The Spatial Distribution of Human Capital: Can It Really Be Explained by Regional Differences in Market Access?

This paper tests the robustness of estimates of market access impact on regional variability in human capital, as previously derived in the NEG literature. Our hypothesis is that these estimates of the coefficient of market access, in fact, capture the effects of regional differences in the industrial mix and the spatial dependence in the distribution of human capital. Results for the Spanish provinces indicate that the estimated impact of market access vanishes and becomes non-significant once these two elements are included in the empirical analysis.

Geography of talent and regional differences in Spain

Tentative empirical evidence suggests that the agglomeration of talent contributes to regional development. However, given that talented people are not evenly distributed across regions, this paper seeks to determine how the concentration of talent affects patterns of regional development. Here, we empirically evaluate the effects of the distribution of talent on regional differences by means of a detailed analysis of the 17 Autonomous Communities of Spain between 1996 and 2004. We hypothesise that regions specialising in strategic sectors that are creative and which can be assumed to enjoy rapid growth in productivity will experience faster rates of development and, in turn, that this concentration of talent will have a positive impact on the region’s economic performance. Thus, we believe that this mechanism can explain the marked regional imbalances in Spain. Our findings confirm that regional differences, measured in terms of GDP per capita and by, - industrial and service- oriented production, are influenced by the Communities’ talent bases as determined by, educational attainment and employment in assumed to be strategic for regional development, inasmuch as these sectors provide economic specialization.

The Emergence of Regional ICT Regulatory Spaces

This paper examines the role that existing Latin American policy institutions and regulatory coordination mechanisms (otherwise referred to as “regional regulatory spaces”) play in innovation and development of the ICT sector. In doing so, it recognizes that sector regulation does not currently match regional development, thereby limiting its potential progress. In order to shed light on the role that the “regional regulatory space” could potentially play, the author addresses three main questions: · Is there a hierarchy of policies by which it is presumed easy to “coordinate within well-defined technical subjects” but extremely challenging to “agree in matters of public policy?” · What would happen if policy divergence became more important than convergence? Is it reasonable to consider creating “regional regulatory spaces?” or should we focus solely on technological coordination? · Do institutions capable of serving as effective regional regulatory spaces already exist in Latin America or should we consider modifying existing institutions or creating new institutions? After analyzing these three overarching areas of concern, this paper then discusses the need to create a regional space in order to harmonize ICT regulatory frameworks and public policies. Ultimately, this work aims to advance the institutional formulation beyond pre-existing efforts.

Corporate Social and Regional Responsibility - The View of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

The objective of this research was to understand and describe what corpo-rate social and regional responsibility is in SMEs and define the meaning of these concepts to the community and region. Corporate social respon-sibility (CSR) creates a basis for regional responsibility. Regional respon-sibility is a new concept and this research examines it from SMEs’ view-point. This is a theoretical research and the aim is to create a theoretical framework of SMEs’ corporate social and regional responsibility. This framework supports the future research on the subject. The research results show that CSR of SMEs is practical, informal and dependent on the scarce resources of SMEs. CSR is a complex and deep concept and SMEs have their own way of interpreting it. It can be stated that CSR-practises in SMEs are closely connected to employment, envi-ronment, community and supply chain. The challenge is to find motivation to socially and regionally responsible behaviour in SMEs. Benefiting from responsible behaviour and the attitude of SME’s owner-manager are the key reasons for SMEs to involve in CSR and regional responsibility. The benefits of this involvement are for example improved image, reputation and market position. CSR can also be used in SMEs as risk management tool and in cost reduction. This study indicates also that creation of strate-gic partnerships, local government participation, a proper legal system and financial support are the basic issues which support CSR of SMEs. This research showed that regional responsibility of SMEs includes active participation in regional strategy processes, L&RED initiatives and regional philanthropy. For SMEs regional responsibility means good relationships with the community and other related stakeholders, involvement in L&RED initiatives and acting responsibly towards the operating environment. In SMEs’ case this means that they need to understand the benefits of this kind of involvement in order to take action and participate. As regional responsibility includes the relationships between firm and the community, it can be stated that regional responsibility extends CSR’s view of stakeholders and emphasises both, the regional stakeholders and public-private partnerships. Community engagement and responsible be-haviour towards community can be seen as a part of SMEs’ social and regional responsibility. This study indicates that social and regional re-sponsibility of SMEs have a significant influence on the community and region where they are located. Better local and regional relationships with regional and community actors are the positive impacts of social and re-gional responsibility of SMEs. Socially and regionally responsible behav-iour creates a more positive environment and deepens the involvement of SMEs to community and L&RED initiatives.

Air services on thin routes : Regional versus low-cost airlines

An examination of the impact in the US and EU markets of two major innovations in the provision of air services on thin routes - regional jet technology and the low-cost business model - reveals significant differences. In the US, regional airlines monopolize a high proportion of thin routes, whereas low-cost carriers are dominant on these routes in Europe. Our results have different implications for business and leisure travelers, given that regional services provide a higher frequency of flights (at the expense of higher fares), while low-cost services offer lower fares (at the expense of lower flight frequencies).

The regional distribution of unemployment. What do micro-data tell us?

Regional disparities in unemployment rates are large and persistent. The literature provides evidence of their magnitude and evolution, as well as evidence of the role of certain economic, demographic and environmental factors in explaining the gap between regions of low and high unemployment. Most of these studies, however, adopt an aggregate approach and so do not account for the individual characteristics of the unemployed and employed in each region. This paper, by drawing on micro-data from the Spanish wave of the Labour Force Survey, seeks to remedy this shortcoming by analysing regional differentials in unemployment rates. An appropriate decomposition of the regional gap in the average probability of being unemployed enables us to distinguish between the contribution of differences in the regional distribution of individual characteristics from that attributable to a different impact of these characteristics on the probability of unemployment. Our results suggest that the well-documented disparities in regional unemployment are not just the result of regional heterogeneity in the distribution of individual characteristics. Non-negligible differences in the probability of unemployment remain after controlling for this type of heterogeneity, as a result of differences across regions in the impact of the observed characteristics. Among the factors considered in our analysis, regional differences in the endowment and impact of an individual’s education are shown to play a major role.

Regional differences of physical activity and sedentary behaviour in Swiss children are not explained by socio-demographics or the built environment.

OBJECTIVE: We evaluated whether regional differences in physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour (SB) existed along language boundaries within Switzerland and whether potential differences would be explained by socio-demographics or environmental characteristics. METHODS: We combined data of 611 children aged 4 to 7 years from four regional studies. PA and SB were assessed by accelerometers. Information about the socio-demographic background was obtained by questionnaires. Objective neighbourhood attributes could be linked to home addresses. Multivariate regression models were used to test associations between PA and SB and socio-demographic characteristics and neighbourhood attributes. RESULTS: Children from the German compared to the French-speaking region were more physically active and less sedentary (by 10-15 %, p < 0.01). Although German-speaking children lived in a more favourable environment and a higher socioeconomic neighbourhood (differences p < 0.001), these characteristics did not explain the differences in PA behaviour between French and German speaking. CONCLUSIONS: Factors related to the language region, which might be culturally rooted were among the strongest correlates of PA and SB among Swiss children, independent of individual, social and environmental factors.

Regional Science trends through the analysis of the main facts of the 51st ERSA Conference

The 51st ERSA Conference held in Barcelona in 2011 was one of the largest ever. By examining the characteristics of the conference, this paper identifies the main trends in Regional Science and draws on a broad array of sources of information: the delegates" demographic details, the conference program itself, a satisfaction survey conducted among delegates, a quality survey addressed to those chairing the sessions and, finally, a bibliometric database including each author signing a paper presented at the conference. We finally run a regression analysis from which we show that for ERSA delegates what matters most is quality, and this must be the direction that future conferences should move toward. Ultimately, ERSA conferences are comprehensive, all-embracing occasions, representing an ideal opportunity for regional scientists to present their work to each other and to network.

Llegint Cinema. Anàlisi de la representació de la malaltia mental en el setè art

El present treball és un estudi sobre l'estigma social en la malaltia mental i la representació d'aquest al cinema. Aquesta anàlisi s'ha portat a terme a partir de dues línies de treball. Per una banda amb l'anàlisi interpretativa de dotze pel·lícules utilitzant els indicadors de 'perillositat'; 'incapacitat per a la vida'; 'incurabilitat'; 'pèrdua de rols socials'; 'por al rebuig i/o por a les relacions socials'; i per l'altra banda a partir d'un grup de discussió, en el qual s'han visionat fragments de cinc pel·lícules amb set estudiants del Grau d'Educació Social de la Universitat de Vic. Dels resultats obtinguts es desprèn que la pel·lícula és un mitjà de comunicació mitjançant el qual els estereotips són usats en favor de l'espectacle, estigmatitzant així les persones diagnosticades de malaltia mental. Aquest és un dels motius que fan valorar el cinema com un recurs educatiu a considerar tant en la formació d'educadors i educadores socials com en els projectes d'intervenció socioeducativa.

The composition of airborne and grain-dust fungal communities is shaped at regional scale by plant genotypes and farming practices

Chronic exposure to airborne fungi has been associated with different respiratory symptoms and pathologies in occupational populations, such as grain workers. However, the homogeneity in the fungal species composition of these bioaerosols on a large geographical scale and the different drivers that shape these fungal communities remain unclear. In this study, the diversity of fungi in grain dust and in the aerosols released during harvesting was determined across 96 sites at a geographical scale of 560 km(2) along an elevation gradient of 500 m by tag-encoded 454-pyrosequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences. Associations between the structure of fungal communities in the grain dust and different abiotic (farming system, soil characteristics, geographic and climatic parameters) and biotic (wheat cultivar, previous crop culture) factors were explored. These analyses revealed a strong relationship between the airborne and grain dust fungal communities and showed the presence of allergenic and mycotoxigenic species in most samples, which highlights the potential contribution of these fungal species to work-related respiratory symptoms of grain workers. The farming system was the major driver of the alpha and beta phylogenetic diversity of fungal communities. In addition, elevation and soil CaCO3 concentrations shaped the alpha diversity whereas wheat cultivar, cropping history and the number of freezing days per year shaped the taxonomic beta diversity of these communities.

XX Setmana de Cinema Formatiu. La Música i el Cinema Formatiu

Seguint la trajectòria iniciada l’any 1995 amb la I Setmana de Cinema Formatiu, enaquesta ocasió es posaran en comú les reflexions al voltant dels aspectes relacionatsamb la Música i el Cinema Formatiu.Aquest novembre tornem amb la XX Setmana del Cinema Formatiu, una activitatconsolidada del Campus Mundet i en la que acostumen a participar any rera any alvoltant d’uns mil estudiants i una trentena de professors i professores.La música ens uneix, ens emociona, ens tranquilitza, ens anima, ens entristeix,... ensacompanya al llarg de tota la nostra vida. Hi ha cultures sense escriptura, però notrobem cultures sense música. La música està present en les nostres vides i també en elcinema. La música il·luminaqualsevol celebració de la nostra vida i es troba en totes lescultures al llarg de la història.És per aquest fet que aquest curs que celebrem la XX Setmana de Cinema Formatiu enel marc del Seminari de Cinema Formatiu dins el Grup Consolidat de Recerca GIAD1389-SGR.2014, que ho volem celebrar amb música i volem que la música sigui elnostre eix central de treball, celebració i trobada...

Text i context. El concurs de cinema amateur «JULIUS» (1987-1996)

El «Julius» és un concurs de cinema amateur que fonamenta la seva singularitat en el fet de partir d’un text literari prefixat del qual els participants han de fer una adaptació audiovisual. En aquest article s’estudia la primera època del concurs: el seu origen, les diverses edicions en què es dugué a terme, les incidències que s’hi produïren..., i el context social i cultural que va contribuir a fer-ne un concurs amb unes característiques úniques que es concretaren en l’anomenat «esperit Julius», sorneguer, llibertari i surrealista.

Predicted decrease in global climate suitability masks regional complexity of invasive fruit fly species response to climate change

Climate change affects the rate of insect invasions as well as the abundance, distribution and impacts of such invasions on a global scale. Among the principal analytical approaches to predicting and understanding future impacts of biological invasions are Species Distribution Models (SDMs), typically in the form of correlative Ecological Niche Models (ENMs). An underlying assumption of ENMs is that species-environment relationships remain preserved during extrapolations in space and time, although this is widely criticised. The semi-mechanistic modelling platform, CLIMEX, employs a top-down approach using species ecophysiological traits and is able to avoid some of the issues of extrapolation, making it highly applicable to investigating biological invasions in the context of climate change. The tephritid fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) comprise some of the most successful invasive species and serious economic pests around the world. Here we project 12 tephritid species CLIMEX models into future climate scenarios to examine overall patterns of climate suitability and forecast potential distributional changes for this group. We further compare the aggregate response of the group against species-specific responses. We then consider additional drivers of biological invasions to examine how invasion potential is influenced by climate, fruit production and trade indices. Considering the group of tephritid species examined here, climate change is predicted to decrease global climate suitability and to shift the cumulative distribution poleward. However, when examining species-level patterns, the predominant directionality of range shifts for 11 of the 12 species is eastward. Most notably, management will need to consider regional changes in fruit fly species invasion potential where high fruit production, trade indices and predicted distributions of these flies overlap.