How to improve the quality of life in peripheral and lagging regions by policy measures? Examining the effects of two different policies in Germany

Peripheral regions commonly appear to be less attractive to live in and policymakers all over the world are applying various measures to make them more attractive. This paper analyzes the effects of two very different measures: The German municipal fiscal equalization scheme and the German structural funds for economically weak areas (GRW). It focusses on the impact on perceived quality of life, measured through interregional migration between German labor market regions. Using a spatial vector autoregressive panel model, we find evidence that equalization transfers have a significant positive impact on regional net migration and contribute to the aim of regional equity. These effects are especially found for regions with low endogenous fiscal capacities. GRW funding reveals no significant effects on net migration rates in total, but short-term effects in rural regions.     

Unwritten Factors Affecting Structural Funds: The Influence of Regional Political Behaviours on the Implementation of EU Cohesion Policy

While EU regional policy has the ambitious objective of supporting lagging regions and promoting inter-regional convergence, its impact is dependent on the ability of regional policymakers to secure and use EU funding to meet the region's needs. This paper aims to show under which conditions politics has a defining influence on the distribution, allocation and utilization of structural funds (SF), specifically in Objective 1 regions. The empirical analysis focuses on the 2000–2006 programming cycle in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. The results show that regions politically aligned with national governing coalitions tend to perform better in terms of received SF support and enjoy more flexibility in implementing SF. However, the influence of regional political behaviours on economic performances is very limited. The findings confirm the importance of politics in influencing SF implementation, but its limited influence on economic outcomes.     

基于县域尺度的江苏省乡村性空间格局演变及其机理研究

基于区域城乡一体的思想构建乡村性指数RI,通过GIS-ESDA空间分析框架,运用空间自相关、空间变差函数等测度模型对20世纪90年代以来县域尺度江苏省乡村性空间格局演变和机理进行了研究。结果表明:1990年以来县域尺度江苏省乡村性表现出较强的空间自相关性,相似地区在空间聚集分布,且集聚的程度不断增强;乡村性热点区空间结构主要以徐州-宿迁-淮安为核心的圈层结构,并且不断向盐城集聚,呈现出明显的地理集中演变特征;县域尺度乡村性空间格局的连续性和自组织性越来越强,由空间自相关引起的结构化分异的机理越来越显著;东北-西南方向乡村性空间差异较小,东南-西北方向乡村性的异质性则十分明显,空间差异较大。     

Supporting ‘Film Cultural Peripheries’? The dilemmas of regional film policy in Norway

Public funding is crucial for the small Norwegian film industry. Based on an analysis of policy documents and interviews with regional film workers, this article discusses the implementation of regional film policy in Norway, and the tensions it has caused between center and periphery with respect to the allocation of funding. The creative industries discourse and the cluster concept are important for understanding this implementation; despite the new regional film policies the capital Oslo remains the undisputed hub of film production, and low production volume is still a challenge for the regions. Size, the article explains, is not only central when discussing Oslo as compared to the regions, but has also become a contentious issue within the regions. A key concern for the government, the article suggests, is how to create strong film milieus all over the country, which may entail the risk of spreading funding too thinly across the regions, resulting in a fragmented industry.     

浙江省区域创新中心空间格局及其驱动机制研究

区域创新中心建设对区域创新资源整合优化,发挥区域创新优势意义重大。研究运用最邻近距离、核密度估计、探索性空间分析等方法,分析浙江省区域创新中心空间分布、聚类特征及影响因素,得出以下结论:2013年浙江省区域创新中心空间分布整体呈现"周边少,中心多"的态势,空间点分布呈现凝聚特征,空间核分布存在明显不均衡现象;各县市区域创新中心空间分布同样呈现集聚特征,且存在明显的高值与低值集聚;区域创新中心的建设与发展需要市场各级主体的共同合作,同时还受到区域创新能力、经济发展水平、产业集群优势、政府政策因素以及空间邻近效应的影响。     

Modeling the Impact of Technological Innovation on Environmental Efficiency: A Spatial Panel Data Approach

Technological progress has widely been acknowledged as a key driver in the achievement of environmental sustainability, and a new concern has recently arisen for assessing the role of differences in regional innovation performances with respect to the pursuit of pollution targets. We investigate the impact of innovative activities on environmental efficiency at the regional level, adopting a spatial panel data approach to account for dependence between geographical observations and to get deeper insights into spatial knowledge spillovers arising from agglomeration economies. The spatial panel analysis covers 103 Italian provinces (equivalent to NUTS3 regions) on four major air pollutants (i.e., CO₂, CH₄, NMVOC, CO) over the 1995–2010 period. Our findings show that the state of local technology development, proxied by patents, has a positive impact on GDP emission efficiency and that its magnitude is higher for more localized pollutants as a result of larger spillover effects. Finally, to analyze the Italian North-South dualism of emission levels of pollutants, we offer a spillover effect study to emphasize the remarkable difference among effects in the territory. This calls for closer attention to the local relevance of the pollution damage when environmental impact of innovation strategies is to be evaluated.     

A project of doubtful utility: measuring legislative opposition to the Pennsylvania Canal

A spatial model of legislative roll call votes is used to examine the debate surrounding the decision to build a canal across Pennsylvania in 1826. The model reveals a sharp polarization between the English and German-speaking regions of the state, with marked splits over the establishment and funding of the Pennsylvania Canal and other fiscal issues. Representatives from the German-speaking regions consistently opposed all spending initiatives. This regional split, underappreciated by geographers and historians, provides evidence in support of a broader positioning of culture and ethnicity in the study of political behavior. The model itself provides a novel means of analyzing and assessing geographically based voting blocs.     

Regional Efficiency in the European Union

This paper examines existing disparities in technical efficiency levels across the European regions over the period 1986–2002. The results reveal that technical efficiency is not randomly distributed across space in the European setting. On the contrary, the different tests performed highlight the presence of positive spatial autocorrelation and spatial heterogeneity in the distribution under consideration. In fact, we have detected several regional clusters characterized by similar efficiency levels distinguishing them from the rest of the sample. Nevertheless, the estimates carried out show the existence of a process of regional convergence in terms of technical efficiency during the study period. Our findings also reveal that factors such as the regional stock of capital per worker or the patterns of productive specialization are relevant in explaining the changes in technical efficiency experienced by the European regions between 1986 and 2002.     

南京城市扩展与其空间增长管理的研究

城市的空间扩展是城市化发展的直接体现,透过对城市扩展的分析研究,可以加深对城市化本质的理解,并可为城市可持续发展提供有效的空间决策资讯。本文选取南京城市扩展作为分析的具体案例,在充分认识和剖析自然景观、区域经济及城市用地结构特征等条件基础上,揭示了南京城市扩展的空间动态过程及其诱导性因子。基于对城市总体规划的概念性理解,论文概括了南京城市空间增长的基本管理措施:即,外围总体控制--框定主城区;主城内部空间的分片管理-结构优化;区域层面的都市发展区空间组织-外围空间引导。     

Fragmented Integration and Business Cycle Synchronization in the Greek Regions

This paper examines the degree of business cycle synchronicity among Greek regions and investigates the determinants of the business cycle co-movements of output associated with specific functional and spatial aspects of the integration process among the Greek regions. We analyse nearly 30 years (1980–2008) of data at the NUTSIII level (prefectures). We conclude that the business cycles of prefectures are more synchronized with the NUTSII regional cycle than with the national business cycle revealing a regional (NUTSII) border effect. Moreover, the intensification of the integration process seems to diachronically affect the structural characteristics of the Greek regions and the geography of cyclical synchronization. Our study reveals a two-stage integration process where in the first stage we detect the existence of urbanization economies, while in the second one the existence of localization economies. Furthermore, our study reveals that the metropolitan regions have a low level of business cycle synchronicity with the other regions, stressing Greece's pattern of economic and structural dualism.     

Bayesian Analysis of Knowledge Spillovers in European Regions*

Abstract. This paper estimates the effects of knowledge spillovers on patent growth rates across 335 European regions over the 1989–1999 period. We propose a dynamic model based on an innovation production function. A Bayesian approach is used to take into account area‐specific innovation and spatial spillovers. The estimation of the model proceeds via Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation. The results show significant positive and negative spatial effects on innovative activity. The model allows for a rich spatial specification, which we illustrate by incorporating transport proximity measured by transportation time between regions to augment the typical spatial proximity measure of connectivity between regions. Doing this produces more pronounced spatial spillovers that exhibit a more polarized spatial pattern than a model relying on spatial proximity alone.     

Innovation and Regional Development,Do European Structural Funds make a Difference?

The article draws on a thematic evaluation of Research Technological Development and Innovation (RTDI) related actions supported by the Structural Funds to assist declining industrial areas or Objective 2 regions, during the period between 1989 and 1999. Over the 10 year period, three main approaches were identified in Objective 2 regions, the last two becoming predominant during the latter part of the period: technology push with funding of large projects such as science parks and research facilities; technology transfer with measures to disseminate technology; and demand pull with clearly identified and self contained RTDI priorities. While drawing lessons from the last decade, the paper also integrates some preliminary observations on structural funds investments for innovation during the current 2000–2006 programming period and concludes with a review of possible scenarios for the further development of RTDI in lagging regions in the framework of the Lisbon Strategy.     

泛长江三角洲FDI空间格局演化研究

运用GIS-ESDA空间分析框架,探讨2000年以来泛长江三角洲FDI空间格局演化,结果表明:FDI分布总体呈弱集聚格局,热点区分布较稳定,呈现以上海、苏州为核心的圈层结构;FDI增长格局逐渐由随机性向规律性特征转变,集聚现象日益显著,其热点区与次热区均呈现从南向北跃迁,由零星分布向团状集聚形态转变的态势;FDI总体差异逐渐减小,而且作用于整个空间尺度因随机因素引起的空间差异不断降低,空间连续性和自组织性较显著。从各方向发展趋势看,东南-西北方向差异最小,东-西方向差异最大,且南-北方向差异逐渐增大,而其他3个分方向差异不断减小。最后,将FDI空间格局演化的驱动力归结为集聚效应、技术势差、地缘关系、成本和市场容量5个方面。     

From Core-periphery to Polycentric Development: Concepts of Spatial and Aspatial Peripherality

Technical changes in the field of transport, communication and information technology, together with long-term structural shifts will, in the new century, allow a degree of spatial reorganization of European economic activity. The validity of conventional (spatial) models of peripherality is increasingly questionable. They should be supplemented by more appropriate 'aspatial' concepts. Although many elements of these are already well understood, coherent models and operational indicators are required. These could provide a sound theoretical basis on which to further the European Spatial Development Perspective's polycentric development objective. They could also provide new opportunities for peripheral regions, and relief from 'overheating' at the core.     

SPATIAL DISCONTINUITY FOR THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF THE EU REGIONAL POLICY: THE CASE OF ITALIAN OBJECTIVE 1 REGIONS*

The economic impact of the Regional Policy of the European Union is still controversial. This paper exploits administrative boundaries as spatial discontinuity to estimate the causal effect of this policy on the Italian Objective 1 regions’ employment. The analysis, developed both in a border strategy framework (municipalities contiguous to the policy‐change boundary) and with more traditional RDD models balanced by spatial forcing variables (centroids’ distance and coordinates), shows that the EU Regional Policy produced a positive impact on employment levels, without any displacement of economic activities away from nontreated regions and a concentration of the impact in key economic sectors.     

An Impact Analysis of the European Structural Funds on the Variation of the Rate of Employment and Productivity in Objective 1 Regions

Regional policies seek to enable regions to increase their competitiveness and development, and as such one priority objective of activities financed by Structural Funds is higher employment, higher productivity and economic activity. How efficiently the regions apply the funds is a fundamental issue for the development and continuity of regional policies. We, therefore, consider that determining the efficiency of European regional policies is an issue of high importance, and this is the main aim of this study. We have considered it appropriate to use the available information to apply a mathematical technique known as data envelopment analysis, which allows us to calculate the technical efficiency and inefficiency of the Structural Funds applied in the Objective 1 regions for the period 2000–2006. Furthermore, we wish to determine if the regions have been more efficient in increasing their levels of employment or in increasing productivity. Our study applies this methodology along with other methods such as regression analysis, profit analysis and factorial analysis to determine the variation in the rate of unemployment and productivity in these European Regions. The study reveals that only eight regions are efficient, although none of them is in all the models run.     

中国社会服务业外商直接投资的空间格局研究

利用省际数据探讨我国社会服务业FDI的空间集聚特征及格局影响机制,以期从新视角分析各地的对外开放程度。研究发现:①我国社会服务业FDI呈地带性分布特征;②社会服务业FDI的空间布局并不完全追随地区的经济发达程度;③我国社会服务业FDI存在不显著的空间正相关,其空间集聚程度低于生产性服务业FDI;④近年来空间正相关省份数量明显增多,东中部沿海及长三角的极化作用加强。⑤经济发展较快的区域逐渐显示出吸引外资进入社会服务业的优势;⑥政策及实施细则、经济发展水平和行业属性,是空间格局的重要影响机制。     

国外高速铁路空间经济效应研究进展及启示

国外高铁建设起步较早,发展相对成熟,而国内的相关研究则严重落后于建设实践。在对国外大量文献进行梳理的基础上,以高铁诱发的空间经济效应为切入点,将国外评估高铁空间经济效应的理论与方法归纳为成本-效益、新经济地理学、可达性、可计算一般均衡与Logit离散选择模型五类,认为从研究内容与方法等方面来看,国外的研究主要围绕着多维空间尺度效应、受影响的经济部门、站点周围土地利用形式、与其他交通方式之间关系以及总体效应等方面。最后指出可从实地调查、案例对比及综合研究等方面强化国内的相关研究。     

An Impact Analysis of the European Structural Funds on the Variation of the Rate of Employment and Productivity in Objective 1 Regions

Regional policies seek to enable regions to increase their competitiveness and development, and as such one priority Objective of activities financed by Structural Funds is higher employment, higher productivity and economic activity. How efficiently the regions apply the funds is a fundamental issue for the development and continuity of regional policies. We therefore consider that determining the efficiency of European regional policies is an issue of high importance, and this is the main aim of this study. We have considered it appropriate to use the available information to apply a mathematical technique known as Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), which allows us to calculate the technical efficiency and inefficiency of the Structural Funds applied in the Objective 1 regions for the period 2000–2006. Furthermore, we wish to determine if the regions have been more efficient in creasing their levels of employment or in increasing productivity. Our study applies this methodology along with other methods like regression analysis, profit analysis and factorial analysis to determine the variation in the rate of unemployment and productivity in these European Regions. The study reveals that only eight regions are efficient, although none of them is run in all the models.     

Governing the inner “periphery.” Spatial security governance of the Highlands in Papua New Guinea since the colonial period

Specific regions and places are considered particular threatening and dangerous by state authorities. There, the state regularly enacts security in harsh and violent ways. In this article, I develop a pragmatic spatial framework, inspired by and combining elements from post-statist geography and Critical Security Studies, to explain patterns of spatial security governance in regions with competing local authorities and regular violence. I particularly argue for more historical analysis on the emergence and legacies of spatial security governance to understand its persistence and consequences. I illustrate the framework with an empirical investigation of the spatial security governance of the Highland regions in Papua New Guinea, and its role as a dangerous inner “periphery” for the central state since the late colonial period. The patterns of security governance in the Highlands, like the declaration of emergency zones in case of regional warfare, the use of violent punitive expeditions by mobile forces, accompanied by a securitizing discourse, have remained remarkably similar. While the post-colonial state aimed at a break with the colonial past, the spatial security governance of the Highlands has remained an important source for the legitimization of state rule and state formation. Governing the inner “periphery” is constructed as the responsibility of the state, which has been historically entangled in the “violent geographies” in the Highlands.