Industrial districts, innovation and I-district effect: territory or industrial specialization?

The I-district effect hypothesis establishes the existence of highly intense innovation in Marshallian industrial districts due to the presence of external localization economies. However, industrial districts are characterized by specific manufacturing specializations in such a way that this effect could be due to these dominant specializations. The objective of this research is to test whether the effect is explained by the conditions of the territory or by the industrial specialization and to provide additional evidence of the existence and causes of the highly intense innovation in industrial districts (I-district effect). The estimates for Spain of a fixed effects model interacting territory and industry suggest that the high innovative performance of industrial districts is maintained across sectors whereas the industrial specialization behaves differently depending on the type of local production system in which it is placed. The I-district effect is related to the conditions of the territory more than to the industrial specialization. The territory is a key variable in explaining the processes of innovation and should be considered a basic dimension in the design of innovation and industrial policies.industrial districts, innovation, external economies, district effect

Sources of Competitiveness in Tourist Local Systems

At the end of the XIX Century, Marshall described the existence of some concentrations of small and medium enterprises specialised in a specific production activity in certain districts of some industrial English cities. Starting from his contribute, Italian scholars have paid particular attention to this local system of production coined by Marshall under the term “industrial district”. In other countries, different but related territorial models have played a central role as the “milieu” or the “geographical industrial clusters”. Recently, these models have been extended to non-industrial fields like culture, rural activities and tourism. In this text, we explore the extension of these territorial models to the study of tourist activities in Italy, using a framework that can be easily applied to other countries or regions. The paper is divided in five sections. In the first one, we propose a review of the territorial models applied to tourism industry. In the second part, we construct a tourist filiere and we apply a methodology for the identification of local systems through GIS tools. Thus, taxonomy of the Italian Tourist Local Systems is presented. In the third part, we discuss about the sources of competitiveness of these Tourist Local Systems. In the forth section, we test a spatial econometrics model regarding different kinds of Italian Tourist Local Systems (rural systems, arts cities, tourist districts) in order to measure external economies and territorial networks. Finally, conclusions and policy implications are exposed.

Knowledge, networks of cities and growth in regional urban systems

The objective of this paper is to measure the impact of different kinds of knowledge and external economies on urban growth in an intraregional context. The main hypothesis is that knowledge leads to growth, and that this knowledge is related to the existence of agglomeration and network externalities in cities. We develop a three-stage methodology: first, we measure the amount and growth of knowledge in cities using the OCDE (2003) classification and employment data; second, we identify the spatial structure of the area of analysis (networks of cities); third, we combine the Glaeser - Henderson - De Lucio models with spatial econometric specifications in order to contrast the existence of spatially static (agglomeration) and spatially dynamic (network) external economies in an urban growth model. Results suggest that higher growth rates are associated to higher levels of technology and knowledge. The growth of the different kinds of knowledge is related to local and spatial factors (agglomeration and network externalities) and each knowledge intensity shows a particular response to these factors. These results have implications for policy design, since we can forecast and intervene on local knowledge development paths.Knowledge city, networks of cities, urban growth, external economies, spatial econometrics.

Knowledge, networks of cities and growth in regional urban systems: theory, measurement and policy implications

The objective of this paper is to measure the impact of different kinds of knowledge and external economies on the urban growth in an intraregional network of cities. The paper is divided in five sections. First section (theoretical framework) exposes the relation between the knowledge-based city, networks of cities, external economies and urban growth. Second section exposes a methodology for the measurement of knowledge in cities and the identification of knowledge-based networks of cities. Third section exposes a model to measure the effects of knowledge and external economies (static and dynamic) on the urban growth. Fourth section applies this model to a case study (Catalonia). Finally, conclusions and policy implications are exposed. Keywords: knowledge-based city, networks of cities, urban growth, external economies, spatial econometrics. JEL: R11, R12, O3

Sources of Competitiveness in Tourist Local Systems

At the end of the XIX Century, Marshall described the existence of some concentrations of small and medium enterprises specialised in a specific production activity in certain districts of some industrial English cities. Starting from his contribute, Italian scholars have paid particular attention to this local system of production coined by Marshall under the term industrial district. In other countries, different but related territorial models have played a central role as the milieu or the geographical industrial clusters. Recently, these models have been extended to non-industrial fields like culture, rural activities and tourism. In this text, we explore the extension of these territorial models to the study of tourist activities in Italy, using a framework that can be easily applied to other countries or regions. The paper is divided in five sections. In the first one, we propose a review of the territorial models applied to tourism industry. In the second part, we construct a tourist filiere and we apply a methodology for the identification of local systems through GIS tools. Thus, taxonomy of the Italian Tourist Local Systems is presented. In the third part, we discuss about the sources of competitiveness of these Tourist Local Systems. In the forth section, we test a spatial econometrics model regarding different kinds of Italian Tourist Local Systems (rural systems, arts cities, tourist districts) in order to measure external economies and territorial networks. Finally, conclusions and policy implications are exposed.Tourism and travel industry, industrial districts theory, regional and local development, external economies, spatial econometrics.

Metropolitan Areas in Spain and Italy

Metropolitan areas concentrate the main share of population, production and consumption in OECD countries. They are likely to be the most important units for economic, social and environmental analysis as well as for the development of policy strategies. However, one of the main problems that occur when adopting metropolitan areas as units of analysis and policy in European countries is the absence of widely accepted standards for identifying them. This severe problem appeared when we tried to perform comparative research between Spain and Italy using metropolitan areas as units of analysis. The aim of this paper is to identify metropolitan areas in Spain and Italy using similar methodologies. The results allow comparing the metropolitan realities of both countries as well as providing the metropolitan units that can be used in subsequent comparative researches. Two methodologies are proposed: the Cheshire-GEMACA methodology (FUR) and an iterative version of the USA-MSA algorithm, particularly adapted to deal with polycentric metropolitan areas (DMA). Both methods show a good approximation to the metropolitan reality and produce very similar results: 75 FUR and 67 DMA in Spain (75% of total population and employment), and 81 FUR and 86 DMA in Italy (70% of total population and employment).metropolitan areas, polycentricity, commuting

Efficient Spectral Domain MoM for the Design of Circularly Polarized Reflectarray Antennas Made of Split Rings

The method of moments (MoM) in the spectral domain is used for the analysis of the scattering of a plane wave by a multilayered periodic structure containing conducting concentric split rings in the unit cell. Basis functions accounting for edge singularities are used in the approximation of the current density on the split rings, which makes it possible a fast convergence of MoM with respect to the number of basis functions. Since the 2-D Fourier transforms of the basis functions cannot be obtained in closed-form, judicious tricks (controlled truncation of infinite summations, interpolations, etc.) are used for the efficient numerical determination of these Fourier transforms. The implemented spectral domain MoM software has been used in the design of a circularly polarized reflectarray antenna based on split rings under the local periodicity condition. The antenna has been analyzed with our spectral domain MoM software, with CST and with HFSS, and good agreement has been found among all sets of results. Our software has proven to be around 27 times faster than CST and HFSS

Do creative industries cluster? Mapping Creative Local Production Systems in Italy

An important debate on the role of creativity and culture as factors of local economic development is distinctly emerging. Despite the emphasis put on the theoretical definition of these concepts, it is necessary to strengthen comparative research for the identification and analysis of the kind of creativity embedded in the territory as well as its determinants. Creative local production systems are identified in Italy and Spain departing from local labour markets as territorial units, and focusing on two different kinds of creative industries: traditional cultural industries (publishing, music, architecture and engineering, performing arts) and technology-related creative industries (R&D, ICT, advertising). The results suggest the existence of different patterns of concentration of creative industries in both countries and the concentration of creative industries in thecreative industries, creative local systems, agglomeration economies

Why do creative industries cluster? An analysis of the determinants of clustering of creative industries

Creative industries tend to concentrate mainly around large- and medium-sized cities, forming creative local production systems. The text analyses the forces behind clustering of creative industries to provide the first empirical explanation of the determinants of creative employment clustering following a multidisciplinary approach based on cultural and creative economics, evolutionary geography and urban economics. A comparative analysis has been performed for Italy and Spain. The results show different patterns of creative employment clustering in both countries. The small role of historical and cultural endowments, the size of the place, the average size of creative industries, the productive diversity and the concentration of human capital and creative class have been found as common factors of clustering in both countries.creative industries, creative local production systems, creative clusters, agglomeration economies

Los distritos industriales en la Europa Mediterránea: los mapas de Italia y España

El presente trabajo ofrece una comparación de los mapas de distritos industriales marshallianos de España e Italia, elaborados a partir de la metodología Sforzi - ISTAT (2006). Como principales similitudes se destaca que los distritos industriales son una realidad generalizada en ambos países y su importancia relativa es equivalente, se especializan principalmente en industria ligera y mecánica, y muestran una elevada concentración territorial. Como principales diferencias se destaca la mayor especialización relativa de los distritos industriales de España en productos para la casa e industria alimentaria, mientras que en Italia es superior la especialización relativa en industria mecánica, y en textil y confección; la menor dimensión de los distritos industriales españoles respecto de los italianos; y que los distritos industriales españoles tienen una dinámica positiva y superior a la del resto del país, mientras en Italia su dinámica negativa contrasta con la del resto de la economía.distritos industriales marshallianos, mercados locales de trabajo, pequeñas y medianas empresas