Extended local labor markets due to high speed trains : Visualization of estimations in the Swedish national travel demand forecasting tool, SAMPERS

Wider economic benefits resulting from extended geographical mobility is one argument for investments in high-speed rail. More specifically, the argument for high-speed trains in Sweden has been that they can help to further spatially extend labor market regions which in turn has a positive effect on growth and development. In this paper the aim is to cartographically visualize the potential size of the labor markets in areas that could be affected by possible future high-speed trains. The visualization is based on the forecasts of labor mobility with public transport made by the Swedish national mobility transport forecasting tool, SAMPERS, for two alternative high-speed rail scenarios. The analysis, not surprisingly, suggests that the largest impact of high-speed trains results in the area where the future high speed rail tracks are planned to be built. This expected effect on local labor market regions of high-speed trains could mean that possible regional economic development effects also are to be expected in this area. However, the results, in general, from the SAMPERS forecasts indicaterelatively small increases in local labor market potentials.

Dinâmica regional no Brasil: convergência ou divergência

A pesquisa visa a examinar as conseqüências da dinâmica de (sub)desenvolvimento econômico espacial brasileiro sobre o grau de disparidades regionais. O trabalho objetiva avaliar se as diferentes intensidades e velocidades das transformações produtivas nos sistemas econômicos regionais levaram a uma situação de maior convergência ou divergência entre os respectivos níveis de desenvolvimento observados na atualidade brasileira. A análise abrangerá um período a partir de meados da década de 80 até o período mais recente, para o qual estão disponíveis as informações estatísticas. A finalidade da análise é verificar também as mudanças setoriais no contexto das realidades econômicas regionais, a partir de vários enfoques, isto é, enquanto geração de produto e absorção de mão-de-obra.

Theoretical and empirical essays on microeconometrics

This Master Thesis consists of one theoretical article and one empirical article on the field of Microeconometrics. The first chapter\footnote{We also thank useful suggestions by Marinho Bertanha, Gabriel Cepaluni, Brigham Frandsen, Dalia Ghanem, Ricardo Masini, Marcela Mello, Áureo de Paula, Cristine Pinto, Edson Severnini and seminar participants at São Paulo School of Economics, the California Econometrics Conference 2015 and the 37\textsuperscript{th} Brazilian Meeting of Econometrics.}, called \emph{Synthetic Control Estimator: A Generalized Inference Procedure and Confidence Sets}, contributes to the literature about inference techniques of the Synthetic Control Method. This methodology was proposed to answer questions involving counterfactuals when only one treated unit and a few control units are observed. Although this method was applied in many empirical works, the formal theory behind its inference procedure is still an open question. In order to fulfill this lacuna, we make clear the sufficient hypotheses that guarantee the adequacy of Fisher's Exact Hypothesis Testing Procedure for panel data, allowing us to test any \emph{sharp null hypothesis} and, consequently, to propose a new way to estimate Confidence Sets for the Synthetic Control Estimator by inverting a test statistic, the first confidence set when we have access only to finite sample, aggregate level data whose cross-sectional dimension may be larger than its time dimension. Moreover, we analyze the size and the power of the proposed test with a Monte Carlo experiment and find that test statistics that use the synthetic control method outperforms test statistics commonly used in the evaluation literature. We also extend our framework for the cases when we observe more than one outcome of interest (simultaneous hypothesis testing) or more than one treated unit (pooled intervention effect) and when heteroskedasticity is present. The second chapter, called \emph{Free Economic Area of Manaus: An Impact Evaluation using the Synthetic Control Method}, is an empirical article. We apply the synthetic control method for Brazilian city-level data during the 20\textsuperscript{th} Century in order to evaluate the economic impact of the Free Economic Area of Manaus (FEAM). We find that this enterprise zone had positive significant effects on Real GDP per capita and Services Total Production per capita, but it also had negative significant effects on Agriculture Total Production per capita. Our results suggest that this subsidy policy achieve its goal of promoting regional economic growth, even though it may have provoked mis-allocation of resources among economic sectors.

Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean 1999-2000

Includes bibliography

Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean 1998-1999

Includes bibliography

The sustainability of development in Latin America and the Caribbean: challenges and opportunities

Includes bibliography

Trade and investment promotion between Asia-Pacific and Latin America: present position and future prospects

Includes bibliography

Socio-economic impacts of natural disasters: a gender analysis

Includes bibliography

Hunger and malnutrition in the countries of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS)

Includes bibliography

Enterprise creation and economic recovery: the case of Rio Grande do Sul

Includes bibliography

Desenvolvimento regional e meio ambiente: desafios para a construção da região metropolitana de Bogotá (Colômbia)

Pós-graduação em Geografia - IGCE

Impatti paesaggistici ed economici delle misure agroambientali nell'ambito dei programmi di sviluppo rurale

La ricerca è mirata a valutare come l’attuazione delle politiche ambientali di Sviluppo Rurale possa contribuire al miglioramento del paesaggio, analizzando i suoi effetti territoriali. Nell’ambito del caso di studio della Regione Emilia-Romagna vengono analizzate le misure agro-ambientali e di forestazione agricola dal 1994 al 2011, comprendendo gli interventi realizzati con i Regolamenti (CEE) 2078/1992, 2080/1992 e dai Programmi di Sviluppo Rurale (PSR) 2000-2006 e 2007-2013. In particolare, sono approfonditi i fattori che determinano la partecipazione territoriale delle misure agro-ambientali, individuate a livello aziendale le motivazioni alla partecipazione per le azioni con effetto diretto sul paesaggio, valutati i conseguenti effetti tecnico-economici e analizzati gli impatti degli interventi sul paesaggio a livello territoriale, in funzione del contesto ambientale. I risultati hanno consentito di approfondire quanto già riportato nelle valutazioni istituzionali dei PSR e in letteratura scientifica, individuando i fattori determinanti della partecipazione a livello regionale. A questo scopo sono state utilizzate analisi di econometria spaziale che hanno permesso di evidenziare effetti di concentrazione territoriale delle superfici sotto impegno, in funzione delle priorità della misura e degli ordinamenti produttivi dei beneficiari. Sono stati inoltre analizzati gli impatti paesaggistici in un’area di studio ristretta a livello territoriale e aziendale: gli interventi specifici, in alcuni contesti territoriali dove è stata raggiunta una certa concentrazione delle superfici sotto impegno, hanno modificato il paesaggio rurale, differenziandolo rispetto alla matrice agricola intensiva in cui sono stati inseriti. A livello aziendale sono stati rilevati effetti significativi sull’economia dei beneficiari che scelgono di aderire a tali misure, con un diffuso effetto di riduzione della redditività. I contributi compensano in maniera differenziata i costi legati all’implementazione degli interventi in funzione della tipologia di intervento e delle scelte tecniche aziendali adottate per la loro gestione.

Essays on Regional Development and Internationalisation

This collection of essays examines various aspects of regional development and the issues of internationalization. The first essay investigates the implications of the impressive growth of China from a rural-urban perspective and addresses the topic of convergence in China by employing a non-parametrical approach to study the distribution dynamics of per capita income at province, rural and urban levels. To better understand the degree of inequality characterizing China and the long-term predictions of convergence or divergence of its different territorial aggregations, the second essay formulates a composite indicator of Regional Development (RDI) to benchmark development at province and sub-province level. The RDI goes beyond the uni-dimensional concept of development, generally proxied by the GDP per capita, and gives attention to the rural-urban dimension. The third essay “Internationalization and Trade Specialization in Italy. The role of China in the international intra-firm trade of the Italian regions” - deals with another aspect of regional economic development: the progressive de-industrialisation and de-localization of the local production. This essay looks at the trade specialization of selected Italian regions (those regions specialized in manufacturing) and the fragmentation of the local production on a global scale. China represents in this context an important stakeholder and the paper documents the importance of this country in the regional intra-firm trade.

A Natural Gas Severance Tax-An Economic Analysis

This study estimates the economic effects of a severance tax on the market for natural gas produced from shale sources using non-conventional extraction methods, such as horizontal drilling and fracking. Results suggest that a severance tax of 5% would increase the price of natural gas by as much as 3.82% and decrease gas extraction by an estimated 1.16% to a value of 9.52%. If applied to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States, a 5% severance tax is estimated to raise between US$443 and $486 million per year in public revenue. The marginal deadweight loss associated with a 5% severance tax is estimated between 1.27% and 12.85% of the last dollar earned. The burden of this tax falls on both producers and consumers and depends upon the underlying assumptions made regarding the price responsiveness of consumers and producers. Under plausible assumptions, a family consuming 1000 MMcfs (approximate to 2.8 x 10(4) m(3)) per year of natural gas is estimated to pay an additional $100 per year after the implementation of a 5% severance tax.