Sectoral Agglomeration Economies in a Panel of European Regions

We estimate agglomeration economies, defined as the effect of density on labour productivity in European regions. The analysis of Ciccone (2002) is extended in two main ways. First, we use dynamic panel estimation techniques (system GMM), thus offering an alternative methodological treatment of the inherent endogeneity problem. Second, the sector dimension in the data allows for disaggregated estimation. Our results confirm the presence of significant agglomeration effects at the aggregate level, with an estimated long-run elasticity of 13 percent. Repeated crosssection regressions suggest that the strength of agglomeration effects has increased over time. At the sector level, the dominant pattern is of cross-sector "urbanisation" economies and own-sector congestion diseconomies. A notable exception is financial services, for which we find strong positive productivity effects from own-sector density.employment density; productivity; european regions; dynamic panel GMM

Energy Abundance, Trade and Industry Location

We study the effect of countries’ energy abundance on trade and sector activity, conditional on sector’s energy intensity, using an unbalanced panel with 14 high-income countries from Europe, America and Asia, 10 broad sectors, and years 1970-1997. We find that (i) countries with large energy endowments have low energy prices, and are thus energy abundant both on micro and macro level. (ii) Energy abundant countries have a high level of energy embodied in exports relative to imports. (iii) Energy intensive sectors export from and (iv) have higher economic activity in energy abundant countries. (v) The trade and location effects increase with a sector’s exposure to international trade. In short, energy is a major driver for sector location through specialisation. We show that capital and energy are complements in the production function and use various controls in our analysis. The results give insights into delocalisation effects that may take place among rich countries with heterogeneous energy policy.Trade and the Environment, Pollution Haven, Factor Endowments, Industry Location

POPULATION ECOLOGY OF THE NORTHERN SLIMY SALAMANDER (PLETHODON GLUTINOSUS) IN EAST-CENTRAL ILLINOIS

The importance of plethodontid salamanders in forested habitats has been recognized for decades and more recently plethodontids have been touted as a model taxon for monitoring ecosystem integrity and recovery. However, basic demographic data that are crucial to conservation and management plans are currently lacking for many species and regions. The objectives of our study were to characterize the population density, biomass, and capture success of a peripheral population of Plethodon glutinosus to provide a comparison for eastern populations and set a baseline for future monitoring of Midwestern populations. We estimated the population density of P. glutinosus at our site to be 0.41 salamanders/m2, with an estimated biomass of 0.70 g/m2. We did not find any evidence for temperature or precipitation affecting capture success. Our results showed that our density estimate falls within the range of other population ecology studies of Plethodon and sets a baseline for other peripheral Midwestern populations

The Properties of Water in the Pressure-Temperature Landscape

Water represents the major component of most food systems. During thermal or high-pressure processing, physical and chemical properties of water are changed. The p-T diagram represents an obvious presentation of isoproperty lines and their pressure and temperature dependencies. In this work, 15 different properties of pure water are shown as isoproperty lines in the pressure-temperature landscape. By using functional relationships from the "International Association for the Properties of Water and Steam” and databases from the "National Institute of Standards and Technology,” highest accuracy is guaranteed. Applying the generated graphs, a compact overview is given and a wide range of thermal and high-pressure processes can easily be compared. The different pressure and temperature dependencies of all properties showed the complexity of medium conditions during thermal and high-pressure processing. An extended understanding of pressure-temperature dependencies will improve process concepts as well as industrial applications at high temperature and high isostatic pressur

Unraveling the World-Wide Pollution Haven Effect

This paper contributes to the debate on the existence of pollution haven effects by systematically measuring the pollution content of trade (measured by the polluction content of imports (PCI)) and decomposing it into three components: a 'deep' (i.e. unrelated to the environmental debate) component and two components (factor endowments and environmental policies) that occupy centerstage in the debate on trade and the environment. The decomposition is carried out for 1986-88 for an extensive data set covering 10 pollutants, 48 countries and 79 ISIC 4-digit sectors. Illustrative decompositions presented for 3 of the 10 pollutants in the data set indicate a significant pollution haven effect and highlight the role of factor endowments in each region's PCI. However, because the bulk of trade is intra-regional with a high North-North share, these effects are small relative to the 'deep' determinants of the worldwide pollution content of trade.trade and the environment; pollution haven

Unraveling the worldwide pollution haven effect

This paper contributes to the debate on the existence of pollution haven effects by systematically measuring the pollution content of trade (measured by the pollution content of imports, PCI) and decomposing it into three components-a"deep"component (unrelated to the environmental debate but including variables traditionally present in the gravity model) and two components (factor endowments and environmental policies) that occupy center stage in the debate on trade and the environment. The decomposition is carried out for 1986-88 for an extensive data set covering 10 pollutants, 48 countries, and 79 ISIC 4-digit sectors. Illustrative decompositions presented for three of the 10 pollutants in the data set indicate a significant pollution haven effect which increases the PCI of the North because of stricter environmental regulations in the North. At the same time, the factor endowment effect decreases the PCI of the North as the North is relatively well-endowed in capital and pollution-intensive activities are also capital-intensive. On a global scale, because the bulk of trade is intraregional with a high North-North share, these effects are small relative to the"deep"determinants of the worldwide pollution content of trade. In sum, although the impact has been stronger on vertical (North-South) trade flows, differences in factor endowments and environmental policies have only marginally affected the pollution content of world trade during the 1986-88 period.Environmental Economics&Policies,Water and Industry,Brown Issues and Health,Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Water Resources Assessment

Unravelling the Worldwide Pollution Haven Effect

This paper tackles the “pollution haven” argument by estimating the pollution content of imports (PCI). The PCI is then decomposed into three components: (i) a “deep” component (i.e. traditional variables unrelated to the environmental debate); (ii) a factor endowment component and (iii) a “pollution haven” component reflecting the impact of differences in environmental policies. The estimation is carried out for 1987 for an extensive data set covering 10 pollutants, 48 countries and 79 ISIC 4-digit sectors. Decompositions based on cross-section econometric estimates suggest a significant pollution haven effect which increases the PCI of the North because of stricter environmental regulations in the North. At the same time, the factor endowment effect lowers the PCI of the North, as the North is relatively well-endowed in capital and pollution-intensive activities are capital intensive. On a global scale, because the bulk of trade is intra-regional with a high North-North share, these effects are small relative to the “deep” determinants of the worldwide PCI. In sum, differences in factor endowments and environmental policies have only marginally affected the PCI of world trade at the end of the eighties.Trade and The Environment, Pollution Haven Effect, Factor Endowment Effect

Global Manufacturing SO2 Emissions: Does Trade Matter?

A growth-decomposition (scale, technique and composition effect) covering 62 countries and 7 manufacturing sectors over the 1990-2000 period shows that trade, through reallocations of activities across countries, has contributed to a 2-3 percent decrease in world SO2 emissions. However, when compared to a constructed counterfactual no-trade benchmark, depending on the base year, trade would have contributed to a 3-10 percent increase in emissions. Finally adding emissions coming from trade-related transport activities, global emissions are increased through trade by 16 percent in 1990 and 13 percent in 2000, the decline being largely attributable to a shift of dirty activities towards cleaner countries.embodied emissions in trade, environment, growth decomposition, transport, world trade