This monthly selection of articles has been carried out by Philippe Gugler and Damiano Lepori, the Center for Competitiveness, University of Fribourg. The entire selection, carried out since 2013, can be consulted on the academic articles page of our web.

А voyage in the role of territory: are territories  capable of instilling their peculiarities in local production systems

By: C. Vaquero-Piñeiro. Dipartimento di Economia Università degli studi Roma Tre, Working Paper n° 251, ISSN 2279-6916, 2020.

Abstract: “Are territories capable of instilling their peculiarities on local production systems? Which are the territorial determinants that support this linkage? We answer to these questions theoretically and empirically. Firstly, this paper presents a conceptual voyage in the notion of territory by tapping into two different research branches: regional and agricultural economics. Thereafter, the integrated framework developed through the literature review is used to investigate the relevance of territory from an empirical point of view. We do that looking at Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) as proxies of local productions due to their intrinsic and official relation with their region-of-origin. The analysis focuses on Italy, is conducted at municipality level and exploits logit dynamic panel models. Findings confirm that embedded productions reflect the combination of socio-economic, historical, institutional, natural and cultural features. In some cases, an ex-ante level of development is a relevant precondition for establishing successful agri-food systems.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional Development Overview: Challenges, Adopted Strategies, and New  Initiatives

By: R. W. Jackson, G. J. D. Hewings, S. Rey, N. Lozano Gracia. World Bank Group, Urban, Disaster Risk Management, Resilience and Land Global Practice, Policy Research Working Paper No. 9056, 2019.

Regional Development Overview: Challenges, Adopted Strategies, and New Initiatives

Abstract: “Despite the increasing attention in recent years to the spatial dimensions of economic development, consideration of the importance of space and the recognition that macro, aspatial perspectives can prove to be misleading are not new. Around the world, much of the disappointment with the outcomes from spatial interventions may be traced to a lack of understanding of how regional economies work. This paper reviews the challenges that the consideration of regions brings into economic analysis. This work provides an overview of some of the key methods and tools that can be used to gain a better understanding of how regional economies work. The review aims to guide practitioners and analysts in the use of tools for regional economic analysis and inform discussion of the challenges regions face and the opportunities on which they can build.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORS]

Agglomeration and productivity in South Africa: Evidence from firm-level  data

By: H. Amusa, N. Wabiri, D. Fadiran. United Nation University, World Institute for Development Economics Research, WIDER Working Paper 2019/93, 2019.

Agglomeration and productivity in South Africa: Evidence from firm-level data

Abstract: “Using comprehensive, anonymized tax administrative data for the 2008–14 period, we examine firm-level productivity in South Africa. Measures of firm-level productivity are included in a spatial autoregressive model that assesses spillovers from total factor productivity originating from agglomeration economies and the spatial diffusion of productivity shocks. We find that across South Africa’s firms, intermediate inputs have the highest impact on firm productivity. The results from the spatial analysis indicate that for a firm in a particular region, its clustering with other firms, having increased market power, and an extended length of stay in a particular region have a greater impact on productivity than do market conditions and firm-specific characteristics associated with firms located in neighbouring regions or municipalities.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORS]

Quality Differentiation and Spatial Clustering among Restaurants 

By: P. Mossay, J. K. Shin, G. Smrkolj. Kyungpook National University, Université catholique de Louvain, Newcastle University, MPRA Paper No. 98707, 2020.

Abstract: “To explore the relationship between spatial location and quality differentiation, we build a dataset of over 30,000 restaurants rated by TripAdvisor, across large UK cities. Whereas top-rated restaurants tend to locate closer to other top restaurants, bottom-rated restaurants tend to locate away from each other and closer to top ones. Our theoretical model can explain the main features of the observed spatial patterns. We find that an increase in the population density in the city center reduces the spatial dispersion of both top and bottom restaurants but the reduction is larger in magnitude for top restaurants. A larger quality difference between top and bottom restaurants increases both the absolute and relative dispersion of top restaurants.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORS]

Local Knowledge Spillovers and Innovation Persistence of Firms

By: A. Holl, B. Peters, C. Rammer. ZEW - Leibniz-Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung, ZEW Discussion Papers No. 20-005, 2020.

Abstract: “Recent empirical evidence has shown that firm’s innovation behavior exhibits high persistency but not much is known about potential contingencies affecting the degree of persistence. This paper focuses on the role of the local knowledge environment and asks how local knowledge spillovers affect firms' innovation persistence. The empirical analysis draws upon a representative panel data set of firms in Germany from 2002-2016, complemented by detailed geographic information of patent activity over discrete distances to proxy local knowledge spillovers. Based on correlated random effects probit models that control for state dependence, unobserved individual heterogeneity and endogenous initial conditions, our results corroborate former evidence that persistency in innovation is driven by true state dependence. More importantly, we find that the local patenting activity positively moderates firms ́ degree of persistency in innovation behavior. This is a novel firm-level mechanism that can explain the widening of spatial disparities in innovation performance. Estimations with different distance bands show that the strength of knowledge spillovers that contribute to innovation persistence via true state dependence declines rather rapidly with increasing distance.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORS]

State governments as financiers of technology startups: Evidence from  Michigan’s R&D loan program

By: B. Zhao, R. Ziedonis. Research Policy, Vol. 49, Iss. 4, 2020.

Abstract: “State governments in the United States often fund and support technology startups within their borders. Yet little is known about the magnitude with which these place-based policy interventions shift the performance trajectories of entrepreneurial firms. We provide new evidence based on 241 startups that compete for advanced research and technology commercialization loans between 2002 and 2008 through a Michigan-based program. Among applicants with project scores near the threshold required for funding, we find that award recipients are 20%–30% more likely to remain in business four years after the competition relative to similar companies that seek but fail to receive funding. We also find that award receipt stimulates follow-on venture capital (VC) investments in surviving companies. The VC stimulus effect is, however, disproportionately driven by subsets of firms that are very young, relatively inexperienced at external fundraising, or located outside the dominant hub of entrepreneurial activity within the state. This distinctive pattern of heterogeneous effects remains visible for follow-on R&D financing from federal government sources, and for supplemental outcome measures that use news articles to track shifts in financing and business development activities. These findings are consistent with the view that public R&D programs are particularly beneficial when frictions in private resource markets are more severe.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORS]

Are clusters resilient? Evidence from Canadian textile industries

By: K. Behrens, B. Boualam, J. Martin. Journal of Economic Geography, Vol. 20, Iss. 1, pp. 1-36, 2020.

Abstract: “We investigate whether plants inside and outside geographic clusters differ in their resilience to adverse economic shocks. To this end, we develop a bottom-up procedure to delimit clusters using Canadian geo-coded plant-level data. Focusing on the textile and clothing (T&C) sector and exploiting the series of dramatic changes faced by that sector between 2001 and 2013, we find little evidence that plants in T&C clusters are more resilient than plants outside clusters. Over the whole period, plants inside clusters are neither less likely to die nor more likely to adapt by switching their main line of business. However, in the industries the most exposed to the surge of Chinese imports after 2005, plants inside clusters die and exit less than others in the following 2 years.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORS]