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This paper furthers and updates the research on the nature of the so-called global trade slowdown. Not only do we explain and discuss the determinants of this phenomenon, but we also offer an empirical description of the recent evolution of trade and trade elasticity. With the purpose of testing whether this is a structural phenomenon or not, we build an Error Correction Model for both world and regional data on trade and income using data from the World Bank for the period 1970-2017. World, OECD and Asian countries trade elasticity figures show a remarkable reduction after the hyperglobalization period (1986- 2001), opposed to those of Latin America where trade volume has not stagnated so much. This slowdown might have major consequences for any country, but especially for those which have relied more intensively on trade as an engine for growth.

Intensifying social and spatial divisions have been on the rise in cities since the 1980s. This trend has evolved in a context of increasing socioeconomic inequality and is exacerbated by the effects of the last economic crisis and austerity policies. Understanding the differential impact of these processes on vulnerable social groups and urban areas is crucial for developing effective policy responses to the challenges of social exclusion and neighborhood decline. This paper examines the spatial dimensions of rising socioeconomic inequality in Bilbao, Spain. Using Census Data and a multivariate approach, it analyzes shifting patterns of socio-spatial differentiation in the city during 2 decades of intense urban restructuring and regeneration dynamics. The results present a characterization of Bilbao's neighborhoods based on a set of variables that capture various aspects of neighborhood differences, demographics, socioeconomic status and housing attributes, and their evolution, revealing a two-dimensional factorial structure. Neighborhoods are grouped according to these two factorial axes that capture the structure of correlations among the variables. Subsequently, the analysis focuses on a selected number of "extreme" neighborhoods to identify patterns of convergence/divergence and the driving factors behind them, including structural trends and policy initiatives implemented during the 2 decades considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the relationship between the unemployment rate and the labour force participation rate in Spain. Cointegration analysis is performed for aggregate, male and female time-series. Results suggest that there is no a long-run relationship between the two variables for the aggregate and male cases. However, the findings support a long-run relationship between the two variables for the female time-series. Thus, the unemployment invariance hypothesis is supported in the two former cases but not in the latter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides empirical evidence on the link between firms' R&D expenditure and patent registrations by applying the Granger causality test. We use a panel of Spanish manufacturing firms for the period 1990-2013. We first, examine the R&D-patents relationship in the manufacturing firms as a whole and subsequently, manufacturing was broken down into three groups of firms according to the technological level of the industries to which the firms belonged: high and medium-high (HMHT), low medium (LMT) and low (LT) technology firms. For the entire panel, our results provide support for a bidirectional relationship between R&D and patents, supporting both the traditional view and the reverse causality approach (patents cause R&D). When the sample is split into the three technology levels, we also find strong support for a bidirectional relationship in HMHT firms and weak support in LT ones. We found no evidence of this bidirectional link in LMT firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]