The provision of non-pecuniary incentives in education is a topic that has received much scholarly attention lately. Our paper contributes to this discussion by investigating the effectiveness of grade incentives in increasing student performance. We perform a direct comparison of the two most...

Finding proper policy instruments to promote productivity growth features prominently on the Lisbon agenda and is central in many national as well as European policy debates. In view of the increased mobility of high-skilled workers in Europe, ongoing globalization and increased interregional...

We investigate the interaction of regional population and employment in a simu1taneousmodel, allowing for interregional commuting. The proposed dynamic specificationdistinguishes between short-run and equilibrium adjustment effects and it encompassesthe lagged-adjustment specification that is...

This discussion paper resulted in an article in <I>Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie</I> (2011). Volume 102(4), pages 385-405.<P> Knowledge drives the growth of nations and regions in a competitive space-economy. Hence, we would expect a strong correlation between investments in R&D,...</p></i>

This paper addresses the question to what extent the performance of industrial sites is affected by their local economic structure and accessibility. For this aim, we test for the existence of statistically significant relationships between agglomeration externalities (specialization, diversity,...

Innovation and technological change are central to the quest for regional development. In the globally-connected knowledge-driven economy, the relevance of agglomeration forces that rely on proximity continues to increase, paradoxically despite declining real costs of information, communication...

This paper employs firm-level data to analyze the relative importance of firm characteristics and agglomeration externalities in explaining variation in innovation rates across firms. More specifically, we combine micro-data and census data to estimate the probability that a firm will introduce...

This discussion paper led to an article in <I>Regional Studies</I> (2014). Volume 48, issue 4, pages 624-645.<P> Knowledge triggers regional growth. Evidence suggests that skilled labour force concentrates in islands of innovation, determining an advantage for innovative regions and a challenge for...</p></i>

This paper reviews the empirical literature on growth and convergence that has addressed the importance of spatial factors. An important distinction in this literature is the one between absolute and relative location. The literature on absolute location predominantly uses non-spatial...

In the presence of agglomeration economies one might expect a relocation and concentration of industries. Then firm start-up activities may be assumed to reveal those effects. We introduce an empirical testable model inspired by the New Economic Geography and human capital externalities...