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Accessibility is usually evaluated using indicators calculated from spatial data. However, perceived accessibility, defined as the perceived potential to participate in spatially dispersed opportunities, is often poorly reflected by these calculated measures. This paper sets out to explain the mechanisms that lead to these mismatches. A conceptual model is constructed to establish what factors shape perceived accessibility. A schematic framework shows that mismatches between a calculated indicator and perceptions can stem from inaccuracies in awareness as well as from inaccuracies in the measure if the measure fails to take account of the subjective evaluations of accessibility components. When evaluating the performance of land-use and transport system configurations, calculated measures based on spatial and transport data only serve as proxies for how accessibility is actually experienced. This paper argues that bringing perceived accessibility to the fore of accessibility-based planning, by acknowledging and evaluating potential mismatches with calculated accessibility indicators, will advance the evolution from mobility-based to accessibility-based planning.

The success or failure of urban freight transport measures crucially depends on local policy makers’ knowledge and awareness of stakeholders’ preferences. The behavioral approach calls for stakeholder-specific data acquisition and model estimation. Considering the cost and time to perform an appropriate data acquisition process and the ever present aim of compressing research costs, it is important to investigate innovative data acquisition procedures that can satisfy the above mentioned constraints while not sacrificing data quality. The paper tests the capability of an alternative, less expensive and faster to administer procedure of acquiring stakeholder-specific data capable of reproducing policy evaluation results (i.e. willingness to pay measures) derivable from a standard data acquisition process. In more detail, the paper investigates the respective capabilities retailers and transport providers have in predicting each other responses to a stated ranking exercise aimed at measuring agents’ preferences for alternative urban freight policies for the limited traffic zone in the city center of Rome. Results show that retailers are capable of predicting with a good level of accuracy transport providers’ preferences for a given policy while the opposite is not true. This represents an important step forward in willingness to pay estimation for policy changes when the substitution rates between the various attributes considered are the main research objective of a strategic level analysis. Were this possible one could, in fact, interview retailers alone to understand also which would be transport providers’ preferences for the policies evaluated.

The paper offers an updated picture of the policies implemented by the government of the Guangdong Province (China) to foster the industrial development and the technological upgrading of its territories. Among these policies is the promotion and the institutional acknowledgement of a growing number of industrial clusters, defined as “Specialised Towns”, characterized by a high spatial concentration of firms producing one specific item (or a limited range of similar products). In the view of the provincial and local governments these types of industrial development programs are used to increase firm agglomerations, spatial concentration and visibility, which in turn leads to increased specialisation, industrial output, innovation and economic growth. However, little specific empirical evidence has been collected to support this view and the debate, at the national and international level, on the effectiveness of such interventions seems to be still largely ideological. The paper offers a contribution in this sense by offering a detailed description of the policy tools, by suggesting synthetic indexes to quantify policy efforts and industrial performances in Guangdong territories and by providing a first statistical analysis of these indexes.

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in Research Policy. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2011 Elsevier B.V. The presence of universities has generally been associated with technological entrepreneurship. But what is the real impact of new universities on the levels of firm creation in a region? The present paper uses policy evaluation methodologies and longitudinal data on the establishment of higher education institutions in Portuguese municipalities for the period 1992–2002 to examine its effect on entry rates of new firms in different sectors. We find that the establishment of a new university has a positive and significant effect on subsequent levels of knowledge based firm entry in municipalities, and a negative effect on the levels of entry in other sectors, such as low-tech manufacturing.

This paper investigates the effects of tuition fees on the university enrollment and location decision of high school graduates in Germany. After a Federal Constitutional Court decision in 2005, 7 out of 16 German federal states introduced tuition fees for higher education. In the empirical analysis, we use the variation over time and across regions in this institutional change in order to isolate the causal effect of tuition fees on student enrollment and migration. Controlling for a range of regional- and university-specific effects, our results from Difference-in-Differences estimations show that there is generally no effect of tuition fees on internal enrollment rates. However, we find a redirecting effect on first-year students' migratory behavior as indicated by a signicant drop in the gross in-migration rates in fee-charging states. Further, our results point at a stronger migration response of male students, which, however, can mainly be attributed to a 'border effect'. That is, interregional migration flows of male students are redirected from fee-charging universities to those universities that are geographically close by while being located in a non-charging neighboring state. Controlling for these border effects, the relocating trend in long-distance migration of university freshmen does not show any particular gender differences. Diese Studie analysiert Effekte der Einführung von Studiengebühren in Deutschland auf das Einschreibe- und Mobilitätsverhalten von Studienberechtigten. Nach der Entscheidung des Bundesverfassungsgerichts im Jahr 2005, die das vorherige Gebührenverbot für verfassungswidrig erklärte, erhoben 7 von 16 Bundesländern Beiträge für ein Hochschulstudium. Die empirische Analyse nutzt die regionale Variation dieser Reform, um den kausalen Effekt der Gebühreneinführung auf Einschreiberaten und innerdeutsche Migration zu identifizieren. Nach Kontrolle für regionale als auch hochschulspezifische Effekte zeigen die Ergebnisse von Differenz-in-Differenzen-Schätzungen keinen generellen Effekt auf landesinterne Einschreiberaten. Allerdings wird ein Umverteilungseffekt bezüglich der Wanderung von Studienanfängern gefunden, welcher sich in einem signifikanten Rückgang der Brutto-Einwanderungsraten in Gebührenländer zeigt. Dieser Effekt ist für männliche Studienberechtigte stärker ausgeprägt und kann größtenteils einem 'Grenzeffekt' zugeschrieben werden. Dies bedeutet, dass Migrationsströme bei Männern von Gebührenländern umgeleitet werden, und zwar zu Hochschulen in benachbarten Nicht-Gebührenländern, die in der Nähe von Bundeslandgrenzen gelegen sind. Wenn für diesen Grenzeffekt kontrolliert wird, werden keine Geschlechterunterschiede im Wanderungsverhalten über längere Distanzen beobachtet.

This paper presents an endogenous growth model where, in line with the recent em- pirical evidence, the telecommunications industry (telecom) is an engine of growth. In such a framework, this paper analyzes the channels through which telecom con- tributes to economic growth and focuses on market structure analysis for telecom, in the light of the recent changes in it. This paper suggests how the market struc- ture of telecom and the competition type in the telecom market can matter for its contribution to economic growth. It also proposes the optimal market structure for telecom from the social welfare perspective. In addition, it suggests the direction of telecom policies which can improve social welfare, and uses its theoretical results for qualitative evaluation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and similar policies.

This discussion paper resulted in a publication in the 'European Economic Review' 2013, 58, 31-57. In this paper, we use a recent policy change in the Netherlands to study how changes in search requirements for the older unemployed affect their transition rates to employment, early retirement and sickness/disability benefits. The reform, becoming effective on January 1st 2004, required the elderly to formally report their job search efforts to the employment office in order to avoid a (temporary) cut in benefits. Before the new law was passed, unemployed were allowed to stop all search activity at the moment they turned 57.5. Estimating various duration models using difference-in-difference and regression discontinuity approaches, we find that for several groups of individuals that were affected by the policy change, the stricter search requirements did significantly increase their entry rate into employment. However, we also find evidence of a higher outflow to sickness/disability insurance schemes, a presumably unwanted side-effect of the policy change.

In this paper, we discuss the state of the art in research and policy making related to the dynamics of financing innovation, highlighting gaps in the literature and setting up the objectives of this Special Issue. We also provide a discussion of methodological issues and future directions for the stream of studies aiming at the evaluation of the effectiveness and impact of policies to finance innovation. Finally, we discuss how the articles in this collection contribute to improve our understanding of the financing of innovation along different perspectives.

This paper investigates the finite sample performance of a comprehensive set of semi- and nonparametric estimators for treatment and policy evaluation. In contrast to previous simulation studies which mostly considered semiparametric approaches relying on parametric propensity score estimation, we also consider more flexible approaches based on semi- or nonparametric propensity scores, nonparametric regression, and direct covariate matching. In addition to (pair, radius, and kernel) matching, inverse probability weighting, regression, and doubly robust estimation, our studies also cover recently proposed estimators such as genetic matching, entropy balancing, and empirical likelihood estimation. We vary a range of features (sample size, selection into treatment, effect heterogeneity, and correct/misspecification) in our simulations and find that several nonparametric estimators by and large outperform commonly used treatment estimators using a parametric propensity score. Nonparametric regression, nonparametric doubly robust estimation, nonparametric IPW, and one-to-many covariate matching perform best.

This paper makes a case for using cost effectiveness (as opposed to efficiency) as key criterion when designing support policies for electricity generation from renewable energy sources in coexistence with an emissions trading scheme. Using the EU ETS and the German feed-in tariff system as examples, arguments against a stand-alone ETS are presented and necessary conditions for cost-effective support to RES-E in a deep decarbonization context are synthesized.

It is crucial that patent offices grant protection only to those inventions that are novel and non-obvious. In 2004, the European Patent Office (EPO) made the unique move to systematically extend its prior art database by including documents shared among members of standard-setting organisations, but not made available to the general audience. This paper investigates the effects of this policy change. We find that it worked thanks to a significant reduction in granting rates rather than reducing the scope of granted patents. Our study demonstrates how a targeted approach can improve the quality of the patent granting process.

The paper provides a comprehensive empirical assessment of American stimulus policies aimed at renewable energy (RE) technologies. We use an indicator-based methodology to assess progress with respect to energy, environmental and socio-economic issues resulting from RE stimulus programs linked to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and review and analyze the emerging but scattered literature. Overall, our results indicate that stimulus programs have had a positive effect on the RE sector. This is despite the fact that they were originally planned to work in combination with a greenhouse gas ‘cap-and-trade’ system, which has not been implemented. From the methodological perspective, our approach is resource-intensive and our analysis highlights numerous challenges, notably related to causality and additionality. Despite these limitations, this research improves our understanding of the broad effects and impacts of RE stimulus programs.

A broadened typology describing the interconnection between energy and security is developed in this paper, with the aim of improving understanding of the relationship between energy and security by applying different research and policy perspectives. One approach involves studying energy as an object exposed to security threats, using concepts such as security of supply or security of demand. Another approach involves studying the role of the energy system as the subject in generating or enhancing insecurity. The latter approach includes studying the conflict-generating potential inherent in the economic value of energy, the risk of accidents and antagonistic attacks to energy infrastructure and the security risks related to the negative environmental impact of the energy system. In order to make a comprehensive analysis of the security consequences of proposed energy policies or strategies, all these aspects should be taken into account to varying degrees. The typology proposed here could be a valuable tool for ensuring that all security aspects have been considered.

The paper provides a statistically robust evaluation of the impact of state aid on capital accumulation in subsidized firms. The analysis considers subsidies allocated to the southern Italian regions over the period 1996–2004 under the regional policy, Law 488/1992. We apply an MDID estimator, taking selection on observables and non observables into account. Results evidence a higher growth in output, employment and fixed assets in subsidized firms but a lesser increase in Total Factor Productivity than in unsubsidized firms. The negative impact on long term productivity and growth reduces the positive temporary effects of regional subsidies.

This paper evaluates the current focus of EU policy makers on small and medium-sized, young independent firms in high-tech sectors. Therefore, the effect of subsidies on both R&D input and R&D output is compared between independent high-tech young firms (NTBFs), independent low-tech young firms (LTBFs) and their non-independent counterparts. A treatment effects analysis reveals that full crowding-out with regard to public funding is rejected for all firm types. However, the treatment effect is highest for independent high-tech firms. The indirect effect of subsidies on R&D output is evaluated within a patent production framework. These results show that independent high-tech firms have no lower output effects than other firms and thus suggest that the current policy focus on certain firm types is not ineffective. ispartof: Small Business Economics vol:45 issue:3 pages:465-485 status: published

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is one of the main drivers of change in EU agriculture and rural areas. One of the key issues still lacking sufficient coverage by the literature is the specific interconnection between agricultural policy and farm-household behaviour. This is also the main node to allow a better understanding of the reciprocal effects between the CAP, land use, (farm) practices and wider rural development issues. This paper summarises results from several studies developed within the project CAP-IRE. It highlights the role of original surveys in policy evaluation and the importance of exit/entry processes. It also emphasizes the challenges for further research on the multidimensional effects of policies given the increasingly complex context., JRC.J.4-Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Economy