Agglomeration, Migration and Tax Competition

This paper focuses on tax competition and international migration in R&D sectors as agglomeration forces and trade restrictions are present. Economic integration forces industrialized countries to adapt their tax rates in order to keep their industrial status quo. Unlike the often discussed "race to the bottom" result, taxes are increased and the provision of public goods is maintained. It is also proven that taxes that redistribute between mobile and immobile labor lead to a tax burden that favors mobile labor. As integration continues, the cutback of factor mobility restrictions supports economic development in industrialized countries at the expense of structurally backward regions. --Economic Geography,Agglomeration,Migration,Tax Competition

International Patent Pattern and Technology Diffusion

The paper focuses on the impact of business related R&D spending on input factor productivity (IFP) using international patent applications as a technology diffusion channel. Considering the relationship amongst research and productivity, international patent pattern reflect the link between the source (R&D) and the use (IFP). To estimate patent related spill-over effects, I use the estimation techniques developed and proposed by Kao and Chiang (1998) in order to deal with nonstationary and cointegration and to obtain reliable coefficients. I find that patent related foreign R&D spillover effects are present and that impact on labor productivity for Non-G7 countries is higher due to foreign than domestic R&D activities.Productivity, R&D, Technology Diffusion, Nonstationary Panels

Agglomeration, Migration and Tax Competition

The paper focuses on tax competition and international migration in R&D sectors as agglomeration forces and trade restrictions are present. Core countries in economically integrating regions adapt tax rates to keep their industrial status quo. Unlike the often discussed “race to the bottom” result, tax rates are increased and the provision of public goods is maintained. Additionally, tax rates that redistribute between mobile and immobile labor lead to a tax burden that favors mobile labor. As economic integration continues, the cutback of factor mobility restrictions for skilled labor supports economic development in core countries at the expense of periphery countries.Economic Geography, Agglomeration, Migration, Tax Competition

Thermodynamically Stable One-Component Metallic Quasicrystals

Classical density-functional theory is employed to study finite-temperature trends in the relative stabilities of one-component quasicrystals interacting via effective metallic pair potentials derived from pseudopotential theory. Comparing the free energies of several periodic crystals and rational approximant models of quasicrystals over a range of pseudopotential parameters, thermodynamically stable quasicrystals are predicted for parameters approaching the limits of mechanical stability of the crystalline structures. The results support and significantly extend conclusions of previous ground-state lattice-sum studies.Comment: REVTeX, 13 pages + 2 figures, to appear, Europhys. Let

Evolution of Feedback Loops in Oscillatory Systems

Feedback loops are major components of biochemical systems. Many systems show multiple such (positive or negative) feedback loops. Nevertheless, very few quantitative analyses address the question how such multiple feedback loops evolved. Based on published models from the mitotic cycle in embryogenesis, we build a few case studies. Using a simple core architecture (transcription, phosphorylation and degradation), we define oscillatory models having either one positive feedback or one negative feedback, or both loops. With these models, we address the following questions about evolvability: could a system evolve from a simple model to a more complex one with a continuous transition in the parameter space? How do new feedback loops emerge without disrupting the proper function of the system? Our results show that progressive formation of a second feedback loop is possible without disturbing existing oscillatory behavior. For this process, the parameters of the system have to change during evolution to maintain predefined properties of oscillations like period and amplitude.Comment: Proceedings of the 2009 FOSBE conference in Denver, CO, USA. 4 page

CO adsorption on metal surfaces: a hybrid functional study with plane wave basis set

We present a detailed study of the adsorption of CO on Cu, Rh, and Pt (111) surfaces in top and hollow sites. The study has been performed using the local density approximation, the gradient corrected functional PBE, and the hybrid Hartree-Fock density functionals PBE0 and HSE03 within the framework of generalized Kohn-Sham density functional theory using a plane-wave basis set. As expected, the LDA and GGA functionals show a tendency to favor the hollow sites, at variance with experimental findings that give the top site as the most stable adsorption site. The PBE0 and HSE03 functionals reduce this tendency. In fact, they predict the correct adsorption site for Cu and Rh but fail for Pt. But even in this case, the hybrid functional destabilizes the hollow site by 50 meV compared to the PBE functional. The results of the total energy calculations are presented along with an analysis of the projected density of states.Comment: 32 pages, 6 tables, 3 figures. (Re)Submitted to Phys. Rev. B; LDA results added in the tables; minor changes in the tex

Agglomeration economies and clustering: Evidence from German firms

The paper quantifies the impact of agglomeration economies on the clustering of German firms. Therefore, I use the 2006 Innobarometer survey, which focuses on cluster characteristics and activities of German firms, to empirically identify agglomeration economies derived from the New Economic Geography and Marshall externalities. At the industry specific level, I find that within-industry spillovers are important for German low-tech firms but not for high-tech firms or knowledge intensive firms. At the department level, Marshall externalities such as hiring skilled labor and technological spillover effects are empirically confirmed for some departments like Human Resources or R&D but rarely for others like Production

Industrial Agglomeration and Economic Development

The paper outlines a static equilibrium model, which analyses the economic development in a two-country case by considering interregional migration in R&D-sectors. The effects of migration and firm decisions on both industrial agglomeration and economic development will be shown: lock-in-effects and free market entry will lead to a concentration of firms. In addition, the consideration of fundamental and secondary research activity leads to a higher number of firms and products by means of cost reduction and spillover effects. The resulting demand of unskilled and skilled labor will be met by sectoral and interregional migration. This reinforces the concentration of economic activity and leads to a higher degree of specialization and economic development. The formation of single equilibria is shown under consideration of exogenous shocks: diminishing transportation cost will turn economies, originally equally endowed and with the same economic structure, to spatial concentration and uneven economic development

Salt, Seasons and Sampans: Riverine Trade and Trqansport in Central Thailand

Introduction Since Sir John Bowring first recorded these impressions of the central plain of Thailand in the middle of the last, century, time has unalterably changed the context of his account, though not entirely its accuracy. The ‘feracious jungle’ which covered much of the lower central plain in Bowring\u27s time began to disappear under the plow of the Thai peasant farmer in the latter decades of the last century. By 1900 the landscape had been almost entirely converted to an intensive system of irrigated wet-padi production for export. The establishrnent and growth of this commercial agricultural economy has resulted in this region becoming the most productive, developed, and densely settled area of the country. The rapidly growing Bangkok Metropolitan Area, scarcely a shadow of itself in Bowring’s time, dominates this commercial agricultural and industrializing landscape. However, the pivotal role of the ‘Meinam’ or Chaophraya river and other natural and manmade waterways in this region has been diminished only recently. Over this complex network flows padi, rice, maize, consumer staples, exotic fruits and vegetables, and an almost unending variety of goods and produce destined for Bangkok and other locations within the region. Since early in the 19th century this inland waterway network has occupied a central position in the economic, communications, and social interaction of the country. Boats of all shapes\u27 sizes, and functions have plied these waterways to carry agricultural produce to Bangkok for export, to distribute food staples to the population, and to serve as the major communications and transport medium for the region. Not until the immediate postwar period did an expanding highway network, urbanization, and dramatic shifts in government investments in land transport network. Here we may turn to the flows of commodities in space and time, patterns of directional movement in commodity shipment and distribution, the changing composition of trade and commodity shipment on the waterways, and the links which may tie these patterns to settlements, productive activities, and other locational or areal phenomena. By seeking to compare and identify patterns, distributions, and connectivities in both space and time we can gain a fuller understanding of the dynamics of this system. Four broad areas of pattern, distribution, and process are of immediate interest to us here. First, we explore some of the characteristics of the inland waterway network related to its early development, its use for trade and commodity flows, and constraints these characteristics impose on these activities. Secondly, we turn to the composition of local trade. Here our concern is with low-bulk, short-haul movements of consumer staples rather than the shipment of high bulk, long-haul movements of agricultural commodities, construction aggregates, and timber. Specific attention will be focused on six commodity categories typical of the loca1 trade process; wood-forest products, consumer staples, fruit, vegetables, fertilizers, and miscellaneous cargoes. Our exclusion of the high bulk agricultural commodities (padi, rice, maize), construction aggregates (sand, stone, cement), and certain classes of forest products is based on the assumption that these commodities are seldom associated with the process of local trade. A third area of interest concerns the types of participants in the local trade system. That is, who is involved in local trade activities, what do their activities indicate about the structure of trade and its links to the local economy, and how do their activities fluctuate seasonally and spatially. Finally, we seek to incorporate the various patterns and processes of local trade into a general model of riverine trade dynamics. The background for this study lies in an extended period of research in Thailand begun in 1966 by a team composed of personnel from the Department of Geography, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) and Thai colleagues from the Applied Scientific Research Corporation of Thailand located in Bangkok. The task defined in this project was to complete a comprehensive survey of transport systems in Thailand. This included studies of the water, rail, and road transport industries which were completed in late 1969. The data base for this study comes from three primary sources: (1) a series of four census-surveys of trade and vessel movement on the inland waterways completed during 1966-1968 (2) over 500 interviews with owner-operators of vessels operating on the inland waterways; and (3) lock-passage records collected during the same period at all navigation-irrigation locks within the central plain. This aggregate data base was intended to provide the essential information upon which an analysis of the structure, organization, and operations of inland water transportation could be made. It is evident from the foregoing comments that the data to be considered here is not current, and may in some respects be seen as a historical rather than contemporary record. To our knowledge this information represents the only compreshensive survey of inland water transport and trade to have been completed in Thailand.l While over ten years have passed since these materials were collected, there are few substantive reasons which would lead us to question the contemporary accuracy of the broader patterns outlined here. There has most certainly been some continued erosion of the economic contributions of local trade, loss of commodities to the more competitive road transport system, and even changes in the volumes of commodity flows. However, we persist in our belief that the broad structural outlines of local trade, the activities of local traders, and the general patterns of commodity flows seasonally and spatially remain as representative today as they were almost fifteen years ago. We of courser assume full responsibility for any errors or misinterpretations which may exist in this study. (1)The only other study completed on inland water transport in Thailand is a survey done by the Harbour Department in 1964. Its primary concern was with measuring commodity flows to and from Bangkok by vessel type and commodity. Much of this data is directly or indirectly incorporated in the study presented here. (see, Thailand, Harbour Department, Survey of Inland Waterway Transportation, Central Rivers Basin, 1964. Bangkok: The National Economic Development Board and The National Statistical Office (1966?