a column by Fabian Eckert, Sharat Ganapati and Conor Walsh for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
In recent years, wages for highly skilled workers have grown rapidly.
Using US data between 1980 and 2015, this column studies a group of service industries that are skill-intensive, widely traded, and have recently seen explosive wage growth. It shows that, unlike any other sector, the wage growth in these industries was strongly biased toward the densest local labour markets and the highest-paying firms.
These developments alone explain 30% of the increase in inequality between the 50th and 90th percentiles of the wage distribution.
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Showing posts with label urbanisation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label urbanisation. Show all posts
Tuesday, 1 October 2019
Friday, 8 February 2019
Winners, losers and future prospects: The economic geography of transition countries
a column by Klaus Desmet, Dávid Krisztián Nagy, Dzhamilya Nigmatulina and Nathaniel Young for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
The economic geography of transition economies has changed dramatically over the last quarter century, with large urban areas growing fast and many smaller places facing declining populations.
Using a high-resolution spatial growth model, this column projects the transition economies as a whole to perform economically well over the next decades, especially the region’s densest places. Large-scale infrastructure projects such as the Belt and Road Initiative will have a positive impact, but not more so than modest reductions of general trade frictions.
Continue reading
The economic geography of transition economies has changed dramatically over the last quarter century, with large urban areas growing fast and many smaller places facing declining populations.
Using a high-resolution spatial growth model, this column projects the transition economies as a whole to perform economically well over the next decades, especially the region’s densest places. Large-scale infrastructure projects such as the Belt and Road Initiative will have a positive impact, but not more so than modest reductions of general trade frictions.
Continue reading
Wednesday, 9 January 2019
Assortative matching in cities
a column by Wolfgang Dauth, Sebastian Findeisen, Enrico Moretti and Jens Südekum for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
Large internal wage disparities between cities are a common feature in countries around the world.
Using data from Germany, this column argues that one key driver of this is rising assortative matching of high-quality workers and plants in large cities. One promising strategy to reduce spatial wage disparities is to improve matching within small cities.
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Whilst the article does not explicitly explain “assortative”, a word which is not in my vocabulary, there are many definitions in online dictionaries; mainly about mating habits.
Large internal wage disparities between cities are a common feature in countries around the world.
Using data from Germany, this column argues that one key driver of this is rising assortative matching of high-quality workers and plants in large cities. One promising strategy to reduce spatial wage disparities is to improve matching within small cities.
Continue reading
Whilst the article does not explicitly explain “assortative”, a word which is not in my vocabulary, there are many definitions in online dictionaries; mainly about mating habits.
Tuesday, 8 January 2019
Urban planning and town foundations
a column by Alexandra L. Cermeño and Kerstin Enflo for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
Urban growth is crucial for modernisation, and the wave of new towns in China since the 1980s is one example of a strategy employed by policymakers to encourage the process.
This column analyses the long-run success of a town foundation policy in Sweden between 1570 and 1810. While the ‘artificially’ created towns failed to grow in the short term, they eventually began to grow and thrive, and today are as resilient as their medieval counterparts.
Continue reading
Urban growth is crucial for modernisation, and the wave of new towns in China since the 1980s is one example of a strategy employed by policymakers to encourage the process.
This column analyses the long-run success of a town foundation policy in Sweden between 1570 and 1810. While the ‘artificially’ created towns failed to grow in the short term, they eventually began to grow and thrive, and today are as resilient as their medieval counterparts.
Continue reading
Thursday, 30 August 2018
Human capital and the supply of agricultural workers
a column by Tommaso Porzio for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
The share of the population employed in agriculture across the globe declined steeply over the second half of the 20th century. This coincided with an unprecedented increase in average years of schooling.
This column explores whether these two trends are related.
The results lend support to the idea that increased schooling led more workers to sort out of agricultural work. Whether reallocation out of agriculture has been beneficial for growth, however, remains to be seen.
The share of the population employed in agriculture across the globe declined steeply over the second half of the 20th century. This coincided with an unprecedented increase in average years of schooling.
This column explores whether these two trends are related.
The results lend support to the idea that increased schooling led more workers to sort out of agricultural work. Whether reallocation out of agriculture has been beneficial for growth, however, remains to be seen.
Wednesday, 28 February 2018
Urban concentration and economic growth
a column by Susanne Frick and Andrés Rodríguez-Pose for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
Urban concentration is typically deemed to lead to greater national economic growth. This column challenges this view, using an original dataset covering 68 countries over the past three decades.
Urban concentration levels have decreased or remained stable on average, though these averages hide widely diverging trends across countries. Although concentration has been beneficial for high-income countries, this hasn’t been the case for for developing countries.
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Urban concentration is typically deemed to lead to greater national economic growth. This column challenges this view, using an original dataset covering 68 countries over the past three decades.
Urban concentration levels have decreased or remained stable on average, though these averages hide widely diverging trends across countries. Although concentration has been beneficial for high-income countries, this hasn’t been the case for for developing countries.
Continue reading
Wednesday, 21 February 2018
UK house prices: Looking far into the past and into the future…
a column by David Miles for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal
Over recent decades houses have become increasingly expensive in the UK, leading to what is routinely described as a ‘housing crisis’. This column assesses whether, over the long term, the UK experience is so unusual and explores the underlying forces at work. Two key elasticities and one technological factor are highlighted as being central to the story and will determine what happens over the next 50 years.
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Over recent decades houses have become increasingly expensive in the UK, leading to what is routinely described as a ‘housing crisis’. This column assesses whether, over the long term, the UK experience is so unusual and explores the underlying forces at work. Two key elasticities and one technological factor are highlighted as being central to the story and will determine what happens over the next 50 years.
Continue reading
Monday, 24 August 2015
Regional resilience across Europe: on urbanisation and the initial impact of the Great Recession
an article by Steven Brakman and Harry Garretsen (University of Groningen, the Netherlands) and Charles van Marrewijk (Xi’an Jiaotong–Liverpool University, China and Utrecht University School of Economics, the Netherlands) published in Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society Volume 8 Number 2 (July 2015)
Abstract
Using a novel data set for 207 European regions from 22 different countries, we analyse the relevance of urbanisation for the short-term resilience to a major shock.
We take the Great Recession, the economic and financial crisis that started in 2008, as our shock and analyse how the European NUTS 2 regions differ in their short-run resilience in the aftermath to the crisis in terms of unemployment and real GDP per capita.
We find that the degree and nature of regional urbanisation is important for resilience. EU regions with a relatively large share of the population in commuting areas are relatively more resilient. In addition, regions with a large output share in medium-high tech industries were also less affected by the crisis.
JEL codes: R11, R12, R15
Abstract
Using a novel data set for 207 European regions from 22 different countries, we analyse the relevance of urbanisation for the short-term resilience to a major shock.
We take the Great Recession, the economic and financial crisis that started in 2008, as our shock and analyse how the European NUTS 2 regions differ in their short-run resilience in the aftermath to the crisis in terms of unemployment and real GDP per capita.
We find that the degree and nature of regional urbanisation is important for resilience. EU regions with a relatively large share of the population in commuting areas are relatively more resilient. In addition, regions with a large output share in medium-high tech industries were also less affected by the crisis.
JEL codes: R11, R12, R15
Friday, 19 April 2013
The “New Urban Europe”: Global Challenges and Local Responses in the Urban Century
an article by Peter Nijkamp and Karima Kourtit (VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) published in European Planning Studies Volume 21 Issue 3 (2013)
Abstract
Modern cities in the open European space-economy are powerhouses of creative ideas, smart technologies, sustainable developments and socio-economic wealth. They play a pivotal role in the future of an urbanised Europe, but they are also confronted with grand challenges, notably far-reaching demographic transformations, environmental decay and climatological change, unequal social participation and ever-rising mobility trends.
The challenges for urban environments may be turned into new opportunities, in particular, in such domains as advanced infrastructure and logistic systems, environmental and climate-neutral facilities, creative and knowledge-intensive strategies for socio-economic prosperity and well-being.
Cities – and in particular metropolitan areas – may thus act as spearheads of sustainable economic growth for European countries. These observations call for appropriate long-range policy strategies for metropolitan areas – and networks of cities – in the highly diversified European space-economy. Such policy actions would need to be supported by solid, multidisciplinary and evidence-based research on the challenges and opportunities of urban environments in Europe.
The main contribution of this paper lies in the systematic strategic approach to transform urban megatrends and challenges into research and policy concerns for Europe. The analytical framework employed to highlight and better understand such research and policy response in Europe from a typological perspective is built around four interconnected pillars (cornerstones) that form the focal points for identifying strategic future images that may be instrumental in mapping out the research and policy challenges for the “New Urban Europe”.
Abstract
Modern cities in the open European space-economy are powerhouses of creative ideas, smart technologies, sustainable developments and socio-economic wealth. They play a pivotal role in the future of an urbanised Europe, but they are also confronted with grand challenges, notably far-reaching demographic transformations, environmental decay and climatological change, unequal social participation and ever-rising mobility trends.
The challenges for urban environments may be turned into new opportunities, in particular, in such domains as advanced infrastructure and logistic systems, environmental and climate-neutral facilities, creative and knowledge-intensive strategies for socio-economic prosperity and well-being.
Cities – and in particular metropolitan areas – may thus act as spearheads of sustainable economic growth for European countries. These observations call for appropriate long-range policy strategies for metropolitan areas – and networks of cities – in the highly diversified European space-economy. Such policy actions would need to be supported by solid, multidisciplinary and evidence-based research on the challenges and opportunities of urban environments in Europe.
The main contribution of this paper lies in the systematic strategic approach to transform urban megatrends and challenges into research and policy concerns for Europe. The analytical framework employed to highlight and better understand such research and policy response in Europe from a typological perspective is built around four interconnected pillars (cornerstones) that form the focal points for identifying strategic future images that may be instrumental in mapping out the research and policy challenges for the “New Urban Europe”.
Tuesday, 29 May 2012
Redefining “Urban”: A New Way to Measure Metropolitan Areas
This report from OECD compares urbanisation trends in OECD countries on the basis of a newly defined OECD methodology which enables cross-country comparison of the socio-economic and environmental performance of metropolitan areas in OECD countries.
The methodology is presented and results from its application to 27 OECD countries are discussed together with policy implication both on national growth and governance of cities. The report also includes three original papers that present the urbanisation dynamics and prospects in China and South Africa and the governance challenges resulting from the new policy agenda on cities in the United Kingdom.
Available from the OECD bookshop as follows:
E-book (PDF 148pp)
Price: €18 | $25 | £16 | ¥2400 | MXN330
ISBN: 9-789-26417-410-8
OECD Code: 042012051E1
Print (Paperback) + Free PDF
Price: €27 | $37 | £24 | ¥3500 | MXN480 Standard shipping included.
ISBN: 9-789-26417-405-4
OECD Code: 042012051P1
The methodology is presented and results from its application to 27 OECD countries are discussed together with policy implication both on national growth and governance of cities. The report also includes three original papers that present the urbanisation dynamics and prospects in China and South Africa and the governance challenges resulting from the new policy agenda on cities in the United Kingdom.
Available from the OECD bookshop as follows:
E-book (PDF 148pp)
Price: €18 | $25 | £16 | ¥2400 | MXN330
ISBN: 9-789-26417-410-8
OECD Code: 042012051E1
Print (Paperback) + Free PDF
Price: €27 | $37 | £24 | ¥3500 | MXN480 Standard shipping included.
ISBN: 9-789-26417-405-4
OECD Code: 042012051P1
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