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With the growth of economic globalization and international tourism, tourism outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) has become a significant phenomenon in the development of the tourism industry. This article aims to estimate how emigration affects OFDI in tourism. It develops the theoretical framework of the effects of emigration on tourism OFDI, including the outbound tourism effect, the economic effect, the cultural effect, and the social effect. The empirical evidence in China reveals a significant effect of Chinese emigration on China's tourism OFDI. However, this positive effect is found to decrease over time. This study also suggests that the level of development in the destination country, cultural distance, and geographical distance determine the size of this positive effect. Lastly, it was found that Chinese emigration has also had a positive effect on China's OFDI in tourism to developed economies and neighboring economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze the growth effects over space arising from the adoption of new agricultural technology in a rural-urban setting. We use a dynamic model to study the impacts of technology and learning on the steady state growth rates of rural and urban regions that produce agricultural goods. New applications of agricultural technologies are tested and adopted in the rural region and they are gradually learned by the urban region. Our analysis leads to four results. First, we determine the steady state growth rate of agricultural output per worker in the rural region. Second, we define an urban to rural region agricultural technology knowledge ratio, analyze its stability properties, and then use this ratio to compute the steady state growth rate of agricultural output per worker in the urban region. Third, for specific parameter values, we study the ratio of agricultural output per worker in the urban to the rural region when both regions have converged to their balanced growth paths. Finally, we discuss the policy implications of our analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study aspects of economic growth in a stylized smart city with two distinct features. First, the modeled inhabitants of this city are smart because they possess skills. Using the language of Richard Florida, these inhabitants comprise the city's creative class and hence they possess creative capital. Second, the city is smart because it uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) and we model one specific kind of ICT use. In this setting, we first derive expressions for three growth related metrics. Second, we use these metrics to show that the economy of smart city A converges to a balanced growth path (BGP). Third, we compute the growth rate of output per effective creative capital unit on this BGP. Fourth, we study how heterogeneity in initial conditions affects outcomes on the BGP by introducing a second smart city B into the analysis. At time t = 0 two key savings rates in city A are twice as large as in city B. We compute the ratio of the BGP value of income per effective creative capital unit in city A to its value in city B. Finally, we compute the ratio of the BGP value of skills per effective creative capital unit in city A to its value in city B. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic growth, tourism dynamics, and territorial capital in European regions are analysed during a period comprising a first stage of economic growth, negative impacts of the crisis of 2008, and recovery. A spatial econometric model inspired by the endogenous growth approach shows positive spatial spillovers, convergence between regions, positive impacts on growth from innovation‐related characteristics, and gross value added by tourism, whereas no relevant impacts from tourism demand or employment and a negative correlation with the endowment in natural resources are found. The discussion is framed by an evolutionary economic geography conceptualization with a view on smart specialization strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years have shown a rising popularity of the concept of resilience—both theoretically and empirically—in complex systems analysis. There is also a rising literature on resilience in the transport and spatial-economic field. The pluriform interpretation of resilience (e.g., engineering vs. ecological resilience) is related to methodological differences (e.g., stability in dynamics vs. evolutionary adaptivity). But in all cases the fundamental question is whether a complex system that is subjected to an external shock is able to recover, and if so, to which extent. The present paper [Based on presentation from cluster 6 (Accessibility) of the Nectar 2015 conference in Ann Arbour, USA.] aims to add a new dimension to resilience analysis in spatial systems, by addressing in particular the relationship between spatial accessibility at a municipality level and the resilience outcomes of the spatial system concerned. It does so by investigating to which extent accessibility of Swedish and Dutch municipalities has mitigated the local shock absorption from the recent economic recession. In our study the shock absorption capacity of municipal accessibility is estimated by analysing the relevant resilience indicators for the period concerned. In this context, conventional resilience indicators based on either multivariate complex data (in particular, the Foster Resilience Capacity Index) or employment data (in particular, the Martin Resilience-Employment Index) are confronted with spatial connectivity data based on local accessibility measures, so that geographical mobility may be regarded as one of the shock-mitigating factors. The empirical analysis is carried out for two countries which have both proven to be rather shock-resistant during the recent economic crisis, viz. Sweden and The Netherlands. Clearly, the geographical structure of these countries forms a sharp mutual contrast, viz. a spatially dispersed economy with a few distinct urban concentrations versus a spatially dense economy with one major metropolitan centre (the Randstad), respectively. Our experiments are carried out for the 290 municipalities in Sweden and 40 COROPs in The Netherlands. Our research findings show relevant and new insights into differences in the local recovery potential in Sweden and The Netherlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A framework model for wellness tourism development in rural areas is developed in this paper, combining the concepts of integrative diversification, tourism product development, and an endogenous approach to innovation dynamics. Three spatial levels of wellness services are considered (establishment, destination, and the region where they are located) in order to identify the required resources, services to develop, stakeholders to involve, and a process to match the supply and demand in wellness tourism. The paper concludes with an exploratory application to the case of east Hokkaido (Japan), identifying crucial challenges for a diversification of wellness services based on the traditional onsen practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Culture matters for economic development. This postulate has been a main conceptual concern for “old” institutional economics (OIE) and has lately also been tested through neoclassically inspired econometric techniques. This conceptual foundation has been confirmed in several quantitative studies on developed countries, in particular cases from the USA, Germany, and Italy. In less developed regions with a wealth of cultural heritage, particularly in South-East Europe, this postulate is still an underexplored issue from the perspective of advanced econometric approaches. Our goal is to examine the impact of the so-called South-East European cultural corridors on welfare — and especially on total employment — at the local or regional level. Accounting for gross value added and sectoral specialization, we examine the effect of such corridors by considering the distance to a cultural corridor: namely, the East Trans-Balkan Road (crossing Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece) as an explanatory factor for regional development, particularly employment. Using the European University Institute (EUI) European Regional Dataset (ERD), as well as the geo-data from the Cultural Corridors of the South-East Europe website, we estimate a regression model using a 2SLS instrumental variable (IV) approach, with a pooled dataset at the NUTS 3 level (Eurostat) from 1980 to 2011. We then triangulate the results by using the distance to the cultural corridor concerned as a treatment effect in a propensity-score-matching and difference-in-differences exploratory analysis. The findings confirm the importance of distance to the cultural corridor under investigation as a strong predictor for local socio-economic development. The results further suggest that the slow evolution of culture over time is likely to lead to the gradual emergence of new geographical cultural centers and a new cultural path-dependence build-up of persistence chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces the papers for the special edition entitled “Modeling Regional Growth and Innovation.” It first provides an overview of the special edition and then presents short summaries of the papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to examine the effects of public transportation infrastructure investments on regional economic growth in Turkish NUTS 2 regions between 2004 and 2011. To offer an advanced statistical analysis, we employ an augmented production function model for measuring the effects of different types of transportation infrastructure on regional output. We use specifically ordinary least squares (OLS), fixed effects, two-stage least squares (2SLS) and Hausman-Taylor IV estimation methods with both cross-section and panel data. Our results show that road and motorway infrastructure have strongly significant positive effects on regional output in all our estimations. Land infrastructure is found to play a very important role in regional economic performance in Turkey, while, somewhat surprisingly, air infrastructure has no significant impact on regional GVA, which clearly suggests the existence of different types of transportation infrastructure in the Turkish regions. Also, the high growth elasticity of land infrastructure in the Turkish regions indicates that Turkey is currently still suffering from an inadequate transport infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study postulates that tourism development (TD) and residents' quality of life (QoL) may have an intrinsically reciprocal relationship. The possible connection between TD and QoL is investigated in the island of Aruba, with economic development as a mediating variable. This investigation contributes to the literature by emphasizing the active role of QoL in the relationship with TD through a subjective well-being approach, and by expanding our understanding of the development concept. The study also advances the scope of tourism theory by presenting new propositions. The methodology consists of applying exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses combined with structural equations modeling. The results suggest that TD has a direct and indirect impact on QoL, and that QoL has an indirect effect on TD, via economic development. These findings provide new insights on the dimensions that shape the link between TD and QoL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We theoretically study the impact of two innovation policies on economic growth in a region that is creative in the sense of Richard Florida and that uses digital technologies to produce a final consumption good. The use of these digital technologies in our creative region gives rise toincompleteknowledge spillovers. Our analysis generates three salient findings. First, we characterize the balanced growth path (BGP) equilibrium. Second, we solve the social planner's problem, describe the Pareto optimal allocation of resources, and then compare the Pareto optimal allocation with the BGP equilibrium allocation. Finally, we study the impacts that a research subsidy and a particular patent policy have on economic growth in our creative region and then we relate our findings to the incompleteness of the above-mentioned knowledge spillovers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this reply, we comment on Reed and Sidek’s replication of Nijkamp and Poot. We note that Nijkamp and Poot’s conclusions are robust to, first, trimming their sample of primary studies to improve comparability across studies and, second, greatly expanding the number of observations for meta-analysis by including multiple estimates from each of the trimmed sample of primary studies. We argue that future meta-analyses of this empirical literature would benefit from a narrower focus on specific fiscal policies and from considering institutions and cultural–attitudinal contexts within which primary studies are conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many countries, rural areas have shown a new spatial-economic dynamics that have meant a contrast with the traditional urban-rural dichotomy. In particular, the need to use economic-ecological sustainability as a guiding principle for new rural development is a prominent feature. But how will rural areas, sometimes suffering from lack of economic development, peripheral positions and relatively low social well-being be able to face new challenges? Can they be attractive, innovative and developed (“hot spots”) while maintaining their sustainability and continuity? This question was the background in conducting our research. Hence, this study aims to answer this question in three steps, namely (i) offering a contemporary overview, (ii) identifying the critical factors for and (iii) developing a set of sustainable development scenarios. In order to reach our aims, we applied the so-called pentagon model and used multi-criteria analysis, namely regime analysis. The data and information deployed in this study were obtained from field surveys conducted in 60 European and 17 Turkish rural areas. The results show that future choices are different among rural users and between European and Turkish villages. European users seem more consistent about their future and their will while the will of Turkish villages are still more concentrated on economic development rather than sustainable development itself. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We study innovation and the resulting Schumpeterian economic growth that this innovation gives rise to in a model with N heterogeneous regions. For each region i where i = 1,..., N, our analysis leads to six findings. First, we define the balanced growth path (BGP) allocations and the equilibrium of interest. Second, we stipulate the form of the innovation possibilities frontier that is consistent with balanced economic growth. Third, we derive the growth rate of the ith region in the decentralized equilibrium. Fourth, we solve the social planner's problem and derive the Pareto optimal growth rate in the ith region. Fifth, we compare the two preceding growth rates and then discuss the circumstances in which there is either too much or too little innovation in (i) the ith region, (ii) an aggregate economy of N>2 regions and (iii) an aggregate economy of N=2 regions. Sixth, we briefly discuss interregional trade and its effects in an aggregate economy of N=2 regions. Finally, we conclude and then offer suggestions for extending the research described here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This study examines the long-run relationship between tourism development and economic growth in a small island destination. Determining whether the nature of the relationship is unidirectional or bidirectional provides insightful information as to policies to be implemented. This information is crucial in a resource-poor environment, such as a small island destination. The study employs an econometric methodology consisting of unit root testing, co-integration analysis, vector error correction modeling and Granger causality testing. Results confirm the reciprocal hypothesis. The policy implication is that resource allocation supporting both the tourism and tourism-related industries could benefit both tourism development and economic growth. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including volatility of Chinese economic activities, globalization and industrial performance in China, and regional disparities and productivity in China.

We build on Grossman and Helpman (1991), Rivera- Batiz and Romer (1991), Acemoglu (2009, pp. 678-80), and Batabyal and Nijkamp (2013b) and analyze the interactions between positive and negative externalities in innovation and trade for economic growth in a region when this region is part of an aggregate economy consisting of two regions. In both regions, consumers have constant relative risk aversion preferences; there is human capital use, and there are three kinds of manufacturing activities involving the production of blueprints for inputs or machines, the inputs or machines themselves, and a single final good for consumption. We study two cases. In the first case, although no growth occurs in the human capital stock, innovative activities give rise to positive externalities or knowledge spillovers in two ways. In this setting, we, study whether and under what circumstances opening a region to trade results in an increase in this region's equilibrium growth rate. In the second case, although growth occurs in the human capital stock, innovation experiences negative externalities. In this scenario, we show that opening a region to trade leads to more innovation but to no change in its long-run growth rate. Los autores se basan en el trabajo de Grossman y Helpman (1991), Rivera-Batiz y Romer (1991), Acemoglu (2009, pp 678-80), y Batabyal y Nijkamp (2013B), para analizar las interacciones entre las externalidades positivas y negativas en la innovación y comercio para el crecimiento económico en una región, en los casos en los que dicha región es parte de una economía global que consiste en dos regiones. En estas dos regiones hipotéticas a) los consumidores tienen aversión constante al riesgo relativo (CRRA); b) se hace uso del capital humano; y, c) se llevan a cabo tres tipos de actividades manufactureras: la elaboración de planes o plantillas de producción, la producción de insumos y maquinaria, y la producción de un único bien de consumo final. El presente estudio analiza dos casos. En el primer caso, aunque no hay crecimiento en el stock de capital humano, las actividades de innovación generan externalidades positivas o derrames (spillovers) de conocimiento de dos tipos. En este contexto, se estudia si, y bajo qué circunstancias la apertura de una región al comercio resulta en un aumento en la tasa de crecimiento de equilibrio de la región. En el segundo caso, hay crecimiento en el stock de capital humano, pero la innovación experimenta externalidades negativas. En este escenario, se muestra que la apertura al comercio de una región conduce a una mayor innovación pero sin ningún cambio en la tasa de crecimiento a largo plazo. 本文在Grossman and Helpman (1991)、Rivera-Batiz and Romer (1991)、 Acemoglu (2009,，pp. 678-80)和Batabyal and Nijkamp (2013b)等研究基础上，分析了当某一区域与另一区域构成经济聚合体时，该区域经济增长中创新与贸易的外部正负效应的相互影响。在两区域中，消费者均具有不变的相对风险规避(CRRA)参数设定，然后考虑人力资本利用和三种类别的制造活动的预期产量，即投入或机器、原料或机器本身、可消费的单一制成品。我们分析了两种不同的场景。在第一种场景中，尽管人力资本存量并未增长，创新活动也通过正外部性或知识溢出两种方式得到了增长。在该设定下，我们研究了区域是否或者在何种情况下开放贸易会提高地区的均衡增长率。在第二种场景中，尽管人力资本存量增长而创新部分却经历着负外部效应的影响。研究显示，一个地区贸易开放将导致更多创新活动的发生，但并未影响到长期的增长率。 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article offers a concise theoretical conceptualization and operational analysis of the contribution of innovation to regional development. The latter concepts are closely related to geographical proximity, knowledge diffusion and filters and clustering. Institutional innovation profiles and regional patterns of innovation are two mutually linked, novel conceptual elements in this article. Next to a theoretical framing, the article employs the regional innovation systems concept as a vehicle to analyse institutional innovation profiles. Our case study addresses three Portuguese regions and their institutions, included in a web-based inventory of innovation agencies which offered the foundation for an extensive database. This data-set was analysed by means of a recently developed principal coordinates analysis followed by a Logistic Biplot approach (leading to a Voronoi mapping) to design a systemic typology of innovation structures where each institution is individually represented. There appears to be a significant difference in the regional innovation patterns resulting from the diverse institutional innovation profiles concerned. These profiles appear to be region specific. Our conclusion highlights the main advantages in the use of the method used for policy-makers and business companies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including business performance in the creative high-tech sector, growth in economically less privileged regions, and entrepreneurship and creativity.

This introductory article underlines various patterns of urbanization in the 'New Urban World' as a starting point for reflections about the life and death and life of cities in the 21st century. A particular emphasis is put on the shrinkage phenomenon and the possible recovery solutions, being highlighted that there is not just a single recipe in this respect. Relevant case studies from Central and Eastern Europe are brought into discussion, the idea of this special issue resulting from the animated debates of the plenary round table organized on this topic on the occasion of the 9th International Conference of the Romanian Regional Science Association which took place in Galati, Romania, in May 2013. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use a multi-region model and provide the first theoretical analysis of the effects of human capital use and a particular kind of innovative activity on economic growth. In each of the N heterogeneous regions in our model, consumers have constant relative risk aversion preferences, there are negative externalities in innovation, and there are three kinds of manufacturing activities involving the production of blueprints for inputs or machines, the inputs or machines themselves, and a single final good for consumption. Our analysis generates four salient findings. First, for each of the N regions, we define a balanced growth path equilibrium, we characterize the market clearing factor prices, and we determine the free entry condition in the R&D sector. Second, we show that without growth in human capital, there is no sustained economic growth in any of the N regions. Third, we show that human capital growth generates sustained economic growth in each of the N regions. Finally, when discussing the above three findings, we shed light on the spatial dimensions of economic growth in our multi-region aggregate economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern cities in the open European space-economy are powerhouses of creative ideas, smart technologies, sustainable developments and socio-economic wealth. They play a pivotal role in the future of an urbanized Europe, but they are also confronted with grand challenges, notably far-reaching demographic transformations, environmental decay and climatological change, unequal social participation and ever-rising mobility trends. The challenges for urban environments may be turned into new opportunities, in particular, in such domains as advanced infrastructure and logistic systems, environmental and climate-neutral facilities, creative and knowledge-intensive strategies for socio-economic prosperity and well-being. Cities—and in particular metropolitan areas—may thus act as spearheads of sustainable economic growth for European countries. These observations call for appropriate long-range policy strategies for metropolitan areas—and networks of cities—in the highly diversified European space-economy. Such policy actions would need to be supported by solid, multidisciplinary and evidence-based research on the challenges and opportunities of urban environments in Europe. The main contribution of this paper lies in the systematic strategic approach to transform urban megatrends and challenges into research and policy concerns for Europe. The analytical framework employed to highlight and better understand such research and policy response in Europe from a typological perspective is built around four interconnected pillars (cornerstones) that form the focal points for identifying strategic future images that may be instrumental in mapping out the research and policy challenges for the “New Urban Europe”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We provide the first theoretical analysis of the effects of human capital use, innovative activity, and patent protection, on economic growth in a model with many regions. In each region, consumers have constant relative risk-aversion preferences, there is no human capital growth, and there are three kinds of manufacturing activities involving the production of blueprints for inputs (machines), the inputs themselves, and a single final consumption good. Our analysis generates four results. For any given region, we first describe the balanced growth path (BGP) equilibrium and show that the BGP growth rate depends negatively on the rate at which patents expire. Second, we characterize the transitional dynamics in our model. Third, we determine the value of the patent expiry rate that maximizes the equilibrium growth rate of a region. Finally, we show that a policy of offering perpetual patent protection does not necessarily maximize social welfare in a region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We theoretically analyze unbalanced growth in an urban economy arising from the preferences of the creative class concerning the relative desirability of agricultural, manufacturing, and service goods. We study two cases. In the first case, the production functions for the three categories of goods are identical. Our analysis leads to four results. First, we compute the equilibrium physical to creative capital ratios and the relationships between the neutral productivity shifters and the output prices. Second, we show that agricultural and services consumption are a constant multiple of manufacturing consumption. Third, we note that under certain conditions, an equilibrium in which all sectors of our urban economy grow at a constant rate does not exist. Fourth, we show that a constant growth path (CGP) equilibrium exists in which, across the three sectors, the pattern of consumption changes and there is a reallocation of creative capital. In the second case, the production functions for the three categories of goods are dissimilar. In this more realistic setting, we study generalizations of the previously described four results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors provide the first theoretical analysis of a one-sector, discrete-time, Schumpeterian model of growth in a regional economy in which consumers are risk neutral, there is no population growth, monopolistic entrepreneurs produce intermediate goods, and a single consumption good is produced competitively. The authors' analysis generates several new results. In the deterministic model, R&D in time t surely leads to an innovation in time t + 1. In this setting, the authors show that relative to the balanced growth path (BGP) equilibrium, the social planner always allocates more labor to R&D and hence achieves a larger size of innovation and a higher growth rate. Next, in the stochastic model, R&D in time t probabilistically leads to an innovation in time t + 1. In this setting, the authors first define the equilibrium and the steady state BGP allocations. Second, the authors generalize the notion of the steady state and determine the number of unemployed workers. Third, the authors show that the regional economy experiences bursts of unemployment followed by periods of full employment. Finally, the authors show that a decline in the time discount rate increases the average growth rate and the average unemployment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper offers a concise critical overview of Okun's Law, with particular attention for its relevance in open economic systems of regions. Based on an extensive set of economic data for Finnish regions, the existence of cointegration is tested using alternative statistical methods, viz. the residual-based test and the conditional error correction model. A novelty of the paper is to combine a method of hidden cointegrations with a method of removing cross-sectional dependence. After correcting for hidden cointegrations and cross-sectional dependence, both statistical methods used yield almost similar results and confirm the presence of cointegration for the relevant data on Finnish regions. The long-run Okun relationship for regions in Finland appears to confirm results found elsewhere in the literature on countries as a whole, although the coefficients tend to be smaller. RÉSUMÉ Cette communication présente un aperçu critique concis de la loi d'Okun, et se penche tout particulièrement sur sa pertinence éventuelle pour les systèmes économiques ouverts dans les régions. Sur la base d'un ensemble de données économiques approfondies concernant les régions finnoises, on procède à des essais de l'existence d'une co-intégration, en appliquant des méthodes statistiques alternatives, à savoir les essais à base résiduelle et le modèle de correction des erreurs conditionnelles. Une nouveauté contenue dans cette communication est la combinaison d'une méthode de co-intégrations cachées avec une méthode d’élimination de la dépendance transversale. Après des corrections tenant compte des co-intégrations cachées et de la dépendance transversale, les deux méthodes statistiques utilisées produisent des résultats similaires, et confirment la présence d'une co-intégration pour les données relatives aux régions finnoises. Les rapports de longue durée de la loi d'Okun appliquée aux régions de la Finlande semblent confirmer les résultats relevés ailleurs dans la documentation générale sur les pays, même si les coefficients ont tendance à être plus petits. EXTRACTO Este estudio ofrece una perspectiva general concisa y crítica de la ley de Okun, prestando particular atención a su relevancia en sistemas económicos abiertos regionales. En base a un conjunto amplio de datos económicos sobre regiones finlandesas, se pone a prueba la existencia de cointegración utilizando métodos estadísticos alternativos, tales como, el ensayo basado en residuales y el modelo condicional de corrección de errores. Una de las novedades del estudio es que combina un método de cointegraciones ocultas con un método de eliminación de dependencia cruzada. Después de hacer correcciones para las cointegraciones ocultas y la dependencia cruzada, ambos métodos estadísticos producen resultados casi similares y confirman la presencia de cointegración en los datos oportunos sobre regiones finlandesas. La relación Okun a largo plazo de regiones en Finlandia parece confirmar los resultados encontrados en otras partes de la bibliografía sobre países enteros, aunque los coeficientes tienden a ser menores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue of Spatial Economic Analysis, on ‘Modelling Regional Dynamics’, contains an interesting set of novel contributions put together by guest co-editors Peter Mulder, Peter Nijkamp & Roger Stough, who have also summarized and commented on the papers below. The papers are as follows. First, Ugo Fratesi & Roberta Capello write about ‘Modelling Regional Growth: An Advanced MASST Model’. Next we have the contribution by Emmanouil Tranos entitled ‘The Causal Effect of the Internet Infrastructure on the Economic Development of European City Regions’. Then Marco Percoco considers ‘Entrepreneurship, Social Capital and Institutions: Evidence from Italy’; and Megha Mukim asks the question, ‘Does Agglomeration Boost Innovation? An Econometric Evaluation’. The final paper, by Aki Kangasharju, Christophe Tavera & Peter Nijkamp, is entitled ‘Regional Growth and Unemployment: The Validity of Okun's Law for the Finnish Regions’. RÉSUMÉ Ce numéro spécial de Spatial Economic Analysis sur la « Dynamique régionale de la modélisation » contient un ensemble intéressant de contributions nouvelles assemblées par les co-rédacteurs invités Peter Mulder, Peter Nijkamp & Roger Stough, qui ont également résumé les communications ci-dessous, en y ajoutant leurs commentaires. Il s'agit des communications suivantes : en premier lieu, Ugo Fratesi & Roberta Capello se penchent sur l’« Expansion régionale de la modélisation : un modèle MASST perfectionné » ; nous trouvons ensuite une communication d'Emmanouil Tranos, intitulée l’« Effet causal de l'infrastructure de l'Internet sur le développement économique des agglomérations européennes » ; Marco Percoco examine ensuite la question suivante : « Entreprenariat, capital social et institutions : le témoignage de l'Italie », tandis que Megha Mukim pose la question : « L'agglomération encourage-t-elle l'innovation ? Une évaluation économétrique ». La dernière communication, par Aki Kangasharju, Christophe Tavera & Peter Nijkamp, est intitulée : « Expansion régionale et chômage : la validité de la loi d'Okun pour les régions finnoises ». EXTRACTO Esta edición especial de Análisis económico espacial, sobre ‘Modelación de la dinámica regional’, contiene un conjunto interesante de contribuciones novedosas reunidas por los coeditores invitados Peter Mulder, Peter Nijkamp & Roger Stough, quienes también han resumido y hecho comentarios sobre los estudios indicados a continuación. Dichos estudios son los siguientes: en primer lugar, Ugo Fratesi & Roberta Capello escriben sobre ‘Modelación de crecimiento regional: un modelo MASST avanzado’; seguidamente, contamos con la contribución de Emmanouil Tranos titulada ‘El efecto causal de la infraestructura de Internet sobre el desarrollo económico de las ciudades región europeas’; luego, Marco Percoco considera el ‘Espíritu empresarial, capital social e instituciones: evidencia procedente de Italia’; y, Megha Mukim plantea la pregunta, ‘¿Actúa la aglomeración como impulsora de la innovación? Una evaluación econométrica’. El último estudio, de Aki Kangasharju, Christophe Tavera & Peter Nijkamp, se titula ‘Crecimiento regional y desempleo: la validez de la ley de Okun para las regiones finlandesas’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors provide the first theoretical analysis of a one-sector, discrete-time, Schumpeterian model of growth in a regional economy in which consumers are risk neutral, there is no population growth, monopolistic entrepreneurs produce intermediate goods, and a single consumption good is produced competitively. The authors' analysis generates several new results. In the deterministic model, R&D in time t surely leads to an innovation in time t + 1. In this setting, the authors show that relative to the balanced growth path (BGP) equilibrium, the social planner always allocates more labor to R&D and hence achieves a larger size of innovation and a higher growth rate. Next, in the stochastic model, R&D in time t probabilistically leads to an innovation in time t + 1. In this setting, the authors first define the equilibrium and the steady state BGP allocations. Second, the authors generalize the notion of the steady state and determine the number of unemployed workers. Third, the authors show that the regional economy experiences bursts of unemployment followed by periods of full employment. Finally, the authors show that a decline in the time discount rate increases the average growth rate and the average unemployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An issue of continuous debate over recent decades has been the impact of migration on the development of both destination and origin countries of migrants. Migration is a form of optimal allocation of production factors in both sending and receiving countries. In the sending countries some positive effects could be the economic growth attributed to the remittances and to the return migrants, who are regarded as engines of change and innovation. On the other hand, migration could be a cause of increasing disparities in origin and host countries. Some negative effects in the origin countries could be the amplification of consumerist, nonproductive and remittance-dependent behavior. The goal of this paper is to assess the importance of migration in the currently globalizing world, with special attention being paid to the entrepreneurial behavior and performance of immigrants. In line with the main purpose of this paper, we provide some theoretical insight into the impact of ethnic diversity on the economic performance of receiving and origin countries, this being further narrowed down to the entrepreneurial behavior of the migrants. The empirical part consists of a migrant impact analysis of ethnic entrepreneurs, and presents the results of a cross-correlation and Data Envelopment Analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We design a conceptual framework for linking two approaches: absorptive capacity and spatial Knowledge Spillovers (KSs). Regions produce new knowledge, but only part of it is efficiently adopted in the economy; the share of efficiently adopted technology depends on cognitive capital. Our dataset is based on a panel of European regions over the period 1999 to 2006, combining data from EUROSTAT and the European Values Study (EVS). We test the hypothesis that insufficient levels of cognitive capital hamper the capability of regions to fully exploit new knowledge. Results show that a lower regional absorptive capacity increases KS towards surrounding areas, hampering the regions' capability to decode and efficiently exploit new knowledge, both locally produced and originating from outside. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Knowledge drives the growth of nations and regions in a competitive space-economy. Hence, we would expect a strong correlation between investments in R&D, knowledge and learning processes, on the one hand, and productivity increases, on the other. However, the empirical evidence shows consistent discrepancies between knowledge inputs and economic performance across geographical units. This paper addresses this intriguing issue at the regional level, by highlighting theoretically and empirically the strategic importance played by intangible elements as part of 'territorial capital' in mediating between knowledge production and regional growth. The main proposition of the paper, subject to empirical testing, is that intangible elements as part of territorial capital magnify the contribution of knowledge by determining the formation of increasing returns to knowledge exploitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regions, independent of their geographic level of aggregation, are known to be interrelated partly due to their relative locations. Similar economic performance among regions can be attributed to proximity. Consequently, a proper understanding, and accounting, of spatial liaisons is needed in order to effectively forecast regional economic variables. Several spatial econometric techniques are available in the literature, which deal with the spatial autocorrelation (SAC) in geographically referenced data. The experiments carried out in this article are concerned with the analysis of the SAC observed for unemployment rates in 439 NUTS-3 German districts. The authors employ a semiparametric approach—spatial filtering—in order to uncover spatial patterns that are consistently significant over time. The authors first provide a brief overview of the spatial filtering method and illustrate the data set. Subsequently, they describe the empirical application carried out: that is, the spatial filtering analysis of regional unemployment rates in Germany. Furthermore, the authors exploit the resulting spatial filter as an explanatory variable in a panel modeling framework. Additional explanatory variables, such as average daily wages, are used in concurrence with the spatial filter. Their experiments show that the computed spatial filters account for most of the residual SAC in the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze a two-sector model of a trading creative regional economy (TCRE) of the sort studied by Florida. Our analysis focuses on two cases. The first case concerns the impact of faster neutral, whereas the second case concerns the impact of faster nonneutral, productivity growth in the tradable sector on the employment of creative people in each of a TCRE's two sectors. In both cases, the sign of the percentage change in the steady-state use of creative capital in the nontradable sector is ambiguous. In other words, the potential departure of creative people from the tradable to the nontradable sector does not depend upon whether the faster productivity growth being studied is neutral or nonneutral. In addition, because the effects of faster productivity growth in the tradable sector are not necessarily innocuous, a potential role exists for activist policy designed to countermand the possibly negative effects of faster productivity growth on either the tradable or the nontradable sector. This finding of possible 'uneven development' is consistent with Florida's view that TCREs can give rise to externalities such as uneven regional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the relationship between knowledge institutions (especially Universities of Professional Education, UPE) and Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) is one of the challenges of current economic policy. Innovation is an important aspect of this policy. However, the characteristics of both UPEs and SMEs appear to be an obstacle in bridging the gap between these two groups. Based on an analysis of survey data from SMEs, this paper contributes to bridging this gap. Information concerning the relationship with UPEs was collected from entrepreneurs to draw strategic policy lessons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The motivation of this paper is to identify the causes of low-performance companies that are operating in the information technology sector, which is seen as a key driver of the Romanian economy. A model is designed to extract the productivity distribution of the sector's companies based on a data set from the Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Through the statistical analysis of this particular sub-sample of low-performing firms, important characteristics can be derived and tested for significance. In our study, a benchmark value for productivity will also be identified that can offer an early warning indication for potential problem zones when assessing a newly founded company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Product and process innovations are generally regarded as strategic competitive vehicles in industry. Identifying and conquering new market niches through focused marketing approaches - by emphasising new product qualities in mature markets - has become a very appropriate innovation strategy. This paper aims to demonstrate the relevance of innovative marketing strategies on the basis of brand repositioning of mature firms. It uses a case study approach to test the economic viability of repositioning of innovative firms striving to access upscale markets. The paper develops finally, a general analysis framework that may be useful for further study of brand repositioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Creative capacity studies mainly focus on urban regions, however the late rural studies showed that rural region has a great potential in terms of five components of this capacity viz. knowledge, innovation, entrepreneurship, creativity and networks. This study aims to evaluate which component is relatively important to identify the level of rural creative capacity. The study focuses on 77 villages from Europe and Turkey by deploying the data obtained from the survey questionnaires. This is a first attempt at settlement level to measure the opportunities of rural regions. The results showed that traditions are the most important component in both European and Turkish cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compare a set of econometric studies that measure the effect of net internal migration in neoclassical models of long-run real income convergence and derive 67 comparable effect sizes. The precision-weighted estimate of beta convergence is about 2.7 per cent. An increase of one percentage point in the net migration rate of a region increases the per capita income growth rate in that region on average by about 0.1 percentage points. Introducing a net migration variable in a growth regression increases the estimate of beta convergence slightly. Studies that use panel models or IV estimation methods yield smaller coefficients of net migration in growth regressions, while the opposite holds for regressions controlling for high-skilled migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various reports published within the issue including, one by Marina van Geenhuizen and Peter Nijkamp which examines the rise of the multi-nodal city or more generally the demise of the core dominated city, one by David Audretsch and Taylor Aldridge which examines the propensity of scientists to be the creators of knowledge and the ability of scientists to combine scientific creativity with entrepreneurial creativity, and one by Frank van Oort, Johan Oud and Otto Raspe which examines the effect of latent knowledge economy factors.