Experiences of Public-Private Collaboration for Stimulating

For over a decade now, work has been ongoing on the professional organization and management of town centre retail spaces in Spain under what is known as the Open Shopping Centre model. Introducing this model has involved a process of public-private collaboration in several different phases, conditioned to a large extent by the specific context of each initiative. With a view to furthering the process of benchmarking developed out of the experiences of recent years, we shall use case analysis to explain trends in initiatives for retail regeneration and stimulation undertaken in the Basque Country (an autonomous community in the north of Spain) since 2000. We analyze the factors that have prompted these initiatives, assessing and comparing the landmarks and conditions that have marked, or are determining, progress in the dynamic of collaboration between municipal authorities and retailers for a competitive improvement both in the retail sector and in the environment in which it operates: the city. Finally we list witch are these key factors.

Population age structure and private consumption in Spain

In this paper we study the effect of population age distribution upon private consumption expenditure in Spain from 1964 to 1997 using aggregate data. We obtain four main results. First, changes in the population pyramid have substantial effects upon the behaviour of private consumption. Second, the pattern of the coefficients of the demographic variables is not consistent with the simplest version of the life cycle hypothesis. Third, we estimate the impact of the demographic transition upon consumption and find positive values associated with episodes in which the shares of groups of individuals with expenditure levels higher (lower) than the mean increased (decreased). Fourth, the results are robust to alternative specifications for the population age distribution.

The Private Provision of International Impure Public Goods: the Case of Climate Policy

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San Francisco : a city reinvented by creative innovation

The aim of this paper is to analyse the recent evolution of the city of San Francisco to outline the major features that have made it possible this continuing process of creative innovation in the city. In order to meet this objective, the project is framed around answering two key research questions: (1) what are the main economic and social elements that characterise urban change in the city of San Francisco and (2) which is the role of public strategies in the continuing economic success of San Francisco. The paper concludes that the successful performance of San Francisco is the result of the actions taken by many agents in the city, but the role of public authorities, especially the City and County, must be stressed, both through direct intervention and by coordinating, fostering and supporting the private and non-profit sectors. This is especially relevant in a country like the US where private initiative has been seen in many occasions as the greatest driver of economic and social success. Yet, the performance of San Francisco City cannot be explained without the role played by the public sector, in coordination with the civil society