This paper analyses some of the theoretical and empirical arguments that serve to legitimate regional policies in Europe. We start by reviewing the existing evidence that European integration has led to a process of convergence between countries but not between regions inside countries and...

Cette publication n'a pas de résumé

European policy makers may have asked too much from regional policies: to decrease inequalities between regions, to increase efficiency at the national and European levels and to decrease inequalities between countries. This paper argues that these policies face a trade-off between equity and...

Cette publication n'a pas de résumé

Harrigan and Martin assess the viability of major cities, and New York in particular, in the face of catastrophes such as terrorist attacks by considering why cities exist in the first place. They conclude that the same forces thought to lead to the formation of cities—namely, the economic...

We analyze the effects of financial and trade globalization on the likelihood of financial crashes in emerging markets. While trade globalization always makes crashes less likely, financial globalization may make them more likely, especially when trade costs are high. Pessimistic expectations...

L’article montre qu’une politique d’amélioration des infrastructures d’une région pauvre permet de réduire l’inégalité spatiale mais peut aboutir à une géographie moins efficace et un taux de croissance plus faible. Les effets inverses sont obtenus pour une politique qui...

This paper analyzes empirically the relationship between civil wars and international trade. We first show that trade destruction due to civil wars is very large and persistent and increases with the severity of the conflict. We then identify two effects that trade can have on the risk of civil...

This paper analyses the efficiency and the equity motives that can justify regional policies. The market failure induced by localized technological spillovers entails too little agglomeration. However, coordination failures and the fact that firms do not take into account the welfare of immobile...

Cette publication n'a pas de résumé