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The spatial concentration of services and facilities poses a challenge to providing sufficient social and economic opportunities in rural areas. Accessibility evaluations based on spatial data potentially overlook individual heterogeneity in needs, desires and abilities, leading to mismatches with how accessibility is perceived. Using data from a self-administered survey in the Netherlands, this paper examines individual factors that explain differences between accessibility to daily activities calculated from spatial data and perceived levels of accessibility in rural areas. Accessibility is perceived as high on average, while 12% of the population is estimated to experience low levels of accessibility at least to some extent. Perceived accessibility correlates poorly with spatial accessibility, but is rather moderated by individual factors. Car mobility appears to be a major contributor to perceiving sufficient levels of accessibility in rural areas. However, the lowest levels of perceived accessibility seem to be more associated with social disadvantages than with transport disadvantages. The integration of relatively easy-to-obtain individual characteristics into spatial accessibility measurements may already significantly close the gap with perceived accessibility. With more explicit consideration of the individual dimension when constructing or interpreting accessibility indicators based on spatial data, the validity of their use in planning practice will increase and therefore facilitate successful accessibility-based planning. • Aggregated spatial accessibility measures likely overlook inequalities in perceived accessibility. • Integrating relatively easily obtainable individual factors may already significantly close the gap between spatial and perceived accessibility. • 12% of the Dutch rural population is estimated to experience low levels of accessibility at least to some extent. • The lowest levels of perceived accessibility in Dutch rural areas are more related to social than to transport disadvantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Ongoing automation processes may render a fair share of the existing jobs redundant or change their nature. This begs the question to what extent employees affected invest in training in order to strengthen their labour market position in times of uncertainty. Given the different national labour market regimes and institutions, there may be an important geographical dimension to the opportunities to cope with the challenges set by automation. The purpose of this study is to address both issues. Design/methodology/approach: Using data from the 2016 European labour Force Survey, the authors estimate with logit and multi-level regression analyses how the automation risk of a worker's job is associated with the propensity of following non-formal education/training. The authors allow this relationship to vary across European countries. Findings: The results show that employees in jobs vulnerable to automation invest relatively little in training. Also, there are significant differences across Europe in both the provision of training in general and the effect of automation on training provision. Originality/value: While there is quite a lot of research on the structural labour market effects of automation, relatively little is known about the actions that employees take to deal with the uncertainty they are faced with. This article aims to contribute to our understanding of such mechanisms underlying the structural macro-level labour-market dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies relating income to subjective well‐being have found that both absolute and relative income determine individual well‐being. This paper assesses the effect of relative income on subjective well‐being, and the spatial scale on which this comparison takes place. This study employs spatial data on individual well‐being, health, socio‐economic status, and psychometrics. The findings suggest that relative income is a significant predictor of subjective well‐being. The relationship is negative for high‐income households, but absent or reversed for low income households showing an asymmetric relationship. The spatial scale for the comparison effect is small, with a bandwidth of 100 metres providing the best fit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper examines the role of human capital as a location factor in the context of long‐distance firm relocations. Using rich register data on single‐plant firms in the Netherlands 2006–2011, the paper enquires into whether relocation is motivated by the wish to improve the access to employees and the quality of labour force. Not disrupting existing spatial relationships is a prominent consideration of relocating firms, yet in general, relocation does not result in a better spatial match. Some evidence is found for firm‐specific human capital functioning as a keep factor. Relocating firms retain predominantly highly skilled employees, but general human capital itself functions neither as a keep factor nor as a pull factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the role of residential self-selection in the spatial distribution of perceived accessibility in the Netherlands. People may self-select into residential areas that match their preferences regarding participation in out-of-home activities. Differences in the magnitude of opportunities provided by the land use and transport system may, consequently, not accurately mirror perceived accessibility differences, complicating the design of responsive policy. Perceived accessibility was found to be less variable than spatial accessibility, meaning that fewer opportunities do not fully translate into lower perceived accessibility. Expected perceived accessibility differences under random conditions were estimated by comparing residents of distinct spatial accessibility contexts with the same propensity to live in either context, yielding a quasi-experimental setting. Estimates of the expected increments in average perceived accessibility levels as the number of locally available opportunities increases indicate diminishing returns to spatial accessibility. In addition, preference-based residential self-selection was found to further mitigate spatial accessibility differences. Yet despite diminishing returns to spatial accessibility and residential self-selection, perceived accessibility remains lower in rural areas due to limited residential freedom. In addition, the non-linear benefits of spatial accessibility imply that further loss of facilities in rural areas can quickly lead to insufficiency below a certain tipping point. Already, residential self-selection in rural areas strongly relies on access to car mobility, conflicting with environmental and social inclusion accessibility planning objectives. Accessibility-based transport planning, therefore, requires not only a substantive shift away from alleviating car congestion, but also a geographical shift in favour of rural areas. • Perceived accessibility is more evenly distributed than spatial accessibility • Diminishing returns to spatial accessibility and residential self-selection partly mitigate lower levels of spatial accessibility • Rural areas remain to exhibit lower levels of perceived accessibility than more urbanized areas • RResidential self-selection in rural areas relies on access car mobility, conflicting with environmental and social transport planning goals [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The disequilibrium and equilibrium models of migration disagree on how local amenities and labor market dynamics influence regional in-migration. Research into migration motives and decision-making show that migration for some individuals is mainly driven by proximity to the labor market, while migration for others is mainly amenity driven. As this is an ongoing process, it should result in a spatial sorting based on migration motives. This means that global models explaining in-migration underestimate the influence of both factors through averaging out of the coefficients across these diverse regions. In this article, we compare a local and a global model explaining in-migration through residential quality and labor market proximity. We find significant differences in the influence of the explanatory variables between regions. Demonstrating this spatial heterogeneity shows that the impacts of factors underpinning migration vary across regions. This result highlights the importance of the regional context in anticipating and designing regional policy concerning population dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the degree to which creative industries stimulate regional productivity growth in a developing country, Indonesia. The Indonesian government promotes long-established 'traditional' craft businesses as creative industries, but they pay less attention to new knowledge creation and focus on highlighting heritage values as selling points. Our findings show that the 'real' creative industries are still scarce and found mostly in fairly advanced urban regions. These industries are more likely to be an indicator than a driver of regional economic development. Meanwhile, those traditional businesses are much larger than creative industries and potentially contribute to regional productivity through consumption activities, thereby requiring different policy strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of start-ups has skyrocketed in the Netherlands in the past ten years. Has this growth been accompanied by a shift in the spatial patterns of start-ups? This Windows on the Netherlands puts this question to the test and maps the dynamics in the spatial patterns of start-ups for the period 1996-2013. This is done at the disaggregated spatial level of the municipality. Even though we observe a slight shift of entrepreneurship to the east of the country, the overall spatial patterns in start-up intensity are highly stable: start-up rates are highest in the most urbanised municipalities. As the small spatial scale of analysis potentially allows for much variability, the found stability in the spatial patterns lends additional empirical support to the idea that patterns in start-up rates are highly persistent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the occurrence and spatial patterns of creative industries in the context of a developing country, specifically Indonesia. Our findings show that, in the context of Indonesia, it is crucial to distinguish between ‘innovative’ creative industries and ‘traditional cultural’ industries. The first category represents those that exploit new knowledge and intellectual property. The latter industries tend to preserve heritage values as selling points and, in Indonesia, they are actually much more significant in economic terms than creative industries and therefore should be taken into account. The spatial patterns of the two industries also differ. Creative industries are likely to concentrate in large urban regions, where innovation and cross-fertilisation of ideas can take place with the support of talent pooling and relatedness among niche producers. The Indonesian case is no exception. Meanwhile, traditional cultural industries are much less dependent on human capital and urbanisation economies. The results of this study suggest that policy strategies aimed at creative industries would be applicable in reasonably advanced regions provided they have sufficient human capital and economic diversification. In comparison, regions specialising in traditional cultural industries can adopt a different strategy to optimise the impact of these industries. Currently, the creative industry policy does not make this distinction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrepreneurial activity has been documented as an important mechanism to achieve poverty alleviation. In line with this, providing access to entrepreneurial finance for disadvantaged groups has been a prominent policy tool. The advent of digital finance may prove a game changer in that it could substantially lower the threshold to access entrepreneurial finance, particularly for disadvantaged entrepreneur who have a hard time accessing formal sources of finance. This study explores whether the availability of digital finance indeed increases the propensity and the quality of entrepreneurship among Chinese migrants. The paper applies data of the China Migrants Dynamic Survey in 2018 and the China's digital financial inclusion index. The results show that local digital financial development is indeed positively associated with entrepreneurial probability and quality. Moreover, the three sub-dimensions of digital finance (e.g., breadth of coverage, depth of use and level of digitization) also increase the likelihood of migrants' entrepreneurship. From the perspective of entrepreneurial motivation, digital finance has a significant positive impact on not only the migrants' choice of necessity-based entrepreneurship, but also on the selection of opportunity-based entrepreneurship. In addition, this paper finds that the facilitating role of digital finance on entrepreneurship is more prominent for migrants who lived in rural regions, with lower educational levels, experienced cross-provincial mobility, not belonging to a member of party organization and whose parents do not have good education background and local hukou, which reflects the inclusiveness of digital finance in reversing the financing disadvantage of vulnerable groups. Though this study is set in the context of China, the principle that access to digital finance increases the propensity of entrepreneurship as well as its quality likely translates to other contexts in the developing world. • The rise of digital finance has provided more diversified financing sources for the entrepreneurship of disadvantaged groups. • We explore the role of digital finance development on the entrepreneurial behavior of Chinese migrants from multiple levels. • Digital finance is conducive to enhancing the entrepreneurial probability and quality of migrants in less developed areas. • The sub-dimensions of breadth of coverage, depth of use and level of digitization can promote the migrants' entrepreneurship. • Digital finance development promotes both migrants' necessity-based entrepreneurship and opportunity-based entrepreneurship. • It is more prominent for migrants in rural regions, with lower educational levels or experienced cross-provincial mobility. • It is more significant for migrants who are not party members or parents without good education background and local hukou. • The inclusiveness of digital finance in stimulating entrepreneurship can inspire common prosperity for developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regions typically take great pride in having an airport within their boundaries. Policymakers go through great lengths in maintaining and sustaining airports, small as some of them may be. This support is often justified by pointing out the potential positive economic spin-off of the airport. This study adds to the body of literature on the role of airports in economic growth by assessing the link between air accessibility – with a focus on smaller airports - and regional economic development across European regions. We take into account spatial and airport heterogeneity as well as overlapping catchment areas. The data set consists of a strongly balanced panel of 274 European NUTS-2 regions spanning the years 2000–2018. For most regions, the contribution of smaller airports in providing accessibility is found to be limited. Nevertheless, in 2018, air accessibility for 19% of the European population covered is provided mainly by medium-sized and small airports, and for 3% mainly by small airports. The long-run elasticity between air accessibility and GDP per capita is estimated at 0.106 and is stronger for large airports (0.179) than for medium-sized (0.033) and small airports (0.022). Causality mainly runs from economic growth to air accessibility, especially considering smaller airports. However, considerable spatial heterogeneity exists in the nature of this causal relationship, with dense regions with lagging per capita GDP levels especially benefiting from air accessibility. • The contribution of smaller airports to air accessibility appears to be limited in Europe. • Peripheral regions with lower densities are more dependent on small airports. • The relationship between air transport and economic growth is stronger for large airports than for smaller airports. • Particularly considering smaller airports, causality mainly runs from GDP to air accessibility. • Dense regions with lagging per capita GDP levels are more likely to benefit from air accessibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent literature suggests two mechanisms through which the start-up of new firms contributes to economic development: the growth of start-ups and competition among incumbent firms induced by the start-ups. While existing studies derive the competition effect indirectly, this paper deploys a direct measure, called market mobility, to approximate the induced competition effect. The empirical results are consistent with the idea that both effects are important in explaining the long-term economic impact of start-ups. First, the most successful start-ups grow to become high-growth firms, and second, the entry of new firms stimulates incumbent firms to perform better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the side activities of non-farmers in rural areas in the Netherlands and more specifically on their impact on rural development. Empirical evidence from 36 Dutch municipalities on three key aspects was examined: economy, social and physical environment. The findings indicate that although side activities do not have a large direct impact on the local economy and employment, their contribution in terms of local collaboration and promoting rural tourism is highly valued. Furthermore, side activities have an important role in building and strengthening social capital in rural communities. Where their impacts on physical environment is concerned, side activities are not perceived to damage or alter rural morphology but are considered a reinforcement of the character of rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New firm formation is commonly seen as a representation of the entrepreneurial capacity of a region. However, there is also a group of new firms that is based on the replication of existing business practices rather than on the entrepreneurial introduction of new practices. Both groups of founding types have a role in the explanation of regional economic development. This paper displays the spatial and industry patterns of two types of new firm formation representing each function: individual foundings and organisational foundings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how the creative economy discourse is interpreted and implemented in the context of Indonesia as a developing country. Our main conclusion is that the discourse is interpreted differently across localities. Bandung appears to be the only locality whose interpretation aligns with the general understanding of a creative economy that emphasises knowledge creation and innovation. This was made possible by the strong support from academia and communities who wanted to experiment with this policy idea. Our study also provides an insight into a creative economy developing not only as a discourse, but also as a workable framework for development policies, in this city. Conversely, other cities seem to pragmatically use the policy idea without considering the local context in a rebranding exercise in order to drive economic development, whereby traditional cultural industries are relabelled as creative despite performing hardly any innovation activities. Despite this, Bandung illustrates that there are possibilities for a developing country such as Indonesia to adopt the vision of a creative economy by reshaping local institutions to support successful experimentation with this new idea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]