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...

Spatial effects are endemic in models based on spatially referenced data. The increased awareness of the relevance of spatial interactions, spatial externalities and networking effects among actors, evoked the area of spatial econometrics. Spatial econometrics focuses on the specification and...

An important subset of the literature on agglomeration externalities hypothesizes thatintrasectoral and intersectoral relations are endogenously determined in models of localand regional economic growth. Remarkably, structural adjustment models describing thespatio-temporal dynamics of...

This discussion paper led to an article in <I>Applied Economics</I> (2012). Volume 44, issue 11, pages 1363-1374.<P> We design a conceptual framework for linking two approaches: the literature on absorptive capacity and the literature on spatial knowledge spillovers. Regions produce new knowledge, but...</p></i>

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>

Urban heritage is often concentrated in conservation areas with a protected status. Previous research argues that urban heritage attracts especially higher educated households who are likely to have higher incomes. The presence of these households may have a further impact on the attractiveness...

We analyze the determinants of female labor market participation for different age-groups in the European Union. We show that female participation is positively affected by tertiary education at any age. But upper secondary education increases participation only up to an age of 40 while after...

This paper examines how the distribution of prices changes with the number of competitors in the market. Using gasoline price data from the Netherlands we find that as competition increases, the distribution of prices spreads out: the low prices go down while the high prices go up, on average....

This paper is dating from 1995, when it has been presented at the Ragnar Frisch Centennial Memorial Conference in Oslo. It has never been published before.In this paper for the first time the Cantril ladder question data have been employed in the way which later has become known as happiness...

This paper studies the effects of local marriage markets on South African women’s marital decisions. The analysis is motivated by the low proportion of married among African mothers since 48% are never married. This means that the children of all these never married mothers have no access to...