International migration issues are at the forefront of the political debate in the European Union... more International migration issues are at the forefront of the political debate in the European Union (EU). Some reasons justify the increasing relevance of this topic, being the unprecedented scale of international migration flows, especially in countries such as Spain, the most prominent. In fact, adequate responses to the necessity for controlling effectively large flows of irregular immigration, and also safeguarding
This paper is aimed at analysing the European Union's international migration distribution (EUIMD... more This paper is aimed at analysing the European Union's international migration distribution (EUIMD) for the period 1990-2010. Besides some relevant aspects of the distribution, such as inequality and dynamics, it mainly focuses on trends in polarisation and in exploring some key factors that might be behind these trends. The results of the study reveal that polarisation in EUIMD has followed a decreasing path and that factors like geographic location and government expenditure on health are those which better explain the polarisation phenomenon.
The purpose of this paper is to analyse Okun's law for Spain and its seventeen regions over t... more The purpose of this paper is to analyse Okun's law for Spain and its seventeen regions over the period 1980-2004. Based on its “gap†specification and using two different detrending techniques, the results show that an inverse relationship between unemployment and output holds for most of the Spanish regions and for the whole country. However, the quantitative values of Okun''s
This paper analyses the determinants of internal migration in Spain between 1995 and 2002. After ... more This paper analyses the determinants of internal migration in Spain between 1995 and 2002. After a brief descriptive study, we present an analytical model of internal migration flows. Subsequently, we estimate this model by applying semiparametric techniques. The general conclusion that we come to is that net migration rates are influenced mainly by income and climatic condition differentials between the
The theory of Optimum Currency Areas poses that one of the most important costs that EMU may enta... more The theory of Optimum Currency Areas poses that one of the most important costs that EMU may entail for countries belonging to it is the loss of some instruments of political economy (exchange rate and monetary policies) in response to shocks. The aim of this paper is to analyse real wage flexibility, which is one of the main alternative adjustment mechanisms to these policies. For this purpose, the case of the Spanish regions for the period 1985-1999 is reported. First, we develop a nonparametric approach to show that unemployment and productivity growth rates have reduced effects on wage evolution in the period of study. Second, semiparametric estimation techniques are applied to provide more econometric evidence regarding regional flexibility of real wages in Spain. Additionally, some suggestions are developed on the topic of EMU's ability to improve the degree of regional wage flexibility. The general conclusion that we draw in the study is that regional wages are very rigid and the impact of EMU, though favourable, will be reduced.
The main purpose of this paper is to ascertain whether internal migration of foreign-born residen... more The main purpose of this paper is to ascertain whether internal migration of foreign-born residents is behind the infant process of provincial income convergence that is taking place in Spain since 2001. In order to fulfil this goal, we propose a new approach within the Markov chain framework that enables us to explore the migration–convergence relationship. For the sake of
This article analyses wage flexibility within the framework of a semiparametric panel data model ... more This article analyses wage flexibility within the framework of a semiparametric panel data model by using a bi-dimensional nonparametric term in the wage regression. The results point to a high degree of wage rigidity in Spain. However, semiparametric estimation allows us to find an interaction effect involving regional unemployment and productivity when explaining regional wages and, as a result of
Considering the potential effects on regional convergence in Spain, this paper analyses the relat... more Considering the potential effects on regional convergence in Spain, this paper analyses the relative importance of asymmetric shocks in the Spanish regions between 1975 and 2005. To do this, we employ a technique – the state-space approach – which overcomes some drawbacks of previous methods and allows to decomposing shocks into their structural common and specific components. Our main conclusion
AbstractUsing conventional and novel techniques, the present paper analyzes the main characterist... more AbstractUsing conventional and novel techniques, the present paper analyzes the main characteristics of Chinese provincial disparities during the reform period, specifically between 1978 and 2007. After dismissing the presence of spatial dependence, three main results are obtained: first, provincial inequalities have basically followed a “V” trend; second, grouping China into three large regions shows that inequality mainly lies within each
Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie, 2009
This paper examines the role of space (geographical location) in provincial income convergence an... more This paper examines the role of space (geographical location) in provincial income convergence and income distribution in Spain. To do that, and after showing the presence of spatial dependence in our income data, the paper compares two sample series: actual versus filtered (spaceless) data. The comparison of these two series comes out to two important differences: first, the speed of convergence is higher and, second, the income distribution is more concentrated (less biased) around the national average with filtered data. Besides this, the paper also shows that geographical location particularly explains relative income improvement in provinces with per capita income slightly above average. These results confirm that, as for Spain, space does indeed matter.
Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie, 2012
This paper is aimed at analysing the European Union's international migration distribution (EUIMD... more This paper is aimed at analysing the European Union's international migration distribution (EUIMD) for the period 1990-2010. Besides some relevant aspects of the distribution, such as inequality and dynamics, it mainly focuses on trends in polarisation and in exploring some key factors that might be behind these trends. The results of the study reveal that polarisation in EUIMD has followed a decreasing path and that factors like geographic location and government expenditure on health are those which better explain the polarisation phenomenon.
This paper addresses the issue of intra-distribution income dynamics at the European regional lev... more This paper addresses the issue of intra-distribution income dynamics at the European regional level for the periods 1980-1993 and 1993-2005. In order to assess whether the results depend on the estimation method, the paper applies and compares two relatively novel techniques: the highest conditional density region approach and a new mobility measure based on a discrete-time Markov chain approach. An interesting conclusion and a methodological lesson have been obtained. The conclusion is that, whatever the technique used, the degree of intra-distribution mobility-which has favoured convergence-has been much higher in the first than in the second period. The lesson is that the use of different approaches is highly recommended not only for the sake of robustness but also because they offer additional insights into intra-distribution dynamics.
The theory of Optimum Currency Areas poses that one of the most important costs that EMU may enta... more The theory of Optimum Currency Areas poses that one of the most important costs that EMU may entail for countries belonging to it is the loss of some instruments of political economy (exchange rate and monetary policies) in response to shocks. The aim of this paper is to analyse real wage flexibility, which is one of the main alternative adjustment mechanisms to these policies. For this purpose, the case of the Spanish regions for the period 1985-1999 is reported. First, we develop a nonparametric approach to show that unemployment and productivity growth rates have reduced effects on wage evolution in the period of study. Second, semiparametric estimation techniques are applied to provide more econometric evidence regarding regional flexibility of real wages in Spain. Additionally, some suggestions are developed on the topic of EMU's ability to improve the degree of regional wage flexibility. The general conclusion that we draw in the study is that regional wages are very rigid and the impact of EMU, though favourable, will be reduced.
Review of Urban and Regional Development Studies, 2005
It is well known that the nature of potential shocks impinging on a set of countries or regions m... more It is well known that the nature of potential shocks impinging on a set of countries or regions may have important implications for relevant aspects of economic policy. This paper addresses the shocks issue empirically by applying the State Space methodology and the Kalman Filter to the case of the Spanish regions. The main conclusions are as follows: (i) it seems that the shocks affecting the Spanish regions have been mostly symmetric; (ii) their effects have been persistent rather than transitory; and (iii) supply shocks have been slightly more frequent than demand shocks.
This paper aims to analyse the role played by internal migration of the foreign-born population i... more This paper aims to analyse the role played by internal migration of the foreign-born population in the process of income convergence at provincial level in Spain over the period 1996-2005. First, it examines, using both classical and recent analytical approaches, the provincial income convergence process. Second, the paper gives a succinct description of recent trends in foreign-born internal migration. Third,
The purpose of this paper is to analyse Okun's law for the Spanish regions over the period 1980-2... more The purpose of this paper is to analyse Okun's law for the Spanish regions over the period 1980-2004. Based on its "gap" specification, the results show that an inverse relationship between unemployment and output holds for most of the regions and for the whole country. However, the quantitative values of Okun's coefficients are quite different, a result that is partially explained by regional disparities in productivity growth. These differences imply that, when it comes to policy issues, conventional aggregate demand/supply management policies should be combined with region-specific policies.
Considering the potential effects on regional convergence in Spain, this paper analyses the relat... more Considering the potential effects on regional convergence in Spain, this paper analyses the relative importance of asymmetric shocks in the Spanish regions between 1975 and 2005. To do this, we employ a technique -the state-space approach -which overcomes some drawbacks of previous methods and allows to decomposing shocks into their structural common and specific components. Our main conclusion is that the shocks that have impinged upon Spanish regions have been mostly symmetric, this meaning that they have not greatly affected the process of regional convergence. However, asymmetric shocks have also been present. Should this continue to happen in the future, it seems the Spanish economy is not well prepared to deal with them. For this reason, the paper offers some political recommendations.
International migration issues are at the forefront of the political debate in the European Union... more International migration issues are at the forefront of the political debate in the European Union (EU). Some reasons justify the increasing relevance of this topic, being the unprecedented scale of international migration flows, especially in countries such as Spain, the most prominent. In fact, adequate responses to the necessity for controlling effectively large flows of irregular immigration, and also safeguarding
This paper is aimed at analysing the European Union's international migration distribution (EUIMD... more This paper is aimed at analysing the European Union's international migration distribution (EUIMD) for the period 1990-2010. Besides some relevant aspects of the distribution, such as inequality and dynamics, it mainly focuses on trends in polarisation and in exploring some key factors that might be behind these trends. The results of the study reveal that polarisation in EUIMD has followed a decreasing path and that factors like geographic location and government expenditure on health are those which better explain the polarisation phenomenon.
The purpose of this paper is to analyse Okun's law for Spain and its seventeen regions over t... more The purpose of this paper is to analyse Okun's law for Spain and its seventeen regions over the period 1980-2004. Based on its “gap†specification and using two different detrending techniques, the results show that an inverse relationship between unemployment and output holds for most of the Spanish regions and for the whole country. However, the quantitative values of Okun''s
This paper analyses the determinants of internal migration in Spain between 1995 and 2002. After ... more This paper analyses the determinants of internal migration in Spain between 1995 and 2002. After a brief descriptive study, we present an analytical model of internal migration flows. Subsequently, we estimate this model by applying semiparametric techniques. The general conclusion that we come to is that net migration rates are influenced mainly by income and climatic condition differentials between the
The theory of Optimum Currency Areas poses that one of the most important costs that EMU may enta... more The theory of Optimum Currency Areas poses that one of the most important costs that EMU may entail for countries belonging to it is the loss of some instruments of political economy (exchange rate and monetary policies) in response to shocks. The aim of this paper is to analyse real wage flexibility, which is one of the main alternative adjustment mechanisms to these policies. For this purpose, the case of the Spanish regions for the period 1985-1999 is reported. First, we develop a nonparametric approach to show that unemployment and productivity growth rates have reduced effects on wage evolution in the period of study. Second, semiparametric estimation techniques are applied to provide more econometric evidence regarding regional flexibility of real wages in Spain. Additionally, some suggestions are developed on the topic of EMU's ability to improve the degree of regional wage flexibility. The general conclusion that we draw in the study is that regional wages are very rigid and the impact of EMU, though favourable, will be reduced.
The main purpose of this paper is to ascertain whether internal migration of foreign-born residen... more The main purpose of this paper is to ascertain whether internal migration of foreign-born residents is behind the infant process of provincial income convergence that is taking place in Spain since 2001. In order to fulfil this goal, we propose a new approach within the Markov chain framework that enables us to explore the migration–convergence relationship. For the sake of
This article analyses wage flexibility within the framework of a semiparametric panel data model ... more This article analyses wage flexibility within the framework of a semiparametric panel data model by using a bi-dimensional nonparametric term in the wage regression. The results point to a high degree of wage rigidity in Spain. However, semiparametric estimation allows us to find an interaction effect involving regional unemployment and productivity when explaining regional wages and, as a result of
Considering the potential effects on regional convergence in Spain, this paper analyses the relat... more Considering the potential effects on regional convergence in Spain, this paper analyses the relative importance of asymmetric shocks in the Spanish regions between 1975 and 2005. To do this, we employ a technique – the state-space approach – which overcomes some drawbacks of previous methods and allows to decomposing shocks into their structural common and specific components. Our main conclusion
AbstractUsing conventional and novel techniques, the present paper analyzes the main characterist... more AbstractUsing conventional and novel techniques, the present paper analyzes the main characteristics of Chinese provincial disparities during the reform period, specifically between 1978 and 2007. After dismissing the presence of spatial dependence, three main results are obtained: first, provincial inequalities have basically followed a “V” trend; second, grouping China into three large regions shows that inequality mainly lies within each
Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie, 2009
This paper examines the role of space (geographical location) in provincial income convergence an... more This paper examines the role of space (geographical location) in provincial income convergence and income distribution in Spain. To do that, and after showing the presence of spatial dependence in our income data, the paper compares two sample series: actual versus filtered (spaceless) data. The comparison of these two series comes out to two important differences: first, the speed of convergence is higher and, second, the income distribution is more concentrated (less biased) around the national average with filtered data. Besides this, the paper also shows that geographical location particularly explains relative income improvement in provinces with per capita income slightly above average. These results confirm that, as for Spain, space does indeed matter.
Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie, 2012
This paper is aimed at analysing the European Union's international migration distribution (EUIMD... more This paper is aimed at analysing the European Union's international migration distribution (EUIMD) for the period 1990-2010. Besides some relevant aspects of the distribution, such as inequality and dynamics, it mainly focuses on trends in polarisation and in exploring some key factors that might be behind these trends. The results of the study reveal that polarisation in EUIMD has followed a decreasing path and that factors like geographic location and government expenditure on health are those which better explain the polarisation phenomenon.
This paper addresses the issue of intra-distribution income dynamics at the European regional lev... more This paper addresses the issue of intra-distribution income dynamics at the European regional level for the periods 1980-1993 and 1993-2005. In order to assess whether the results depend on the estimation method, the paper applies and compares two relatively novel techniques: the highest conditional density region approach and a new mobility measure based on a discrete-time Markov chain approach. An interesting conclusion and a methodological lesson have been obtained. The conclusion is that, whatever the technique used, the degree of intra-distribution mobility-which has favoured convergence-has been much higher in the first than in the second period. The lesson is that the use of different approaches is highly recommended not only for the sake of robustness but also because they offer additional insights into intra-distribution dynamics.
The theory of Optimum Currency Areas poses that one of the most important costs that EMU may enta... more The theory of Optimum Currency Areas poses that one of the most important costs that EMU may entail for countries belonging to it is the loss of some instruments of political economy (exchange rate and monetary policies) in response to shocks. The aim of this paper is to analyse real wage flexibility, which is one of the main alternative adjustment mechanisms to these policies. For this purpose, the case of the Spanish regions for the period 1985-1999 is reported. First, we develop a nonparametric approach to show that unemployment and productivity growth rates have reduced effects on wage evolution in the period of study. Second, semiparametric estimation techniques are applied to provide more econometric evidence regarding regional flexibility of real wages in Spain. Additionally, some suggestions are developed on the topic of EMU's ability to improve the degree of regional wage flexibility. The general conclusion that we draw in the study is that regional wages are very rigid and the impact of EMU, though favourable, will be reduced.
Review of Urban and Regional Development Studies, 2005
It is well known that the nature of potential shocks impinging on a set of countries or regions m... more It is well known that the nature of potential shocks impinging on a set of countries or regions may have important implications for relevant aspects of economic policy. This paper addresses the shocks issue empirically by applying the State Space methodology and the Kalman Filter to the case of the Spanish regions. The main conclusions are as follows: (i) it seems that the shocks affecting the Spanish regions have been mostly symmetric; (ii) their effects have been persistent rather than transitory; and (iii) supply shocks have been slightly more frequent than demand shocks.
This paper aims to analyse the role played by internal migration of the foreign-born population i... more This paper aims to analyse the role played by internal migration of the foreign-born population in the process of income convergence at provincial level in Spain over the period 1996-2005. First, it examines, using both classical and recent analytical approaches, the provincial income convergence process. Second, the paper gives a succinct description of recent trends in foreign-born internal migration. Third,
The purpose of this paper is to analyse Okun's law for the Spanish regions over the period 1980-2... more The purpose of this paper is to analyse Okun's law for the Spanish regions over the period 1980-2004. Based on its "gap" specification, the results show that an inverse relationship between unemployment and output holds for most of the regions and for the whole country. However, the quantitative values of Okun's coefficients are quite different, a result that is partially explained by regional disparities in productivity growth. These differences imply that, when it comes to policy issues, conventional aggregate demand/supply management policies should be combined with region-specific policies.
Considering the potential effects on regional convergence in Spain, this paper analyses the relat... more Considering the potential effects on regional convergence in Spain, this paper analyses the relative importance of asymmetric shocks in the Spanish regions between 1975 and 2005. To do this, we employ a technique -the state-space approach -which overcomes some drawbacks of previous methods and allows to decomposing shocks into their structural common and specific components. Our main conclusion is that the shocks that have impinged upon Spanish regions have been mostly symmetric, this meaning that they have not greatly affected the process of regional convergence. However, asymmetric shocks have also been present. Should this continue to happen in the future, it seems the Spanish economy is not well prepared to deal with them. For this reason, the paper offers some political recommendations.
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