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A Correction to this paper has been published: 10.1007/s12061-021-09378-3

This paper investigates the impact of the city’s urban spatial structure in shaping population density distribution over time. This research question is relevant in Barcelona because urban population grew at a sustained pace in various decades due to intense immigration inflows. When the urban spatial structure fails to behave as the backbone of population density distribution, population distribution can suffer from polarization problems. We conduct our empirical study using an urban monocentric framework, tracking the different spatial distribution patterns of the overall population and a few selected urban communities in light of the degree of attractiveness of the central business district (CBD). To this end, we construct an original database by each district in Barcelona from 1902 to 2011 and perform an econometric analysis. Our results reveal that the urban spatial structure continued to be a crucial determinant over time for shaping the overall population distribution in Barcelona and in almost all selected communities. However, its importance fluctuated over time, bottoming out in the 1950s–1960s, and whose resurgence was mostly driven by the political initiative to create a new centrality in the urban periphery. This policy reinforced the attractiveness of the CBD, resulting in the de-facto avoidance of urban polarization.

We analyze the impact on wages of the adoption of a rent-sharing remuneration scheme aimed at making labor institutions more flexible. We work within a quasi-experimental setting referring to a sample of Italian companies before and after the introduction of the Treu Reform (1997). Our estimations confirm that this reform not only increased insider workers' wages via rent-sharing, but also fueled a σ−convergence process of the rent-sharing elasticity across the sectors at a different rate. Finally, we deliver a reasoned discussion of the consequences of implementing this reform on the Italian job market. This reform produced advances in the quality of job remuneration but it deepened a structural gap in the Italian labor market composition.

The aim of this proposal is to present a teaching experiment that has been in use since the academic year 2012–2013. The experiment concerns the introduction of a norm to direct the self-assessment of individual participation in the making of group reports. The presence of this norm can limit potential free-riding or conflicts inside each team. Statistical results from more than 400 students who participated in this experiment confirm that this norm was effective in reducing misleading individual behavior. In addition, this effect turns out to be associated with the presence of women and/or students from abroad in each group.

We analyze the conditions driving the organization of the territory near airports by studying the distribution of economic activities. We consider how commercial firms, service operators, and consumers compete for land. The theoretical setting identifies an aerotropolis (airport city) as a land equilibrium outcome characterized by the following spatial sequence: services area, commercial area, residential area. Using data on the distribution of establishments in the United States, we analyze the existence and determinants of aeropolitan configurations. Estimations performed with parametric methods detect some interesting dynamic patterns affecting the density and distribution of activities around selected U.S. airports.

This study proposes an empirical analysis to assess the changes recorded by the urban gradient when population size suffers from an important and unexpected shock. To this end, we build an original pseudo-panel covering information for the city of Barcelona from 1902 to 2011. Despite the prediction of canonical theoretical models for monocentric cities, our results identify an increase in the size of the urban gradient due to the reinforcement of the attractiveness of the central business district (CBD) during the period of expansion of the population mostly led by the high-skill and immigrant communities.

This paper proposes an empirical analysis of the role of memory in determining the size of credits granted by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) during 1991–2003. We first build an original database from information associated with the number and contract types granted by clients, after which we develop an empirical strategy for capturing the role of memory, namely by defining three different indicators to approximate each client’s reputation. These indicators rely on the client’s identity and, when available, information associated with previous EBRD-financed investment projects. With the fixed-effects estimation technique, our results unambiguously show that the value of the first investment project financed by the EBRD, as a proxy for reputation, is the most effective indicator for established clients to determine the size of the credits they receive to finance further investments.

This study discusses the experience of the implementation of a peer-norm in reducing free riding and conflict problems in teamwork activities. This exploratory experiment is run with two cohorts of students in one of the principal Spanish universities. The educational problem is to control for student potential collusion (with clear free riding episodes) in homework projects performed by assigned groups. The peer -norm intends to control for it. The empirical analysis identifies that the success of this norm is associated with the presence of foreign students. Empirically, the presence of foreign students in each cohort brings an educational and cultural background different from the native's one. Their presence in work -groups turns out to be the key factor to reduce potentially the degree of collusion in the overall cohort because they seem to be less concerned by the "social retaliation" of the mates.

The problem of Spanish productivity is a recurrent topic in economic literature. The importance of identifying the sources of productivity is even more relevant in the current economic landscape, because the Spanish economy is passing through important adjustments, after going through an intense period of huge immigration inflows. This aims of this paper include assessing the evolution of Spanish productivity, by providing a quantitative evaluation of current results with reference to potential ones. Considerable focus is also placed on identifying the determinants of the productivity changes which have been incurred in recent years by focusing on the role of the entry of immigrants into the local labour market. In this way, our results show that, in a few specific situations, immigrants play the role of environment-builders, encouraging the transition of firm strategies fostering productivity from the cost reduction side to the hiring of skilled labour.

We conduct an empirical analysis to assess the degree of segregation among the different communities in Barcelona taking into account the spatial dependence of the features associated with the neighbor’s status. We build an original database by gathering information for the period 1947–2011. Estimations emphasize that Barcelona increasingly shows a spatial-dependent segregation pattern based mostly on the gentrification of the high-skill workers rather than on the ethnicity of the different communities.

This theoretical model investigates the extent of the effects of local technological spillovers on growth. We add to a growth model with vertical quality ladder innovations the assumption that firms are exogenously located around a circle and technological spillovers affecting R&D efficacy occur between neighbors. As a result, the presence of local spillovers makes it optimal for a firm to innovate intensively only if the neighbors do so. However, they do not produce clear effects on either growth or welfare. On one hand positive spillovers improve the quality of local goods—hence growth—but, on the other, a high level of positive spillovers generate discrepancies across intermediate sectors which reduce the level of household welfare.

This study discusses the experience of the implementation of a peer-norm in reducing conflicts in teamwork. This field experiment is run with two cohorts of students coursing external trade. I investigate on student potential collusion in homework projects performed by assigned groups. The empirical analysis identifies that the success of this norm is associated with the presence of foreign students as a key factor for the achievement of a separating-type equilibrium.

In this paper, we analyse the geographic concentration of economic activities within the framework of a two countries and four regions model. Trade both between regions and countries entails transport costs which are differentiated according to the interregional or international nature of the flows. Allowing for regional migration of the population, the model configures the equilibra of this systems as key parameters change. The results obtained suggest that both types of transaction costs affect the incentive for firms to cluster geographically. Consequently, processes of integration between nations such as the one taking place through the constitution of the European Union is identified as a factor possibly favoring the emergence of regional economic agglomeration.

This paper analyzes the conditions driving the organization of the territory near airports by studying the distribution of economic activities. We consider how commercial firms, service operators, and consumers compete for land. The theoretical setting provides a grid of possible spatial structures in accordance with the degree of competition among agents. An aerotropolis (airport city) appears when the spatial sequence services area - commercial area - residential area arises as the land equilibrium outcome. Using data on the distribution of establishments in the United States (US), we analyze the existence and determinants of aeropolitan configurations. Estimations performed with parametric methods detect some interesting dynamic patterns affecting the density and distribution of activities around selected US airports.

In this paper, we analyze the wage effects of the adoption of a labor reform aiming at making labor institutions more flexible. We are working with a quasi-experimental setting referring to a sample of Italian companies before and after the introduction of the Treu Reform (1997). Our IV-estimations confirm that this reform not only increased workers’ wages via rent sharing, but also fuelled a convergence process of the elasticity between rent sharing and wages across the sectors.

This study investigates the existence of hiring criteria associated with the degree of social connections between skill and low-skill workers. We provide evidence about to what extent managers rely on their social connections in recruiting low-skill workers rather than on random matching. As one unique feature we follow an approach for a posted wage setting that reflects the main features of the Spanish labor market. By working with sub-samples of high and low-skill workers we are able to assess that the recruitment of low-skill immigrants quite often follows a referral strategy and we identify interesting irregularities across the ethnic groups. As a common feature, referral hiring is usually influences by the ethnicity of the manager and the relative proportion of immigrants within the firm. Under these perspectives, our study outlines new insights to evaluate the future perspectives of the Spanish labor market.

This paper focuses on the financing strategy adopted by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in the period 1991-2003. We propose a simple empirical method to isolate the most effective screening device for contracts granted under conditions of asymmetric information. In line with the predictions of the contract theory, the role of memory is dominant. By exploiting the information about the number and type of contracts by client, we test different indicators to approximate the client's reputation. Our results unambiguously isolate the value of the first-investment project financed by the EBRD as the most effective screening device among the established clients.

The objective of this paper is to investigate the financing strategy adopted by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in the period 1991-2003. We propose a simple empirical method to isolate the most effective screening device for contracts granted under conditions of asymmetric information. In line with the predictions of the contract theory, the role of memory is dominant. By exploiting the information about the number and type of contracts by client, we approximate the client's reputation. Our results unambiguously isolate the dominant effect of memory on the bank's lending decisions over market factors in the case of established clients.