Spatial determinants of productivity growth on agri‐food Spanish firms: a comparison between cooperatives and investor‐owned firms

This study analyses the effect of the spatial factor, location, and interaction effects among peer companies, on the productivity growth of agri‐food companies in Spain. With this aim, we build a productivity growth index and apply a multiequational Seemingly Unrelated Regression on a sample of 344 Spanish cooperatives and investor‐owned firms for the period 2010–2012. Our findings show that agri‐food firms are influenced by spatial factors finding interesting differences between cooperatives and investor‐owned firms. With regard to the geographical location, cooperatives in the western of Spain show higher productivity growth rates, whereas investor‐owned firms in the northeast of Spain present better results. The interaction effect among closer peer companies is also a relevant factor to determine the productivity growth in agri‐food companies. This factor is more relevant for cooperatives than for investor‐owned firms.     

Negotiating climate change responses: Regional and local perspectives on transport and coastal zone planning in South Sweden

Putting climate change policy-integration into practice is challenged by problems of institutional misfit, due to, inter alia, deficient vertical administrative interplay. While most focus within the field of climate change research has targeted the national–local interplay, less is known about the interface of regional and local perspectives. Here, the aim is to study that interface with a specific focus on the relation between regional and local spatial planning actors, through a case-study of transport and coastal zone management in a Swedish municipality. The article is based on interviews (focus group and single in-depth) and official planning documents. The material reveals a tricky planning situation, replete with conflict. In practice, various institutional frameworks, claims and ambitions collide. The attempts to steer the local spatial planning initiatives from the regional level led to conflicts, which in turn seems to have hampered the overall work for climate change management through spatial planning. Furthermore, there are few traces of prospects of a smooth vertical institutional interplay able to support the overall aims related to integrating climate change mitigation and adaptation in spatial planning.     

基于GIS的铁路密度空间分异研究——以新疆铁路交通网络为例

城市对外交通中,铁路是发展较早的交通运输方式。本文以新疆的铁路交通网络为依据,以道路密度为指标,利用Arc GIS的叠加分析和空间分析功能,研究新疆铁路交通网络的空间分异,并分析新疆各区域人口、生产总值差异与铁路密度差异之间的相互关系。结果表明:(1)新疆铁路密度差异显著,大体呈现"南北低中部高"的趋势;(2)新疆各地区铁路密度与人口分布、生产总值高度正相关。     

Empirics of the median voter hypothesis in Japan

This paper empirically analyses for the first time the median voter hypothesis in Japan as a means of investigating whether or not Japanese prefectural finance reflects the preference of the median voter. The hypothesis is tested by estimating the demand functions of local public goods in each prefecture. As official data on the income of the median voter is unavailable in Japan, respective prefectural data is constructed using official data on income distribution and taxation. Reasonable intuitive interpretation of results indicates that the median voter hypothesis is supported in prefectural finances, and that voter preference affects the outcome of gubernatorial elections, i.e., a governor's reelection probability, by estimating a probit model. When considering the centralized prefectural government system in Japan, these results indicate that central government management of prefectural expenditures via inter-regional grants ultimately reflects jurisdictional median voter preference. First version received: December 1997/Final version received: February 1999     

产业转移加速进程中中国制造业集聚度再测算与演进

产业转移催化了中国制造业空间集聚的演变趋势。利用行业集中度指标和空间基尼系数指标测算了2008年金融危机以来中国制造业的集聚程度,根据测算结果,需要进一步诱导和推进沿海产业向中西部地区转移,同时实现中国与东盟各国产业梯度转移,东部沿海地区和中西部地区均可凭借自身优势吸引高新技术产业入驻,并积极嵌入全球价值链体系,沿海地区发展高技术产业要注意过度集聚和产能过剩问题。     

创新能力、空间依赖与长三角城市群增长核心演化

城市群经济系统发展过程中,核心城市的增长极化与扩散作用是推动城市群协同发展的关键机制。创新能力、要素集聚与扩散形成的区际空间外部性使得城市群增长核心不断演化,并形成系统协同发展的内在动力。长三角城市群核心城市的极化效应呈现出下降趋势,对其主要影响因素的实证分析结果表明：创新分工过程中创新要素集聚与创新溢出、空间依赖都对城市极化效应具有显著影响。因此,政策导向应从强化城市间创新分工、充分利用创新过程的空间外部性、推进城市群协同发展的制度创新等方面着手。     

产军协同、政府科技支持与技术创新效率研究

运用空间数据分析方法,检验产军协同、政府科技支持与技术创新效率在我国省域间的分布格局。研究表明,三者均存在显著的正向空间相关性,即正向空间溢出效应,并且在不同地区形成局部空间集聚,存在高低非均衡的“俱乐部”现象。基于空间误差模型和空间滞后模型,实证检验产军协同、政府科技支持对技术创新效率的影响。结果发现,从全国和分地区看,产军协同、政府科技支持均能够显著促进技术创新效率提升,并且二者存在显著的交互作用,能够发挥彼此间的互补效应,进一步促进技术创新效率提升;不同地区产军协同、政府科技支持对技术创新效率的影响程度存在较大差异,西部地区产军协同、政府科技支持对技术创新效率的促进作用比东部和中部地区显著。     

考虑吸收能力的区域创新多维溢出效应

合理利用区域创新的空间溢出效应和价值链溢出效应,有助于区域创新发展与创新效率提升,而对区域创新溢出效应的利用程度则受其吸收能力影响。将创新过程分为知识创新阶段和产品创新阶段,利用Network Slacks-based Measure模型计算全国内地30个省域两阶段创新效率,将吸收能力引入空间溢出效应和价值链溢出效应对创新效率影响的研究中,并构建空间计量模型,检验吸收能力对知识创新效率和产品创新效率的影响。结果发现,空间溢出效应在部分年份显著,省域间没有形成稳定的空间关联关系;空间溢出效应显著时,提升吸收能力对知识创新效率和产品创新效率均有促进作用;价值链溢出效应不显著或者存在负向影响,创新过程两阶段相对独立,此时提高吸收能力对知识创新效率和产品创新效率提高没有显著作用,甚至具有负向影响。     

Moving out or living on a mound? Jointly planning a Dutch flood adaptation project

All over the world spatial flood risk management policies are on the rise. This paper analyses the planning process for the Overdiepse polder, a so-called “Room for the River” project in the Netherlands. After high water in the 1990s, the Dutch government changed its flood risk management policy. While before 2000 it leaned heavily on dikes to separate water from land, after that year spatial measures to “let the water flow” were introduced. This required the integration of two formerly separated policy domains: flood risk management and land use planning. In the densely populated and economically highly developed Netherlands, returning space to the river unavoidably impacts on the lives and livelihoods of those who live and work along the rivers. Therefore, such spatial measures to decrease flood risk have to be negotiated with various stakeholders. The planning process towards making the Overdiepse polder suitable for temporary water storage deserves more in-depth analysis. We describe and analyze the development of relationships between key actors in the planning process, with a focus on planning practices rather than on assumptions about the existence of certain types and qualities of relationships. We conclude, among others, that citizen involvement can, under specific socio-political and institutional conditions, build trust among stakeholders and increase local legitimacy for interventions by government agencies. However, it should not be idealized as “self-governance” or assumed to be part of a unidirectional change in water interventions towards new relationships between actors.     

Forecasting the Adoption of GM Oilseed Rape: Evidence from a Discrete Choice Experiment in Germany

This paper explores farmers’ willingness to adopt genetically modified (GM) oilseed rape prior to its commercial release and estimates the ‘demand’ for the new technology. The analysis is based upon choice experiments with 202 German arable farmers. A multinomial probit estimation reveals that GM attributes such as gross margin, expected liability from cross pollination, or flexibility in returning to conventional oilseed rape significantly affect the likelihood of adoption. Neighbouring farmers’ attitudes towards GM cropping and a number of farmer and farm characteristics were also found to be significant determinants of prospective adoption. Demand simulations suggest that adoption rates are very sensitive to the profit difference between GM and non‐GM rape varieties. A monopolistic seed price would substantially reduce demand for the new technology. A monopolistic seed supplier would reap between 45% and 80% of the GM rent, and the deadweight loss of the monopoly would range between 15% and 30% of that rent. The remaining rent for farmers may be too small to outweigh possible producer price discounts resulting from the costs of segregating GM and non‐GM oilseed rape along the supply chain.