Convergence and divergence in regional agricultural productivity growth: evidence from Italian regions, 1951–2002

This article analyzes long‐term agricultural Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth at regional level by testing its time‐series properties and identifying factors associated with divergence as opposed to convergence. The empirical application concerns Italian regions over the 1951–2002 time period. TFP growth decomposition ultimately attributes the observed productivity growth performance to these contrasting (convergence vs. divergence) forces. We find that technological spillovers are the key convergence force regardless of how the spillover effects are computed. At the same time, forces favoring convergence are almost offset by divergence forces (mainly scale or learning effects). This decomposition may explain the persistence of TFP growth rate differences in Italian agriculture, and could be applicable elsewhere.     

Temporal and spatial variability of agricultural land loss in relation to policy and accessibility in a low hilly region of southeast China

The temporal and spatial patterns in land use change in a low hilly region in southeast of China was analyzed from maps of converted agricultural land for 1999–2006. The factors driving farm land conversion was analyzed using logistic regression models. The amount of agricultural land loss varied temporally, and the spatial distribution of converted agricultural land patches decreased from low to high altitudes in the study area. Analysis using logistic regression models showed that good accessibility sped up the conversion of agricultural land to other uses, the elevation of a parcel lowered the risk of conversion, and agricultural land conversions are highly correlated with its adjacent or neighboring parcels’ land use, with the probability of being converted decreasing as the distance to nearest construction land increases. In addition, land use policy, especially the land use regulation policy issued by the central government decreased the agricultural land loss, and the more stringent regulation on cultivated land conversion lowered the possibility of conversion from cultivated land to other use.     

黑龙江省城市土地利用效益时空差异分析

城市土地利用效益是衡量城市土地利用水平的一项重要指标.文章从经济一社会一生态三个方面构建适合黑龙江省城市土地利用效益评价的指标体系,运用最优组合赋权法和协调度对黑龙江省12个地级市2002-2009年间城市土地利用综合效益水平进行分析比较;以评价结果为样本点,通过聚类分析得出全省城市土地利用综合效益水平的空间分布差异.结果表明:在时问上,12个地级市的土地利用效益水平呈现不同变化趋势;根据评价结果将12个城市分为土地利用高效益地区、中等效益地区和低效益地区三大类;在空间上,城市土地利用效益水平呈现"T"型的分布特征,"T"型区域内城市用地效益水平高于其它地区.     

Endogenous human capital formation,distance to frontier and growth

We examine human capital's contribution to economy-wide technological progress through two channels – imitation and innovation – innovation being more skill-intensive than imitation. We develop a growth model based on the endogenous ability-driven skill acquisition decision of an individual. It is shown that skilled human capital is growth enhancing in the “imitation-innovation” regime and in the “innovation-only” regime whereas unskilled human capital is growth enhancing in the “imitation-only” regime. Steady state exists and, in the long run, the economy converges to the world technology frontier. In the diversified regime, technological progress raises the return to ability and generates an increase in wage inequality between and within groups – consistent with the pattern observed across countries.     

Building Innovation Excellence of World Class: The Cluster as an Instrument of Spatial Governance in the European Union

European spatial governance is becoming an intriguing mix of ideas from the economic, political and cultural spheres. This article asserts that, in the EU's spatial planning, the cluster is increasingly part of a hybrid spatial politics, here named the ‘cluster gaze’, based on the interplay of innovation‐oriented political rationality and spatial governance. To study this process, the article provides an empirical investigation into selected EU documentation. The investigation is based on two perspectives. First, the cluster is analysed as a mediating instrument to stimulate and rescale transnational market developments in the EU. Second, the cluster is studied as an instrument of spatial management — one that builds on a business managerial ethos and endorses a specific hierarchical spatial imaginary and a cluster evidence base to assess the productivity and efficiency of European clusters. Both of these perspectives pave the way for a European ‘politics of cluster excellence’ that is about the constant sharpening of cluster practices, continuous evaluation and ranking, and the enhancement of cluster performance to rise from the ‘European league’ towards the ‘world class’.     

Temporal stability of preferences and willingness to pay for natural areas in choice experiments: A test–retest

The main objective of this paper is to test the temporal stability of stated preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) values from a Choice Experiment (CE) in a test–retest. The same group of participants was asked the same choice tasks in an internet-based CE, conducted twice with a time interval of one year without interviewer interference. We examine choice consistency at individual choice task level and transferability of the underlying indirect utility function and associated WTP values. The results show that choices are consistent in 57 percent of the choice occasions. Comparison of the choice models over time shows that the estimated preference and scale parameters are significantly different, suggesting that choice behaviour changed between the two surveys. Differences between marginal WTP estimates for individual choice attributes are statistically significant only at the 10 percent level. However, we show that this can result in significantly different WTP values for policy scenarios. The instability of estimated mean WTP values for different policy scenarios asks for caution when including WTP values in cost-benefit analysis.     

1952～2007年我国地区收入差距变化趋势——基于省际面板数据的单位根检验

本文利用1952～2007年我国31个省际地区人均GDP数据,对地区间收入差距的变化趋势进行检验。结果发现:从整个样本期间来看,我国地区收入差距在逐渐缩小;以改革开放为节点分不同时段,检验结果表明改革前我国省际地区收入差距不断缩小,而改革后,我国地区收入差距不断扩大。     

网络视角下中国各地区创新过程效率研究:基于我国八大经济区的比较

创新效率问题是学术界关注的焦点.本文从解剖创新过程中的要素流动机理出发,揭示了创新过程的网络化特征,并通过构建网络DEA模型,测算了创新过程整体效率、"创新资源转换"效率与"创新知识转化"效率.以我国八大经济区为研究对象发现:"创新资源转换"与"创新知识转化"效率的主要影响因素不同,前者受到R&D人员区域分布结构影响,后者受到各地区经济发展水平差异的影响;区域创新过程整体效率与"创新知识转化"效率高度相关;区域创新整体效率与"创新知识转化"效率在样本期间稳步上升;整体效率与"创新知识转化"效率出现地区追赶的收敛现象,"创新资源转换"阶段是整体效率发散的隐患.     

增长极理论与区域旅游规划——以渭南市为例

增长极理论是关于区域经济增长的理论模型,它提供了一个关于区域空间结构形成和演变的解释模型。在区域旅游规划中运用增长极理论能够为规划专家从事旅游规划工作提供理论工具。文章从增长极理论入手,讨论了增长极理论在旅游规划中的应用价值以及旅游空间结构的形成和演变;在此基础上,分别从陕西省和渭南市两个层面上对渭南市旅游业发展的空间结构进行了规划。     

Top pay transparency in Europe: codes,convergence and clichés

Following the waves of corporate scandals and the increasing attention to corporate governance, the transparency of reporting on director-level pay has increased across Europe. This article examines the extent of convergence in laws, codes and corporate reporting practices in regard to director-level pay in France, Germany, Switzerland and the UK. The paper analyses annual reports and the websites of 23 companies, using institutional theory to discuss the coercive, normative and mimetic pressures for convergence that are revealed, not just in the laws and codes in each country, but also in the standardized wording in the relevant sections of reports which have become clichés.