Otoño 2016

This paper is aimed at analyzing the evolution of the regional knowledge base to estimate the progress made by those regions financially assisted by the European structural funds. To that aim, we rely on a new index. We contend that our results may yield relevant implications not only for academics, but especially for policy-makers deciding about the regional innovation policy in the European Union.

The European Investment Plan, which aims to promote a multiplier effect of investment, has put back on the table the significant decline in public and private investment, and the consequent loss of competitiveness of the whole European Union in an economic context globalized. The question that arises in this paper is whether the competitiveness of all European regions will be favoured, based on the principle of solidarity that still governs the regional policy and the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy, or if regional differences are accentuated with an asymmetric development, derived from the confluence of the binomial competitiveness-innovation and the ability to attract investment.

This work shows the results of our research on the convergence hypothesis among the GDP of the Mexican states from 1970 to 2012 through the one factor non-linear model with time-varying coefficients as propounded by Phillips and Sul (2007). This highly flexible approach is fitted to model a number of transition paths to convergence, no requiring any special assumption about the non stationary of the panel series under analysis. We found evidence of relative convergence with state among six groups or convergence clubs and if the oil producer’s states are excluded of the sample, the results hold independently.

This paper examines the determinants of localization of creative industries by using plant-level microdata. The paper proposes a model tailored to differentiate the effect of general-economic and specific-creative forces on the localization of creative industries. The model is applied to the local labour systems of Spain. The results show that traditional external economies (localization and urbanization) affect the location of creative industries in Spain, complemented by the effect of specific creative externalities. The results offer a novel insight into the determinants of location of creative industries. The work thus provides some empirical basis for the design of policies that may boost the capacity of territories for creativity and innovation, in line with the objectives set out by the European Commission.

This paper examines the determinants of localization of creative industries by using plant-level microdata. The paper proposes a model tailored to differentiate the effect of general-economic and specific-creative forces on the localization of creative industries. The model is applied to the local labour systems of Spain. The results show that traditional external economies (localization and urbanization) affect the location of creative industries in Spain, complemented by the effect of specific creative externalities. The results offer a novel insight into the determinants of location of creative industries. The work thus provides some empirical basis for the design of policies that may boost the capacity of territories for creativity and innovation, in line with the objectives set out by the European Commission.

In response to the adjustment processes resulting from the crises of the 70s, the paradigm of «local development» is now fully consolidated, although with the predominance of the economic dimension. However, local development processes should be analyzed and conceptualized paying greater attention to the social dimension, and in particular to the relational component of social capital. From the classical division of social capital in bonding, bridging and linking, a series of concepts for a better conceptualise local development processes are introduced. A conceptual model is proposed to interpret the contribution of those different types of social capital both to the dynamic component of local development processes in tis different phases, and its sustainability. Finally, attention to the interaction of micro and macro scales is provided which, from the perspective of social capital, directly influences the institutional framework for local development.

In this paper we compute annual series of the educational level of the Spanish population and regions from 1960 to 2011 using the information provided by the population censuses. This new data set updates and improves previous estimates by de la Fuente and Domenech (2006), also allowing the comparison in 2011 with other OECD countries. Working with the information disaggregated by ages we find that, based on current patterns of schooling and in the absence of large migration flows, the prospects for further educational convergence between regions are scarce.

The purpose of this paper is to extend the well-known Uzawa twosector model for a national economy to a global economy with any number of countries and any number of regions within each country. It studies international and interregional economic development with interactions among wealth accumulation, amenity change and economic structure under assumptions of profit maximization, utility maximization, and perfect competition. The model shows endogenous interregional and international trade patterns on the basis of microeconomic foundation. We deal with the complicated issues by applying Zhang’s alternative approach to households’ behavior. We simulate the motion of the multi-country and multi-region global economy, identify the existence of an equilibrium point, and confirm the stability of the equilibrium point. We carry out comparative dynamic analysis with regard to the total factor productivity of region’s industrial sectors, total factor productivity of region’s service sectors, propensities to save, regional amenity parameters, propensities to consume housing, and the national population effect on amenity.

The aim of this Research Note is to show a methodology that will allow us to analyze the socio-economical evolution of a region as a case-study, and from thereon to make a quantitative evaluation of the benefits or prejudices derived from the policies previously adapted. The empirical work consists of an empirical analysis of conglomerates regarding a selection of variables related to the development of 105 mining municipalities bordering the provinces of Leon and Palencia between 2007 and 2014. The results demonstrate that, in effect, the impact derived from the economic crisis was very important, especially when it comes to employment.

The aging population in Europe is reaching alarming ratios and is going to continue growing during the next decades. Furthermore, if we pay attention to the aging spatial distribution we observe a concentration of the older population in the peripheral regions. In this context, the development of strategies, policies and good practices becomes necessary in order to reduce the rate of aging of certain places, attracting young population, or adapting the urban or rural environments to the aging improving in this way, the quality of life of old population. This work proposes a panoramic revision of the most important experiences carried out with that objective in several places in the EU, mainly in northern regions of Europe. The reviewed experiences are organized in four groups: i) cities and infrastructures for the older population; ii) policies and good practices to adapt places to old population; iii) policies to attract young population and iv) policies to make more economically dynamic some aged places.