The following paper is meant to present and analyze some of the aspects considered significant in characterizing the degree of competitiveness of a geographic region specific to the national economy taking into consideration the intensity and the promptitude of major changes which modified...

Railroad access may accelerate technological progress in the industrial sector and induce structural change and urbanization - the two common features of modern economic development. By digitizing novel datasets of factories and railroad networks in late 19th- and early 20th-century Japan and...

We examine the complementary role of road infrastructure in determining the impact of a reduction in input tariffs on firm productivity. We combine newly constructed geo-spatial data from Ethiopia on road improvements under the Ethiopian Road Sector Development Program with detailed...

This paper uses a quasi-experimental study of a major bridge construction in Bangladesh to understand the effects of a large reduction in trade costs on the pattern of structural change and agricultural productivity. We develop a spatial general equilibrium model with a core and two hinterlands...

We examine the role of universities in knowledge production and industrial change using historical evidence. Political shocks led to a profound pro-science shift in German universities around 1800. To study the consequences, we construct novel microdata. We find that invention and manufacturing...

This paper aims at describing the regional configuration of 1959 Brazil's productive structure through the estimation of an Inter-State Input-Output system. The estimated matrix is the oldest of this kind for Brazil. It can, hence, be an important tool for the study of the regional productive...

In this paper, we review the different definitions of resilience and their potential application in explaining the long-term development of urban and regional economies. We reject equilibrist versions of resilience and argue instead that we should seek an understanding of the concept from an...

This is a presentation the author made at the Reserve Bank of India Platinum Jubilee Celebration held at Imphal, Manipur, India on 22 February 2010. Here the author argues that the Inclusiveness agenda of India would be meaningless in the absence of Financial Inclusion. In this context he argues...

This paper investigates the origin and evolution of the concept of the industrial district. The idea of industrial district is quite widespread in modern industrial economics and in business studies, with a variety of meanings and typologies. Indeed the real original conceptualisation dates back...

The paper evaluates strategies for developing successful special economic zones and transnational zones for Southern African countries to spur growth and employment. Most special economic zones implemented in Southern Africa have largely failed to bring adequate growth and employment due to...