Detection of local interactions from the spatial pattern of names in France

Using data on name distributions in 95 French d'epartements observed from 1946 to 2002, we investigate spatial and social mechanisms behind the transmission of parental preferences. Drawing inspiration from recent work on social interactions, we develop a simple discrete choice model that predicts a linear relationship between choices by agents in one location and the choices made in neighboring areas. We explain the shares of parents that give their children Saint, Arabic, and American-type names. In a second exercise we examine the effect of distance between locations on differences in name-type shares. In our last exercise we consider dissimilarity in actual names rather than name-types. Using Manhattan Distances as our metric, we find a steady and substantial decline in the importance of geographic distance. Meanwhile, differences in class and national origins have increasing explanatory power.

The happy few: the internationalisation of European firms

The 2007 report from the research network European Firms and International Markets (EFIM) is the first systematic, cross-country, firm-level research of the features of European firms that compete in international markets.

Market Potential and the Location of Japanese Firms in the European Union.

This paper develops a theoretical model of location choice under imperfect competition to formalize the notion that firms prefer to locate “where the markets are.” The profitability of a location depends on a term that weights demand in all locations by accessibility. Using a sample of Japanese firms’ choices of regions within European countries, we compare the theoretically derived measure of market potential with the standard form used by geographers. Our results show that market potential matters for location choice but cannot account entirely for the tendency of firms in the same industry to agglomerate.

happy few: the internationalisation of European firms New facts based on firm-level evidence.

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Empirics of Agglomeration and Trade.

This chapter examines empirical strategies that have been or could be used to evaluate the importance of agglomeration and trade models. This theoretical approach, widely known as “New Economic Geography” (NEG), emphasizes the interaction between transport costs and firm-level scale economies as a source of agglomeration. NEG focuses on forward and backward trade linkages as causes of observed spatial concentration of economic activity. We survey the existing literature, organizing the papers we discuss under the rubric of five interesting and testable hypotheses that emerge from NEG theory. We conclude the chapter with an overall assessment of the empirical support for NEG and suggest some directions for future research.

Je t’aime, moi non plus: Bilateral opinions and international trade

This paper studies the relationship between bilateral trade patterns and opinions. It uses the Eurobarometer public opinion surveys published by the European Commission, which provide data on the share of the population in each EU member country in favor of each CEEC joining the EU. Our results first suggest that bilateral opinions have a statistically robust and relatively large effect on imports, even when standard and new covariates capturing proximity between countries are controlled for. We interpret this effect as reflecting a positive impact of “bilateral affinity” on trade patterns. We also show that it is possible to go some way towards explaining the variance in bilateral opinions among our sample. Last we provide some preliminary attempt to determine causality between bilateral opinions and imports.Gravity, bilateral opinions, enlargement

Policy Coherence for Development : A Background paper on Foreign Direct Investment

Meeting international commitments to development co-operation such as the Millennium Development Goals, the Monterrey Consensus on financing for development and the Gleneagles G8 summit agreements to increase aid by around $50 billion per year by 2010 will require not only increased resources, but also their judicious use. In this context policymakers and others cannot limit their attention to the effectiveness of foreign aid alone; they must broaden the discussion to include the development-related impacts of a spectrum of rich-country policies, including those related to investment, trade, and international migration (...)

Trade in the Triad: how easy is the access to large markets?.

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The Effects at Home of Initiating Production Abroad: Evidence from Matched French Firms

Based on matching techniques in combination with a difference-in-difference estimator, this paper estimates the effects at home of initiating production abroad through the establishment of a foreign production affiliate. The analysis covers manufacturing and service firms active in France during the period 1987-1999. We show that the motivation to start producing abroad is an important determinant of its impact at home. Market-seeking FDI in manufacturing is associated with significant scale effects, resulting in job creation. By contrast, factor-seeking FDI in manufacturing has no significant effect on employment. FDI in the services sector is associated with significant positive employment effects, which may reflect the possibility that FDI in this sector is predominantly motivated by market access.FDI, multinationals, propensity score matching, services, delocalisation

Market Potential and Development

This paper provides evidence on the long-term impact of market potential on economic development. It derives from the New Economic Geography literature a structural estimation where the level of factors' income of a country is related to its export capacity, labelled Market Access (MA) by Redding and Venables (2004), or Real Market Potential (RMP) by Head and Mayer (2004). The empirical part evaluates this market potential for all countries in the world with available trade data over the 1960-2003 period and relates it to income per capita. Overall results show that market potential is a powerful driver of increases in income per capita