This article illustrates the commonly overlooked sample selection probleminherent in using rural classification methods that change over time due to populationchanges. Since fast growing rural areas grow out of their rural status, using recent ruraldefinitions excludes the most successful places...

We analyze empirically the impact of urban agglomeration on Italian wages. Using micro-data from the Bank of Italy'sSurvey of Household Income and Wealth for the years 1995, 1998, 2000 and 2002 on more than 22,000 employeesdistributed in 242 randomly drawn local labor markets (30 percent of the...

Using a new source of evidence we explore the geographical mobility of mid-nineteenth century seamen. Among seamen born outside London, the tall, the literate and those who could remember the exact day, month and year when they were born - characteristics that we suggest mark them out as men...

In einer berühmten Stadt geboren zu sein, ist die erste Vorraussetzung zum Glück, behauptete Euripides. Städte sind, eher noch als Länder, die wahre heimat eines Menschen. Sie zählen zu seinen stolzesten errungenschaften; vor allem sind sie dauerhafter als Länder mit ihrer...

The current landscape of Global History literature appears dominated by a rather asymmetrical dichotomy between Eurocentric analyses of the cumulative emergence of the West and global history which reduces the significance of this transition by blending it into very long-term perspectives. This...

Clusters are systems of localised economic activity and innovation. This report reviews current evidence on clustersand develops policy recommendations for the UK. It argues that clusters include multiple firms from related sectorsthat are co-located within a web of complex linkages and a...