Chapter 4 A Review of the Availability of and Studies on Spatial Economic Data in Laos

Spatial data are being increasingly used in a wide range of disciplines, a fact that is clearly reflected in the recent trend to add spatial dimensions to the conventional social sciences. Economics is by no means an exception. On one hand, spatial data are indispensable to many branches of economics such as economic geography, new economic geography, or spatial economics. On the other hand, macroeconomic data are becoming available at more and more micro levels, so that academics and analysts take it for granted that they are available not only for an entire country, but also for more detailed levels (e.g. state, province, and even city). The term ‘spatial economics data’ as used in this report refers to any economic data that has spatial information attached. This spatial information can be the coordinates of a location at best or a less precise place name as is used to describe administrative units. Obviously, the latter cannot be used without a map of corresponding administrative units. Maps are therefore indispensible to the analysis of spatial economic data without absolute coordinates. The aim of this report is to review the availability of spatial economic data that pertains specifically to Laos and academic studies conducted on such data up to the present. In regards to the availability of spatial economic data, efforts have been made to identify not only data that has been made available as geographic information systems (GIS) data, but also those with sufficient place labels attached. The rest of the report is organized as follows. Section 2 reviews the maps available for Laos, both in hard copy and editable electronic formats. Section 3 summarizes the spatial economic data available for Laos at the present time, and Section 4 reviews and categorizes the many economic studies utilizing these spatial data. Section 5 give examples of some of the spatial industrial data collected for this research. Section 6 provides a summary of the findings and gives some indication of the direction of the final report due for completion in fiscal 2010.Laos, International economic integration, Economic geography

Measuring population mobility speed from space

Ad-hoc population dynamics in Krugman’s type core and periphery models adjust population share of a region, based on its real wage rate deviation from national average, at pre-specified speed of population mobility. Whereas speed of population mobility is expected to be different across countries, for geographical, cultural, technological, etc. reasons, one common speed is often applied in theoretical and simulation analysis, due to spatially patchy, and temporally infrequent, availability of sub-national regional data. This article demonstrates how, increasingly available, high definition spatio-temporal remote-sensing data, and their by-products, can be used to measure speed of population mobility in national and sub-national level

Some notes on the spatial representations

There are conventional methods to calculate the centroid of spatial units and distance among them with using Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The paper points out potential measurement errors of this calculation. By taking Indian district data as an example, systematic errors concealed in such variables are shown. Two comparisons are examined; firstly, we compare the centroid obtained from the spatial units, polygons, and the centre of each city where its district headquarters locates. Secondly, between the centres represented in the above, we calculate the direct distances and road distances obtained from each pair of two districts. From the comparison between the direct distances of centroid of spatial units and the road distances of centre of district headquarters, we show the distribution of errors and list some caveats for the use of conventional variables obtained from GIS

Does lockdown policy reduce human activity?

In this study, we empirically investigate how much human economic and social activity was decreased by the implementation of lockdown policy during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We measure the magnitude of human activity using nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. Our observations include daily NOx emissions in 173 countries between January 1 and July 31, 2020. Our findings can be summarized as follows. Lockdown policy significantly decreased NOx emissions in low-income countries during the policy as well as post-policy periods. In high-income countries, however, NOx emissions increased during both periods. It was also found that the absolute impact of the lockdown policy was larger during the post-policy period than during the policy period. While the stay-at-home policy reduced NOx emissions, we did not discover robust differences between regions in its effect

A geographical simulation of impacts of Vientiane-Hanoi expressway

In this paper, we estimated the economic impacts of the proposed and some alternative routes of Vientiane-Hanoi Expressway (VHE), using a computational general equilibrium model based on spatial economics. The estimation results show that overall international positive impact depends more on whether it forms a cross-border expressway connection between the capitals of Vietnam and Thailand. The proximity of the expressway to Laos’s capital is nevertheless critical to economic benefits expected within Laos

Economic impacts of economic corridors in Mongolia : an application of IDE-GSM

In this paper, we tried to estimate the economic impacts of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Economic Corridor 4a, 4b, and 4c projects, which enhance the connectivity between Mongolia and its surrounding countries, using a computational general equilibrium model based on spatial economics. The estimation results show that the economic impacts for Corridor 4b, which connects China and Russia through Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, are the highest compared with the other two corridors. Apart from Mongolia, Corridor 4b also economically impacts China, EU, and Russia; thus, cooperation among these four parties might be a suitable arrangement for development. The evaluation of large-scale economic development of corridors is not very easy without proper evaluation tools

Testing localization of Thai automobile industries

The development of industrial clusters is crucially important for industries such as automobiles. However, it is still doubtful whether all parts suppliers should be localized, regardless of the parts categories. We tested the above hypotheses using data compiled from the Thailand Automotive Industry Directory 2014. First, the factors affecting the location of the Thai automobile industry were reviewed. Second, the kernel density of the bilateral distances between parts suppliers was estimated. Finally, hypothesis testing on the localization of parts suppliers was conducted. The study found that the automobile industry as a whole was significantly localized, and significant localization occurs only within 150 km, in terms of bilateral distance between firms

Laos: Seeking a relationship with China (Japanese)

In recent years, following huge changes in the international politics of East Asia, Laos's geopolitical position has once again been spotlighted, with some even speaking of their expectations that the country's position will rise from being an inland country to being a bridge country. However, without assistance from other countries, it is extremely difficult for the country to run itself. Against this background, its relationship with China, which provides large amounts of financial aid and investment, is becoming the greatest issue for Laos today. A typical example of this is new urban construction projects in Vientiane City in exchange for aid for the construction of a sports stadium. Although deepening its relationship with China brings Laos benefits, it is also creating several very serious problems, such as land and environmental issues as well as Laos's acceptance of Chinese into the country. These problems are not all due to the deepening of the China-Laos relationship; there are also problems with the Laos Government's development policies. However, it is a fact that most of these problems have arisen as a result of Laos's deepening dependence on China. Because the current China-Laos relationship has been built from the beginning to be advantageous to China, it is enormously difficult for Laos to develop an equal relationship with China. However, while still continuing to maintain its bond with China, it is important that Laos not accept aid and investment randomly but instead determine what is beneficial for the country and its people. An especially important issue is how Laos should deal with China as a member of ASEAN. Whatever the case, Laos faces difficult steering in its diplomacy due to its geographical and historical remoteness.

Predicting Long-Term Effects of Infrastructure Development Projects in Continental South East Asia: IDE Geographical Simulation Model

It is important to develop a rigorous economic geography model for predicting changes in the location of population and industries across regions in the process of economic integration. The IDE Geographical Simulation Model (IDE-GSM) has been developed for two major objectives: (1) to determine the dynamics of locations of population and industries in East Asia in the long term, and (2) to analyze the impact of specific infrastructure projects on the regional economy at sub-national levels. The basic structure of the IDE-GSM is introduced in this article and accompanied with results of test analyses on the effects of the East West Economic Corridor on regions in Continental South East Asia. Results indicate that border costs appear to play a big role in the location choice of populations and industries, often a more important role than physical infrastructures themselves.Economic geography; Infrastructure development; Custom clearance