mobility and travel behaviour is critical to the successful implementation of these policies. This paper presents the results of a disaggregate, multi-variate analysis of the Scottish Household Survey (SHS) dataset and attempts to unravel the complex relationship between socio-economical circumstance, geographical access to local services and public transport and revealed non-work travel choices. The socio-economical and geographical diversity of Scotland offers an excellent opportunity to undertake an analysis of this nature. The SHS is a continuous, cross-sectional survey funded by the Scottish Executive and undertaken by face-to-face interview based on a sample of the general population in private residences in Scotland. It seeks to provide information on the composition, characteristics and behaviour of Scottish households. The survey collects information in two parts - firstly the highest income householder provides household level data including household composition and income, key attributes of household members, transport resources available to the household including access to public transport; secondly a randomly selected adult from the household provides information on inter alia personal travel (including the completion of a one-day travel diary on the previous day) and personal views on transport, the neighbourhood and local services. The dataset analysed in this paper was collected between 1999 and 2003 and contains over 75,000 surveyed households and over 49,000 completed travel diaries. Two other variables were matched with the residential location of SHS respondents and added to the dataset; namely, an index representing proximity to local services at electoral ward level derived in the Scottish Indices of Deprivation 2003 study and a locational classification for each respondent which captures settlement size and wider regional accessibility. The primary focus of the analysis presented in this paper is an examination of the extent to which the quality of local access to services affects distance travelled for non-work purposes. Within this analysis individual and household socio-economical circumstance, available transport resources (both car ownership and local access to public transport) and the wider regional geographical context are also taken into account. It is hypothesised that good local access is negatively associated with distance travelled and that there also exists the possibility of significant interaction between local access and socio-economical circumstance and available transport resources. Regression models are developed for non-work travel which test the statistical significance of these explanatory variables. The results of the analysis reported here will add to the existing evidence base on the relationship between accessibility and travel choice. Its conclusions are expected to inform the development of strategies to enhance social inclusion and reduce overall travel which are tailored to socio-economical and geographical circumstance

Valuing iconic design: Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in Oak Park, Illinois

This study investigates the willingness of homebuyers to pay for co-location with iconic architecture. Oak Park, Illinois was chosen as the study area given its unique claim of having 24 residential structures designed by world-famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, in addition to dozens of other designated landmarks and three preservation districts. This study adds to the limited body of existing literature on the external price effects of architectural design and is unique in its focus on residential architecture. We find a premium of about 8.5% within 50-100m of the nearest Wright building and about 5% within 50-250m. These results indicate that an external premium to iconic architecture does exist, although it may partially be attributable to the prominence of the architec

The performance of space – exploring social and spatial phenomena of interaction patterns in an organisation.

It is often proposed that the design of the physical workplace influences social interaction and therefore organisational behaviour in one way or the other. Yet there is little accordance among scholars on how exactly the relationship between the social space and the social structure of an organisation is constituted. In order to explore this relationship, we combine an interpretive, phenomenological approach with a correlational, syntactic approach. Using the example of a workplace environment studied on multiple layers as well as in detail we propose that physical space influences the formation of social structure and organisational behaviour in manifold, but analytically tractable ways. The application of qualitative and quantitative methods in tandem proves fruitful for understanding the complex phenomena that characterise the emergence of organisational culture