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We document the emergence of spatial polarisation in the United States during the 1980–2008 period. This phenomenon is characterised by stronger employment polarisation in larger cities, both at the occupational and the worker levels. We quantitatively evaluate the role of technology in generating these patterns by constructing and calibrating a spatial equilibrium model. We find that faster skill-biased technological change in larger cities can account for a substantial fraction of spatial polarisation in the United States. Counterfactual exercises suggest that the differential increase in the share of low-skilled workers across city size is due mainly to the large demand by high-skilled workers for low-skilled services and, to a smaller extent, to the higher complementarity between low- and high-skilled workers in production relative to middle-skilled workers.

In the last decade there has been an upsurge of studies on international comparisons of Total Factor Productivity (TFP). The empirical evidence suggests that countries and regions differ not only in traditional factor endowments (labour and physical capital) but mainly in productivity and technology. Therefore, a crucial issue is the analysis of the determinants of such differences in the efficiency levels across economies. In this paper we try to assess these issues by pursuing a twofold aim. First, we derive a regression based measure of regional TFP, which has the nice advantage of not imposing a priori restrictions on the inputs elasticities; this is done by estimating a spatial Cobb-Douglas production function relationship for 199 European regions over the period 1985-2006. Secondly, we investigate the determinants of the TFP levels by analyzing the role played by intangible factors - human capital, social capital and technological capital. The estimations are carried out by applying the spatial 2SLS method and the SHAC estimator to account for both heteroskedasticity and spatial autocorrelation. It turns out that a large part of TFP differences across the European regions are explained by the disparities in the endowments of these intangible assets. This outcome indicates the importance of policy strategies which aim at increasing the level of knowledge and social capital as stressed by the Lisbon agenda.

International audience

We investigate the impact of the consolidation of local agencies publicly providing services, focusing on the prosecution of crime. In many states in the United States, prosecution is a county office with a head prosecutor directing decisions. Other states merge counties into prosecutorial districts. We show that, along with the cost savings that arises, the evidence suggests that prosecutorial services benefit from increasing returns to scale. The efficiency of prosecutorial output is higher in consolidated districts. Further, we show that it is not owing to differing outcomes of the criminal justice system but to fewer inputs used.

International audience

International audience

International audience

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to employ provincial data to study the relationship between several crime typologies, namely murder, robbery, extortion and fraud and economic output in Italy. Design/methodology/approach – The authors propose a spatial econometric approach where the spatial proximity is defined by a measure of physical distance between locations, in order to take into account possible spill-over effects. Findings – The results of the spatial estimation suggest that criminal activities, namely murder and robbery, exhibit a negative impact on Italian gross domestic product while fraud and total crime do not affect economic output and that there are beneficial spill-overs from neighbouring provinces. Originality/value – The study empirically shows that only violent crimes have a crowding-out effect on economic output.

International audience

International audience

International audience

International audience

International audience; By looking at imports of Eastern European countries we provide novel insights on the importance and magnitude of border effects and on how they are linked with technical barriers to trade. All CEECs considered trade with themselves more than with other countries. We grouped products into three categories; old approach, new approach (including mutual recognition), and mixed. Our results show border effects are the largest for old approach products, where we expect to have the most important technical barriers. The 'new approach' category has the smallest border effects, while the 'mixed approach' products are in between. We assess if such border effects changed over the transition period and we find for new approach products and mixed approach products the magnitude of border effects was declining at the end of the 90s.

This paper studies the determinants of the willingness to pay (WTP) for long term care (LTC) coverage provided through either a public or a private insurance program. Two insurance services are considered, a first one compulsory and financed out through general taxes, another one purchased on a voluntary base and paid through an insurance premium. Data are taken from a survey on a sample of households of the Italian region Emilia Romagna, and WTP is elicited through open-ended contingent valuation questions. We model individual choice as a two stage process, with respondents first establishing their interest for the service, then stating how much they are willing to pay. Auxiliary information allows us to separate zeros arising from standard corner solutions from those generated by disinterest. We test for independence of the interest" process by estimating Heckman's sample selection models both for the public and private case. We show that two sequential processes guide the observed WTP and that their separate identification is crucial for a clear understanding of individual choices. Interest and WTP are influenced by different variables, whereas the same variables influence the two choices in different ways. Moreover, we are able to investigate the differences in stated WTP between public and private provision. The kind of information provided is useful for designing reforms that more closely match collective preferences in a particularly delicate area such as elderly care financing.