Classical models of urban population density. The case of Barcelona Metropolitan Area

In this paper, we study the classical functional forms density-distance and its relation with the suburbanization for the Barcelona Metropolitan Area. The investigation of population concentration will be based on a mesure of the population density gradients derived from the classical models of urban population density. The monocentric urban density analysis has received considerable attention in urban geography and regional science as an empirical issue as well as from a theorical standpoint. The classic study by Colin Clark (1951), followed by the work of Muth (1969) and Mills (1970, 1972), has led to an extensive body of literature dealing with empirical implementations for a wide range of metropolitan areas and cities, in different countries and moments of time. In this work we analize the classical econometric models of urban density. Some of them have been used in studies about the traffic planning and some others in theoretical models on housing market. Quantitative geography has also attempted to model the urban population density. The functions have been estimated from the data sets of Barcelona Metropolitan Area (for six periods of time, 1975-1998) and eleven subcenters whose population ranges from 50.000 to over 200.000 (for one period, 1991). The data are taken from the municipality and census tract area and population data from the Census of Population

El desempleo español : factores estructurales

El paro es uno de los problemas más importantes de la economía española y del resto de economías europeas. Un posible análisis, ampliamente extendido en la literatura reciente, considera el desajuste existente entre la oferta y la demanda de trabajo como posible causante de esta situación. En este sentido, la relación empírica entre la tasa de paro y la tasa de vacantes, la denominada curva UV o de Beveridge, ofrece un instrumento para caracterizar el paro d'una economía determinada. Diferentes estudios, como por ejemplo, Jackman et. al. (1983) o Pissarides (1985) entre otros, consideran que los desplazamientos de la curva de Beveridge pueden interpretarse como variaciones del paro estructural. La identificación de estos desplazamientos puede dar información relevante para diseñar políticas económicas adecuadas. El principal objetivo de este trabajo es el de identificar los desplazamientos de la curva de Beveridge para la economía española durante el período 1978-96 utilizando datos anuales de la Encuesta de Población Activa (INE) y de Estadística de Empleo (INEM). Dado que ambas fuentes facilitan la información desagregada territorialmente, se puede construir un panel de datos regionales que permite analizar un amplio conjunto de factores que pueden explicar el desplazamiento de la curva, un posible cambio en la elasticidad de la tasa de paro respeto a la tasa de vacantes, así como también valorar la existencia de diferentes comportamientos regionales en el proceso de emparejamiento de trabajos con trabajadores- Unemployment is one of the most important problems of the Spanish and European economies. A possible analysis, vastly extended in recent literature, focuses on mismatch problems between labour demand and supply. In this sense, the empirical relationship between the vacancy rate and the unemployment rate, the so-called Beveridge curve or UV curve, offers an instrument to characterise the unemployment of the considered economy. Different studies, such as Jackman et al. (1983) and Pissarides (1985) among others, point out that outward shifts of the Beveridge curve can be interpreted as increases in structural unemployment. The identification of these shifts provide some useful information that can be used for policy-making. The main objective of this paper is to identify the outward shifts of the Beveridge curve for the Spanish economy in the period 1978-96 using annual data from the Encuesta de Población Activa (INE) and the Estadística de Empleo, INEM. As both sources provide regional disaggregated data, it is possible to use a regional panel data to analyse a wide pool of factors that can explain the outward shift of the UV curve, a possible change in the elasticity of the unemployment rate with respect to the vacancy rate and the existence of different regional behaviours in the process of job-matchingL'atur és un dels problemes més importants de l'economia espanyola i la resta d'economies europees. Una possible anàlisi, àmpliament estesa en la literatura recent, considera el desajust existent entre la oferta i la demanda de treball com a possible causant d¿aquesta situació. En aquest sentit, la relació empírica entre la taxa d'atur i la taxa de vacants, l'anomenada corba UV o de Beveridge, ofereix un instrument per a caracteritzar l¿atur d'una economia determinada. Diferents estudis, com per exemple, Jackman et al. (1983) o Pissarides (1985) entre d'altres, consideren que els desplaçaments de la corba de Beveridge poden interpretar-se com a variacions de l'atur estructural. La identificació d'aquests desplaçaments pot donar informació rellevant per tal de dissenyar polítiques econòmiques adients. El principal objectiu d'aquest treball és el d'identificar els desplaçaments de la corba de Beveridge per a la economia espanyola durant el periode 1978-96 utilitzant dades anuals de la Encuesta de Población Activa (INE) i de Estadística de Empleo (INEM). Donat que ambdues fonts faciliten la informació desagregada territorialment, es pot construir un pannell de dades regionals que permetanalitzar un ampli conjunt de factors que poden explicar el desplaçament de la corba, un possible canvi en l¿elasticitat de la taxa d'atur respecte a la taxa de vacants, així com també valorar l'existència de diferents comportaments regionals en el procés d'emparellament de treballs amb treballador

Introduction to the special focus Cultural tourism and sustainable urban development

In a world where more than half of the population already lives in cities and more than 90 percent of urban growth is occurring in the developing world (Licciardi and Amirtahmasebi, 2012), cities have the potential to serve as incubators of innovation and technology. However, there are also many challenges for cities that can be classified into economic, environmental, and social threats. Cities, for instance, consume 75 per cent of worldwide energy production and generate 80 per cent of CO2 emissions (Lazaroiua and Rosciab, 2012). The 'smart city' paradigm, which has been adopted by many cities worldwide, represents an environment where innovation and technology supplement activities and services of a city in order to provide benefits to the residents and visitors. In Europe, initiatives for sustainable development of cities have been characterised and defined by a number of factors including environmental sustainability, economic development and a high quality of life

A gravity model of migration between ENC and EU [WP]

Due to ageing population and low birth rates, the European Union (EU) will need to import foreign labour in the next decades. In this context, the EU neighbouring countries (ENC) are the main countries of origin and transit of legal and illegal migration towards Europe. Their economic, cultural and historical links also make them an important potential source of labour force. The objective of this paper is to analyse past and future trends in ENC-EU bilateral migration relationships. With this aim, two different empirical analyses are carried out. First, we specify and estimate a gravity model for nearly 200 countries between 1960 and 2010; and, second, we focus on within EU-27 migration flows before and after the enlargement of the EU. Our results show a clear increase in migratory pressures from ENC to the EU in the near future, but South-South migration will also become more relevant

Innovation adoption and productivity growth: evidence for Europe

Este trabajo ofrece una verificación empírica de la relación entre la adopción de la innovación y el crecimiento de la productividad. Después de una breve revisión de la literatura sobre el concepto y los principales determinantes de la adopción/difusión de la innovación, el trabajo ofrece, utilizando estadísticos descriptivos, evidencia empírica de la relación antes mencionada. Posteriormente, mediante un análisis de regresión, se estudia el impacto que puede tener la adopción de la innovación en el crecimiento de la productividad. El análisis se realiza con la información estadística proporcionada por la Community Innovation Survey en sus tercero y cuarto informes, que recoge las actividades innovadoras llevadas a cabo entre 1998 y 2000 y entre 2002 y 2004, respectivamente. Los países incluidos son los 25 Estados miembros de la UE más Islandia, Noruega y Turquía

Macroeconomic implications of EMU at the regional level

With no doubt, the main cost of joining a currency area is the loss of monetary policy instruments at a national level (e.g. the exchange rate) as stabilisation mechanisms against macroeconomic disturbances that only affect one country of the area or affect them in different manners. As this kind of macroeconomic disturbances, known as “asymmetric shocks”, cannot be dealt by a common monetary policy, alternative adjustment mechanisms are needed to achieve macroeconomic stabilisation. However, the evidence for Europe has shown that European countries have a lower response capacity than other currency areas. For this reason, several studies have examined to what extent asymmetric shocks have been relevant in Europe in the past, mainly at a national level. However, the regional dimension is relevant for this analysis. Not all the regions are equally affected by the problem of asymmetric shocks. The consideration of the fact that European regions did not have sovereignty to apply their own autonomous policy implies that, inside every national state, there could have been regions adversely affected by the national single monetary policy in presence of asymmetric shocks. In this sense, the consideration of the effects of taking part in the Economic and Monetary Union necessarily involves to consider the relative situation of every region inside their own country. If the relationships between every region and the European aggregates are as intense as the relationships with the previous national aggregate, the relative position of the region in this new macroeconomic framework will be similar to the previous one. In this paper, we analyse macroeconomic effects of EMU at a regional level using the Eurostat Regio database. The results show that there are big differences among regions: there will be winners and losers.

A gravity model of migration between ENC and EU

Due to its ageing population and low birth rates, the European Union (EU) will need to import foreign labour in the next decades. In this context, the EU neighbouring countries (ENC) are the main countries of origin and transit of legal and irregular migration towards Europe. Their economic, cultural, and historical links also make them an important potential source of labour. The objective of this paper is to analyse past and future trends in ENC-EU bilateral migration relationships. With this aim, we specify and estimate a gravity model for nearly 200 countries between 1960 and 2010. Next, we use the model to obtain medium-run migration forecasts. Our results show a clear increase in migratory pressures from ENC to the EU in the near future, but probably lower than initially expected

Urban population density functions : the case of the Barcelona region

L'anàlisi de la densitat urbana és utilitzada per examinar la distribució espacial de la població dins de les àrees urbanes, i és força útil per planificar els serveis públics. En aquest article, s'estudien setze formes funcionals clàssiques de la relació existent entre la densitat i la distancia en la regió metropolitana de Barcelona i els seus onze subcentres

Salarios y Mercados de Trabajo Regionales: Introducción al monográfico

This introduction summarises the main contributions included in the special issue. These papers were discussed (among others) in the special session on «Wages and Regional Labour Markets» organised within the activities of the 51st Congress of the European Association of Regional Science (ERSA) and the 37th\ud conference of the Spanish Regional Science Association held in Barcelona in August 2011. This special issue contains six of the nine papers discussed in the session, plus three additional papers clearly related to this topic that were discussed in other conference sessions or included at a later stage due to their relevance. Moreover, we also decided to include a brief discussion of each paper in order to incorporate other points of view and some additional thoughts on the topic.Esta introducción trata de resumir las principales contribuciones incluidas en el monográfico. Estos trabajos formaron parte (junto con otros) de la sesión especial sobre salarios y mercados de trabajo regionales celebrada en el contexto del 51.º Congreso de la Asociación Europea de Ciencia Regional y 37.ª Reunión de Estudios Regionales celebrado en Barcelona en agosto de 2011. Este monográfico contiene seis de los nueve artículos presentados en dicha sesión, más tres trabajos adicionales claramente relacionados con este tema que se discutieron\ud en otras sesiones de la conferencia o que se incluyeron en una etapa posterior, debido a su relevancia. Además, el monográfico también incluye una breve discusión de cada artículo con el objetivo de incorporar otros puntos de vista y algunas\ud reflexiones adicionales sobre los temas tratados

Quality in work and aggregate productivity

We explore the relationship between quality in work and aggregate productivity in regions and sectors. Using recent Spanish aggregate data for the period 2001-2006, we find that quality in work may be an important factor to explain productivity levels in sectors and regions. We use two alternatives definitions of quality in work: one from survey data and the other from a social indicators approach. We also use two different measurements of labour productivity to test the robustness of our results. The estimates are run using a simultaneous equation model for our panel of data, and find important differences between high tech and low tech sectors: a positive relationship between quality in work and productivity in the former case, and a negative relationship in the latter. Consequently, on the one hand we see that quality in work is not only an objective per se, but may also be a production factor able to increase the wealth of regions; on the other hand, at the aggregate level, we may also find that high productivity levels coincide with lower quality in work conditions