Surpassing the administrative division limits on regional analysis: Three essays on urban and regional economics


Autor/a

Viñuela Jiménez, Ana

Director/a

Rubiera Morollón, Fernando

Codirector/a

Hewings, Geoffrey

Fecha de defensa

2011-01-19

ISBN

978-84-694-5575-3

Depósito Legal

AS.00486-2011



Departamento/Instituto

Universidad de Oviedo. Departamento de Economía Aplicada

Resumen

The concept of Region is one of the elements which has differentiated Regional Economics from other fields of Applied Economics. In spite of this, however, researchers in this field of economic analysis have not paid a great deal of attention to this concept. All too often, Regions have been identified with the politico-administrative units into which nationstates have divided their territory and for which statistical information is widely available. However, a Region can be defined in many different ways. Frameworks which define regions according to analytical/theoretical criteria provide greater scope for applied studies and permit a more complete interpretation of the results contained therein.<br/> In this research we have proposed a concept of Region which goes beyond the administrative division of territory. Our regional aggregation has been based on agglomeration economies, one of the fundamental concepts in the fields of Economic Geography and Urban and Regional Economics. In accordance with the work of Polèse et al. (2007), the territory has been classified into analytical regions which take into account the size of the population and the distance from the main urban areas. In doing so, we achieve an aggregation which corresponds with the differences in agglomeration economies across space. However, their robustness in comparison with the administrative units commonly used has - to date - not been evaluated.<br/>The objective of the first chapter of this thesis was to prove that the functional regions defined under such economic criteria provide better defined regions - in terms of greater compactness and separation - than the administrative ones commonly used to carry out labour market studies at sub-national level.<br/> Using micro data from the last available Spanish Census, the functional and administrative regions are evaluated using the Theil index and the Davies-Bouldin Validation index. Applied to employment (by gender, industry and level of qualification and occupation), both indexes show better results for the analytical regions than for any of the ordinary administrative ones (NUTS I, II or III regions). In other words, the analytical classification generates areas where the distribution of employment is more homogeneous within and more heterogeneous between the regions. Agglomeration economies and distance (to the metropolis) seem to be relevant for understanding the patterns of distribution of employment, either by gender, by industry or by level of qualification and occupation. In practice, this provides a clearer way for identifying local labour markets and explaining their differences and similarities. In light of the results from the first chapter, we suggest the use of this alternative classification -subject, of course, to the availability of data - when carrying out Labour Economics studies that include a spatial dimension.<br/> The following chapters have provided two applications of this analytical division of the territory to Labour Economics issues: the factors affecting the probability of being employed (Chapter 2) and the effects that labour mobility and commuting have on the central regions (Chapter 3).<br/> In the second chapter, we presented a spatial analysis of employment at local level where, among other factors, the demographic and geographical characteristics can and do affect the outcome. The empirical results support the hypothesis that size - in terms of population - and location - in terms of distance to a metropolis - are explanatory variables for the probability of being employed. In other words, employment depends not only on the personal characteristics of the individuals (level of education, age, sex, etc.) but also on the type of analytical region - as defined in Chapter 1 - where they live.<br/> Regarding the importance of location, our results show a significant gap in the chances of being employed between "central" and "peripheral" types of regions, i.e., the closer the region is to the metropolis, the higher the concentration of economic activity and therefore employment. Likewise, the types of regions, i.e., the closer the region is to the metropolis, the higher the concentration of economic activity and therefore employment. Likewise, the<br/>expected negative relationship between employment and the size of the region where the individual lives is confirmed, and this seems to be stronger for non-skilled individuals than for people with university studies.<br/> In terms of employability, the largest Spanish metropolitan areas (MA1) seem to be enjoying the full benefits of agglomeration economies while the smaller metropolitan areas (MA2) seem to be suffering their negative effects. Likewise, for urban areas that cannot be considered "metropolitan areas" (UA1 and UA2), size does not seem to be as important as their central-peripheral location. In rural areas (less than 50,000 inhabitants), both size and distance seem to be relevant determinants of employability. In other words, regardless of the level of studies, there are fewer chances of being employed in rural areas as opposed to urban areas and in peripheral rural areas as opposed to central rural areas.<br/> Recognizing the importance of these spatially differentiated results should have a significant impact on current policy discussions, shifting the focus from general solutions to more spatially customized ones where size and location are considered. Just as differences in age, gender or industrial structure are taken into account in the design of employment policies (at national or local level), these results suggest that an additional spatial dimension that somehow includes the size and location of the local area where the person lives should be considered.<br/> Some important migration policy implications can also be derived when using these alternative functional regions to analyze the direct and indirect effects that the arrival of workers has in the core regions. Spain has experienced over the last two decades an intense arrival of both immigrants and in-migrants to its central regions, and as a consequence (though not exclusively) of these inflows, we can observe internal migrations and/or commuting to some areas that might be more attractive.<br/> Using the last available Census, the estimations for Spain of an input-output multi-regional model that includes the possibility of commuting show that the arrival of in- and im-migration to the core generates a set of effects induced by the redistribution of population among other regions. The arrival of workers from the periphery to the core provokes reallocations of residence in all cases (displacement effect).<br/>However, the intensity of these reallocations increases with size, which shows the existence of some agglomeration diseconomies associated with big cities. When the possibility of commuting is also considered, the arrival of workers from the periphery to the core generates the reallocation of both jobs (economic activity) and residences. The larger cities are the ones pushing out more residents to other areas, while keeping most of the jobs. In other words, they are becoming attractive areas to work in, but not to live in (due to, among other reasons, high housing costs, congestion or other negative externalities). The oppposite is true for the smaller cities, which are attractive for residing in but for working in. The distributional pattern of residences proves to be different to the distributional pattern of jobs.<br/> These results highlight the idea that the effects of the arrival of population are not only felt by the recipient region/city but may generate comparatively far larger effects on other regions in the form of internal migration and commuting flows, something that policy makers should bear in mind.<br/> To conclude, surpassing the administrative division of the territory, this classification manages to have explanatory power in spatial Labour Economics topics while including relevant geo-economic characteristics such as location and agglomeration economies. The use of this classification has proved to offer a better understanding of the patterns of distribution of employment (by gender, by industry or by level of qualification and occupation), job opportunities, and of the probabilities of being employed depending on the level of qualification or the degree of attractiveness of a region for working or living purposes. Some other questions spatially related to the performance of regional labour markets remain unanswered.<br/> Future lines of research include the application of this classification to the study of labour economic issues such as the determinants of unemployment, inter-industrial labour mobility or the existence of overqualification taking into account spatial factors (i.e. the type of analytical region where the potential worker lives) which are usually ignored.<br/>Agglomeration economies and distance play an important role in the location of economic activity, and therefore should affect the labour outcomes once the worker has decided to live in certain type of region. Obviously, such a decision does not have to be permanent, and workers can move in order to improve their labour opportunities. Therefore, a further possible question of relevance is the internal migration decisions between and within analytical regions. That is, can certain regularities be observed? Are people moving from peripheral regions to central or metropolitan areas or the other way round? Are internal migrations better explained in terms of size, i.e. in terms as counter-urbanization or urbanization? Are these movements linked to job opportunity decisions? Can we observe any differences according to their level of qualification? Even more, workers can be employed in a certain type of region but live in another, i.e., we could observe migration on a daily basis (commuting). Is one type of analytical region attracting workers or attracting residents? Do people tend to live and work in the same type of region? Could the analytical division be improved in order to specifically include the commuting criteria used in the local labour markets literature? We believe that these questions provide a fascinating and important future research agenda.

Palabras clave

economía urbana; economía regional

Materias

33 - Economía; 332 - Economía regional y territorial. Economía del suelo y de la vivienda

Área de conocimiento

Economía aplicada

Documentos

UOV0077AVJ.pdf

842.1Kb

 

Derechos

ADVERTENCIA. El acceso a los contenidos de esta tesis doctoral y su utilización debe respetar los derechos de la persona autora. Puede ser utilizada para consulta o estudio personal, así como en actividades o materiales de investigación y docencia en los términos establecidos en el art. 32 del Texto Refundido de la Ley de Propiedad Intelectual (RDL 1/1996). Para otros usos se requiere la autorización previa y expresa de la persona autora. En cualquier caso, en la utilización de sus contenidos se deberá indicar de forma clara el nombre y apellidos de la persona autora y el título de la tesis doctoral. No se autoriza su reproducción u otras formas de explotación efectuadas con fines lucrativos ni su comunicación pública desde un sitio ajeno al servicio TDR. Tampoco se autoriza la presentación de su contenido en una ventana o marco ajeno a TDR (framing). Esta reserva de derechos afecta tanto al contenido de la tesis como a sus resúmenes e índices.

Este ítem aparece en la(s) siguiente(s) colección(ones)