Papers in Regional Science最新文献

{"title":"Special economic zones and land misallocation: Evidence from Chinese cities","authors":"Yi Cui","doi":"10.1016/j.pirs.2025.100084","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pirs.2025.100084","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the impact of China’s special economic zones (SEZs) on land misallocation, primarily using city-level data for China from 2003 to 2018. The findings indicate that establishing SEZs exacerbates land misallocation by over-allocating land to cities, resulting in an average annual loss of 0.22% of real urban GDP. After establishing SEZs, local governments change their land supply strategies by adjusting supply mode, object, and preference, reducing land allocation efficiency. Thus, the bundling of SEZs and government intervention is an essential cause of land misallocation. Furthermore, the geographical location of SEZs affects land allocation efficiency through the spatial form of cities. Its spatial separation from the core urban area is an essential cause of land misallocation. This study has important implications for more effective planning and implementation of SEZs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51458,"journal":{"name":"Papers in Regional Science","volume":"104 2","pages":"Article 100084"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143387058","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Labour demand in the wake of a shock: A dose–response approach","authors":"Fernanda Gutiérrez Amaros ,&nbsp;Andrea Ascani ,&nbsp;Alessandra Faggian ,&nbsp;Wessel N. Vermeulen","doi":"10.1016/j.pirs.2025.100083","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pirs.2025.100083","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper examines the impact of varying COVID-19 exposure levels on local labour demand in Italy during the first years of the pandemic. Using a dose–response framework and province-level monthly data on online job postings (NUTS3), we find a predominantly non-linear, negative relationship between COVID-19 exposure — measured by the contagion rate — and labour demand growth. However, at high exposure levels, a positive effect emerges, driven by increased demand for essential roles in Northern Italy. Our findings reveal significant regional disparities. Southern provinces experienced sharper declines in labour demand, despite lower exposure levels, reflecting their weaker economic structures and reliance on non-essential jobs. Conversely, Northern provinces with high exposure levels sustained a higher ratio of essential-to-non-essential vacancies, demonstrating greater economic resilience during the crisis. This study contributes to the literature by examining the underexplored effects of COVID-19 on labour demand in a European context, positioning Italy as a critical case study. It emphasises the pivotal role of essential jobs in mitigating economic disruption and highlights the Italian labour market’s non-linear responses to shocks and regional inequalities, offering insights into how sudden crises shape labour dynamics.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51458,"journal":{"name":"Papers in Regional Science","volume":"104 2","pages":"Article 100083"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143402999","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Understanding the role of government in regional industrial evolution: Evidence from land supply in China","authors":"Zhiji Huang ,&nbsp;Tao Shi ,&nbsp;De Tong","doi":"10.1016/j.pirs.2024.100070","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pirs.2024.100070","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In the process of regional industrial evolution, the role of government in fiscal and administrative aspects has gradually gained attention in recent years. However, there is still a lack of discussion on how government land supply shapes industrial evolution. Using land-industry data from 2007 to 2013 in China, we find that the government has been deeply involved in the development of various unrelated industries through land pricing authority, a phenomenon that remains robust after addressing endogeneity concerns. Unlike the literature focusing on China’s early industrial evolution, during the period of large-scale relocations of industries to inland regions, our results reveal that government subsidies have minimal impact, whereas initiatives to establish development zones yield significant returns. Besides, differences in the ability of governments to affect industrial evolution through land use are identified, revealing disparities across industry attributes and geographical features. Further analysis suggests that the rise in firms’ average debt ratio and local governments’ budgetary revenue are potential channels in this process, while the trade-off is an increase in corruption. In sum, we revisit and extend the significant role played by the government in regional industrial evolution. This may offer novel insights into industry policy for countries with public land ownership or less developed industries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51458,"journal":{"name":"Papers in Regional Science","volume":"104 1","pages":"Article 100070"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143161091","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"New Challenges Ahead","authors":"Rosella Nicolini","doi":"10.1016/j.pirs.2024.100077","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pirs.2024.100077","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51458,"journal":{"name":"Papers in Regional Science","volume":"104 1","pages":"Article 100077"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143161089","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Functional upgrading and downgrading in global value chains: Evidence from EU regions using a relatedness/complexity framework","authors":"Eduardo Hernández-Rodríguez ,&nbsp;Ron Boschma ,&nbsp;Andrea Morrison ,&nbsp;Xianjia Ye","doi":"10.1016/j.pirs.2024.100072","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pirs.2024.100072","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper adopts a relatedness-complexity framework to assess the likelihood of functional upgrading and downgrading in global value chains in EU regions in the period 2000–2010. We use relatedness and economic complexity measures based on value added content of gross exports and labour structures at the regional level. We show how economic complexity metrics can be used as an alternative for value added data, to measure both functional upgrading and downgrading in global value chains. We find that relatedness between functions (occupation-industry pairs) is a factor impacting both functional upgrading and downgrading. Regions tend to functionally upgrade their global value chains towards more complex functions that are related to functions in which they are specialised. And regions are more likely to functionally exit and downgrade in global value chains when they are not specialised in related functions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51458,"journal":{"name":"Papers in Regional Science","volume":"104 1","pages":"Article 100072"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143161092","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Regional technological profiles and collaborations: An empirical analysis of joint patents and EU-funded projects","authors":"Diego D’Adda ,&nbsp;Donato Iacobucci ,&nbsp;Francesco Perugini","doi":"10.1016/j.pirs.2024.100073","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pirs.2024.100073","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The aim of this paper is to determine the factors affecting technological collaborations among EU regions, focusing on the role of their technological profiles. We consider the population of EU NUTS2 regions and analyse the inter-regional collaborations in EPO patent applications and in EU projects in the Seventh Framework Programme in the period 2007–2013. We overcome the limitations related to the mono-dimensionality of technological proximity by explicitly considering the distinction between technological similarity and technological complementarity. We further distinguish between horizontal complementarity, related to the degree to which technologies are fruitfully combined in R&amp;D, and vertical complementarity, the degree to which technology developers (leaders) are related to technology adopters (followers). To measure ‘horizontal’ technology complementarity, we develop an original dyad-level indicator based on the concept of technological relatedness. The empirical analysis shows that technological complementarity has a statistically significant effect on the number of collaborations between regions, even when controlling for the degree of similarity. While horizontal complementarity positively affects only collaborations in EU projects, vertical complementarity negatively affects both joint patents and EU projects. Notwithstanding the relevance of complementarity, technological similarity seems to have a larger impact on the intensity of inter-regional collaboration. We also find dissimilarities in the factors affecting joint patents and EU projects due to the inner differences in the nature of these two types of innovative collaborations. The results are robust to different specifications and to the use of different methodologies for measuring similarity and complementarity. Given the rising interest in promoting technological inter-regional collaborations in the EU (e.g. in the Smart Specialisation Strategy), this paper provides novel insights about the determinants of two very different forms of inter-regional collaborations in innovation: joint patents and EU projects.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51458,"journal":{"name":"Papers in Regional Science","volume":"104 1","pages":"Article 100073"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143161096","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Corporate ownership transfer and urban economic growth: A study of manufacturing M&As in China","authors":"Shuai Shi ,&nbsp;Siu Kei Wong ,&nbsp;Will W. Qiang ,&nbsp;Chen Zheng","doi":"10.1016/j.pirs.2024.100071","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pirs.2024.100071","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Mergers &amp; Acquisitions (M&amp;As) are strategic business transactions that combine the ownership of one firm with another, typically to achieve synergies, growth, and diversification. However, the spatial implications of transferring corporate control between cities have been largely overlooked. This article examines the impact of such spatial transfer on urban economic growth, focusing on the restructuring of the manufacturing industry in China. Three types of M&amp;As are distinguished: horizontal, vertical, and conglomerate. Drawing on an instrumental variable analysis of 10,316 M&amp;A transactions from 2004 to 2018, we find that vertical M&amp;As that integrate the supply chain foster urban economic growth, while conglomerate M&amp;As that diversify into unrelated businesses have a negative impact. Furthermore, based on the network properties of M&amp;A flows, the positive effects of vertical M&amp;As is stronger for acquirer cities compared to receiver cities, highlighting the need for place-based financial regulations to address regional disparities in China.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51458,"journal":{"name":"Papers in Regional Science","volume":"104 1","pages":"Article 100071"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143161094","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Urban sprawl and firm green total factor productivity: Evidence from China","authors":"Mufang Xie ,&nbsp;Changbiao Zhong ,&nbsp;Binbin Yu","doi":"10.1016/j.pirs.2024.100066","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pirs.2024.100066","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Based on corrected nighttime light data and firm-level data from 1998 to 2010, we use an urban sprawl index that properly captures the subtle differences in density distribution within cities, extend a hyperbolic distance specification within a parametric stochastic framework to the analysis of firm green total factor productivity (GTFP), and examine the impact of urban sprawl on firm GTFP. The empirical results show that urban sprawl has a significant negative impact on GTFP. Our results are robust after considering several potential problems. We also examine the possible mechanisms by which urban sprawl affects firm GTFP based on the agglomeration economy perspective. Our findings show that urban sprawl negatively impacts the urban agglomeration economies and hinders the formation of labor pools, intermediate input sharing, and knowledge spillovers, consequently diminishing firm GTFP. Heterogeneity analysis shows that urban sprawl has a more significant impact on small and medium-sized urban firms, firms in low-technology industries, and small and medium-sized firms. The moderating effects reveal that the institutional environment and infrastructure, including transportation infrastructure and information infrastructure, can significantly mitigate the impact of urban sprawl on the firm GTFP.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51458,"journal":{"name":"Papers in Regional Science","volume":"104 1","pages":"Article 100066"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143161090","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Land-use change and Zipf’s law: A novel tool to investigate regional transformations","authors":"Michele Postigliola,&nbsp;Luca Salvati","doi":"10.1016/j.pirs.2024.100074","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pirs.2024.100074","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Business cycles have affected urbanization processes worldwide. Despite strength and pervasiveness of recent stagnation waves, empirical evidence documenting the aggregate effect of economic downturns on metropolitan growth was relatively scarce in the old continent. The present study tests – likely for the first time in the literature – a rank-size rule <em>à la Zipf</em> for both intensity and spatial direction of land-use changes from Urban Atlas high-resolution maps in mainland Attica, a Greek region hosting the capital city of Athens. The empirical framework proposed here integrates applied economics with regional science, spatial planning, and a classical approach of landscape ecology grounded on the exploratory analysis of land-use metrics representing parcel size and shape. To discriminate morphological and functional urbanization traits typical of expansions and recessions, a spatial econometric analysis testing Zipf’s law <em>via</em> Multiscale Geographically Weighted Regressions (MGWRs) quantified the differential impact of seven land-use change trajectories during two time intervals (2006–2012 and 2012–2018). Moving from the original Zipfian specification, regression models were augmented with ancillary predictors of land-use change such as parcel shape and the distance from downtown. In respect with economic expansion, recession was associated with moderately less coherent rank-size rules for land-use change, likely because crisis dynamics have stimulated use of fringe spaces for small residential settlements and alternative (non-urban) land-use. However, spatially explicit rank-size rules remain a powerful tool when investigating direction and intensity of land-use change.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51458,"journal":{"name":"Papers in Regional Science","volume":"104 1","pages":"Article 100074"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143161097","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Wrong polycentricity-right polycentricity?: Insights from an empirical study in Tehran metropolitan region, Iran","authors":"Abbas Doorudinia ,&nbsp;Hashem Dadashpoor ,&nbsp;Abolfazl Meshkini","doi":"10.1016/j.pirs.2024.100075","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pirs.2024.100075","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This research delves into the complexities of assessing polycentric development, focusing on Tehran's city-region. Using a systematic analytical approach, we examine geographical boundaries, center thresholds, and measurement indicators over time. Our findings highlight the crucial role of geographical boundaries in understanding polycentricity. We show that the choice between administrative and functional boundaries significantly affects polycentricity measurement, underscoring the importance of careful boundary selection. Moreover, our investigation reveals that specific center selection thresholds do not decisively impact polycentricity measurement. We emphasize the adaptable nature of polycentricity indicators across different boundary and center configurations. However, interpreting polycentricity patterns depends not only on indicator selection but also on the intricate interplay of boundaries and centers. These interconnected dimensions provide comprehensive insights into Polycentric Urban Development (PUD), advocating for improved and harmonious approaches. Our study underscores the delicate balance among boundaries, centers, and indicators in understanding PUD. It suggests refining processes and scales, delineating regions and centers meticulously, and focusing on size distribution and interaction patterns among centers to achieve a more accurate approximation of reality. The polycentricity evaluation of Tehran's metropolitan region can inform revisions to current approaches, frameworks, and indicators, ultimately enhancing the metropolitan regions' evaluation methods, planning, and territorial policy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51458,"journal":{"name":"Papers in Regional Science","volume":"104 1","pages":"Article 100075"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143161095","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}