Factors Shaping the Hierarchical Structure of the System of Fishery Settlements in the Northern Caspian

A number of settlement systems in Astrakhan' Oblast are defined on the basis of technological, administrative and service linkages within the North Caspian fishery industry. The industry is broken down into four successive stages in the production cycle: (1) fish harvesting; (2) primary processing and (3) production of semifinished products; (4) canning and caviar production. The settlement systems of the fish industry are characterized in terms of the significance of each production stage in the total output and in terms of the types of linkages in the production and distribution process (linkages within settlement systems, between systems, and shipments outside the oblast). Five systems are distinguished within Astrakhan' Oblast, each focused on a major processing center. The linkages are mapped, and the parameters of the systems are presented in a table.     

区域技术创新的非正式制度和联系:经济地理学的视角

众多区域技术创新的研究案例表明,非正式的制度和联系是区域技术创新成功的重要因素。本文回顾了经济地理学在区域技术创新的非正式制度和联系方面研究的相关理论和研究成果,发现"创新环境"、"非贸易相互依赖"、"地方传言"和"企业衍生"等理论虽然提出并探讨了区域技术创新的非正式制度和联系的属性和特征,却对这种非正式制度和联系的形成原因和影响机制的分析相对较少,对其空间尺度的研究也过度集中于区域尺度。由于当前我国大多数区域内部企业之间的创新联系大部分仍以非正式联系为主,因此对于区域技术创新的非正式制度与联系的形成原因、影响机制及其对创新绩效的影响的进一步研究,将具有非常重要的理论和实践意义。     

国际油价波动对日本经济均衡的影响

2005年以来,国际原油价格剧烈震荡,除实体经济层面的供求因素外,能源作为金融商品的虚拟经济属性被放大,预期、投机、突发事件、汇率波动因素等都可能成为引燃油价波动的导火索。新的油价变动特点,使日本更加难以保持经济的内外均衡。从内部看,企业、行业间的收入分配效应分散了油价上涨的通货膨胀效果,具有技术垄断优势、善于利用金融工具避险及有效采取能源分散化和节能措施的企业与行业受油价波动的冲击更小。从外部看,进口成本增加和出口成本转嫁不完全引起了日本贸易条件恶化;石油美元通过贸易渠道和资本渠道的回流,对日本的国际收支产生一定影响;日元升值因素一定程度上缓和了高油价的冲击。日本政府、企业、居民的不懈努力创造了日本经济超低能耗的奇迹,这个奇迹将日本抵御油价波动的能力变成现实。．     

产业联系与外资溢出效应——对浙江省制造业的实证研究

本文探讨水平联系、前向联系和后向联系对外商直接投资溢出效应的影响。利用浙江省制造业数据,通过实证分析发现,浙江省制造业外资总体上具有水平负向溢出效应,同时通过后向联系产生正向溢出效应。水平负向溢出效应主要是外资企业带来的激烈竞争所导致的,产业后向联系产生的正向溢出效应主要通过外资企业的本地采购发生。浙江省内资制造业企业并没有从购买外资企业中间投入品而显著提升效率。     

Persistence and Change of Regional Industrial Activities: The Impact of Diversification in the German Machine Tool Industry

The paper investigates the stability and change of regional economic activities in the long run. As the unit of analysis, we selected the machine tool industry in West Germany for the years 1953–2002. We spot a strong variance in the activities between different regions. These differences are relatively stable over time, and the regional activities are rather path-dependent. Nevertheless, the paper also identifies changes in the level of activities. As the main driving factors for these developments, we examine the effect of changing regional degrees of diversification over time. We find that those regions which generally broaden their scope of activities have a higher likelihood to grow than regions which are specializing. Furthermore, diversification into totally new technological and product fields is only beneficial under specific circumstances based on technological and market developments. Hence, in most cases, a broad diversification is superior to one focusing on new state-of-the-art technological fields.     

Scale economies and the geographic concentration of industry

In recent empirical literature on spatial agglomeration, manypapers find evidence consistent with location-specific externalitiesof some sort. Our willingness to accept evidence of agglomerationeconomies depends on how well key estimation problems have beenaddressed. Three issues are particularly troublesome for identifyingagglomeration effects: unobserved regional characteristics,simultaneity in regional data, and multiple sources of externalities.Two empirical results appear to be robust to problems createdby the first two issues: (a) individual wages are increasingin the presence of more-educated workers in the local laborforce, which is consistent with localized human-capital externalities,and (b) long-run industry growth is higher in locations witha wider range of industrial activities, which suggests thatfirms benefit from being in more diverse urban environments.Other evidence is supportive of agglomeration effects relatedto regional demand linkages and short-run, industry-specificexternalities.     

The Russian Copper Industry and the Noril'sk Joint-Stock Company in the Mid-1990s

An American resource geographer examines current production in one of the world's major copper industries, with special emphasis on the Noril'sk Nickel Joint-Stock Company—the world's most important producer of platinum-group metals, a leader in nickel and cobalt output, and the leading Russian producer of copper as well. The author documents and analyzes changes in operating procedures and raw material supplies in the industry during the 1990s, focusing on adjustments (such as tolling arrangements and imports of concentrate in the raw-material-deficient Urals and efforts to introduce cost economies in resource-rich Noril'sk) prompted by the severing of industry production linkages of the Soviet period and their partial reintegration under new corporate structures. In addition to restructuring, likened to similar adjustments in the American copper industry, the investigation covers exploration and new mine development at various Russian locations as well as the economics of producing copper and other exportable metals at Arctic production centers. 1 figure, 4 tables, 103 references. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: L61, L72, Q32.     

PREDICTION OF TRANSPORT-ECONOMIC LINKAGES IN THE USSR

Possible changes in production patterns of basic Soviet industries and the resulting interregional linkages and freight flows are projected over the next 25 to 30 years. Interregional energy flows are expected to be limited largely to oil and gas as well as power transmission at extra high voltages. Steam-coal movements will be restricted to the limits of particular economic regions, and coking-coal movements will be reduced as a result of technological changes in the iron and steel industry (electric steels, direct conversion, peat-based metallurgy). In general, the share of semifinished and finished goods is expected to increase and that of raw materials and fuels to decline in interregional hauls. The likely new flow patterns are examined for the Soviet Union's principal transport corridors.     

Deferring to Vichy in the Western Hemisphere: The St Pierre and Miquelon Affair of 1941

This article argues that commentators such as Will Hutton might be somewhat premature in their forecast of an imminent collapse of the Chinese economy as a principal mechanism of general global economic downturn. Long-term predictions surely require some long-term data from the real historical past? The author argues more specifically that in recent history the turning points in the Chinese political economy tend to come from technological and related problems within that economy itself, rather than through political pressures arising from outside China. It follows that Chinese political transition awaits further economic development and its association with the emergence of a new phase of technological progress. This approach differs from that of the ‘adaptive governance’ analysts, who argue that evolution of political regimes may be traced through linkages between contemporary political processes and the ‘revolutionary precedents’ of the 1920s. Instead the author considers a continuous history of technological exigencies into the present time as the effective stimulants of regime changes.     

Globalization of the animation industry: multi-scalar linkages of six animation production centers

This paper examines the change in animation production over time and analyzes the different scales of internal and external linkages among six animation production centers. Four types of producers were identified based on their roles in the animation industry and their multi-scalar linkages were investigated for similarities and differences. Several factors including production costs, local skills, government policy and domestic markets were found to affect the growth of new production centers. High value-capture occurs mostly in production centers where tacit knowledge is created. The governance of each animation production center was found to have evolved based on its unique development path within the industry’s global value chain.     

Spatial distribution of innovation networks,technological competencies and degree of novelty in emerging economy firms

This paper analyses the relationship of the accumulation of technological competencies at the firm level, the spatial distribution of the firm's innovation networks and the degree of novelty of product innovation. Firm-based primary data collected in two innovative regions in emerging economies are used to predict higher degrees of novelty in emerging economy firms. Similarly to advanced economy firms, the results show that international linkages are associated with higher degrees of novelty. However, new-to-the-world innovation in emerging country firms is fundamentally externally driven, suggesting that international linkages seem to be a compensating mechanism for the initially lower technological capabilities rather than a complementary source of knowledge.     

Industrial district or subordinated production: A case study of small-scale carpentry industries in Accra, Ghana

This article aims at gaining greater insight into the functioning of small-scale industries in an African context. The findings are based on predominately qualitative fieldwork conducted on small-scale carpentry industries in Accra, Ghana. A special concern is whether the small-scale carpenters are capable of acquiring the technological capabilities conducive to a positive industrial development. Two opposing frameworks, one neo-Marxist and one centred on the conceptualisation of industrial districts, are used to discern the nature of locally embedded production and supply linkages, and whether these are conducive to the technological capabilities needed for innovative growth. Despite facing similar structural constraints there are a few small-scale enterprises that remove themselves from the characteristics of informal production by making the greatest use of the services entailed in the carpentry production network. These linkages, however, are still not extensive enough, nor advanced enough, to bring about the technological innovations associated with a true industrial district. The benefits gained through interlinked production are thus better understood as a means of securing domestic resilience, rather than international competitiveness. Furthermore, an explanation for the limitations of these linkages must be sought beyond the meso-level analysis typical of an industrial district approach.     

R&D Cooperation in Innovation Systems—Some Lessons from the European Regional Innovation Survey (ERIS)

Our paper summarizes some of the main results of the European Regional Innovation Survey (ERIS) as far as they are discussed in this special issue of European Planning Studies . The overall target of the ERIS project is a quantitative and qualitative assessment of determinants crucial for the innovation potential of any region, i.e. innovative and non-innovative manufacturing firms, business services and research institutions, as well as the innovative linkages and networks between these actors. Empirical research is based upon almost 8600 questionnaires collected in 11 European regions. Results confirm some of the common hypotheses on the relationship between space and innovation networks but others are contrary to existing scientific knowledge. Obviously the impact of national innovation systems on the innovation activities of manufacturing firms in a given European region is-at least-as strong as the impact of the respective regional innovation system. The spatial range of innovative linkages significantly depends on the size, the type of the cooperation partner, the R&D intensity and the industry of the analysed manufacturing firm. For example, the higher the technology intensity of the industry, the greater is the need of each firm to use intraregional knowledge via innovation linkages. It is therefore an important task in regional innovation policy to promote network-building among firms and other actors of a regional innovation system and to interlink these intraregional networks with national and international knowledge sources.     

Transnational corporations and the geographical transfer of localised technology: a multi-industry study of foreign affiliates in Sweden

Based on unique firm-level data from 323 majority-owned foreignaffiliates (MOFAs) located in West Sweden in the beginning of2000, we show that foreign-located affiliates of transnationalcorporations (TNCs) generate technological competencies, bothinternally as well as through organised cooperation with externalbusiness partners in the host country. This seems true not onlyfor manufacturing affiliates, but also for wholesale affiliatessupplying industrial products, as well as professional serviceaffiliates providing technical services. In addition, all threecategories of affiliates are engaged in ‘dynamic technologicalintegration’, i.e. a geographical transfer to parent andsister firms of technological competence that MOFAs have developedin cooperation with external business partners in Sweden. Thisindicates that not only the technological competence of MOFAsthemselves, but even the geographical context in which theyare embedded is a relational asset that is crucial for the overalltechnological competitiveness of TNCs. Above all, technological linkages were established with hostcountry customers. Important technological linkages were establishedboth with local business partners in West Sweden, as well asbusiness partners in the Rest of Sweden. Using a logistic regression analysis, we found that technologicalintegration is especially associated with affiliates operatingin competitive host country clusters, indicating that a largepool of indigenous technological competence acts as an importantpull-factor for inward asset-seeking FDI. However, technologicallinkages between foreign TNCs and host country partners doesnot come automatically, instead they need substantial and long-terminvestments in personal and non-personal resources.     

City subcenter as a regional development policy: Impact on the property market

The aim of this study is to perform a locally specific investigation of a polycentric development policy through the lens of the property market. The capital city of China, Beijing, adopted a subcenter program for the purpose of developing a new economic growth pole in the suburbs through the redistribution of administrative and economic resources. Herein, we exploit spatial and temporal differencing in microproperty transaction data to address the issue of nonrandom selection of the site for developing the subcenter. The results show that in the first year after announcing the subcenter program, property prices in the subcenter rose by 10.5%, stabilizing at approximately 20% after 2 years of continuous increase. Moreover, property price growth decreases sharply with increased distance from the new administrative center in the subcenter, which will host tens of thousands of civil servants under the subcenter program. In response to the subcenter-induced demand shock, locations with elastically supplied housing have experienced greater population growth and weaker appreciation in property prices. Although strict purchase restrictions have helped stabilize the subcenter's property market to some extent, the fever has spread to adjacent markets. The specific geography of property market dynamics provides an important channel to evaluate the impact of the subcenter program and offers insight regarding the development of tactics to optimize subcenter outcomes.     

Employment Dynamics,Spatial Restructuring,and the Business Cycle

The multinodal metropolis is an evolving system, affected by both long-term restructuring and by business cycle dynamics. This study of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex points, first, to the multiplicity and wide dispersion of employment centers within the region and, second, to the importance of vintage. During business cycle upswings new centers in new and more dispersed locations receive the preponderant share of new growth. During business cycle downswings, old activities are pruned most heavily from old locations. The result is an increasingly complex array of specialized agglomerations.     

新旧并存:近代江南农村金融实态管窥

近代上海崛起后,以其为中心的江南城乡间的金融联系明显增强,一些新的金融业开始向江南农村伸展,江南农村金融实态因此呈现新旧并存的特征。     

The Micro-foundations of Regional Branching—the Case of Digitization of Publishing

Abstract

Theorizing within evolutionary economic geography on regional branching of industries has so far been depicted as evolving through routine replication among different economic actors that hold various degrees of relatedness. Methodologically, related variety and unrelated variety have been studied quantitatively, treating relatedness between economic agents as pre-defined industrial classifications. This represents a need for a complementary qualitative and in-depth understanding of how knowledge is re-combined in various settings. Based on a qualitative case study in the publishing industry, whose technological platforms and business models are currently facing severe challenges associated with digitization, this paper seeks to improve our understanding of how knowledge is re-combined and re-applied in various ways. The paper explores and discusses how this industry branches out into new activities, and reflects upon the channels through which these processes unfold. How is the old and the new in the economy bridged? How is the relationship between specialization and diversification played out? In this sense, the paper seeks to contribute to improving our understanding of the epistemic micro-foundations for regional branching and economic development.     

INTRODUCTION: HETEROGENEITY AT DIFFERENT SPATIAL SCALES*

ABSTRACT Spatial heterogeneity at the city level is crucial for explaining local inequality. This heterogeneity will continue from a cultural perspective, an age profile perspective, and a productivity perspective. The process of catching up to the technological leader is influenced by geographic proximity and local input–output linkages, particularly to upstream industries. Heterogeneity of urbanization patterns and spatial linkages affect foreign direct investment flows. The relative power of the economic agglomerating and spreading forces are not scale neutral but heterogeneous, more specifically: spatial linkages are found to be more important at higher levels of aggregation.     

Facility Location Under Zone Pricing

Zone pricing consists in determining simultaneously several delivered prices together with the zones where these prices apply. A model and algorithm are proposed to determine optimal facility locations, prices, tariff-zones, and market areas in order to maximize the firm's profit under zone pricing. The resulting nonlinear mixed-integer program is tackled by projecting the objective function on the price space, solving repeatedly uncapacitated facility location problems for fixed values of the prices. The implicit profit function so defined is optimized by branch-and-bound. Computational results are reported.