Regional Economic Convergence in Mexico: An Analysis by Industry

ABSTRACT Existing studies of convergence across jurisdictions of a nation have focused on developed economies. A key assumption underlying regional convergence is geographical factor mobility, and in a developed economy, mobility is facilitated by low transportation costs. By the same token, convergence in a less-developed economy may be impeded by the absence of a well-developed transportation infrastructure. We examine the rate and industrial composition of economic convergence in a neighboring less-developed country (LDC), Mexico, to examine how it might have differed from the U.S. experience. We find evidence of stronger convergence in Gross State Product per capita in Mexico relative to existing estimates of U.S. convergence. Further, while manufacturing activity has been found to be a primary source of convergence in the U.S., we find weaker evidence of convergence of manufacturing activity in Mexico. On the other hand, industries such as hotels and transportation were found to be significantly influential in regional convergence in the Mexican economy.     

Regional Development Within National Industrial Policies: An Analysis of the British Coal Industry

Three variations in regional policy distinguish the conduct of the nationalized British coal industry—social industry, state industry, and state commerce. Each variation takes a distinct approach to natural and human resource development in chronically depressed regions such as the peripheral coal fields in Britain or the Appalachian coal fields in the United States. Central to the variation are recognition of the factor of decline that E. F. Schumacher analyzed in the 1950s and the mitigation of social welfare consequences of shifts in production and investment. Schumacher's analysis raised policy issues of social welfare, resource development, and energy. These emerged again in the British coalminers'strike of 1984–85. Broad issues like these are likely to surface in regions where employment is concentrated in a declining industry facing new and severe competition.     

Regional Economic Diversity and Diversification

ABSTRACT Regional scientists have long attempted to develop meaningful definitions and measures of economic diversity and diversification, and to establish functional relationships between diversity, diversification, and economic performance. The multiplicity of definitions and measures explains, in part, the confusion about these relationships. A framework that sorts out the overlaps, contradictions, and gaps of the various definitions and measures IS needed. Such a framework would explicitly address the question, “What is the relationship between a region's changing economic structure and performance?” In this paper it is suggested that an input-output model that incorporates elements of portfolio theory be used as the integrating framework for analysis.     

State and Regional Economic Data Needs

A panel discussion on economic data needs at the state and regional levels, featuring both producer and consumer participants, seemed to the editors of Growth and Change to merit a wider audience than it achieved at the November 1971 convention of the Southern Economic Association. We therefore offer to our readers the following slightly abridged version of the seven presentations.     

Inside the Great Recession: University Products and Regional Economic Development

This article investigates the role of universities in the economic development of American metropolitan regions during the Great Recession (2007–2009) and the growth period prior to it (2001–2007). It develops a supply‐side conceptual framework on the role of universities in technology‐led regional economic development. Specifically, this framework highlights three “university products” that can be explicitly defined and measured: educational services, business services, and new knowledge or technology. The empirical test of this conceptual framework finds that the presence of universities is positively associated with regional economic performance during the Great Recession, mainly via the educational services product. Findings indicate that regions with a higher level of university science, technology, engineering, and mathematics graduates are more resilient to the economic recession.     

Local Industry Agglomeration and New Business Activity

New businesses are highly involved in innovative activity, which enhances worker productivity and leads to increased economic output. This paper investigates the effects of industry concentration on the incidence of new business openings in the 5,504 Maine county‐industries. Empirical findings indicate that new business activity increases with the number of incumbent establishments in a county‐industry and its concentration level relative to the U.S. economy. Model simulations show that raising county‐industries, with no initial industry presence, to concentration levels similar to that of the industry in the U.S. economy results in a 1.7 to 8.9 percent increase in the expected number of business openings over a three‐year period. Empirical results also suggest that industry clusters comprised of young and small establishments are more conducive to new business formation than clusters made up of mature and large companies.     

Indices of Industrial Diversity and Regional Economic Composition

ABSTRACT Attempts to differentiate regions from one another, whether in social, demographic, or economic terms, have led to the development of numerous indices to summarize the economic composition of regions. This study revisits classic indices of industrial diversity to evaluate their applicability for benchmarking local and regional economies. Specifically, we explore a multivariate extension of these diversity indices for measuring concentration in an effort to evaluate their ability to accurately depict spatial relationships of county level resources for the contiguous U.S. The relative abilities of the classic indices are compared to a developed measure of resource concentration, the County Similarity Index (CS‐Index), which represents a computationally simple and flexible alternative to these indices. Results suggest the CS‐Index produces superior results to the indices evaluated, particularly with regard to the spatial relationships of county resource concentrations, which are quantified using global and local indicators of spatial association.     

Economic Impact of a Port on a Regional Economy: Note

ABSTRACT This paper attempts to identify and adjust for several shortcomings of previous port impact studies in the estimation of primary port economic impact. These shortcomings are found to create the potential for both positive and negative bias. Also presented in this paper is a technique for circumventing several practical problems in the estimation of secondary economic impact. These adjustments are applied to estimate the economic impact of the Port of Hampton Roads, Virginia.     

Technology Clusters versus Industry Clusters: Resources,Networks, and Regional Advantages

ABSTRACT The tendency of firms to cluster within a region has been observed for quite some time. However, it is only over the past two decades that business researchers have focused much attention on clusters, particularly in terms of their entrepreneurial and innovative characteristics and potential. At the same time, regional developers around the world have put much effort in promoting the formation of clusters. A gap in such efforts is an understanding of the differences among types of clusters. This article draws a distinction between two generic types of clusters: technology‐based and industry‐focused. Using the resource‐based view as the organizing framework, we argue that the two generic cluster types create very different regional resource profiles over time, accumulating resources in a different manner, cultivating different capabilities, and deriving different sources of regional advantage. As concluded in the study, these differences are likely to have implications for firms located in the regions as well as for economic developers and public policy officials charged with developing cluster strategies.     

Economic Impact Studies of Regional Public Colleges and Universities

ABSTRACT This article reviews methodological issues confronting authors and users of economic impact studies of public colleges and universities. Questions addressed include the following: How should economic impact of regional public colleges and universities be defined? What considerations should govern the definition or the geographical study area? How should tax support of publicly supported institutions be addressed? The article includes perspectives from recent literature considering these questions from both short-term and long-term perspectives. Resolution of these issues depends upon careful delineation and communication of the alternative states of world between which the hypothetical impact is measured.     

柴达木盆地做好春小麦区域试验的经验与方法

小麦区域试验是联系农业科研与农业生产的重要纽带,客观、准确、科学、全面地对新育成品种的丰产性、稳产性、抗逆性及品质性状等进行鉴定及综合评价,为新品种推广应用提供科学依据,做好小麦区域试验显得尤为重要.     

高品质番茄产业链技术经济分析的方法与实证

开展农业技术经济效果评价研究,对于探寻适宜的农业生产策略具有指导意义。本研究运用农业技术经济分析的传统因素分析法,并进行了创新,对高品质番茄产业链技术经济效果进行了分析。结果表明：影响番茄生产成本产值率的一级指标是产量、价格、成本,以价格对成本产值率的影响指数最大;影响番茄生产成本产值率的二级指标是新销售方式、新技术、新品种,各二级指标对成本产值率的影响指数大小顺序是生产规模和地域因素、番茄采后保鲜袋包装技术、番茄流通销售保鲜技术;构建了番茄产业链的有效技术经济模式。     

Ethnicity,Economic Polarization and Regional Inequality in Southern Slovakia

This paper examines the relationships between ethnicity and regional economic transformation in Slovakia. It takes as its focus the position of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia in the uneven process of regional change. The paper places these issues within the context of struggles over ethnicity and ‘nation’ in post‐independence Slovakia. The paper argues that ethnicity has been a thoroughly contested issue since the collapse of ‘communism’ in Slovakia and a variety of struggles have been waged over enhancing the rights and position of the Hungarian minority population. The concentration of the Hungarian minority in the southern Slovak border regions with Hungary is examined within the context of the uneven economic impacts of the ‘transition to capitalism’. It is argued that, while the economic decline seen in many of these ‘Hungarian’ regions has impacted negatively on the local populations, the roots of these changes lie within the ways in which such regions were integrated into the state socialist regional division of labor. In particular, the role of peripheral industrialization in such regions prior to 1989, in attempting to reduce economic differences among various ethnic groups, resulted in the establishment of branch plant economies which have had difficulty in surviving since 1989. It is therefore the interweaving of the economics of regional decline and the politics of ethnicity that help us to understand the complex place of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia.     

The Analysis of Interrelations Between Regional Economic Growth and Savings

The interrelations between the regional economic growth and savings are analyzed by using Johansen cointegration test and Granger causality test based on error correction model. The results show that the economic growing is one of the main factors that raise the amount of saving but don't increase the saving growth rate in all three regions. Also the increase of saving could result in the eastern and weatern region's economic growth to some extent, but it does't affect the central region's economic growth. Therefore, some actions which drive the economic growth have to be taken in order to raise the saving, and the increase of the saving scale have to be controled to improve the regional economic growth.     

The Dynamic Effects of Entrepreneurship on Regional Economic Growth: Evidence from Canada

Facilitating entrepreneurship to address regional income disparity continues to be a major concern of policy makers across the globe. This study explores the temporal pattern of income disparity for Canadian provinces in two estimation steps. First, an econometric growth regression model is applied to identify the impact of entrepreneurship on regional economic growth. The estimation results suggest that entrepreneurship, measured in terms of the self‐employment rate, plays a pivotal role in determining regional development in Canada. Second, a dynamic vector autoregression model is employed to simulate long‐run regional growth effects that result from policy shocks affecting entrepreneurship. Compared to other growth drivers, entrepreneurship is found to have more pronounced and long‐term stimulative effects on regional development for the period of 1987–2007.     

人口结构与区域经济社会发展的耦合分析——以黑龙江省为例

为了更好的协调人口结构变动与区域经济社会的发展,运用灰色关联分析和层次分析相结合的方法对黑龙江省人口结构和区域经济社会发展的耦合性进行了定量分析,最终得出区域经济社会发展体系内的不同指标与人口结构间的加权关联度。结果表明:黑龙江省社会发展指标与人口结构的关联度普遍较高,经济发展指标与人口结构的关联度相对较低,黑龙江省经济发展模式亟待转型升级。