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Policymakers attempt to foster entrepreneurship within European regions yet firm interrelationships across European regions remain understudied. This paper analyses the extent to which past firm births and deaths influence future firm births and deaths across European NUTS 2 regions through the lens of competition, multiplier and Marshall effects. Using a novel multilevel mixed effects regression model, we find evidence for an immediate multiplier effect changing to a competition effect as time passes across European regions and countries. We also identify that significant variations in firm birth and death rates exist across European regions validating the importance of more decentralized regional entrepreneurial policies which has implications for policies like the European Regional Development Fund's (ERDF) Cohesion Plan and the Smart Specialization Strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This article examines the links between average city size, fiscal decentralisation, and national economic growth in 33 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Design/methodology/approach: The data in this paper comprise an unbalanced panel dataset which contains economic growth indicators, average city size, fiscal decentralisation indicators and control variables in 33 OECD member countries from 1975 to 2015 in five-year intervals. Fixed-effects (FE) estimators are used for the analysis. Findings: This research finds i) countries with larger weighted average city sizes have higher economic growth, ii) countries with greater fiscal decentralisation have higher economic growth, but iii) countries with larger weighted average city sizes with greater decentralisation have lower rates of economic growth. Originality/value: The research highlights the importance of agglomerations and decentralised governance and management for economic growth. While the findings are consistent with previous evidence that larger city sizes and fiscal decentralisation are separately associated with higher rates of economic growth, the authors find countries which have larger cities and greater fiscal decentralisation experience lower rates of economic growth highlighting a need for caution on decentralisation agendas in such cases. The implications of this suggest policymakers should proceed with caution on decentralisation agendas in countries with large cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the merits of regional and firm based approaches for analysing the effect of agglomeration economies on firm deaths in Ireland. We aggregate a comprehensive data set on Irish firm deaths to Electoral Division (ED) level, the lowest geographical scale available. Estimates of the effect of agglomeration on firm deaths from a regional analysis at ED level using a cross-sectional spatial-autoregressive spatial error model are compared with firm-level estimates from a contemporary log-log model with spatially weighted agglomeration regressors. While estimates of the effects of agglomeration using these alternative methods is much discussed in existing literature rarely are the approaches or results compared. We show that contrasting results are found using the same data set dependent upon the unit of analysis used. Diversity lowers regional and firm deaths while specialisation raises regional deaths but lowers firm deaths. Greater urbanisation does not have a significant effect on firm hazard rates or equivalent regional estimates. While regional estimates provide evidence on the existence and nature of spatial dependence (negative in this case), firm estimates do not provide evidence that agglomeration in neighbouring regions is the source of this spatial dependence. No empirical analysis to our knowledge directly compares regional and firm based approaches for analysing the effect of spatial agglomeration economies on firm deaths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we show that the economic crisis commencing in 2007 had different impacts across US Metropolitan Statistical Areas, and seek to understand why differences occurred. The hypothesis of interest is that differences in industrial structure are a cause of variations in response to the crisis. Our approach uses a state-of-the art dynamic spatial panel model to obtain counterfactual predictions of Metropolitan Statistical Area employment levels from 2008 to 2014. The counterfactual employment series are compared with actual employment paths in order to obtain Metropolitan Statistical Area-specific measures of crisis impact, which then are analysed with a view to testing the hypothesis that resilience to the crisis was dependent on Metropolitan Statistical Area industrial structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse differences in the drivers of firm innovation performance across sectors. The literature often makes the assumption that firms in different sectors differ in their propensity to innovate but not in the drivers of innovation. The authors empirically assess whether this assumption is accurate through a series of econometric estimations and tests.Design/methodology/approach The data used are derived from the Irish Community Innovation Survey 2004-2006. A series of multivariate probit models are estimated and the resulting coefficients are tested for parameter stability across sectors using likelihood ratio tests.Findings The results indicate that there is a strong degree of heterogeneity in the drivers of innovation across sectors. The determinants of process, organisational, new to firm and new to market innovation varies across sectors suggesting that the pooling of sectors in an innovation production function may lead to biased inferences.Research limitations/implications The implications of the results are that innovation policies targeted at stimulating innovation need to be tailored to particular industries. One size fits all policies would seem inappropriate given the large degree of heterogeneity observed across the drivers of innovation in different sectors.Originality/value The value of this paper is that it provides an empirical test as to whether it is suitable to group sectoral data when estimating innovation production functions. Most papers simply include sectoral dummies, implying that only the propensity to innovate differs across sectors and that the slope of the coefficient estimates are in fact consistent across sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The response by regional and national economies to exogenous impulses has a well-established literature in both spatial econometrics and in mainstream econometrics and is of considerable importance given the post-2007 economic crisis, which is characterized by a period of severe global instability resulting from unprecedented economic shocks. This paper focuses on dynamic counterfactual predictions and impulse-response functions derived from appropriate econometric models. These provide insight regarding the question of whether responses to economic shocks are transitory or whether they have a permanent effect. Analysis shows that output shocks have had permanent effects on productivity so that economies have tended not to return to the pre-shock path but rather adjust to new levels. This suggests that the current recession will be embodied permanently within the memory of some of Europe's leading economies as a hysteretic effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical patterns of land-use development across many countries in the Global North have generally been characterised by land-use segregation, low-density settlements, and limited transport accessibility. This can lead to inefficient regional developmental patterns and can increase the environmental degradation attributable to regional expansion. Numerous metrics and datasets have been employed to infer the sustainability and efficiency of these developments. Here, we quantify and visualise the relative entropy of land-use configurations across the Republic of Ireland using a novel dataset. Specifically, we combine the discipline-standard CORINE Land Cover 2018 dataset and OpenStreetMap data, which provides more thorough land-use classifications in urban areas. Spatial differences in relative entropy are visualised using a spatial typology distinguishing between areas exhibiting low and high levels of relative entropy. Our Main Map visualises the coverage of both CORINE and OpenStreetMap datasets, compares relative entropy estimates for both datasets, and illustrates the disparities in cross-dataset estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since late 2019, COVID-19 has devastated the global economy, with indirect implications for the environment. As governments' prioritized health and implemented measures such as the closure of non-essential businesses and social distancing, many workers have lost their jobs, been furloughed, or started working from home. Consequently, the world of work has drastically transformed and this period is likely to have major implications for mobility, transportation and the environment. This paper estimates the potential for people to engage in remote work and social distancing using O*NET data and Irish Census data and calculates the potential emission savings, by commuter type from a switch to remote working and occupational social distancing. The results show that while those who commute by car have a relatively high potential for remote work, they are less likely to be able to engage in social distancing in their workplace. While this may be negative for employment prospects in the short run, our analysis indicates that this pattern has the potential for positive environmental implications in the short and long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper analyses the impact of institutional proximity, cognitive proximity and geographical proximity (in the form of agglomeration economies) on the firm-level productivity of foreign-owned firms in Ireland. The analysis of agglomeration economies, consisting of internal economies of scale, localization economies, related variety and urbanization economies, has a strong pedigree in regional economics literature. Increasingly, however, alternative explanations of firm-level productivity performance have been explored with institutional and cognitive proximity often identified as other important determinants of performance. This paper presents an analysis of the importance of agglomeration economies (based on geographical proximity) versus institutional and cognitive proximity (which may be a-spatial). Design/methodology/approach: A series of measures capturing regional level agglomeration economies are generated as well as measures of institutional and cognitive proximity. The impact of these effects on foreign-owned firm-level productivity is analysed using data from the Irish Census of Industrial Local Units 2009. The estimation method employed is general method of moments (GMM) which allows for the potential endogeneity of variables within the system of analysis. Findings: The results reveal that institutional proximity has a positive impact on productivity. A possible reason for this result is that local units of the same nationality are sharing knowledge in relation to successfully conducting business in Ireland. However, cognitive proximity is found to be statistically insignificant. Agglomeration economies are also important with urbanization economies and the availability of skilled labour having a positive effect on productivity. Originality/value: The key contributions of this paper are as follows; firstly, the paper provides the first test of the institutional and cognitive proximity hypotheses on productivity while also controlling for a series of internal and external agglomeration economies. Secondly, the analysis considers, firm level, regional level and national level indicators as determinants of firm's productivity. In combining micro and macro level indicators, the paper attempts to answer the call of Van Oort et al. (2012) for such analyses. Thirdly, the paper provides the first detailed examination of the role of 'proximity' on foreign-owned manufacturing firms in the Irish context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Growing evidence suggests regional economic factors impact on individual outcomes, such as life expectancy and well-being. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact that player-specific and regional differences have on the number of senior international appearances football players accumulate over the course of their careers, for six UEFA member countries, from 1993 to 2014.Design/methodology/approach The research employs a Poisson regression model to analyse the impact of individual and regional factors on the number of senior international caps a footballer receives over the course of their career.Findings The results indicate that both individual and regional variables can explain the number of caps a player receives over the course of their career. The authors find that an individual’s career length positively influences the number of international caps accrued. Players born in wealthier and more populous regions accumulate a greater number of international appearances. Distance from the capital has no effect, however, the number of youth academies in the player’s region of birth has a significant positive effect.Research limitations/implications The analysis is limited to regional variations within economically developed states. It would be interesting to test whether the correlation between relative regional development and international success exists in less developed countries. The authors only address mens international football in this study and cannot comment on the generality of the findings across genders or sports.Practical implications The results can provide insights for local football authorities and policy makers concerned with regional characteristics and those interested in the development of elite talent.Originality/value This is the first study to analyse a pan-European data set, using an increasingly adopted econometric method to understanding regional economic development – Poisson modelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arachnids are important predators in arthropod assemblages that occur from early successional old fields to mature forests. As generalist predators, they may occupy varying trophic niches in different environments that have different prey available. Given that trophic niche can be quantified by the enrichment of 15N in an organism, we tested the null hypothesis that the trophic niche is invariant between old fields and forests in three groups of arachnids: cursorial and web weaving spiders (Araneae), and harvestmen (Opiliones), by comparing the stable isotope ratios of nitrogen (δ15N) in specimens of each group collected from field and forest. Cursorial spiders fed at the highest trophic level in both habitats, and likely consumed other predators as well as herbivores in the field. Web weavers showed slightly higher δ15N in the field than in the forest. Harvestmen and cursorial spiders had significantly lower δ15N in the forest, indicating a trophic shift downward during later succession when they may increase the proportion of detritivore prey in their diets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of sustainable retail development implies that retail centres should serve their communities economically and socially, while not degrading local environments. However, existing literature identifies that retail centres often create negative externalities, impacting the sustainable development of both the core and peripheries of city regions. International evidence also shows that retail sprawl and transport emissions have been exacerbated by existing planning architecture, notably retail parks. This has resulted in commercial centres shifting from high streets to car-dependent, suburban retail centres, worsening congestion levels and environmental degradation. This paper examines how location-effects influence transport-related emissions and travel mode choice when shopping in Ireland's five major administrative city regions. This paper adapts 2016 Census commuting data, and utilises retail and residential location data, to estimate hypothetical travel-related emissions within a multi modal transportation network incorporating cars, buses, cycling, and walking. This analysis is performed at the Small Area level for Ireland's five major cities and their surrounding commuter belts. The results show that retail centres generating the most travel-related emissions tend to be found outside city cores, in the fringe areas of built-up city environments, and that these retail centres are generally only accessible to car users. This supports theories suggesting that accessibility-centred development is the best option to combat the ill effects of sprawl, and that car dependency worsens the environmental degradation associated with sprawling developments. Above all, this study highlights the excessive environmental degradation caused by car dependent retail environments and offers direction for future policymaking. • Car dependent retail centres exacerbate transport-related emissions. • Peripheral retail centres are generally car dependent, worsening travel-related emissions. • Retail centres accessible to sustainable transport users generate less travel-related emissions. • Car dependency increases as distances from city cores increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population shrinkage has gained attention from academics and policymakers in recent years, due to the long-term implications the phenomenon has for public service delivery and the viability of urban and rural communities. We visualise the socio-temporal evolution of population shrinkage and growth, utilising a spatially rectified dataset containing population data from seven Census of Population covering the 1986–2016 period in the Republic of Ireland. Spatial changes in population distribution are visualised in a map that classifies small administrative units using a spatial typology distinguishing between those experiencing population growth or shrinkage, across the 30-year period. The temporal dimensions of these developments are considered in a sequence of inset maps that apply the same typology to identify the intercensal changes. Overall, the map facilitates the visual communication of long-run population trends, the identification of areas experiencing limited or no growth, and indicates the relative consistency of these trends over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments at the EU and the member state level are placing increased emphasis on public research and development (R&D) for energy and the environment to advance a circular economy (CE). To achieve CE goals, it is critical to engage SMEs as they represent the vast majority of enterprises in the EU. To date, there is a lack of evidence regarding the impact of these public R&D investments on SMEs' CE activities. We address this gap by analysing the impact of public environmental and energy R&D on CE implementation and investment by SMEs. The study draws from a multi-level database of 10,618 SMEs across 28 EU member states for the period 2013–2015 from the Flash Eurobarometer 441 survey and country-level data from other EU sources. Employing a mixed-level probit regression, we find that the knowledge generated by public environmental and energy R&D, defined as country-level investments in this activity from 2004 to 2015, positively affects SMEs' implementation of CE activities. Additionally, the study finds that public environmental and energy R&D affects the level of SMEs' investment in CE activities negatively, suggesting that more public R&D can substitute for the financial efforts that SMEs have to take when implementing CE activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]