This paper checks for the robustness of the estimate of the impact of market access on the regional variability of human capital, derived from the NEG literature. The hypothesis is that the estimate of the coefficient of the measure of market access is actually capturing the effect of regional...

Regional disparities in unemployment rates are large and persistent, particularly in some economies such as Spain. Previous contributions to the literature have provided evidence on their magnitude and evolution, as well as on the role of some economic, demographic and environmental factors in...

A distinctive feature of unemployment is that its incidence is far from being homogeneously distributed in the territory. Disparities in unemployment rates are not only observed between countries but also between regions within countries. The available evidence indicates that since the early 80s...

Productivity has been considered a key element for firms and economies to be more competitive. Several studies on productivity at a microeconomic level have found notable heterogeneity between firms. More concretely, differences in Total Factor Productivity (TFP) between large and small firms...

Theoretical contributions to the literature have stressed the role of human capital in promoting economic growth. However, the empirical exercises have provided mixed evidence on the real effect of such type of capital. Most of the evidence has been obtained by estimating growth equations or...

This paper tests two competing models, one deriving from new economic geography theory (NEG) emphasising varying market potential, the other with a basis in urban economics theory (UE) in which the main emphasis is on producer service linkages. Using wage rate variations across small regions of...

The past fifty years have witnessed a major transformation of Britain’s urban system. Some cities have consistently prospered and been relatively successful in terms of maintaining or increasing their share of national employment and population, whilst others have lost ground and have...