Beyond Kuznets: Inequality and the size and distribution of cities

As countries develop the percentage of population living in urban areas tends to increase. As this happens, inequality is expected first to increase and then to decline in what is known as the Kuznets inverted‐U. But the literature has not paid much attention to differences in the absolute size of cities potentially affecting economy‐wide inequality. Building on insights from the urban economics literature, this paper studies the relationship between the size and distribution of cities and income inequality at country level. Results show that beyond Kuznets’ hypothesis there is a U‐shaped relationship between average city size and inequality; inequality first falls and then increases with average city size. This result is robust to a long list of controls, different estimation techniques, and identification strategies.     

GPS-based measurement of geographic spillovers in tourism – example of Polish districts

The agglomeration phenomenon in tourism often spreads beyond the borders of territorial units what is referred to as geographic spillovers. However, the measurement of spatial concentration of tourism demand and economic activity is usually based on statistics collected within regional administrative boundaries and omits the spatial interdependency between neighboring regions. Recognition of such spatial interdependency in the standard procedure to define neighborhood relies on the distance between geometric means (centroids) of territorial units which, however, rarely reflects real ‘centers’ of tourism agglomerations and leads to errors and biased results. Hence, we propose to modify the measures of the neighborhood with the use of GPS coordinates of tourism firms and attractions in order to designate their regional central tendencies and thus to correct (shift in space) localization of centroids of territorial units. We test the usefulness of the new approach to obtain a more precise measurement of spatial concentration when tourism spills over beyond the boundaries of territorial units using the example of Polish districts. We employ the exploratory spatial data analysis (spatial statistics) and spatial regression models – to assess the difference between using traditional centroids and GPS coordinates in defining neighborhood and determining spillover effects in regional analysis. Furthermore we apply the new method into the model of tourism potential in order to identify spillover effects in Polish regions. We use the data collected by Central Statistical Office (tourists staying overnight in 379 districts in 2014) and by Polish Tourist Organization (14,390 GPS coordinates of individual entities: tourism firms and attractions). The neighborhood determined with the use of GPS coordinates to measure the distance between centers of tourism agglomerations eliminates the dependence of the results on the administrative boundaries – but only to some degree. The challenge is to identify tourism agglomeration phenomenon as such, based on the mobility of tourists in space.     

Exploring the clustering of creative industries

During the last decades, a large body of literature has been published on the clustering of creative industries, but it has not been reviewed in a systematic way. In this review paper, we fill this gap. The review leads to the identification of several deficiencies of current research. Based on that, we distil avenues for future empirical research on the drivers of the clustering of creative industries, which are embedded in a comprehensive analytical framework.     

吉林中部城市群域城镇化的生态效应评估

快速城镇化发展影响区域生态系统服务功能,本文以吉林中部城市群域为研究对象,评估单项及综合城镇化发展水平;测算生态系统服务总价值,并分析城镇化发展水平与生态系统服务价值之间的因应关系。结果显示：城镇化发展水平逐渐上升,相反生态系统服务总价值下降。通过对城镇化发展水平与生态系统服务总价值的关系进行曲线拟合发现,生态系统服务总价值随综合城镇化水平、人口城镇化水平、经济城镇化水平和生活方式城镇化水平的提高而降低,随景观城镇化水平提高呈现先降低后升高的态势。这表明,城镇化发展对生态系统可能造成的影响,即城镇化通过改变生态系统结构和循环过程,削弱区域的生态系统服务价值。     

长三角区域旅游产业集聚水平研究

长三角区域旅游合作呼唤对旅游产业集聚水平的研究。本文引用产业基尼系数、区位商指数和产业区域集聚度指数对长三角区域旅游产业集聚度进行测算,同时对旅游产业集聚度与区域GDP增长的关系进行分析。计算结果表明：长三角区域旅游产业已经出现较强的集聚现象,但区域内部集聚程度不均衡;旅游产业中星级饭店、旅行社、其他旅游企业的区域集聚度与区域经济发展分别呈高、负、中相关性。研究同时显示区域集聚度与区域经济发展高度相关,且集聚程度呈上升趋势的行业,一定程度上将更多地拉动经济增长。     

地理集聚能否提升我国文化产业发展质量——基于空间杜宾模型和门槛模型的检验

通过构建空间计量模型和门槛模型,探究地理集聚能否提升我国文化产业发展质量.研究结果表明:①地理集聚对我国文化产业发展质量具有明显的提升作用.其中,地理集聚对当地文化产业发展质量的影响主要通过MAR外部性实现,对邻近地区文化产业发展质量的影响主要通过Porter外部性实现,而Jacobs外部性的正向作用尚未显现.②地理集...     

Book Reviews

Racine, J.-L. (ed.) (1997), Peasant Moorings. Village Ties and Mobility Rationales in South India
Gadgil, M. and Guha, R. (1995), Ecology and Equity: The Use and Abuse of Nature in Contemporary India
Bernard, T. and Young, J. (1997), The Ecology of Hope. Communities Collaborate for Sustainability
Hilling, D. (1996), Transport and Developing Countries
Armstrong, H.W. and Vickerman, R.W. (eds) (1995), Convergence and divergence among European regions     

中国城市群“文—旅—科”产业融合发展水平攀升规律的定量模拟与验证

在城市群的形成发育过程中，伴随着城市群内部文化、旅游、科技产业资源优化再配置和协同集聚效应的共同作用，城市群“文化—旅游—科技”产业融合发展水平表现为随时间序列呈指数式增长的攀升态势。本文通过对城市群“文—旅—科”产业融合发展水平攀升规律的基本原理进行分析，建立相关数理模型得到几何表达式；继而构建城市群“文—旅—科”产业融合发展的评价指标体系，运用引入时间调整系数改进的耦合协调度模型，计算得到中国城市群及所辖城市的产业融合发展水平并进行时空演化分析；最后使用模拟验证的方法对中国城市群“文—旅—科”产业融合发展水平攀升规律进行拟合验证，探究中国城市群的产业融合发展路径。     

THIS IS NOT AMERICA: EMBEDDING THE COGNITIVE‐CULTURAL URBAN ECONOMY

The aim of this article is to broaden the epistemological basis for investigating the current shift to cognitive‐cultural economies and the resurgence of cities and its socio‐spatial articulation. The point of departure here is that the drivers of the structural changes are indeed more or less ubiquitous, but are played out in different national institutional and urban contexts resulting in potentially diverging cognitive‐cultural economies. Four main drivers of change after 1980 are distinguished. The first is the rise of a new technological paradigm based on digital technology. The second is the thrust towards deregulation and privatization as planks of the neo‐liberal political programme. The third is the intensification of all kinds of linkages between regions across the globe. The fourth driver constitutes the processes of individualization and increasing reflexivity that have fragmented consumer markets. By identifying distinct filters which might shape and mould the impact of these more general drivers on concrete urban areas, a comprehensive framework is presented that can be used to analyse and compare the trajectories of cities while linking them to a larger narrative of societal change. A central line of reasoning is that agglomeration economies – pivotal in Allen Scott's analysis of the emergence of a cognitive‐cultural economy – are themselves embedded in concrete social and institutional contexts which impact on how they are played out. To make this point, we build upon Richard Whitley's business systems. Given this institutional diversity, we expect that various institutional contexts will generate different cognitive‐cultural economies.     

Recent Doctoral Dissertations in Human and Economic Geography at Nordic Universities

Hermelin, Brita (1997), Professional Business Servic., Conceptual Framework and a Swedish Case Study
Molina, Irene (1997), Stadens rasifiering. Etnisk boendesegregation i folkhemmet (Racialization of the City. Ethnic Residential Segregation in the Swedish Folkhem)