Suchergebnisse

Der Beitrag liefert einen kurzen Überblick über einen neuen Zweig der Raum- und Außenwirtschaftslehre, die Neue Ökonomische Geographie. Neben den grundlegenden Mechanismen für die Erklärung der wirtschaftlichen Aktivität im Raum werden Weiterentwicklungen vorgestellt. Ein zweiter Abschnitt widmet sich den zentralen wirtschaftspolitischen Erkenntnissen und Anwendungen. Der Beitrag schließt mit einem kurzen Ausblick auf aktuelle Forschungsfelder und weiteren Forschungsbedarf.

This paper presents a simple, analytically solvable Chamberlinian agglomeration model. As in the canonical core-periphery (CP) model, two agglomerative forces are at work. However, the present model exhibits a 'pitchfork bifurcation' rather than the 'tomahawk bifurcation' of the CP model.

This paper develops a model with an endogenous number of cities to explore whether local governments establish the optimal city size when key activities in the city are associated with emissions that harm consumers. In contrast to extant research, our model is fully micro-founded with respect to the urban sector and the agglomeration mechanism as well as the modelling of pollution and pollution abatement. We derive two key insights. First, if the national government implements a permit system (equivalently, pollution taxes) that allow for emissions as in the first-best, cities chosen by local governments are too small. Second, if no emission scheme is implemented, or if emission policies are too lax, cities steered by local governments may become too large. The tractability of the model also allows us to uncover the determinants of optimal city sizes, emissions, emission intensities and determinants of locally chosen city sizes, as well as to address the second-best emission policy and extensions to city asymmetries, a fiscal externality, local pollution, generalized commuting costs and further pollution sources.

Die ungleiche Entwicklung von Städten und Regionen steht gegenwärtig nicht nur in Deutschland im Brennpunkt gesellschaftlicher und politischer Aufmerksamkeit. Die Sorge vor einem weiteren Aufreißen der Lücken zwischen Stadt und Land und zwischen Gewinner- und Verliererregionen des Strukturwandels sitzt tief und damit auch die Sorge vor sozialen und politischen Verwerfungen. Vor diesem Hintergrund widmet sich dieser Beitrag drei Fragen. Wie lässt sich die Entwicklung von Städten und Regionen erklären? Was sind zentrale Treiber der Regionalentwicklung? Was soll und was kann Regionalpolitik leisten?

Städte und Regionen entwickeln sich zurzeit ungleich und erzeugen gesellschaftlich und politisch Aufmerksamkeit. Die Sorge vor einem weiteren Aufreißen der Lücken zwischen Stadt und Land und zwischen Gewinner- und Verliererregionen des Strukturwandels sitzt tief und damit auch die Sorge vor sozialen und politischen Verwerfungen. Wie lässt sich die Entwicklung von Städten und Regionen erklären? Was sind zentrale Treiber der Regionalentwicklung? Was soll und was kann Regionalpolitik leisten? ; The uneven development of cities and regions has moved to the forefront of the public and political debate not only in Germany, but many countries as well. Of great concern is possibility that the gaps between large and small cities and between winning and losing regions of structural change are widening and that this may result in negative political and social consequences. Against this backdrop, three issues are addressed in this paper: How can the evolution of cities and regions be explained? What are central drivers of this development? What are the roles and scope of regional policies?

This paper sets up a two country monopolistic competition model with intra-industry trade to study the effects of an exogenous differential in wage and social policies on the location of industry. Two model scenarios are considered. In the traditional one with physical capital, such a differential induces a relocation effect which increases with the level of trade integration. The ?new economic geography? world assumes mobile entrepreneurs which can relocate thus bringing agglomeration forces into play. The most significant difference between this world and the traditional one is that, at high levels of trade integration, where one country has emerged as the core and the other as the periphery, the core may have more generous social policies and higher wages than the periphery without inducing a relocation of firms. The scope to have higher wage is constrained, however, and related to the level of trade integration in a bell-shaped way.

This paper uses a two country trade and geography model of monopolistic competition to study the effects of wage policies and social policies on the location of industry. It is first shown that a union wage push in one of two otherwise identical countries induces a relocation of firms which increases with the level of economic integration as measured by trade costs. This 'traditional view' is then contrasted with a 'new economic geography view' in which one of the countries has historically emerged as the core. The agglomeration rent which accrues to the mobile factor gives unions and governments in the core scope to set higher wages and to choose more generous welfare policies than their counterparts in the periphery without having to encounter an exit of firms. The relationship between the maximum international union wage differential and the level of integration is shown to be bell-shaped.