UK House Prices: Convergence Clubs and Spillovers

This paper uses the log t test to analyse the convergence of house prices across UK regions and the presence of spillovers e ects. We nd that UK house prices can be grouped into four clusters. Moreover we document the dynamics of the house price spillovers across regions.

FDI, Trade Costs and Regional Asymmetries

We set up a trade model where three countries compete for an exogenous number of firms. Our innovation lies in the geography of the model. Of the three countries, one is the hub through which all trade takes place. First, we establish the natural geography of the region, which is given by the equilibrium distribution of industrial activity in the absence of taxes or subsidies. We then examine the implications for corporate taxes when the countries compete with each other to attract firms. We find that, even when all countries are the same size, the centrality of the hub gives it an advantage in tax setting, such that its equilibrium tax can be larger than that of the spokes and yet it still attracts a disproportionate share of industry. Thus geographic advantage in tax competition has a second dimension, centrality in addition to size.

How much does a single graduation cohort from further education colleges contribute to an open regional economy?

Econometric analysis has been inconclusive in determining the contribution that increased skills have on macroeconomic performance whilst conventional growth accounting approaches to the same problem rest on restrictive assumptions. We propose an alternative micro-to-macro method which combines elements of growth accounting and numerical general equilibrium modelling. The usefulness of this approach for applied education policy analysis is demonstrated by evaluating the macroeconomic impact on the Scottish economy of a single graduation cohort from further education colleges. We find the macroeconomic impact to be significant. From a policy point of view this supports a revival of interest in the conventional teaching role of education institutions.

The rise and fall of piecework–timework wage differentials: market volatility, labor heterogeneity, and output pricing

Based on detailed payroll data of blue collar male and female labor in Britain’s engineering and metal working industrial sectors between the mid-1920s and mid-1960s, we provide empirical evidence in respect of several central themes in the piecework-timework wage literature. The period covers part of the heyday of pieceworking as well as the start of its post-war decline. We show the importance of relative piece rate flexibility during the Great Depression as well as during the build up to WWII and during the war itself. We account for the very significant decline in the differentials after the war. Labor market topics include piecework pay in respect of compensating differentials, labor heterogeneity, and the transaction costs of pricing piecework output.

Selection bias and unobservable heterogeneity applied at the wage equation of European married women

This paper utilizes a panel data sample selection model to correct the selection in the analysis of longitudinal labor market data for married women in European countries. We estimate the female wage equation in a framework of unbalanced panel data models with sample selection. The wage equations of females have several potential sources of.

Methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus clonal complex 398: high prevalence and geographical heterogeneity in bone and joint infection and nasal carriage.

The prevalence of clonal complex (CC) 398 methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) was unexpectedly high among bone and joint infections (BJIs) and nasal-colonizing isolates in France, with surprising geographical heterogeneity. With none of the major, most-known staphylococcal virulence genes, MSSA CC398 BJI was associated with lower biological inflammatory syndrome and lower treatment failure rates.

El Nuevo acuerdo de financiación regional: un análisis de urgencia

El pasado 15 de julio el Consejo de Política Fiscal y Financiera (CPPF) aprobó un nuevo acuerdo de financiación para las comunidades autónomas de régimen común. El documento en el que se recoge el acuerdo no es precisamente un prodigio de claridad expositiva y describe además un modelo complejo. Como resultado de ambos factores, las descripciones del nuevo sistema que han aparecido en la prensa reciente y en el material "informativo" distribuido por algunas administraciones resultan bastante confusas y no reflejan correctamente, a mi entender, el funcionamiento del modelo o su previsible incidencia sobre la distribución territorial de los recursos públicos. Con el fin de facilitar un debate más informado sobre el tema, en este trabajo se intenta clarificar el funcionamiento del nuevo modelo, ofreciendo una descripción sistemática del mismo, un análisis de sus propiedades dinámicas y una primera estimación de sus resultados iniciales. Por otra parte, en el trabajo se realiza también una valoración crítica del nuevo sistema y se identifican ciertos aspectos del mismo que pueden ser problemáticos. Algunos de ellos son de carácter técnico y podrían corregirse durante el proceso de elaboración de la normativa en la que ha de plasmarse el nuevo acuerdo sin alterar la esencia de éste.

El Nuevo acuerdo de financiación regional: un análisis de urgencia ADENDA

This note contains some addenda to a recent paper (de la Fuente, 2009) that analyzed the new Spanish system of regional financing on the basis of the agreement between the central and regional Governments reached last July. The note updates my previous discussion after examining the bill that has been recently sent to Parliament by the Government and identifies some technical problems of the Government's proposal.

Inter-regional redistribution through infrastructure investment: tactical or programmatic?

In this paper we analyze the effects of both tactical and programmatic politics on the inter-regional allocation of infrastructure investment. We use a panel of data for the Spanish electoral districts during the period 1964-2004 to estimate an equation where investment depends both on economic and political variables. The results show that tactical politics do matter since, after controlling for economic traits, the districts with more ‘Political power’ still receive more investment. These districts are those where the incumbents’ Vote margin of victory/ defeat in the past election is low, where the Marginal seat price is low, where there is Partisan alignment between the executives at the central and regional layers of government, and where there are Pivotal regional parties which are influential in the formation of the central executive. However, the results also show that programmatic politics matter, since inter-regional redistribution (measured as the elasticity of investment to per capita income) is shown to increase with the arrival of the Democracy and EU Funds, with Left governments, and to decrease the higher is the correlation between a measure of ‘Political power’ and per capita income.

Human capital spillovers, productivity and regional convergence in Spain

This paper analyses the differential impact of human capital, in terms of different levels of schooling, on regional productivity and convergence. The potential existence of geographical spillovers of human capital is also considered by applying spatial panel data techniques. The empirical analysis of Spanish provinces between 1980 and 2007 confirms the positive impact of human capital on regional productivity and convergence, but reveals no evidence of any positive geographical spillovers of human capital. In fact, in some specifications the spatial lag presented by tertiary studies has a negative effect on the variables under consideration.

Debris flow susceptibility mapping at a regional scale

Debris flow susceptibility mapping at a regional scale has been the subject of various studies. The complexity of the phenomenon and the variability of local controlling factors limit the use of process-based models for a first assessment. GISbased approaches associating an automatic detection of the source areas and a simple assessment of the debris flow spreading may provide a substantial basis for a preliminary susceptibility assessment at the regional scale. The use of a digital elevation model, with a 10 m resolution, for the Canton de Vaud territory (Switzerland), a lithological map and a land use map, has allowed automatic identification of the potential source areas. The spreading estimates are based on basic probabilistic and energy calculations that allow to define the maximal runout distance of a debris flow.

Los Actores económicos y la dimensión regional : la Cambra de Comerç de Barcelona y Foment del Treball Nacional (1997-2007)

Esta investigación trata de esclarecer qué opinión merece y cómo repercute la existencia de gobiernos regionales en las organizaciones empresariales de ámbito regional. Ello lo observamos mediante el análisis de dos organizaciones empresariales catalanas: Foment del Treball Nacional y la Cambra de Comerç, Indústria i Navegació de Barcelona. Desafortunadamente, como sucede para el caso español, tras más de veinticinco años de experiencia regional existe un vacío en la literatura académica, tan sólo unos pocos estudios referenciados, tanto de organizaciones empresariales regionales como de su opinión sobre el Estado de las Autonomías y sus implicaciones para un determinado modelo económico y proyecto político.

Heterogeneity of Ia antigen expression on myeloblastic leukaemias: correlation with stage of maturation defined by cytochemical markers.

The expression of Ia-like antigen (Ia) has been studied in 55 cases of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) in correlation with the expression of both Sudan Black (SB) and naphthol AS-D chloroacetate esterase (NCAE) stains. Operationally the AML cases were divided into three groups using only NCAE expression on the leukaemic cells: the first group with early maturation stage (MS1) consisted of 30 cases with less than 10% NCAE positive cells (SB: 15-100%): the MS2 group of 14 cases with 10-70% NCAE positive cells (SB: 65-100%) and the MS3 group of 11 cases with 70-100% NCAE positive cells (SB: 89-100%). Ia expression was determined by complement-dependent cytotoxicity, immunofluorescence and immunoperoxidase methods. A similar high percentage (80%) of patients from both group MS1 and MS2 expressed Ia on the surface of 32-100% of the cells. Furthermore, individual comparison of all cases from these two groups showed no correlation between Ia, NCAE and SB expression. Only in the 11 cases from the MS3 group, which included nine cases of promyelocytic leukaemias, was there a correlation between very low expression of Ia antigen with the high NCAE expression. Thus, for AML with a low degree of differentiation the expression of Ia seems to be independent of conventional cytochemical markers of cell maturation.

Heterogeneity across immigrants in the Spanish labour

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the diferences that immigrants have in the Spanish labour market. Immigrants in Spain come from a diversity of continents (Africa, South America, Eastern Europe, Asia, etc.), and there are substantial diferences in characteristics not only among continents but also among countries in each continent. Using a quantile regression method of decomposition we estimate these diferences that are reflected in the labour market and in particular are mirrored in the wage, so some immigrants are more discriminated or segregated that others because they have less advantage. For example Argentineans and Peruvians have the same origin and culture but we can find diferences in the wage that they receive in the Spanish labor market, or for example Moroccans have a advantage with respect to the Rest of Africans, due to the geographical proximity to Spain. So when we study the pay gap and the gender pay gap we need to take into consideration the origin of immigrants. We also want to study how the integration of immigrants evolved across years, whether the wage gap that we find in the first episode of work between immigrants and natives disappears or continues to be present in the Spain labour market.