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We focus on the extent to which polycentric urban regions can substitute for the agglomeration economies provided by large cities. Building on an open‐source software tool that helps identifying polycentric developments in urban regions, we analyse the spatial structure (in terms of size, dispersion and polycentricity) of 94 regions across 34 European countries and link this to their level of total factor productivity. We find that both more polycentric regions and more dispersed regions are associated with lower productivity levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether access to the capital market of convertible and nonconvertible bonds affects total factor productivity (TFP) for the population of Italian joint stock manufacturing companies, based in highly segmented local financial markets, between 2007 and 2017. The hypothesis, well grounded in the literature, is that long‐term capital favors investment in intangibles and other risky assets necessary for productivity growth. To identify this effect, we exploit the exogenous shock of the Italian banking deregulation of the mid‐1990s as an instrument for firm‐level access to capital, interacted with distance from logistic networks. These reforms changed the distribution of the type of branches at the local level, increasing the share of joint stock banks, which have high connections to international capital markets. This geographical reallocation of banking activities ultimately affected firms' financial structure, favouring their access to capital, even when based in peripheral financial areas. Firms which issued instruments of market debt achieved higher levels of productivity and a higher probability to reach top percentiles of productivity distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using detailed data on veterinary, ecological, sanitary, phytosanitary and mandatory certification measures, this paper studies the effect of non‐tariff measures (NTMs) on firm productivity in the food‐processing industry through forward and backward linkages. Using quantity and value of output at product level, we calculate and compare quantity‐ and revenue‐based measures of total factor productivity (TFP). Exploiting the episode of NTM liberalisation in Ukraine in 2008–2012, we find that NTMs on intermediate inputs have a negative effect on quantity‐based TFP. Other trade policy variables, including input tariffs and output NTMs also negatively influence productivity. The effect on the revenue‐based TFP is weaker due to price and quality adjustments. Interacting changes in input NTMs with import intensity prior to trade liberalisation, we find that firms that used imported inputs more intensively tend to have lower long‐run TFP growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the emerging literature investigating agglomeration externalities in developing countries and focuses on the less studied differences between the formal and the informal sector. Using establishment‐level data and instrumental variable estimations, we find that both formal and informal establishments benefit from agglomeration externalities. We provide evidence that informal establishment total factor productivity (TFP) increases more with city size than formal establishment TFP. We also provide causal evidence on the source of agglomeration externalities by formality status by examining industry coagglomeration pairs and instrumenting with data on Columbian input–output and labor industry–pair relationships. We find little evidence of benefits from stronger input–output relationships at the city level, but substantial benefits associated with shared labor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multistage hydraulic fracturing has become a common well completion for horizontal shale gas wells. Some well test data from horizontal shale gas wells have shown pseudo‐steady flow conditions after a period of production. Considering linear flow from reservoir to fracture and linear flow in the fracture, an analytical model is established to calculate the productivity of horizontal shale gas wells under pseudo‐steady flow conditions. The equations in the analytical model are very simple. The production rates calculated by the analytical productivity model are in good agreement with actual gas wells production rates of a well in North American field and 12‐2 well in Fuling shale gas reservoir of China. Sensitivity analysis with the analytical productivity model shows that the different matrix permeability corresponds to the different reasonable fracture conductivity, and the higher the matrix permeability is, the greater the reasonable fracture conductivity. In the process of fracturing for a well, in order to increase production and save fracturing costs, there is no need to generate high‐conductivity fractures, the reasonable fracture conductivity should be determined based on economic evaluations in the real production process. The analytical model provides a practical way to predict production rate for optimization of fracturing design. Multistage hydraulic fracturing has become a common well completion for horizontal shale gas wells. Some well test data from horizontal shale gas wells have shown pseudo‐steady flow conditions after a period of production. Considering linear flow from reservoir to fracture and linear flow in the fracture, an analytical model is established to calculate the productivity of horizontal shale gas wells under pseudo‐steady flow conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores and analyses the catching up and falling behind processes in the European dairy sector over the period 2004-2011, using a stochastic metafrontier multiple output distance function for 24 EU Member States. The metafrontier estimates reveal considerable productivity differences in milk production across the EU at the regional (NUTS-2) level. Milk yield per cow is the highest in the old Member States, especially in those regions located in the northwest of the EU, while the lowest productivity is observed in Eastern Europe. The same structure was found for both the TFP (Total Factor Productivity) levels and TFP growth. Moreover, the results for technical change suggest that farm sizes are not optimal in many regions in Central and Eastern Europe from a dynamic perspective. The comparative analysis suggests that in the new compared to the old Member States, fewer farms could benefit from the movement of the frontier. Moreover, there are no signs that poorly performing farms are catching up with the best performing farms in the EU regions/countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there is considerable empirical evidence on the productivity-enhancing effects of manufacturing agglomeration, the impacts of knowledge intensive business services (KIBS) agglomeration have rarely been examined. We propose a mechanism-based framework to study the precise channels through which KIBS agglomeration contributes to urban productivity. By estimating a model of urban productivity that incorporates agglomeration of manufacturing, KIBS and non-KIBS using city-level data from China, we find that KIBS agglomeration is an important source of aggregate urban productivity. The importance of KIBS agglomeration in city productivity growth is systematically related to a city's level of economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates agglomeration effects for classical music production in a wide range of cities for a global sample of composers born between 1750 and 1899. Theory suggests a trade-off between agglomeration economies (peer effects) and diseconomies (peer crowding). I test this hypothesis using historical data on composers and employ a unique instrumental variable - a measure of birth centrality, calculated as the average distance between a composer's birthplace and the birthplace of his peers. I find a strong causal impact of peer group size on the number of important compositions written in a given year. Consistent with theory, the productivity gain eventually decreases and is characterized by an inverted U-shaped relationship. These results are robust to a large series of tests, including checks for quality of peers, city characteristics, various measures of composers' productivity, and across different estimations in which also time-varying birth centrality measures are used as instrumental variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the relation between total factor productivity measures for individual production units and those for aggregates such as industries, sectors or economies. This topic has been treated in a number of influential publications, such as Hulten (1978), Gollop (1979) and Jorgenson et al. (1987). What distinguishes this article from other publications in this area is that I deliberately avoid the making of all kinds of (neoclassical) structural and behavioural assumptions, such as the existence of production frontiers with certain properties, or optimizing behaviour of the production units. In addition, I also treat dynamic ensembles of production units, characterized by entry and exit. Thus, a greater level of generality is achieved from which the earlier results follow as special cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the location choice of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in China, shedding special light on the role of agglomeration of same-nationality firms. We examine how this role differs according to firms' productivity. Furthermore, we compare the location choice of Japanese and Taiwanese MNEs in China, taking into consideration that Taiwanese MNEs experience less uncertainty in investing in China due to Taiwan's linguistic and cultural advantages. When considering firms' productivity, we find that less productive Japanese firms prefer to locate close to larger same-nationality agglomerations while there are no differences in location choices in the case of Taiwanese firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates the impact of the Common Agricultural Policy ( CAP) subsidies on farm total factor productivity ( TFP) in the European Union ( EU). We employ a structural semi-parametric estimation algorithm directly incorporating the effect of subsidies into a model of unobserved productivity. We empirically study the effects using the Farm Accountancy Data Network ( FADN) samples for the EU-15 countries. Our main findings are clear: subsidies impact negatively on farm productivity in the period before the decoupling reform was implemented; after decoupling the effect of subsidies on productivity is more nuanced and in several countries it turned positive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses panel data to analyse the effect of domestic credit on the diversification of manufactured exports from developing countries. Given the evidence that export variety of manufactured goods affects productivity positively, the results imply that policy reforms that improve access to domestic credit for firms can raise productivity and hence economic growth in many poor countries. In addition, the results also show that building infrastructure and implementing reforms in governance that improve the quality of government regulations are important for encouraging diversification of manufactured export products in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper asks whether R&D's productivity impacts are conditional on the gap of a plant's productivity from the industry's technological frontier. The results show that a plant's own R&D and a parent firm's R&D have a positive productivity impact. The impact of a plant's own R&D decreases as the gap from the industry's technological frontier grows. Furthermore, the productivity impact of other firms' (geographic) distance-weighted R&D is, on average, positive. However, this impact increases as the gap from the technological frontier grows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the differential impact of human capital, in terms of different levels of schooling, on regional productivity and convergence. The potential existence of geographical spillovers of human capital is also considered by applying spatial panel data techniques. The empirical analysis of Spanish provinces between 1980 and 2007 confirms the positive impact of human capital on regional productivity and convergence, but reveals no evidence of any positive geographical spillovers of human capital. In fact, in some specifications the spatial lag presented by tertiary studies has a negative effect on the variables under consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to establish whether geographical proximity between multinational and domestic firms is relevant to the occurrence of FDI spillovers, by considering both horizontal and vertical spillovers. Using data for Portugal, this hypothesis is confirmed. In the case of horizontal externalities, the impact is negative, probably due to the competition effect. Concerning vertical externalities, a positive impact through backward linkages is observed. Additionally, omission of the regional dimension provokes a bias on the estimation of the intra-sectoral effect at the national level. These results raise important implications for the economic policies aiming to attract FDI and promote regional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As with many shrimp fisheries, the North Sea brown shrimp (Crangon crangon) fishery has been characterised by by-catch and discarding of juvenile fish species that are of value to other fleet segments. To offset this externality, the mandatory use of veil nets or separator panels was introduced in 2003 for all vessels using an aggregate beam length of more than 8 m. Sea trials prior to this date suggested that retained catch might be reduced by between 8% and 35%, depending on the area and season. These studies, however, do not consider the behavioural response by fishers to reduce this impact. In this study, the actual impact of the restrictions on the productivity of UK Crangon vessels was estimated using a production frontier approach. The ex post analysis suggests that a productivity decline of around 14% has been experienced by UK vessels adopting this gear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until recently most international breeding programmes in dairy cattle have focused solely on milk production and have made large contributions to the rate of improvement in milk production but to the determinant of reproduction. Improved statistical techniques and computing resources as well as better phenotypic measurement tools have increased the ability to identify genetically superior animals. ‘Omic’ technologies have huge potential to offer in the near future to further improve genetic gains in productivity and profitability. However, maximum exploitation of these technologies can only be achieved if the basics of the most pertinent breeding goal and breeding programme are correct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relation between exports and productivity is analysed for the case of Morocco using annual panel data for the years 1985–1995 covering six large urban areas and 18 manufacturing sectors. In the empirical analysis two main features are distinguished, i.e. productivity differentials and export externalities. The former is the most dominant one for Morocco, i.e. sectors with low labour productivity export most and within-sectors exporting firms are more productive than nonexporting firms. Regarding the latter, only weakly significant evidence is found of both sector wide or within sector productivity externalities as a result of exporting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]