Issue 57

This paper assesses whether European Cohesion Policy funds from the 2007-2013 programming period
affected business dynamics in European regions. Using a regression discontinuity approach, the analysis
shows that regions receiving more funds experienced higher firm births, without statistically significant
firm deaths, resulting in positive net firm creation and growing firm-related employment. In addition, this
study confirms previous findings in the literature according to which regions receiving more funds show
higher increases in gross value added per worker. Finally, funds have a significantly higher effect on net
business employment creation in regions with lower levels of perceived corruption, although this is not
necessarily conductive to higher levels of labour productivity in those regions.

Clusters are considered sources of competitive advantage. A cluster is understood as a set of resources; however, it is noted that these resources vary according to their trajectory. Thus, this paper seeks to analyze the relationship between shared resources in the life cycle of the cluster. We conducted a cross-country study with two clusters in the footwear industry: Brazil and Italy. We present two main contributions. First, the competitiveness of clusters is sustained by their ability to renew and change their dependent trajectory. Second, we propose five elements that positively influence cluster competitiveness. These elements also help us understand the trajectory of clusters.

The aim of this work is to carry out a survey of rural Community Organizations of Water and Sanitation Services (OCSAS) in Argentina, of the legal and institutional framework that supports them, as well as their structure, organization, and internal operations. Also, to study what are the criteria used by these organizations to define adequate water management and the problems and challenges they face. The results reflect that OCSAS territorial representation is majoritarian, while the problems they face are varied and include legal, institutional – normative, technical, quality, financial and gender aspects.

Regional studies on religiosity are non-existent in Spain and infrequent or non-existent in the Europe regional sphere, but not between countries. This article shows the regional variability in Spain of people who identify themselves as believers. It is argued that religious identification (believers) in Spain is regionally heterogeneous and that the regional effects associated with religiosity are altered by other ascriptive variables, gender, age, and educational attainment. 124 barometers have been merged, files from the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS) of Spain from January 2013 to May 2022, monthly, except Augusts, obtaining a sample size of 402,868 interviewees (394,906 identify themselves as religious or non-religious).

The seasonality and volatility of the primary sector mean that many regions have seen tourism as a key
activity for developing these areas, mainly in inland Andalusia. In this sense, protected designations of
origin offer a more excellent perception of safety and quality for tourists visiting a site for gastronomic
reasons. Thus, through a Latent Class Model with covariates, this work aims to understand the behavior
of international tourists to help establish a stable tourism offer in these areas that complements their
income by identifying different segments that may be attractive to them. Based on the four segments found
(lonely youngsters, traditional elders, cultural elders and young gourmets) that differ in expenditure and
stay length, a series of recommendations are made based on these identified groups.

In this manuscript, the authors empirically assess the impact of an increase in the wage per worker on the GDP per capita of the Italian regions. To achieve this research aim, the authors carry out a panel data regression analysis, relying on an identification strategy based on the standard Neoclassical model of economic growth. The authors’ results suggest that, on average, the output effect of an increase in the wage per worker is positive, with a substantial difference between the Northern and Center-Southern regions. The authors’ policy implication is that wage moderation does not represent a remedy to the economic stagnation that the Italian regions have been experiencing since the second half of the 1990s.

We use Spanish firm-level data over the period 1998-2018 to examine the importance of the top exporter
in each province (NUTS-III) exports. We find that: (1) the top exporter in each province represents about
one fifth of total exports per year; (2) it contributes significantly to province´s export growth whilst on its
way towards the top position; and (3) shocks to the top exporter of a province explain the fluctuations in
aggregate exports growth.