Regional Knowledge Accessibility and Regional Economic Growth (original) (raw)
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Knowledge Accessibility and Regional Economic Growth
Ersa Conference Papers, 2006
Knowledge is maintained as a core variable for growth in a large set of contemporary theories. In this paper we have analyzed the relationship between knowledge accessibility and regional growth. The knowledge resource used in our model R&D conducted at universities and in companies. A precise definition of accessibility was introduced and calculations were based on actual travel time distances. Using data at the municipality level in Sweden, the hypothesis that knowledge accessibility has a positive effect on growth cannot be rejected. The knowledge accessibility in a given period has a statistically significant effect on the growth in value-added per employee in subsequent periods. The total accessibility of a municipality was divided into three types, (i) intra-municipal accessibility, (ii) intra-regional accessibility and (iii) extra-regional accessibility. The paper has shown that this division gives a clear indication of that there is spatial dependence in the sense that the knowledge resources in a given municipality tend to have a positive effect on the growth of another municipality, conditional on that the municipalities belongs to the same functional region. Thus, the results of the analysis indicate that knowledge flows transcend municipal borders, but that they tend to be bounded within functional regions.
Regional productivity and accessibility to knowledge and dense markets
CESIS WP, 2005
Accessibility to knowledge and local service markets can be assumed to explain regional growth performance. The role of regional supply of services and educated labour with respect to regional development are stressed by many researchers. In this paper we make an empirical analysis using panel data for Swedish municipalities. The purpose is to analyse the relationship between regional productivity measures as gross regional product per square kilometre and accessibility to educated labour. We also acknowledge the extension of the regional economy in terms of functionality and access to population as a measure of accessibility to labour and to purchasing power. We estimate first a cross-section model by using OLS. Second we employ a panel data model, using time distance access to population and the share local labour force with longer higher education as explanatory variables. In the analysis we compare the results for Sweden from the different models with other studies in this field. We find that local externalities for increasing returns are very important in the Swedish economy. Our estimated models yields a high level of goodness of fit, and the results indicates that the elasticity for longer higher education and population density are around unity in the Swedish economy with respect to performance of regional gross domestic product per square kilometre.
ERSA conference papers, 2004
Access to knowledge and local service markets can be assumed to explain regional growth performance. The supply of services and knowledge with respect to regional development are stressed in the seminal papers by for example Rivera-Batiz (1988) and Knowledge referens. In this paper we make an empirical analyse using panel data for Swedish regions. The purpose is to analyse the relationship between regional growth and access to knowledge. We also acknowledge the size of the regional economy and access to the local labour market. We estimate first a cross-section model by using OLS. Second we employ a panel data model, using time distance access to population and the share local labour force with high education as explanatory variables. In the analysis we compare the results from the different models and our own results from the Swedish economy with other studies in this field. We find that local externalities for increasing returns are very important in the Swedish economy. Our estimated models yields a high level of goodness of fit, and the results indicates significant elasticity for high education and population density in the Swedish economy with respect to performance of regional gross domestic product.
The role of accessibility for regional innovation systems
2002
The link between proximity and innovation has been dwelled upon extensively in the literature. A regional economic milieu characterized by proximity between relevant actors is maintained to be suitable for establishing and maintaining successful regional innovation system. In this paper it is proposed that the relevant link to be studied is rather that between accessibility and innovation. Although accessibility is a key factor in facilitating the processes stressed to be important for innovations, the relationship between accessibility and innovation is surprisingly unexploited. Scrutinization of the relationship between accessibility and innovation is necessary in order to fully comprehend regional innovative capacity. Furthermore, such scrutinization will shed further light in the issue of the importance of knolwedge spillovers.
A Knowledge-Based Model of Regional Growth
A two-equation dynamic panel-data model with fixed effects is used to analyse the relationship between knowledge creation and economic performance among 17 Spanish regions over time (1989)(1990)(1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001). In the model, productivity depends on new knowledge, technological change is achieved using R&D effort over existing knowledge, and external effects of both new knowledge are productivity are allowed. Estimates show, first, that regional innovation depends on regional R&D, on the amount of human and physical capital available in the region, and on innovation in other regions; and second, that regional productivity depends on regional innovation, on updated human capital in the region, and on productivity in other regions. The results imply, first, that efficiency gains at regional level may be achieved by investing locally in the creation of new knowledge, either technological or organisational; second, that innovation in a region may be promoted by locally using greater amounts of existing knowledge, as well as by increasing local R&D effort; and third, that locally generated innovation and efficiency gains may reach other regions.
Regional Economic growth and accessibility: The case of the Netherlands
2000
Since the early 1970s, a certain shift has appeared in the contribution of the various Dutch regions to the national economy. There has been a decline in the contribution of the urban agglomeration of Western Holland to the national economy. This decline, together with a relative strong increase outside this western part of the Netherlands, resulted in a decrease in regional disparities. To analyse these disparities between the regional and national growth rates, a shift-share analysis for labour volume and value added has been used. The analysis encompasses 40 so-called COROP-regions in the Netherlands over four subperiods for the two decades (1973-1993). It is shown that the development over time of the shift-share effects for labour volume and value added are much the same. The relationship between regional economic growth and congestion is investigated as well. As economic development is not only the result of a proper combination of private production factors, but also of infrastructure in general and accessibility in particular, the role of accessibility in location processes of firms is often regarded to be important. We accordingly determine, on the basis of the available data, whether relationships exist between the three shift-share effects and the accessibility of regions. Our calculations, however, show that a relationship between regional economic growth and accessibility for the Netherlands is, on the basis of the available data, not supported empirically. Nijmegen 16. Zuidwest-Gelderland 17. Utrecht 18. Kop van Noord-Holland 19. Alkmaar and the surrounding area 20. IJmond
Modelling regional economic growth: the role of human capital and innovation
This thesis investigates the role of human capital and innovation activity in the process of economic growth within a system of regions. It starts by reviewing existing theories of economic growth paying particular attention to the literature on "endogenous growth", the large body of empirical literature addressing economic growth and that has investigated the "convergence issue". A methodology based on the direct analysis of cross-sectional distributions of per capita income is then developed and applied to per capita income data for 122 European Union (EU) functionally defined regions over the period 1979-1990. The results show a clear tendency for some of the richest European regions to grow away from the others. The comparison of these results with those derived from a similar analysis for the commonly used administrative regions of the EU reveals some significant distortions imposed by adopting an administrative definition. A formal theoretical explanation of these results is then offered. In particular, it is argued that regional disparities in per capita income owe their existence to the pattern of specialisation between 'knowledge creating' and 'knowledge applying' regions. Specialisation is explained in terms of differences in the availability of useful knowledge at different locations. In the perfect foresight, stable equilibrium of the two-region model developed here, therefore, the region that specialises in innovation related activities (knowledge creating) enjoys a permanently higher level of per capita income. Moreover, it is shown that, on reasonable assumptions, a process of integration that reduces the cost of physical distance leads to faster growth in the long-run for the system as a whole, but at the expense of an increase in regional disparities. 4 Finally, some predictions are derived and tested empirically. Using cross-sectional regressions, the fundamental determinants of the growth rate of a region are investigated. The results are supportive of the model, confirming the role played by the concentration of innovative activities and spatial spillovers of knowledge.
The determinants of regional growth: An empirical analysis
1998
The paper analyses the growth process of European Functional Urban Regions (FURs) during the period 1979-1990. The first part describes a theoretical model that guides the empirical analysis and that pays particular attention to the role of human capital, research activity and spillovers of technological knowledge. The main prediction of this model are then tested using OLS on a database of 122 major European FURs.
Regional Innovation and Development: A Latent Growth Model of Regional Innovation Determinants
We propose arguments supporting regional innovation to be dependent upon the simultaneous influence of movement of citizens and the industry structure within the region. Our hypotheses state that regions with a high industry concentration gain relatively more from individuals moving in respectively out from the region compared to regions with a low industry concentration. We tested our model and hypotheses on a four year longitudinal data from official registers on the complete population of 290 Swedish municipalities. Results support that regions with a high industry concentration gain innovation activity from increases in both in-and outflows of citizens from the region. Results on regions with a low industry concentration are inconclusive but indicate, in support of our arguments, that such regions gain relatively more from stability (i.e., low movement) in the region.