Otoño 2015

This paper focuses on the new architecture of Cohesion Policy and the new European financial framework within which it is set. The discussion is divided into five sections. Section one examines the structure of the new European Financial Framework, highlighting its impact on financial transfers between Europe and Spain. In section two the new architecture of Cohesion Policy is explained, pointing out the relationships with related agriculture and fisheries policies and ending with an assessment of the principal features of the new Cohesion policy architecture. Section three examines the financial resources behind Cohesion Policy and their distribution in Spain. In section four the discussion shifts to a consideration of the concepts of convergence and the nature of regions. Finally the conclusion suggests that there are significant administrative, financial and strategic planning implications of the new financial framework and remodelled Cohesion policy: for economic development in general and for regional development in particular over the coming years.

The latest research and development (R&D) framework programmes of the European Union (EU), “Horizon 2020” and “Horizon Europe”, have significantly increased the resources available to promote science and innovation in Europe. However, the strong competitiveness of the research teams and their search for excellence may cause inequality in the spatial distribution of investment effort in R&D. The aim of this paper is to analyse the geographic distribution of R&D spending in the EU. A greater concentration of funds is observed in the most advanced and dynamic economies, capable of promoting more competitive research teams and projects. Through an empirical analysis, estimated by a spatial convergence model, it is found that EU R&D funds are preventing cross-regional convergence in Europe by driving growth mainly in wealthier regions. Based on these results, it seems relevant to consider spatial correction mechanisms for the distribution of R&D resources so that they achieve greater territorial cohesion in Europe.

As a Convergence Objective Autonomous Community of the European Union, Andalusia was a beneficiary of the significant volume of European resources for regional innovation mobilised by the 2007-2013 Technological Fund and the 2014-2020 Smart Growth programme. The Andalusian productive fabric is mostly made up of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). For this reason, we evaluate the impact of the ERDF-Innterconecta programme financed through the previous operational programmes on the main indicators of business growth. The proposed analysis seeks to identify whether there has been an impact for Andalusian companies that have participated in the subsidised projects on three indicators (revenue, GVA, number of employees), further differentiating these companies by size, participation in innovation and role taken in the funded projects. This impact varies according to the characteristics of the companies, being more positive for Large Enterprises (LE), leaders of the projects and for those that had not previously registered research investments in the accountancy.

 

Little is known about the degree of integration of financial markets at subnational level in the EU. This article provides new evidence on interregional loan flows within Europe. Building on the “Loan Level Initiative” launched by the ECB, with more than 35 million active loans, we built a georeferenced dataset of securitised loans, covering the period 2014-2018 and the 166 European NUTS 2 regions for which data exists. After reviewing the complex nature of the dataset, we explored its geographical dimension, and conduct an econometric analysis focused on explaining the regional demand for such loans, using different explanatory variables related to the geographic and the socio-economic features of the regions, and alternative panel data specifications (classic versus spatial econometric ones).

 

The objective of this work is to provide an exploratory analysis of the economic effects of various Operational Programs implemented in Extremadura, the only Spanish region that, in the context of the European Cohesion Policy, still remains in the group of less developed regions (with a per capita income lower than 75% of the European average). After carrying out an examination of some of the most relevant socio-economic characteristics of Extremadura, a homogeneous summary of the expenditure made during the programming periods 2000-2006 and 2007-2013 is included as a starting point, followed by a brief description of the general spending guidelines in the current period (2014-2020). Subsequently, a review of the works that have estimated the contribution of the European cohesion policy to the growth of Extremadura production and employment during the periods 1994-1999, 2000-2006, 2007-2013 and 2014-2020 is presented. As results, some of the quantifications existing in the literature on the economic effects of the different multiannual financial frameworks are systematized. The conclusions obtained highlight the importance of the European territorial cohesion policy for regions that, like Extremadura, are affected by important structural weaknesses that make their prosperity and competitiveness very difficult.

Research and innovation strategies for smart specialisation (RIS3) has played a key role in the European Union regional policy in the 2014-2020 programing period.
Regional benchmarking exercises are encouraged by the European Commission to provide a better vision of the position of the region and detect its strengths and weaknesses.
In our work we intend to reinforce the SWOT analysis included in the RIS3 strategy of Andalusia 2014-2020 using the benchmarking methodology proposed by the European Commission. This exercise allows us to outline new proposals for action and a cualitative methodology that could be useful in the design of RIS3 strategies in the period 2021-2027.

In this article, we start with the origins of «institutional cross-border cooperation» in Europe, covering up to today’s «territorial cooperation». We define and compare the concepts of «institutional cooperation» and «traditional cooperation», focusing on analyzing the former and predicting an approximation between the two types of cooperation. We describe the main legal framework for «institutional cross-border cooperation» and analyse its main instruments, placing special attention on the Euroregion, the European Economic Interest Grouping (EEIG) and the more recent figure of the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC), all of which are important references for territorial cooperation in Europe. We finish with some brief references to the current European integration project, in which border management has become an exceptional test Bedfor deciphering certain keys in this construction process.

Linkages and channels between Cohesion Policy and European Identity

The current network of protected areas in Spain has been a product of the transfer of political responsibilities from the State to the autonomous regional governments that began in the 1980s. Among other outcomes, this institutional re-arrangement triggered an unprecedented development of public policies and legislation in the field of nature conservation. In these pages we will trace the contours of a genealogy of what we would call the “institutionalization” of nature conservation, through the diachronic, comparative analysis of three case studies and their specificities: Catalonia, Andalusia and the Valencian Community. We will then expand our analysis to Portugal and, eventually, to the current international context wherein neoliberal conservation policies are expanding nowadays.

 

The aim of this paper is to analyse the mobility of per capita income distribution in the European regions during the period 1977-1996. In doing so we will attempt highlight some aspects of the nature of interregional inequality. Our methodological approach involves calculating different indicators commonly used in the dynamic income distribution literature. The results obtained show that the degree of mobility is relatively low within the distribution under analysis. In addition our empirical findings suggest a trend towards a reduction in regional mobility throughout the period of analysis coinciding with sustained interregional inequality in the European Union.

The article offers some reflections on the important changes that local development has experienced along the last decades. In particular, it emphasizes the strong and increasing presence of uncertainties and the complex character of the actual urban and territorial problems. All this must be confronted to the requirements of governability, the importance of institutions and social co-operation. The article underline some positive aspects of the innovative milieux as an example of creating «social capital», this concept particularly understood as «relationships capital». The final section of the article emphasizes the advantages of the urban strategic plans, built through very participative processes aiming to get cooperation agreements between the economic agents, the citizens and the local authorities. According to the author, the urban strategic plans are an excellent instrument leading to new forms of self-organization and better governability because it helps the city, the citizens and not only the local administration to be placed into the center of the decision processes and the local transformations.

The present article studies migration rates in between andalucian provincies and also between them and the rest of Spain. Using administrative data from Spanish Social Security, we are able to identify not only permanent migrants but also those who migrate only to do a temporary job during a short term period. We find that migration in Andalucia is mainly in between andalucian provincies although, when we control by distance, the main destinations are Madrid and the Baleares islands. Moreover, these flows are higher for males and highly qualified workers. We estimate a model for the probability of migrating and find that andalucian workers go mainly to provincies with relatively high levels of income, higher real wages and low home prices. We also obtain that the differences in unemployment rates between the origin and the destination is a fundamental motivation of the probability of migrating.

This paper addresses the evaluation of several procedures for delimiting service areas of urban transport facilities and computing the served population. To this end, detailed data of a local case study and a geographical information system are used. Adopting two different georeferencing methods and two spatial metrics, the tested approaches reveal disparate results and errors, which allow to appreciate the advantages and limitations of each one. It is expected that the conclusions will contribute to increase the accuracy of analysis focused to urban public transport planning and decision taking.

After the reforms introduced in Spanish personal income tax (IRPF) in 1998, foral and common territory tax structures present differentiated structures. These normative differences are reviewed in the first part of the paper. Reforms are analysed by an static microsimulation using a sample from Spanish IRPF Taxpayers Panel. The results show that the Basque design supposes a fiscal pressure by IRPF slightly superior to the one of the common territory, next to a greater degree of progressivity and redistribution. The Navarrese system throws a fiscal pressure similar to the Basque, but with the progressivity and redistributive capacity of the common design, results derived from Kakwani and Reynolds-Smolensky indicators.

The main goal of this paper is to present a recent Social Accounting Matrix for the region of Andalusia (SAMAND95). Using a variety of available data, such as the Regional Income and Product Accounts, the 1995 Input-Output Table for Andalusia, as well as some national level data, we have constructed a square SAM that reflects all flows and interactions for the base year. With the database we have performed a modeling exercise that allows us to obtain accounting multipliers, and their decomposition into direct, indirect, and induced effects, that show some of the structural relationship among productive sectors.

The Okun law for Andalusia and Spain is estimated using quarterly data (1984-2000). We take a VAR approach that allows us to unveil the different dynamic behaviour of the relationship between the output gap and the unemployment gap in the two economies, as well as the asymmetric nature of that relationship. Our findings also suggest that the lower responsiveness of the unemployment gap to the output gap in Andalusia is related to two main factors: the flows out of the labour force in recession are larger in Andalusia, and the higher share of the agrarian unemployment.

This paper looks at localization patterns in municipal population in Spain along the XX century. Using a homogeneous data base of population at the municipal level —constructed from the eleven censuses from 1900 until 2001— the paper describes the general patterns of population concentration from different perspectives. The main contribution of the paper is to offer a precise quantification of some demographic patterns, already well identified from a more qualitative perspective.

This paper studies the sources of economic growth in the Basque Country and its three historic territories (Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa), Navarre, and Spain during 1986-2004, emphasizing the role of infrastructures and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on growth, and comparing the results with those of the EU and the US. First, the growth rate of output was higher in Navarre and Spain than in the US, and much higher than in the EU. The Basque Country exhibited a better performance only during 1995-2004. Second, labor and capital were the main engines of output growth. The growth in TFP was residual and even declining in the period 1995-2004 due to the increasing contribution of labor. Those results contrast with the pattern for the US especially, where growth in TFP remained substantial. Third, infrastructures contributed approximately 0,10% to output growth. Fourth, the contribution of ICT capital to output growth was around 0,35% and it increased in the period 1995-2004. However, it is still far from the levels for the EU and especially the US. Finally, the growth rate of output per hour was above 1,20%, while the Basque Country lagged behind. Growth in capital intensity was the main source of labor productivity growth. While the contribution of infrastructures to the growth rate of output per hour declined in the period 1995-2004, that of ICT capital increased. Nevertheless the contribution of ICT capital to the growth rate of output per hour remains behind that for the EU and the US.

The aim of this work is to analyse the different impact of competitive environment changes across different indicators in the competitive environment on the Spanish companies of the textile and apparel industry. The results obtained from the contrast upon a sample composed by 5.531 SME’s of this sector show a important role of the territory and of the strategy of internationalization. For this reason, given the trend of this industry to the concentration and geographical specialization it is expected that the effect of these changes is irregular and asymmetrical between the main producing Spanish regions.

Cluster analysis has become a popular instrument in determining the innovativeness and competitive power of national and regional economies. A wide variety of methods have been employed by researchers to identify the key industrial clusters in a regional economy. This paper reports the results of practicable methodologies for identifying aggregate economic clusters —so-called “megaclusters”— in Andalusia, using the last available input output data (year 2000). The first method used, based in graph theory, classifies sectors according to substantial mutual dependency through their deliveries and purchases. The second one, based on the application of principal components to the input-output table, provide clusters according to the similarity of the intermediate purchases and/or the intermediate sales structures.

This paper provides empirical evidence on the differences in the use of fixed-term contracts across the Spanish regions, and on its origin. An extension of the traditional Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition to non-linear model is, for the first time, applied to the analysis of these regional differences. Results point to differences in the use of temporality in Spain, as there are significant regional disparities in the use of fixed-term employment as a tool for labour flexibility. These differences have even a higher impact than those caused by regional heterogeneity in workers and firms’ endowment of observable characteristics. In the light of this evidence, policies designed to fight against the anomalously high rate of temporality is Spain should be questioned, as they have not taken into account regional uniqueness.

The question of delocation in main industrial regions across the EU
is approached here, and its effects on job losses estimated. Seventy five regions are
selected following the double criteria of size of the manufacturing industries and
high per capita income levels. Delocation affected half of them in the period 2000-
2005 when competition in the international markets rose and is of higher intensity
in most of the British, French and Italian regions although its aggregate effect on
employment seems to have been offset by growth in the other sectors. On the other
hand, regions located in the continental area with more market potential have the
highest concentration of location effects. Therefore delocation has changed the
location of European manufacturing industry, benefitting those latter regions and
perhaps bringing higher spatial concentration.

The present work endeavours to carry out a study of the weaknesses/
errors detected by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) in the reports presented
by 15 European countries on the economic and financial management of Structural
Funds in the period ranging from 2000 to 2006. The aim of our study is focused
on the description and analysis of the number and nature of the errors/weaknesses

made by the member states, carrying out an empirical analysis on the possible
causes at the root of this situation, conducting a study with univariate and multivariate
statistical techniques, using a probit choice model type and least squares
estimation. Amongst other conclusions, the current study establishes that the new
Council Regulation has had an uneven effect on the different countries, and that the
volume of such errors/weaknesses detected in the reports of the EU member states
is linked to the amount of resources allocated to each member state per Structural
Fund.

 

The model proposed in this paper characterizes economic development
as a three-phase process that involves: 1) non-market exogenous factors such
as territory, amenities, tolerance, diversity, artists and University, which attract
and produce talent; 2) talent that leads to the production of innovation and technology;
and, 3) the combination of exogenous factors with talent, innovation and
technology, which generates economic production. The process basically consists
in that non-market exogenous factors such as territorial, cultural, institutional,
regional factors together with diversity and University influence the production
and attraction of talent, which in turn influences the production of innovation and technology and, lastly, the right combination of the previous factors generates
economic production.

This paper examines the innovation processes of Small and Medium
Enterprises (SMEs) in peripheral areas, particularly in the municipality of Guarda
and in the islands of Sao Miguel and Santa Maria in the Azores. For this purpose, a
survey was conducted, and three models were estimated: a Logit model, to measure
the difference between firms that innovate and those that do not; a Tobit model,
to measure the intensity of innovation; and a Probit model to analyze the type of
innovation. The results show a positive relationship between the introduction of innovations
in the market sector and the age and activity of the companies, an inverse
relationship in regards to the size of the company and in relation to the region.

This paper investigates the reasons that lead migrants to perform
multiple migrations in Spain. After describing the main features of these immigrants,
we specify a binomial logit and multinomial probit in which the probability
of re-migration depends on the personal characteristics of individuals and the
corresponding origins and destinations of their migratory paths. The information
used comes from the microdata of the Residence Variation Statistic. Results indicate
that repeated migration of nationals and non nationals respond to different
reasons. The analysis suggests that foreigners’ re-migrations depend on the results of their labor experiences, whereas other reasons can be found in those of
Spaniards.

The relationship between city size and territorial productivity has
attracted much attention in the urban economic literature. Some theories on the
field claim for a strong positive correlation between the size of the municipalities
and their income, mainly motivated by economical reasons, geographical characteristics
or other factor of the urban environment. Unfortunately, in many countries the empirical research on this topic is not possible given the lack of data of income
at a local level. This paper proposes the use of entropy econometrics to estimate
urban income and urban productivity according to city size from aggregate information,
which can be defined as an exercise of ecological inference. With the estimated
data a regional classification based on the relevance of the cities size allows
us to measure the relevance of agglomeration economics on the cities productivity
in Spain.

The year 2014 marked a double anniversary: the 35th and 25th anniversaries of the publication of two seminal papers of Giacomo Becattini on the industrial district. The first paper (Becattini, 1979) conceptualizes the industrial district as a «unit of investigation», while the second (Becattini, 1989) conceptualizes the industrial district as a «model of production». Between the two papers there is a mutual dependence. The industrial district as a «model of production» deprived of the industrial district as a «unit of investigation» loses its originality as a way of interpreting economic change and becomes merely «one type of a cluster». This paper deals with the relationship between district and cluster, then also between the industrial district as a singular theoretical construct and the many industrial districts described by empirical investigations, and concludes with some remarks on the topicality of the industrial district.

This article discusses the question of what should be the proper conceptual framework for analysing productive phenomena. The cause for reflection on this topic stems from a proposal made by researchers from the Bank of Italy (Alampi et al., 2013) to analyse productive phenomena through the lens of an integrated geographical and sectorial perspective. The author proposes a reversal of the approach, arguing that the starting point for analysis should be the assumption that every place — as defined by a combination of natural conditions and the outcome of history — has at any given time a specific «productive chorality». This productive chorality is not merely derived from the technical, spatial, and cultural proximity of businesses, but also, and more importantly, from the cultural homogeneity and congruity of all the inhabitants of that place, who contribute, positively or negatively, to local production.

The studies of Giacomo Becattini concerning the notion of the «Marshallian industrial district» have led a revolution in the field of economic development around the world. The paper offers an interpretation of the methodology adopted by Becattini. The roots are clearly Marshallian. Becattini proposes a return to the economy as a complex social science that operates in historical time. We adopt a Schumpeterian approach to the method in economic analysis in order to highlight the similarities between the Marshall and Becattini’s approach. Finally the paper uses the distinction between logical time, real time and historical time which enable us to study the «localized» economic process in a Becattinian way.

The aim of this paper is to critically consider how the concept of «industrial district» was born and evolved in the field of regional science. Despite the claim by Isard that the emergence of a spatial dimension in economics was being hampered by Marshall’s alleged prioritising of time over space (Isard, 1956), the concept of «localization economies» introduced into regional science by Ohlin, Hoover and Isard clearly is itself a legacy from Marshall. This contradiction in the work of Isard and others followed to a large extent from the way in which Marshallian concepts were historically situated in economic thought before Giacomo Becattini’s re-reading of Marshall and his ideas. This re-reading began in the 1960s, focussing on conceptual issues related to industry (Becattini, 1962), and then culminated in the following decades with work on the idea of the «industrial district»: considering it first as a unit of investigation of economic research (Becattini, 1979) and, later, as a way of industrial development (Becattini, 1989). In brief, the originality of Marshall’s economic thought can be found in Book IV of his Principles of Economics. This originality can be seen in the statement that economics is more important as a way of studying man in society than as a way of studying wealth; and continues through the affirmation that man’s character is moulded by his daily work. That is to say, a person’s «place of living» (where individuals live and work) is important not only for the formation of human skills but also for the formation of character. The place as the unit of investigation (i.e. the «functional region») is one of the main elements which distinguishes the identity of regional science from other branches of economics. 

The paper presents a theoretical framework for understanding the evolution of industrial districts from Marshall’s conceptualisation to today’s realities and theorisations of the industrial district as model of industrial organization and development. We discuss three generation of industrial districts: the first generations of districts were the seedbeds for the first industrial revolution. The second generations corresponded to the re-emergence of industrial districts in advanced and industrialised countries during the second half of the twentieth century, after the golden age of mass production. The current and third generation is being revealed resorting to scholarly observation. We will argue that each generation of industrial districts have emerged and grown in correspondence with specific technological, institutional and market conditions. Some evidence from the Italian case is presented.

The literature regarding ID/C is based on seminal writings of Marshall, followed by Giacomo Becattini’s rediscovering of the concept of an «industrial district». But the concept of a «cluster» was also promoted during the 1980s by Porter, and highlighted the importance of geographically clustered and interconnected firms and institutions specialised in a particular field. Despite the model of ID/C has been often described as locally self-contained, various empirical researches and our analysis have pointed out its increasing involvement in the process of internationalization. The recent entry and exit of MNEs, and the phenomena of off-shoring did not question the model of ID/C per se, but it contributed to showing how interwoven the evolution of local economies and MNEs is. 

This article focuses on understanding why multinational enterprises co-locate in industrial districts, stressing, unfolding and describing the potential of the local or regional-level agglomerations of people and firms which permits multinational enterprises to obtain additional sources of competitive advantage when properly fit. In order to fulfil this goal, the paper presents an attempt to link the literature of industrial districts and economic geography with that on international business. Three theoretical frameworks are tested in an empirical case. The paper has implications for the two lines of literature and opens up a key debate for the future. 

Marble quarries in Macael have been exploited since ancient times but its complex industrial district had to wait till the fifties to emerge. This industrial district includes extraction, processing and marketing activities. In the 1980s some development programmes were designed in order to modernize and boost the marble sector. Since then, it has become an international reference for ornamental stones. The sector has undergone a great transformation: from being a mining agglomeration to become an industrial district. This shift has provided the district with a great dynamism and resilience. Moreover, its competition position has considerably changed. It used to be based on comparative advantages but nowadays it is based on competitive advantages. In its heart a nodal enterprise Cosentino has emerged, which has become an international leader on a global scale.

The wine sector holds a prominent place within the whole Spanish food and agriculture industry. The importance given to this activity has also been transferred to the international market where Spain holds a position of leadership, both in terms of production as in overseas sales. A large number of the wine-producing firms in our country are located in industrial districts, which is to say in geographical areas characterised by a high concentration of small and medium-sized companies whose productive organisation corresponds to a model based on flexible specialisation. In previous papers, it has been possible to verify how wine-producing industries located in industrial areas show greater efficiency in relation to rivals located in other types of environments. The aim of this article is to further research on the specific features of industrial districts which could explain their firms’ increase in efficiency. For the identification and quantification of these determining factors affecting productive efficiency, a methodology based on parametric adjustments models is to be used. An empirical application is to be carried out on a sample of Spanish wine producers for the years 2000 and 2010, extracted from the SABI database. 

The aim of this paper is analyze the causes of fiscal slippage at the regional level in Spain during the period 2005-2015. According to results, the main factors are the deficit deviation of past year, the variation in the deficit target, total revenues provided by the regional financing system, the existence of changes of government and, to a lesser extent, political affinity between incumbents at both central and regional levels. On the contrary, spending increases in the past, the debt burden interest and the electoral cycle are not significant variables.

By using OECD Input-Output in three different periods of time: mid-1990’s, beginning and end of the 2000’s, we discuss the evolution of their economic structures and their sectors along with a comparison among their structural similarities, measures by their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in purchaser’s power parities (ppp). Structural changes and similarities are discussed using fields of influence. The results revealed that economies tend to be stable in their structures depending on their level of development and the profusion of their fields of influence, with the exception of two countries with low GDP per capita but economic structures of developed countries.

As the European Union enters into the next decade, its leaders seemingly strive towards more future integration rather than less, despite the recent setback of Brexit and the rise of anti-EU populist parties. In his state of the Union in 2018, Jean Claude Junker emphasized s ‘European solidarity’. One key policy ‘expression of solidary’ would be Cohesion Policy and the Structural Funds, which are “the only real, significant redistributive mechanism in the EU…” (Fratesi 2017). . Despite elite commentary, we know surprisingly little about what EU citizens think of the rationale behind the policy of Cohesion – e.g. economic redistribution within the EU. As part of the PERCEIVE Horizon2020 project, we launched a unique survey to investigate how citizens feel about economic integration within the Union, where 17,200 citizens were interviewed. In this paper, we show how we measure support for the policy, the results as well as a host of correlates. Our analysis shows the variation in citizens’ support for EU Cohesion policy between countries, how support varies between demographic groups, as well as the extent to which support is correlated with utilitarian and ideational factors as well as cue taking. Implications for future developments of this policy are discussed.

This paper analyses the influence of agglomeration on economic growth in the Argentinian provinces for the period 1981–2007 using fixed effects and GMM estimation for panel data. The choice of the estimation approach is crucial. After controlling for potential simultaneity bias, there is evidence of a link between agglomeration and growth in the Argentinian provinces, suggesting that the Williamson hypothesis is in place.

We analyze the effect of the reception of remittances on violence (approximated by the homicide mortality rate). The relevance of the study lies in the research of two phenomena with high impact on Mexico’s society and economy. We used a linear regression model with instrumental variables. At the municipal level we found a high and positive correlation between the homicide rate and the percentage of households that receive remittances, although this relationship does not extend throughout the whole territory. In general, the reception of remittances had a significant effect in the increase of violence.

Public conservation policies in Catalonia began in the 1970s as a response to a demand from civil society, with a growing concern about the negative impacts of Franco’s developmentalism, and were configured as an instrument of land-use planning. Based on qualitative interviews with informants of different profiles who played a special role in this period, this article studies the institutionalisation of nature conservation in Catalonia between 1970 and 1988, analyses the role of the administrations involved, and shows the relevance of the changing political-social context of the period in this process.

In this paper we review a variety of issues related to the design of low-income housing subsidies. We discuss project-based assistance (i.e., public housing and privately-owned subsidized projects) and tenant-based assistance (i.e., rent vouchers and rent certificates), as well as the empirical evidence concerning their effects.

 

México’s implementation of several labor market reforms aimed to stimulate the flexibilization of labor relationships have brought long-standing concerns among scholars and governmental authorities about a displacement process of permanent by temporary jobs. In this regard, this manuscript aims to respond whether the dynamic interaction between permanent and temporary employment across Mexican states describe a substitution or complementary relationship. By means of implementing a structural panel vector autoregressive model, our estimation results demonstrate that a combination of both types of interaction, substitutive and complementary ones, prevail across manufacturing labor markets at state level. Moreover, a marked heterogeneity among estimated dynamic responses suggests that incentivizing permanent employment would induce stronger substitution effects on its temporary counterpart than, for example, substitution of permanent job positions arising when incentivizing temporary employment.

 

This article explains the role of scientific communities for the regional innovation, and the importance to seek scientific excellence, but also seek the relevance of their work in their socio-economic context. We study the case of Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. For this purpose we were applied a questionnaire to 95 researchers. The results demonstrate that the scientific community has acquired national leadership for the quality of their contributions, however, its impact seldom goes beyond the academic environment. From this perspective, we argue that it is vital that the researchers not only strive for the quality of scientific publications, but they also look for meeting the local and regional development requirements.

Spain is one of the European countries with more municipalities adhering to the Local Agenda 21 (LA21). Environmental spending exerts a great influence on implementing LA21. But some authors raise doubts about the firm commitment of local governments to LA21 objectives.

Thus, the main objective of this paper is to verify whether political commitment is backed up with action towards meeting the objectives of sustainable development by means of budgetary support for waste management policies.

To accomplish this, we applied the Difference in Differences technique for the period 2002-2012 in the Spanish municipalities. Our initial results confirmed the original hypotheses and showed that local governments that adhered to LA21 were genuinely committed to achieving at least one LA21 goal and offering greater budgetary support for waste management. However, the sensitivity analysis revealed unexpectedly ambiguous evidence about the research question, in that we observed a great volatility of results depending on the sample and dependent variables chosen.

The effectiveness in the absorption of funds is a permanent challenge for EU member states, and therefore, the analysis of the absorption capacity is needed. The present paper deals with the dimension of the absorption of EU resources and focus on an aspect that has been widely forgotten so far in previous literature: the regional variation in the absorption of the structural funds. Based on EU regional aggregate data on funds allocation and payments provided by the European Commission for the Operating Program 2007-2013 at the NUTS2 level, we observe that full absorption was more the exception than the rule. In addition, the high regional heterogeneity detected in the absorption of the Structural Funds is not only observed across countries but also within the regions in a country, contradicting some explanations that were given in the past about the effect of administrative structures on the absorption capacity. Finally, we offer a discussion on how lack of timely available regional data on EU fund payments hinders the analysis of the effectiveness of the regional absorption of the funds.

Globally, many public policies seek to improve the results in participation, employment, and unemployment of the youth in the labor market. Evidence shows that education, age, sex, income conditions of the household, and working conditions affect labor market participation. However, how the behavior of the closest individuals affects the decision of the younger individuals to labor participation in a developing country is a matter of discussion. Using GPS location for 1094 young people, I estimate a spatial model for individual decisions to participate in the labor market in Colombia. Results show that the nearby individual’s similar decision regarding labor participation affects the youth’s decision to participate or social effects in youth labor participation.

Between 1978 and 1989, a nationally and internationally acclaimed nature conservation model was created in Andalusia. It would be the result of a complex political process, marked by contradictory tendencies (the transition from Francoism to parliamentarism, from centralism to autonomy), social-environmental activism, and disputes among professional disciplines (biology, engineering, geography, among others). Using qualitative interviews, hemerographic and documentary sources, we explain this model, its vision and instruments, as a political-administrative apparatus that result from personal relationships and the confrontation between political currents within the ruling party in Andalusia (PSOE) in the context of rising environmentalist demands and movement.

Airports have become one of the main factors of urban competitiveness, due to their role as communication nodes and also due to their ability to generate economic activity. The literature shows that, in many metropolitan areas, airports are an important pole of economic activity that attracts companies related to airport activity, but also other types of firms due to their accessibility and the lower price of land compared to the city center. This article describes the plan for the creation of an Airport City at Barcelona Airport and estimates the economic effect that its implementation would have on the Catalan and Spanish economy.

 

The Temporary Solidarity Tax on Great Fortunes came into force in Spain at the end of 2022. This tax managed at state level and complementary to the Wealth Tax, will seek to harmonise the taxation of wealth in all the autonomous communities under the common regime. In this paper the taxation of wealth in Spain is analysed, as well as the reform proposals put forward to date. The new state tax is estimated using microsimulation techniques for the year 2022, with the aim of obtaining the main revenue effects that its implementation will have. Its impact will be unequal between autonomous communities due to the existing differences in the regional regulations of the Wealth Tax.

 

The aim of this article is to propose and build a glass-ceiling index at the regional level in Spain, using as a starting point the glass-ceiling index proposed by The Economist from 2014 onwards which measures the role and influence of women in the workforce across the OECD countries. We propose a synthetic index whose main objective is to serve as a tool to compare the presence of a glass-ceiling and its evolution over time between the different autonomous communities. The index can facilitate the design of specific policies to combat the phenomenon.

 

The main objective of this paper is to examine the effect of econo­mic distance on academic scientific collaboration in peripherical countries in Southern Europe (period 2006-2010). For this purpose, we use co-publications as an indicator of collaboration. Besides, we explore the effect of other proximity notions argued in the extant literature. Our results show that economic distance promotes academic scientific collaboration, supporting the centre-periphery hypothesis. It is also shown that geographic, cognitive, institutional and social proximity facilitates scientific collaboration, while the effect of organizational proximity is not clear.

The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the importance of social exclusion and its relationship to economic growth in the main Mexican regions. The principal components technique was used to build a multi-dimensional indicator based on the information provided by the Mexican Institute for Statistics and Geography (INEGI), by taking into account the main factors provoking such exclusion. An econometric inference on the regional growth was made using the spatial panel data to find the direct and indirect effects that it has on the social exclusion in the different regions of this country.

This paper reviews the theoretical arguments provided by the extant literature for understanding the process of creation of a European identity. We discuss the grounds of mechanisms and determinants driving citizens’ identification with Europe, stressing the role of the territorial dimension on European identity formation. More precisely, our focus is on the literature that have considered the link between European identity and EU policies that influence the citizens’ socio-economic conditions, in general, and Cohesion Policy in particular. This is a major policy within the EU that accounted for some 350 billion euros in the 2007-2013 programming period, about a third of total EU budget. Consequently, it is expected to determine the way citizens identify with the European project, both in the regions more and less benefited by the policy. The study also considers arguments supporting a sort of urban-rural divide in European identity, which could interact with the influence of the Cohesion Policy. Initial descriptive evidence on these links is provided based on results from a comprehensive survey for 15 EU member states.

The objective of this paper is to if there are differences in the core economic indicators of the special employment centers depending on, if they were created to obtain profit, or with social goals. We have created a database with 166 financial statements of the special employment centers from the Region of Murcia for the period 2012-2016. We have done a descriptive and explicative analysis of these data using the core economic and financial ratios. The obtained results have allowed us to conclude that the different orientation of the special employment centers doesn´t have direct effects on the profitability, but there are significant differences in their liquidity and solvency depending on the CEE type.

Depopulation is a consolidated research topic and more recently it is also important for governments. In this context, we propose an alternative methodology of emerging patterns to reveal significant trends and nuances of the population decreasing in Spanish municipalities between 1998 and 2021. To this goal, we use conventional sources, such as the Municipal Register of Inhabitants. Our results demonstrate a cold-hot bipolar systemic behavior, more balanced in its surface dimension than in the demographic one. It confirms two realities north-south in the depopulating Spain. Cold spots are concentrated in the northern half of the country with intensifying and consecutive patterns. Finally, the study provides a scalable methodology that is replicable in other periods and/or territories.

 

The official designation of protected areas in the Valencian Community (Spain) was initiated in the mid-1980s by the first government of the region through the creation of various classes of protection. The process was executed in an expeditious manner following the devolution of environmental management by the Spanish state in 1984. It was carried out in the absence of an adequate legal framework on the regional level; in the context of social mobilization in defence of the moves, as well as varying degrees of local opposition; and parallel to an extensive and expanding urbanization of the coastline. Into this context of legitimization of democratic political powers and shifting approaches to eco-system conservation was then added the concept of urgent protection, but without the sufficient resources and management tools to accomplish it. This paper presents the keys to understanding the initial processes of institutionalization of protected areas in the Valencian Community (Spain) through interviews with the holders of the principle political and managerial positions at the time.

 

 

The paper presents evidence that decentralisation increases partisan influence in the allocation of non-programmatic resources. The model employs a panel data and fixed effects analysis using data corresponding to intergovernmental transfers from the national level, passing through the regional level and earmarked for investment for local governments in Chile (2008-2018) and Peru (2004 – 2013). The results indicate political influence on the distribution of resources. The distribution of resources is used tactically in both countries in presidential election years. The implementation of laws increasing political decentralisation in Chile and Peru increased the political bias in resource distribution. The results have policy implications and provide a comparative perspective on the development of fiscal institutions in both countries. In a continental scenario, in which Latin American countries are undergoing a strong decentralisation process, it is suggested to advance in reforms that increase transparency, accountability and citizen participation. In addition, it is advisable to limit non-programmatic allocations and provide stability in the distribution of public resources.

 

This paper presents a quantitative cluster mapping methodology for traded industries, adapted for the Spanish case; also explores the correlation between the existence of clusters and regional performance. The study is made at NUTS-2 level, and a total of forty-seven out of eighty-eight 2-digits codes for CNAE-2009 are analyzed; ICT Index and Industry 4.0 Index are also designed and computed. A six-step methodology is applied departing from cross-industry linkages and implementing clustering algorithms; one set of clusters is elected and mapped over territory. The correlation analysis shows that a high number of clusters based on absolute employment data is positively correlated with variables associated with competitiveness, education, ICT adoption, and Industry 4.0, while no significant correlation is found for GDP per capita nor earning per worker.

The unavailability of geographically disaggregated information does not allow obtaining empirical evidence in order to answer some important questions in the field of urban and regional economics. The objective of this work is to calculate the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at local level, for the 42 municipalities of Valle del Cauca – Colombia in 2010, using ecological inference techniques based on entropy models that have already been applied in Spain and Mexico with satisfactory results.
The proposed method and the application of ecological inference allows of the GDP disaggregated by the 11 economic sectors, a pioneering and very useful work in the region.

Public sector could play a crucial role as consumer to foster innovation through public procurement of innovation (PPI). PPI is a R&D, innovation and development policy tool, which shows high potential and relevance in OECD economies. In comparison with other tools, its main advantages are guaranteeing a considerable launch market for innovations developed by the private sector, as well as reducing risks linked with new and expensive technologies. For the public sector, this tool improves the efficiency and quality of public services, and contributes to reduce costs in the medium and long term.

The main aim of this paper is to analyze the experience on PPI in Spain from a regional perspective, focused on types, funding, main sectors, areas of development, and results in products and services. Ninety cases are analyzed from an own-made database, in which a similar behavior among regions is noticed. Nonetheless, several differences are found regarding the relevance of sectors and European funding. Concerning the sectors, industry and services are the predominant activities in the most developed and innovative regions, highlighting knowledge-intensive activities. European funding constitutes a crucial element to implement PPI in less developed and innovative regions.

The results suggest that different levels of innovation and development determine the effectiveness of PPI and the development of innovations.

Recent political events in the European Union (EU) highlighted a growing dissatisfaction of citizens in several EU regions with the EU institutions’ management of socio-economic and financial challenges. This eventually led to a political legitimization crisis, whose drivers are partially shared among EU regions and partially area-specific. However, the relation between citizens’ identification with the EU project and the regions’ characteristics has not been analysed yet. In this article, we fill in this gap by addressing three research questions: i) To what extent do EU citizens identify with Europe and the EU project? ii) Do European regions have different patterns and level of identification? iii) Are the results driven by specific socio-economic variables?
Answering these questions is crucial to inform a more inclusive and resilient design of the EU Cohesion Policy in a crucial period for reforming the EU. To this purpose, we develop a novel probabilistic classification model, IdentEU, which embeds with the concept of individual identification with Europe. We use micro-level data from a survey implemented within the PERCEIVE project. We find that the influencing variables that mostly affect (citizens and) regions’ identification with the European project are: trust in the EU institutions, the effectiveness of EU Cohesion Policy and spending, and the level of corruption. These issues gain relevance at the light of three main challenges that affected the EU socio-economic development path in the last decade, i.e. the 2008 financial crisis, the globalization process, and Brexit.

The technological revolution has shaped a renewed tourism scenario characterised by an intensive use of technology throughout the travel cycle, which is evolving towards a context of smart management in which technologies associated with social media stand out, due to their influence on the strategy and operations of online marketing at the destinations. The new patterns of behaviour of supply and demand associated with social media now determine the image of destinations and influence their competitiveness, thus placing social media at the centre of marketing management of the entities responsible for promoting and managing the destination. Social media and the technologies that support it represent the main way to bring destinations closer to the smart destination model. This research approaches the current tourism scenario in order to understand its influence on the online marketing processes developed by tourist destinations. Specifically, and for a group of destinations in the Valencian Community, an applied analysis is carried out based on a social media measurement index.

This article explores the role of social movements in shaping conservation policy in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s in the territories of Catalonia, Andalusia and the Valencian Community. Through qualitative research based on in-depth interviews and documentary analysis, we address from a comparative perspective how citizen mobilization and scientific and academic associations influenced the declaration of the first natural parks through the support or rejection of conservation initiatives.

The structure of audio-visual television production in Andalusia is complex, particularly the composition of the business fabric of the television system in the autonomous community, insofar as it depends, to a large extent, on public television, Canal Sur Televisión. The aim of this study is to approach the reality of audio-visual production companies specialising in television to find out whether Andalusian public television is fulfilling its public service function and, above all, whether it is a matrix that generates the regional industrial and business fabric. The methodology is based on a simple structural approach, using professional empiricism and participant observation, where the techniques used were qualitative and quantitative: content analysis, direct observation and participant observation, bibliographic techniques, in-depth interviews (using the key informant tool) and surveys. All this took place during the years 2020, 2021 and 2022. The results point to the fulfilment of the obligation to promote the development of the Andalusian audio-visual fabric and that of audio-visual production companies, as observed in its regulations.

In this paper, we analyse the effects of productive specialisation and diversity on population growth at the local level in Aragon, a NUTS 2 region in Spain. This region is characterised by a highly uneven population distribution, with numerous small cities, and a large proportion of small businesses. We estimate panel data models considering data from 2000 to 2015 at the local level, encompassing 577 municipalities. Our results show that both localisation and urbanisation have a statistically significant positive effect on growth in Aragonese municipalities but only in cities with a population threshold of 3,000 or more inhabitants.

 

Official statistics indicated a break in Okun’s law in all the Spanish regions due to the COVID-19 pandemic; however, herein, evidence of the validity of the law is shown. The temporary layoff procedures (ERTEs) allowed many workers to maintain their jobs. From the productive point of view, the law remained in effect in the regions, showing a strong relationship between idle labour resources and economic activity, and from the social point of view, the apparent breakdown of the law can be interpreted as the implementation of a policy that mitigated the dramatic impact of the economic crisis.

 

The early leaving from education and training rate is a basic indicator in the education system that has influence on economic and social structure. Thus, its reduction is a priority for the Europe 2020 Strategy. Spain has the highest early school leaving rate among the European Union, showing strong interregional differences. This article studies the impact of educational, economic and sociocultural factors on the early school leaving rate at the NUTS2 regions. We have applied a panel data methodology for the period 2001 to 2011. Among other results, expenditure on education appears as a relevant measure for tackling this problem.

The aim of the study is to analyze the impact of public support on R&D investment among Catalan firms. The text approaches the analysis from a triple perspective. Firstly, it details the characteristics of Catalan firms that have benefitted from public support for R&D. Secondly, it establishes whether public support fulfills the principle of additionality and stimulates the innovative efforts of Catalan companies. And thirdly, it analyses whether support affects the composition of private investments in R&D. To address these issues, we have information provided by the questionnaires of the Community Innovative Survey (CIS) which, based on a sample of 3,410 Catalan firms, reflect the aid received during the period 2010-2012. A two-stage Heckman model is applied during the econometric development to correct sample selection bias. Of the results obtained, two stand out. On the one hand, public support produces a positive effect on the innovative efforts of Catalan firms; and on the other, government support alters the composition of the R&D investments of innovative Catalan firms in favour of the investments with lower risk and closer to the market.

This paper studies the determinants of the imbalance between country and European identity. While the two sentiments are positively correlated, recent empirical evidence showed the emergence, in the last years, of an increasing imbalance in favour of the identification with individuals’ country of residence. In the political arena, this phenomenon is accompanied by the increasing support to nationalisms and Eurosceptic parties almost everywhere in the EU. It is therefore interesting to understand what are the individual and contextual factors associated to this identity imbalance. The assumption tested in this paper is that the unequal distribution (among individuals and regions) of the benefits from EU integration is the main determinant of the emerging antagonism between European and national identity. Empirical results support this hypothesis. Individuals with lower education and income, and those living in the lagging-behind regions of the EU are more likely than the others to identify more with their own country than with Europe.

Governance systems, when addressing post-disaster action, play an important role in minimizing the community’s vulnerability in future disruptive events. The literature describes how post-disaster actions towards resistance-resilience measures are often implemented, shifting to adaptive-resilience approaches as a second concern, and disregarding resilience-transformative strategies. Two consecutive wildfires in the Centro Region (Portugal), in 2017, cut off access to the Services of General Interest (SGIs) and knocked off-balance the socioeconomic territorial structure and identity (the main impact was 116 mortal victims). In this paper, the media coverage of the phenomena during the 12 months following the disaster is analysed using a sample of 150 news articles published in two newspapers. The public discourses are indicative of the overall importance given to the impact and to the responses based on resistance-resilience measures. Moreover, the theoretical and practical challenges for the policy design and organization of the governance systems in post-disaster contexts is discussed.

The text examines legal frameworks in Portugal to discuss how nature conservation has been managed from a state perspective. Natural Protected Areas correspond to a desire of the political sphere to match an international environmental agenda. However, they have been implemented mainly in private properties or in baldios (communal, though not public lands). Therefore, in practical terms, a tension has been always present between the state and the communities and/or private owners since the beginning of the 20th Century with the creation of ‘forest perimeters’. The article flies over the critical turning points in Portuguese conservation policies from the seventies of the 20th Century to present-day with the recently created diploma of co-management for Protected Areas.

The objective of the study was to analyze barriers to access to health care in Chile reported by international migrants residing in the metropolitan region of the country and associated factors. For this purpose, a digital survey on vulnerabilities and resources of migrant communities in Chile to face the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic was applied. A descriptive and stratified analysis was performed by demographic and socioeconomic variables, type of health provision and migratory status. As results, immigrants from Haiti reported the highest percentage of barriers to health care access, after adjusting for socio-demographic variables and migratory status.

 

This study uses a segmentation framework to categorize the residents of Minas de Riotinto, a mining town in Andalusia, Spain, based on their perceptions of the personal and community effects of tourism. These segments were then classified according to their tourism attitudes, utilizing a three-dimensional approach encompassing affective, cognitive, and behavioral elements. For this purpose, a cluster analysis and the Kruskal-Wallis test were successively applied to the responses of 346 residents. The results revealed three main groups of residents: “interested and enthusiastic supporters”, “disinterested and moderate supporters” and “incongruous and impulsive residents”. Contrary to our expectations, all groups showed favorable affective attitudes towards tourism development in their region. However, significant differences emerged between groups concerning the cognitive and behavioral dimensions of their attitudes.

 

This research analyzes the extent and frequency of forest fires in the humid puna ecosystem from 2013 to 2021, identifying the affected areas and determining the causes in order to improve fire management in the department of Ayacucho (Andean region). from Peru). The methodology combines cartographic analysis, satellite images and semi-structured interviews to identify the causes, consequences and mitigation alternatives of the fires. The results show that the areas affected by the fires during the 9 years are very differentiated, with 2020 being the year with the largest burned area, reaching 2,836 ha, which represents 14.89% of the humid puna of the study area. In addition, the most frequently burned areas are repeated between 7 and 9 times in different years, with an average of 182 ha burned recurrently. The causes of the fires are clearly of anthropic origin caused by the (i) opening of new fields or burning of stubble; (ii) ichu burning for pasture regrowth and (iii) for cultural reasons. It is concluded that the combination of cartographic analysis methodology, satellite images and semi-structured interviews provide information that allows understanding the dynamics of the territory and improve the management and implementation of territorial policies in the mitigation of fires.

 

This paper develops a model which integrates the foral or cupo system applied to the Basque Country and Navarre, the common system applied to the other fifteen Spanish autonomous communities and the central government budget. The model shows that the theoretical cupo it generates is nothing more than an indirect form of measuring the equalising transfer between the central government and the corresponding autonomous jurisdiction. The cupo form per se is completely neutral: the foral jurisdictions operate exactly under the same financial conditions as the non-foral jurisdictions, despite that in the latter case the transfer is directly measured as the difference between expenditure needs and fiscal capacity. In the context of our model, the cause of the foral economic advantage is the particular imputation procedure developed by the cupo law, which clearly biases the scales in favour of the foral and, therefore, against the non-foral communities. An economic advantage of the foral respect to the aggregate of the non-foral communities that, even if only referred to the design of the cupo, we have estimated at 29.8% in the case of the Basque Country and at 28.2% in the case on Navarre. These calculations should be interpreted as a lower bound on the foral advantage. The model has clear implications for reform.

The objective of this research is to examine empirically the relationship between labor productivity and human capital with regional poverty in Ecuador. In order to correct the bias caused by endogeneity and the omission of spatial dependence, we used regressions with instrumental variables and spatial econometric techniques. We estimated two sets of regressions. In the first, the dependent variable is the poverty rate and the independent variable is human capital. In the second, the poverty rate is a function of labor productivity. In both sets of models we include covariates associated with the social and economic characteristics of the regions. The results show that labor productivity and human capital can be public policy mechanisms to reduce poverty in less developed regions with spillover effects in neighboring regions.

Cohesion policy is the European Union’s (EU) main investment policy and seeks to strengthen economic, social and territorial cohesion. While accomplishments in this regard are constantly measured, European citizens are not always aware of the policy’s impact and the role the EU plays therein. This is especially relevant as the communication of EU policies is central to the emergence of a European public sphere, an acknowledged condition for European integration. In this paper, we aim at advancing research in this regard through the analysis of cohesion policy communication on the social media channels of ten Local Managing Authorities (LMAs) responsible for managing and communicating structural funds at the local level. By building on a bottom-up construction of shared meaning structures through semi-automatic analysis techniques, we make the following three observations: first, social media communication is indicative of ‘horizontal Europeanization’; second, Europeanization occurs both in the form of the spontaneous amalgamation of shared discontent expressed by citizens and the institutionalization of top-down EU communication measures adopted by LMAs; and third, a cluster of topics articulated internationally and showcasing a negative attitude towards the EU funding scheme suggests that, counter-intuitively, Euroscepticism seems to facilitate the emergence of a European public sphere.

Forestry industry macroeconomic assessments typically concentrate on the production, harvesting, and earliest processing of wood products, underestimating the full range of forests impacts in regional economies.
This work proposes a broader concept – forestry products value chain – that ponders the contribution of the downstream activities relying (directly and indirectly) on Silviculture and Forestry products.
The paper adopts a methodology based on a Multi-Regional Input-Output framework. We apply this approach to the Portuguese economy. Results clarify the role of eucalyptus in “Pulp”, “Paper and Cardboard” and “Paper and Cardboard Articles”. Finally, the projected wider macroeconomic consequences from a reduction of these productions is evaluated.

The aim of this paper is to identify and quantify econometrically the determinants of the spending needs of the Autonomous Communities. The combination of individual fixed effects that capture unobservable inter-territorial differences in spending preferences or efficiency, on the one hand, with expenditure determinants of low variability, on the other poses problems for traditional estimators. To overcome this limitation, alternative econometric specifications and estimators are explored. The results show that the estimated coefficients and their significance change substantially, not being able to guarantee the necessary robustness to sustain an adequate political discussion. Therefore, it is necessary to bet on other strategies for empirical work that allow us to the spending preferences of the Autonomous Communities.

 

Since the 2008 global economic crisis, the neoliberalization of nature and space, and consequently of environmental and planning policies, have exacerbated significantly. From infrastructure megaprojects, mining, fracking, waste disposal and land grabbing to shrinking access and loss of public green spaces, uneven gentrification and urban regeneration policies, public spaces, and natures within and beyond cities have been appropriated, privatized, commoditized, profoundly transformed and degraded with the aim to overcome recession and boost urban development. Despite the varying degree of success in pursuing urban growth, this has disproportionally affected people along lines of class, ethnicity, and gender, deepening environmental, social, and spatial inequality in many places across the globe. By drawing on my long-term research on biodiversity offsetting, the key argument I aim to advance in this essay is that since the 2008 financial crash, we have been witnessing the emergence of an increasingly symbiotic relationship between neoliberal conservation policies, infrastructure expansion and uneven urban development. This has been accompanied by the reframing of non-human nature as a movable amenity and has been intertwined with the new territorialities that the profound changes in global urban and economic geographies have brought about. This shift aims to legitimize and render common sense the idea that nature, either a protected area, a forest, an endangered species, or an urban green space, can be simply (re)located and (re)created where the interests of particular sections of capital dictate. Crucially, the underlying argument is not only that non-human nature should not be considered a barrier to infrastructure expansion and urban growth but perfectly compatible with it.

According to recent studies, the growing economic integration between Mexico and the United States,
that resulted from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), heterogeneously transformed the
economic structure of Mexico’s states. is study provides evidence that this, in turn, altered the degree
and nature of economic synchronization among them. Furthermore, it shows evidence of an increasingly
significant positive relationship from 1994 on between economic synchronization and the level of
sophistication of states’ economic structures [measured by the Economic Complexity Index (ECI)]. As
economic integration increases, it becomes easier for shocks to be transmitted between state economies
with similar economic structures, either because their characteristics make them more sensitive to the same
kinds of shocks or simply because they are so closely linked. Our results help provide a greater
understanding of the states’ economic evolution during the period analyzed.

Units of observation with reduced dimensions and regular geometry have been increasingly generated in a recent, albeit already steady, trend towards further territorial data disaggregation. In this line of research, the present study reports the results of using the spatial distribution of population data and built-up areas at a high level of territorial data disaggregation with reduced dimensions and with a homogeneous observation unit by applying a regular grid consisting of 250-m square cells. The main objective was to show the results and advantages of working at a high level of spatial data disaggregation. This approach provides a more comprehensive knowledge of the territory and allows for a more accurate analysis of spatial patterns in the different variables under study, thereby enhancing the quality of decision-making processes.

 

As Cohesion Policy constitutes the major funding scheme of the European Union, not only does literature explore if the policy’s performance is satisfactory but also investigates the extent to which the policy is effectively communicated to citizens. To integrate analysis of implementation and communication, we develop a novel qualitative framework that elicits a holistic analysis of the causal mechanisms behind: (i) the distribution of the Cohesion Policy funds, their management at a local managing authority level and the related impact on projects’ quality, and (ii) the communication processes that underpin citizens’ awareness about the Union’s role in funded projects. The multilevel nature and the dynamic behaviour of the system, as well as its multiple feedback loops, render System Dynamics appropriate as an approach to model its complexity. The proposed framework aims at stimulating a focused discussion on Cohesion Policy by providing policy-making insights for designing efficient schemes to improve the actual and the perceived performances. Finally, it is anticipated to support research in the field from a new organisational perspective through considering the impact of local actors’ structures, procedures and actions on Cohesion Policy outcomes.

This article analyzes the concept of value capture, the typologies of existing instruments and it examines the opportunities and regulatory and operational restrictions of “participation in capital gains” as one of the main bets in regards in Colombia. Using qualitative and quantitative tools, the results of the regulation and implementation of the instrument are shown in 20 years of formal existence for 444 municipalities in the country. It is evident that although a significant number of municipalities incorporate the tax in their territorial regulations, despite its potentialities this instrument has not been consolidated as an important source of financing. Small and medium municipalities have most mobilized such participation in the context of their urban growth transformations and the territorial planning decisions.

The use of location quotients for the estimation of regional input‑output tables has been found to be a useful and efficient tool to estimate intra-regional production multipliers. Building on this tool, more complex procedures have been developed that simultaneously estimate inter-regional coefficients. This paper assesses the capacity of this extended methodology (called the Jahn methodology) to obtain both intra-regional and inter-regional multipliers for the Spanish case, using the Input-Output Table (IOT) of Spain 2015 to estimate those corresponding to the Spanish regions of Andalusia, the Basque Country and Navarra for the same year and whose results are available via survey. In order to contrast their reliability, efficiency and accuracy, the results obtained with this procedure are then compared with other methodologies widely used for their recognised efficiency, the GRAS and Gravity-RAS methodologies.

Patients’ waiting times are caused by the imbalance between the available supply and the existing demand in the health sector. Exceeding maximum waiting times may worsen diseases and entail additional costs to public health systems. This paper studies the theoretical probability distribution that best fits the average waiting times for non-urgent surgeries and first outpatient consultations for Spanish public hospitals in the region of Andalusia. For doing this we apply Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale and Shape, which cover a wide range of probability distributions. We propose the final selected models as a tool to be considered by health authorities for a better management of waiting times/lists.

 

This article examines the role of support organizations (SOs) in promoting innovation and competitiveness
in Paraguayan companies. Six important clusters in the country are analyzed: meat and derivatives, dairy,
ceramics and construction, textiles, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals. Collaboration networks are
reconstructed using data from interviews with companies and SOs. Network analysis, econometric
regressions, and qualitative analysis of the interviews are employed. The results reveal how companies access
external resources to enhance their competitiveness and foster innovation through cluster SOs. In the
context of a developing country, cooperation between these organizations in cross-sector and crossterritory
networks is crucial.

The Economic Complexity Index (ECI) and Product Complexity Index (PCI), proposed by Hidalgo and Hausmann (2009), are measures that quantify the sophistication of productive knowledge that economies (industries) posses (require to produce). These indexes have been frequently used in the economic geography and economic development literature for the optimal design of industrial strategies. In the original study, these authors calculated these measures for countries and products using data on the value of their exports. Since then, various studies have estimated them at the subnational level using other variables such as: employment, patents, technologies, salaries, etc. This article presents a proposal for a more periodic and robust estimation of the indices in Mexico using a different variable, the number of establishments or economic units by type of activity, this variable is obtained from the National Statistical Directory of Economic Units (DENUE, its Spanish acronym).  The results are consistent, both formunicipalities and for industries, and present a better fit compared to those of previous studies. We consider that our proposal is pertinent because it allows for the design and more periodic evaluation of industrial strategies and subnational public policies in the area of economic development.

 

A Social Accounting Matrix is an integrated system of accounts that presents in a double-entry table all the transactions made in an economy among productive sectors, production factors, institutional sectors and the rest of the world. In comparison with an Input-Output Table, it offers a greater deal of information and shows completely the circular process of income, captivating more precisely the effects of exogenous changes. One of the main profits of a Social Accounting Matrix is to serve as a database for the development and application of a computable general equilibrium model. This is, in fact, the aim pursued with the elaboration of the Social Accounting Matrix for the Asturian economy presented here. This Matrix has been constructed with data from the 1995 Regional Accounts of Asturias, and its structure has been adapted to its future use as a database for a computable general equilibrium model of this regional economy.

This work is focused on testing the following hypothesis: “The competitiveness of a Portuguese professional soccer team is influenced by the economic development level of the surrounding region.” Using a rational choice model and working with binary time-series cross-sectional data, this work focuses on a Portuguese professional soccer team from 1970 to 1999. This is the first work on the teams and economy of Portugal that tests this hypothesis. The results corroborate the main importance of three factors that increase the probability that a municipality will house the head office of a team that plays in the first league: 1) the per capita income, 2) level of infrastructures, and 3) demographic dimension.

This article deals with the currently widely discussed entrepreneurial
orientation (EO) and investigates the roles this concept actually plays within
the LEADER+ development program and its implementation in three European
territories. The main question addressed in this analysis is whether or not the
LEADER+ envisaged EO as a basic element for rural development. Can we really
observe both at the rhetoric and at the implementation levels impacts of the EO on
the LEADER+? To answer this question the official programmatic documents of
the EU community initiative LEADER+ are analyzed against the background of
the most important EO concepts and characteristics. Subsequently, a deeper look
in the implementation of LEADER+ in three European territories shows that the
EO still has little impact in the actions implemented. Some major contradictory
rhetoric of the LEADER+ is identified regarding EO and its importance to the development
program. As well as some important suggestions for improving future
development program can be derived from the analysis. These show that, despite
the lack of focus on EO by the LEADER+, the concept has the potential to make a
significant contribution to the successful development of regions.

This paper analyzes from a regional perspective the use of Services
of General Economic Interest (SGEI), to which general access in equal conditions
is considered key for social and territorial cohesion by European regulation
policymakers.
In order to do so, citizens’ revealed preferences with respect to SGEI according to the characteristics of their place of residence are analyzed. Results
identify patterns of SGEI use by region, and also find lower use of some services
in areas of low population density related to access problems. These results have
significant implications for SGEI regulation in regional terms.

Economic globalization has rendered innovation policy as the main instrument for improving —or keeping— the threatened competitiveness of firms and regions. This article analyzes the level of innovation in Spain, the role played by Information and Communication Technologies in regional growth, the fundamentals for public intervention and the regional Spanish Research, Development and innovation Programmes.

Creativity is the ability to generate something new, merging data,
perceptions and matters in order to produce new and useful things. About 22% of
the Spanish employees belong to the «creative class» and about 5.7% of the production
comes from the «creative industries». Despite these data, the general research
focusing on the creative economy in Spain is poor. The aim of this article is to fill
this space by providing a general view of the creative economy in Spain, focused
on the «creative industries». The article introduces the basic theoretical aspects, the
measurement of creativity, compared data about production, employment and the
location of creative industries, as well as the discussion about policy.

The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) predicts that environmental degradation intensifies when per capita income increases and subsequently subsides after a certain income level is reached, resulting in an inverted U-shaped relationship. There is abundant literature on the topic that corroborates the existence of a positive income elasticity for environmental quality. However, results are controversial.

We take the case of CO₂, by comparing the results of the cross-sectional estimates with those derived from a panel approach. To this end, we use data from 182 countries during the period 1992-2011. We found that the EKC hypothesis is acceptable under both approaches, although the estimated turning points in cross-sections seem unreliable. Our application underlines the importance of adequately address central problems such as heterogeneity, structural breaks and spatial interaction.

The aim of this paper is to analyze the degree of consensus in the literature on the impact of institutions on economic growth, for which we differentiate between three dimensions: economic, political and social institutions. After a literature review from 1990 to today, as main conclusion we find that, generally, the revised authors find a positive effect of economic institutions and social capital and negative effect of political instability, while political freedom has less clear results. On the other hand, it can also be concluded that there are insufficient studies on the differences in the estimated effects and the sequence of implementation between dimensions, showing the necessity of more empirical analysis about this topic.

The BBVA Foundation has recently published (January 2023) the report on capital endowments in Spain and its autonomous communities corresponding to the period 1995-2022. This report is the latest in a long relationship between the BBVA Foundation and the Ivie that has lasted for more than 25 years. In these years, a database on investment and capital stock has been built following the most established and recognized methodologies at each moment of time. The last methodological change was implemented in the edition prior to this one. The initial year of reference for the database is 1964. Despite the fact that a long historical series is available, in the report that is being reviewed now it has been decided to focus on the most recent period, the one that begins with the 1995 expansion.

Historical Evolution, Analytical Categorisations and Institutional Challenges of Metropolitanisation

The Social Explorer is a free and open access platform that allows an agile and interactive approach to geo-referenced data from Spain of sociodemographic, economic, political and environmental interest. In this review a brief presentation of it is made.