Otoño 2004

This papers gives new evidence on the relationship between integration (internal and external)and industrial agglomeration in the presence of scale economies by testing directly one of the predictions that can be derived from Krugman (1991).That is,the existence of regional nominal wage gradients and its transformation following the changes in trade regimes.In this framework,we analyze whether or not,during the period 1856-1995,protectionists policies could have favored the loss of centrality of the main coastal location of Spanish industry (Barcelona).

Barro &Sala-i-Martin (1995)growth ’s model has been a theoretical reference to Latin American studies on regional convergence.This article analyses around twenty research works published about Bolivia,Brazil,Colombia,Chile,Mexico and Peru during the last decade.It evaluates theoretical,methodological and empirical implementation of the model and proposes new researching questions to progress on knowledge ’s production.

In this paper we analyze the incidence of the distribution of price changes on the inflation rate of Spanish regions (1994-2001).Especially,we pay attention to the role of variability and skewness.The methodology applied is based on the menu cost models developed by Ball and Mankiw.In general,we conclude that the behaviour of the regions is very homogeneous with respect to the «structure » of inflation.The significance of variability and skewness also shows the vulnerability of inflation to relative price shocks.

This report establishes the methodological foundations for the design of a global synthetic index of sustainable development which fulfils three conditions: it adapts to the principles of Pressure-State-Response,it adopts the mandates established in Local Agenda 21 and adapts to the four components or basic dimensions of sustainability: institutional, environmental, economic and social.The synthetic index is constructed using the aforesaid methodology and based on the calculations of 78 variables,37 sub-indicators and 13 indicators,grouping the latter in the previously mentioned four dimensions and subsequently applying said index to the regions within Spain.

Social accounting matrices (SAM)are an instrument that enlarges the information provided by the input-output analysis.These matrices study the intersectoral relationships of an economy,the behaviour of the consumers,the public sector or the foreign sector,as long as they complete the income flow of rent.In this work, we use the SAM for Andalusia (region southern Spain)1990,1995 and 1999,to conduct a structural analysis of the Andalusian economy by means of the «path analysis » methodology and a multiplier decomposition.With these techniques,we obtain the changes in productive structure and we quantify the influence of sectoral shocks on this regional economy.Finally,we also identify which sectors have most strongly contributed to the regional economic activity in the last decade.

The new configuration of the territory in the Euroregion Galicia-Northern Portugal is in neeed of a debate on the problems related to its development,such as organization and planning of common tourist destinations.In this paper important and value cientific literature on this topic and data from a study carried out by the authors for the Eixo Atlántico in 2001 are used to implement some instruments for their application to this territory.The model presented here is a systemic design construct of this Euroregion as a common tourist destination and provides a formal structure of its elements that may be useful to administrators and planners in their analyses and decision-taking process.

The Quality Life Potential (QLP)is a new well-being measure introduced in Pinilla and Goerlich (2004).The QLP combines income above social poverty line with life expectancy at any age according to a quality life function.If we want to calculate the QLP,we need to choose a poverty line measure.The best choice would probably be a subjective poverty line (SPL)but this is not always possible. The objective of this note is to asses the relevance of the poverty line chosen for QLP estimation. The QLP indicator will be calculated using both,a subjective poverty line and a conventional relative poverty line.We use the 1990-91 Household Budget Survey (EPF) because it includes the relevant information.Furthermore,the estimated QLP will be compared to some conventional income measures as the per capita income. In general the poverty indicators are quite different depending on the chosen method, but the QLP presents only small differences.At least for 1990-91 Spanish data the results with the subjective poverty line and the relative poverty line are quite similar. More research is needed to check if this similarity keeps valid along time.

This article analyzes which has been the evolution of the research in urban and regional science in Spain in the period 1991-2000 situating it in the international context.With this aim,we elaborate rankings of countries,authors and institutions in function of the publications carried out in a sample of nine top regional and urban international journals.The results show that the improvement in the international position of Spanish economic research found by other authors is also observed at the regional and urban level.In fact,this increase is motivated both by an increase of the publication of recognised authors and by the contribution of «new » authors.

This paper analyses the high-speed train from a spatial point of view. The basic characteristics of this transportation mode,the evolution of high-speed networks in several countries and the building of a trans-European high-speed railway network are studied.The paper analyses also the process of space-time convergence and its consequences on competitivity and cohesion;the tunel effect;the impact of the high speed-train on transportation demand;and the impacts on the city.