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Using regional data encompassing 155 Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) regions across the EU-28 member states, we estimate the effect of tourist arrivals (total, domestic, and foreign) on regional growth over 2000-2018. Our empirical strategy tackles three data properties that cripple common econometric approaches: cross-section dependence, nonstationarity, and the endogeneity of the regressors. In addition to "pooled" models that assume common parameters across regions, we run "heterogeneous" models where parameters are allowed to differ between regions. Results of the pooled estimations show that domestic and total tourism inflows have positively and significantly contributed to growth, and the positive effect of foreign tourism is statistically discernible in regions that are mainly destinations for foreign tourists. Findings based on region-specific regressions reveal that the average impact on regional growth of tourist inflows is positive and significant, and large regional disparities in terms of the growth impact of domestic/foreign tourism exist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Southern and central regions of Argentina moved from being relatively poor in the sixteenth century to being the richest in the country today. Although there is some evidence of this reversal, the process of regional growth in Argentina in the first half of the twentieth century is, in the main, unknown. In this paper, we present an estimation of the GDPs of Argentina's 25 provinces in 1914: this is the first consistent estimation of this variable for any period before the 1950s. Our results confirm that in 1914 the city of Buenos Aires and some districts in Patagonia had the highest per capita GDP, and a comparison with the available data for 1953 shows strong persistence in incomes per capita in this period; sectoral analysis of provincial GDPs suggests that growth in the leading districts was driven by economies of agglomeration in some cases and land abundance in others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming has aroused the attention all over the world, because not only can it directly damage the living environment, but it can also impact on the social and economic development, of a region in an obvious and far-reaching way. In this paper, we builded a trans-log production function model incorporating variables, such as rainfall, labor force, technology and temperature to simulate how climate changes impacted on the regional economics. Time series data of the domestic economy of Nanjing, a city in the southeast China, between 1996 and 2017, were used to verify the production theory of trans-log production frontier. The results showed that: with the rainfall increased and the temperature declined, the climate impact on the economy and the absolute value of the output elasticity of the frontier diminished. In addtion, the climate change was also positively related to the capital investment. The larger variation of temperature negatively impacted on the economic development. • This paper builds a trans-log production function model. • Time series data are used to verify the production theory of trans-log production frontiers. • Analyzing the effect of climate change on the regional economy. • The larger variation of temperature negatively impacted on the economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Desmet, Gumpert, and Ortίn have analyzed regional development using the Ricardian model or the Heckscher–Ohlin theorem. However, aspects such as consideration of combined wages, substitution elasticities, marginal costs, fixed costs, and number of companies were completely ignored. This study investigates the underdevelopment of regions in light of Krugman's core–peripheral model. The extension of the model is intended to analyze the aspects that have so far been ignored and their influence on the benefits of the two regions. The following aspects characterize the model. Two regions with two sectors are considered for the model. The regions are characterized by different technological equipment. The first region is industrial. The second region has an agricultural character. When a new technology is available, both regions can benefit under certain conditions. The financial transfers lead to a convergence of wages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few studies of agrarian transition examine what farmers themselves feel about farming. Are they cultivating out of choice or a lack of options? What distinguishes farmers who like farming from those who do not: their personal/household characteristics and endowments? The local ecology and regional economy? Or a mix of these and other factors? Understanding farmer satisfaction is important not only for assessing citizen wellbeing but also for agricultural productivity, since occupational satisfaction can affect a farmer’s incentive to invest and reveal production constraints. Using a unique all-India data-set which asked farmers, ‘Do you like farming?’ this paper provides answers and policy pointers, contributing a little-studied dimension to debates on the smallholder’s future and subjective wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The employment and population growth equilibrium model is extended to allow for differentiated linkages between rural and urban regions and among rural regions. The model is applied to examine the regional disparities within the rural economy of Northern Ireland between 2001 and 2007. To represent the theoretical idea of commuter shed, commuting data are used to construct the spatial weighting matrix. The results reveal positive rural-urban but negative rural-rural linkages, suggesting that rural regions benefit from economic growth in urban regions but compete with each other. The direct and indirect spillover effects are shown using simulation examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we estimate the technical efficiency of Mexican states using stochastic production frontier models. The empirical section uses panel data over the period 1988-2008. A distinctive feature of the paper is the use of socioeconomic and location data in order to control for the heterogeneity of the states. We find that crime rate negatively affects the efficiency of the states and that its effect is only significant after a certain level. Our results also show that education and productive specialization shift the production frontier upwards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comparative analysis is made of regional public finances activity in Brazil and Mexico, and its impact upon the development of the different regional demarcations in these two countries. "Subnational" governments are very relevant for the welfare of their populations and for that reason the contributions of local development theory are taken as a starting point, as it centers upon the interaction between regional governments, the comparative resources of each territory, and the activities of private enterprise into the process of growth and economic development. For this reason the analysis starts with the hypothesis that the local governments with the largest fiscal autonomy and that can take advantage in an efficient manner of their resources by way of expenditure, improve the welfare of their inhabitants by way of their use of public resources. It also shows by way of a multidimensional analysis to determine correlations, and the elaboration of panel models that the regions (or states) with most economic and social progress are those that have a large degree of fiscal autonomy, carry out a better assignation of public money in priority areas, and take advantage in a more efficient way of their resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to examine the effects of crime on regional economic growth in Mexico. We estimate a growth model using a spatial panel data model and test for the presence and type of spatial interaction, as proposed by Elhorst. Our results suggest that a two-way spatial Durbin model best fits the data, crime exerts a negative total effect on economic growth across Mexican states, particularly homicides and robbery, and significant spillover effects seem to reinforce the negative impact on regional growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT We examine the organization and location choice of heterogeneous firms in a two-region economy. When some high-productivity firms engage in multiplant production, a reduction in transport costs causes two changes in a small region: the closure of plants by high-productivity multiplant firms and the relocation of low-productivity single-plant firms to the region. In the presence of high-productivity multiplant firms, therefore, a decline in transport costs reinforces the spatial sorting of firms by productivity, enlarging the productivity gap between large and small regions. Conversely, reducing investment costs weakens the spatial sorting effects on regional productivity disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional economic growth in Portugal has mainly been studied from the perspective of convergence with data ending by the early 2000's. The country as a whole has stopped converging to the output levels of the richest European countries by this period and has also become one of the most unequal EU member-states in terms of income distribution in the meantime. It is thus important to analyze the growth performance at the regional level in a more recent period, 1995-2007, emphasizing regional disparities in inequality as explanatory factors. This study examines the relationship between inequality and regional growth in Portugal at NUTS III level exploring the explanatory power of earnings and education inequality measures computed with data from the Quadros de Pessoal database. The results point to a positive relationship between initial inequality and regional growth, stronger for education than for earnings inequality, but with earnings inequality measures revealing a higher explanatory power. Moreover, there is evidence that it is inequality at the top end of the distribution that is relevant to explain regional growth, a result that reinforces the higher propensities to save of the richer and the incentives mechanisms of transmission from inequality to growth. Additionally, the evidence on the existence of convergence among Portuguese NUTS III regions during the period under analysis is mixed. These findings are robust to the introduction of most additional control variables and the consideration of alternative measures of earnings and education inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an era when it is proclaimed that, through globalization, the world has become flat, the unevenness of economic and social development is often overlooked or suppressed. This case study explores the conditions of uneven geographical development in the urban space of central Florida. Focusing primarily on the Reedy Creek Improvement District ( RCID), better known to much of the world as Walt Disney World, and on Celebration, the community developed by the Disney Corporation in the 1990s, the relationship between tourism, the defining economic sector in the region, and uneven geographical development is explored. This study shows that the theory of uneven geographical development applies well to a region that is heavily dependent upon the tourist sector for its economy, and thereby works to control the narrative of that space to continue attracting consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although both theoretically and methodologically controversial, measuring competitiveness at sub-national level remains an exciting challenge for analysts. The paper starts with the review of the recent theoretical and empirical literature on regional competitiveness in the European Union, followed by empirical analysis of competitiveness of Croatian regions, tackling differences between the hard data and the survey data as well as clustering the Croatian regions based on their main competitive strengths and weaknesses. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The present paper introduces and applies a new model-system, which is suitable for analysing impacts of blue economy-type innovations. Professional literature contribution covers three aspects. First a multi-sectoral calculated general equilibrium (CGE) model was created, which can show the economic effect of the use of recycled waste. Secondly, an empirical methodology was worked out, by which blue economy type new technologies can be concretely shown in regional input-output tables. Since blue innovations are largely based on local inputs, they have primarily local impacts. Furthermore, however, the interregional rippling of local effects may have importance partly because of the indirectly changed trade among regions, and partly because of the induced migration. Therefore we employed a model frame, which is capable of sensing complex spatial processes. The selected model frame is the GMR-Europe model, which has already been elaborated, and frequently used for other purposes. Perhaps the most popular blue economy-type innovation is the one, when edible mushroom is grown on coffee grounds. We make an estimation of effects of this innovation to the Southern Transdanubia region by this model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EU rural policies have, in the past, used the twin concepts of disparity and diversity in alternative ways but have never really acknowledged the different assumptions that underlie them in terms of rural development and policy implementation. This, it is argued here, is the result of three different processes. The first is that by which scientific knowledge passes through several mediation stages as concepts that are adopted by policymakers leading to the subsequent modification of their original meaning. The second is that by which European Union ( EU) rural policies are hosted in a variety of different policy areas for which they are not the main concern, leading to a degree of ambiguity that may nevertheless serve a political purpose. The third is that experience has shown that even though the concept of diversity might initially appear more suited to addressing the different needs of European rural areas in modern advanced economies, it has nevertheless proved particularly difficult and costly to implement. As a consequence, the simpler concept of disparity, with its one-size-fits-all approach, has maintained its dominance as a policy concept; a dominance that has been considerably reinforced over the last decade. In the first section of the article the concepts of diversity and disparity are analysed and contrasted in their assumptions and policy implications. This is followed by an assessment of how these concepts are employed in EU rural policy. The final section discusses the governance implications of both concepts in rural policy and their link to the wider agenda of EU policies today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the mid-1950s, social scientists in the USA began trying to understand the geography of economic problems using quantitative methods and theoretical models. Subnational regions had the ideal proportions for performing this research, which led to the creation of a new subject area, ‘regional science’. When regional economic imbalances shot up the political agenda in Britain in the 1960s, advocates of regional science saw an opportunity to expand the reach of their subject. This article examines the migration of American regional science to Britain and explores why its ideas and organisational model met with opposition. It argues that the transnational transfer of academic networks is more complex than has been acknowledged and that British regional research and policy was more influenced by American ideas than is commonly recognised. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The current paper puts the emphasis on the spatial pattern of employment, commuting and taxable income with special regard to the changes that occurred following the regime change. The objective is to discover the important relationship between the income level and distance from the centres of employment by the example of two characteristic territories of Hungary -- Northeastern and Northwestern Hungary -- and give a comparison of two more developed and two less developed regions. Decreasing income level tends to appear with the increasing distance from the centres as shown by the results of calculations. More significant disparities were represented within the hinterlands of the less developed territory and moderate inequalities were pointed out within the more developed one. Clear convergence process can be seen in the light of the recent income data in the case of the larger hinterlands of northeastern Hungary as the result of the suburbanization, however the convergence has been general within the western part since the mid 1990's. This relationship seems to be an important part of the Hungarian tendencies and spatial pattern of income disparities. The results of the current analysis fit into the most important experiences of post socialist transition and regional inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acquisition of land and reallocation of previously acquired land for Special Economic Zones (SEZ) has stimulated protests that provide a terrain for exploring the changing landscape of contestation in the liberalizing political economy of India. Social movements, organizations, and communities resist the land, development, and sovereignty implications of SEZs. Although there are common concerns, efforts to co-organize protests on a national or regional scale have proved difficult. In place of nationwide narratives critiquing the model, anti-SEZ resistance predominantly reflects localized interpretations. The parochial nature of resistance to date is a product of diverse opinions on preferred outcomes, regional, or local viewings of the state, particular political dynamics, and the range of actors involved in SEZ struggles. I argue that the state is not a monolithic entity, but rather the anti-SEZ struggles view and make demands upon distinct levels of or individuals within the state. In developing this position, I explore the localization of SEZ struggles in Goa, India, examine the dynamics of resistance at the state level, and address political opportunities that emerge in the context of protest. The state's recent electoral change provides a chance to reflect further on the shifting ‘state’ target for political protest. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Achieving economic, social and territorial cohesion by reducing existing disparities between regions through investing in infrastructure, human resources and diversification of regional economies remains a major goal for the EU Member States. The achievement of this goal would not be possible without the development and implementation of regional policy strategic instruments at national and EU level. This study presents the role, the essential elements, and objectives of instruments such as the Community Strategic Guidelines on Cohesion, the National Strategic Reference Framework, and the Romanian Operational Programmes for the programming period 2007-2013. Since the success of the cohesion policy is tied to its implementation, we also present the management and control system applicable for the operational programmes. The final part of the study deals with issues concerning the payment rate of Structural Funds in Romania, with a focus on the main challenges of the implementation process. An important task for the Romanian government is to remove the obstacles that brake the effective implementation of the Cohesion policy and the absorption of Structural and Cohesion Funds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper draws a comparison between the position of the Moravian-Silesian region and three other selected European regions: Province de Liěge, Województwo Śląskie and Northumberland and Tyne and Wear. The comparison was designed in terms of economic, social and territorial aspects of individual regions development. 36 indicators were chosen for comparison of the disparities between the selected NUTS II regions, which were subsequently integrated into nine substantive homogenous units called integrated indicators. The research results become sources for updating the MSK development strategy to make regional management and administration more efficient. Performed comparative analysis of the regions indicated that the polarization of the 'old' and 'new' EU members regions remains. Throughout the analysed period Moravian-Silesian and Województwo Śląskie regions significantly lagged behind the western regions as well as behind the EU27 average. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For more than two decades economic geographers and others have been examining the reasons why some places are more innovative than others. Policy makers have also been actively involved, as they try to develop their countries and regions through innovation and knowledge. In this paper I will address three criticisms that have been made to this literature and suggest avenues of research that could help address them. These criticisms are: the neglect of power asymmetries at the international and intra-regional levels between economic and other relevant agents, and their impact on the evolution of regional economies; the excessive focus on the region and the neglect of the multi-scalar nature of innovation; the emphasis on networks and systems which masks heterogeneity and fragmentation at the local level. Finally I will also discuss some of the more recent guidelines for place-based policy making in this field. Overall my objective is to contribute to the literature on territorial innovation systems by suggesting how these concepts can be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses disparities in South Africa's transition to democracy. It mentions that the African National Congress (ANC) sought the help of South African business establishments in order for the transition to succeed and asserts that the coalition agreed to address several salient political issues such as those concerning land ownership, employment equity and black economic empowerment. It states that despite attaining improvements in the country's socioeconomic landscape, poverty and inequality remain high concerning with race.

Current theories on economic growth are stressing the important role of creativity and innovation as a main driver of regional development. Some perspectives, like Richard Florida's 'creative class theory', have elected tolerance and diversity as a core concept in explaining differential development between different places, but his assumptions are challenged by other empirical and theoretical studies. In this article, we raise the possibility that tolerance is a necessary yet not a sufficient ingredient to trigger economic development in regions, and explore the role of subjective well-being (life-satisfaction, happiness, and optimism) as a moderator. Using a nationwide survey of 3,757 respondents from 21 different municipalities, the results show that optimism played the role of moderator, thus evidencing that psychological variables should be taken into account when trying to understand regional economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the evolution of Ukraine's space-economy from 1990 to 2009, paying particular attention to comparative regional economic performance during the country's expansionary phase from 1999 to 2008. This shows that Ukraine inherited from the Imperial and Soviet eras a space-economy that was amongst the most unbalanced in Europe. Furthermore post-Soviet regional trajectories intensified these territorial imbalances. The paper argues that these trajectories are linked to a wider political economy and especially to shifts in underlying development models and the characteristics of state power. The Orange Revolution marked a significant switch away from export-led industrial growth, which involved national accumulation towards a credit-fuelled consumption model that was reliant on importing foreign capital. The paper identifies three major types of specialized regional economy that persisted despite the change in development model. Nonetheless, their relative performance and contribution to national growth were affected by the shift in model. Centripetal tendencies were reinforced, which increased regional divergence. The paper argues that the Ukrainian space-economy is best understood as a series of historically rooted and relatively geographically bounded regional economies that are increasingly functionally integrated yet externally oriented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents and applies a conceptual framework to regional Competitiveness using the Index of revealed competitiveness introduced by Balassa in 1965 for the Lambayeque Region in the northern part of Peru with the end to determine the products more competitive of this region. In the first part of the article the competitiveness review is presented from the Porter approach to Systemic Competitiveness. The advantage of this method is to identify the competitiveness of the regional products and services as a function of the import and export values of the country in contrast with the same values of the other countries in the world. The FAOSTAT data is used for that purpose. The results shown that the crop most competitive are the avocados, the bananas, mangoes, asparagus, dry chilies and coffee. Nevertheless when these products are compare with others countries such as Chile and Brazil only mangoes and asparagus are strongly competitive. However both products are considered commodities rather than value added products and its competitiveness lies in comparative advantage such as clime and soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To assess the impact on the reported cause-of-death patterns of a verbal autopsy coding strategy based on a review of every death by multiple coders versus a single coder. Methods Deaths in 45 villages (total population 180 162) in southern India were documented during 12 months in 2003--2004, and a standard verbal autopsy questionnaire was completed for each death. Two physician coders, each unaware of the other's decisions, assigned an underlying cause of death in accordance with the causes listed in the chapter headings of the International classification of diseases and related health problems, 10th revision (ICD-10). For the three chapter headings that applied to more than 100 of the deaths, agreement for subsets of causes of death within the chapter was also analysed. In the event of discrepancies, a third coder was used to finalize a cause of death. Cohen's kappa statistic (K) was used to measure levels of agreement between the two physician coders. Findings In total, 1354 deaths were documented, and a verbal autopsy was completed for 1329 (98%) of them. At the chapter heading level of the ICD-10, physician coders assigned the same cause to 1255 deaths (94%) (K = 0.93; 95% confidence interval: 0.92--0.94). The patterns of death derived from the causes assigned by each physician were all very similar to the patterns obtained through the consensus process, with the rank order of the 10 leading causes of death being the same for all three coding methods. Conclusion Duplicate coding of verbal autopsy results has little advantage over a single-coder system for mortality surveillance or for identifying population patterns of death. Resources could be better diverted to other parts of the mortality surveillance process, such as validation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the ideas of Albert O. Hirschman on regional economic disparities. Since he was a thinker who was always ready to trespass the narrow disciplinary frontiers, his studies in this field include economic, political, historical, and anthropological considerations. For this reason we have divided the paper according to the above mentioned disciplines. Finally, we explore the relations of Hirschman's ideas on regional disparities and those contained of Douglas C. North, Paul Krugman, and Daron Acemoglu and his associates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use county-level unemployment data and data derived from FOMC meeting transcripts to test the hypothesis that monetary policymakers are influenced by economic conditions in regions that they represent. The analysis confirms that regional conditions affect the policy preferences of Reserve Bank presidents. Regional conditions also appear to influence Governors, but the evidence is weaker. For all FOMC members, we find that national conditions matter more than regional conditions; however, we are unable to verify that the evolving regional composition of the Committee's voting membership has any effect on the adopted policy stance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents a study which evaluates China's provincial de jure and de facto population data from 1990-2006 in order to remap the country's regional inequalities. It focuses on the trends in China's regional inequality during the 1990s and argues that the view about the increase of inequality during this period is based on faulty interpretation and application of de jure provincial population statistics. China's regional economic disparities and the role of long-distance migration in regional inequalities are discussed.

The aim of this paper is to show the impact of relative population change on regional income convergence. Using the panel data of 64 Turkish provinces from 1987 to 2000, the results from modified convergence analyses show that both income and per capita income between provinces in Turkey indicate converging patterns. The convergence rates for the provincial per capita income, however, turned out to be about 30 percent larger than that of income. In order to examine this difference, the impact of relative population change on the growth process is incorporated using a decomposition analysis. The findings suggest that 17 percent of the 100 percentage point growth of per capita income resulted from the change in population share in favour of the provinces with high per capita incomes. The existence and pace of regional income convergence, therefore, may well be related to the degree of relative population change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inter-regional spillover effects are central to China's growth policy; yet relatively little is known about the strength and duration of these spillovers and whether their characteristics have changed over time. This article examines the spillover of output between the three commonly considered regions of China: coastal, central and western regions. We find that there are strong spillovers from the coastal region to both other regions, from the central region to the western region, but that shocks to the western region have no flow-on effect on the other two regions. Thus, a policy of developing the coastal region is likely to indirectly benefit the other two regions. Our results suggest surprisingly little change in the pattern of spillovers over the period 1953–2003, although parameter instability in the beginning of the period limits the extent of possible analysis of this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate how cross-country differences in firms' fixed set-up costs affect the trade-off between global efficiency and spatial equity. Our analysis reveals that the standard assumption of symmetry in set-up costs masks the existence of an interesting effect: the range of available varieties depends on the spatial distribution of firms. In such a setting, where the market outcome leads to excessive agglomeration in the symmetric case, a planner may opt for asymmetric set-up costs and even more agglomeration. We show that the planner will always favor lower set-up costs in the large country with more agglomeration when the consumer's marginal preference for variety is high, or with less agglomeration when the consumer's marginal preference for variety is low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims at explaining substantial and persistent regional labour productivity differentials in Italy. First, the role played by the diversity of local economic structures is quantitatively assessed. Within-industry productivity levels are then related to regional endowments of physical and human capital per worker and to total factor productivity. Subsequently, an empirical evaluation of the influence exercised by a selected set of explanatory factors on regional total factor productivity (TFP) levels is performed. In this context, spatial econometrics techniques are employed to obtain inferences that are robust to the presence of spatial autocorrelation in the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes empirical findings and results from the author's most recent research publication in Chinese: China's Unbalanced Economic Growth. It studies China's economic growth with a special emphasis on its regional disparities. It provides an analysis of China's overall economic landscape as well as an empirical study of China's unbalanced regional development. Based on its quantitative findings and results, the author predicts the emergence of ten Chinese metropolitan economies in the early twenty-first century and recommends a regional development strategy as well as implementation policies for China's future development. The major empirical findings, results and conclusions of this research are outlined in three sections: the first describes China's economic future—the emergence of ten regional metropolitan economies, the second reports the empirical findings of China's national and regional economic disparities and discusses policy implications, and the third investigates China's future economic growth and discusses its growth limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, there has been no confidence-building measure capable of locking India and Pakistan into an irreversible relationship and acting as a powerful catalyst for bilateral development, prosperity and regional stability. In the absence of mutual trust, confidence and cooperation between these two countries, it becomes imperative to identify potential areas of cooperation to reduce threat perceptions in the region. Although the economic relationship alone does not play a pivotal role in strengthening the foundation on which the political relationship is built, it could be argued that economic factors have a considerable leverage in influencing the political relationship. In this regard, a focus on energy trade gains significant attention. The energy trade between India and Pakistan has enormous potential to lock them into an irreversible economic interdependence, thereby reinforcing their efforts to intensify relations in other potential areas of cooperation. This paper is an effort to identify the scope for energy trade to act as an economic confidence-building measure in Indo-Pakistan by studying the cost–benefit analysis of Pakistan's inclusion in an Indo-Iran natural gas pipeline project. It analyses in detail India's energy strategy and the economic rationale for trans-Pakistan pipeline. Finally, the paper analyses the potential benefits of a trans-Pakistan pipeline for both India and Pakistan, and its possible impact in creating political constituencies essential for reducing regional conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The financial marketization degree directly relates to the level of financial efficiency and financial development. This paper selects six provinces which respectively represent East China, South China and Central China. Then compare their financial marketization degree via grey target approaching analysis. Based on analytic results, the paper lists the order and obtained the fluctuation tendency of six provinces from 1998-2002. The research shows that obvious disparity exist in China's different regions: Eastern region has a higher financial marketization degree and quicker financial development; Central region is rising continuously; Western region has the lowest financial marketization degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 7 years Australia has been undergoing substantial economic reform under a collaborative Federal and State government program known as national competition policy. These reforms have increased the nation's productivity and international competitiveness, and are generally held responsible for Australia's increased growth rate in gross domestic product (GDP) per capita over the past decade. However, the reforms have been carried out against a background of increased interregional disparities, to which the reform program may have partly contributed. In this study we examine a number of Australian studies that have used computable general equilibrium modeling to uncover the regional economic consequences of national competition policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Where do new industrial investments locate, and what factors drive the industrial location decisions? Do these investments follow the model of 'divergence followed by convergence' suggested by the cumulative causation, agglomeration economies, and transport-costs approaches? These questions are examined with district-level data from India for the pre- and post-reform periods using: first, tables and maps of concentration and clustering, aggregated for all industry and disaggregated into five sectors (Heavy Industries, Chemicals and Petroleum, Textiles, Agribusiness, and Utilities), and second, logistic and OLS/Heckman selection regression models for these six elements. The data provide solid evidence both of inter-regional divergence and intra-regional convergence, and suggest that 'concentrated decentralisation' is the appropriate framework for understanding industrial location in post-reform India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of geographic information system (GIS) techniques for rigorous analysis of regional inequality in China remains limited. In this article, the authors utilize recent data and GIS and spatial statistical techniques to analyze changing patterns of regional inequality in China from 1978 to 2000. It also identifies the changing clusters of regional development in China. They illustrate that regional inequality in China is sensitive to development trajectories of the provinces, and that conventional measures of regional inequality mask geographical clustering.

In common with other advanced market economies, regional and rural communities in Australia have come under increasing economic and social stress. One manifestation of this phenomenon is the growing spatial inequalities in social and economic conditions. This paper briefly reviews the genesis of spatial inequalities and examines their consequences in the contemporary Australian political milieu. The discussion concludes with an analysis of the policy implications of these inequalities for local governments and communities in disadvantaged regional and rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how an areas development milieu affects the various components of the migration process. After reviewing the literature on migration-development interrelationships, we employ conventional statistical modeling to understand movement among Costa Rican cantons during a live-year period (1968-73). This is done for the country as a whole, enabling cross-national comparisons with earlier studies, and for urban-to-urban. urban-lo-rural. rural-to-urban, and rural-to-rural streams, which are compared with one another. The results indicate that the models describe urban-based migrations better than rural-based ones; variables closely associated with the market economy have a weaker role in rural settings: and push factors of migration are as important as pull factors. Finally, the spatial pattern of variation in migration processes is consistent with core-periphery development models and with earlier observations of an urban bias in Third World research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the regional change in the German Democratic Republic. Changes in the geographic distributions of economic activity and regional patterns of socioeconomic in the region; Historic concentration of industry in the South and regional inequalities; Problems facing national planners resulting from the conflict of regional planning goals.