Beta-convergence is determined by the sign of the slope of the income growth line. The conclusion of significance, hence convergence or divergence, is affected by the temporal choice. Changes in the starting and ending periods influence the conclusion of convergence, lack of significance, or...

This paper seeks to contribute to our understanding of the relationship between economic policy and economic growth. With the use of a standard growth model, it assesses the influence of public investment and public transfers on the rate of economic growth. It does this by using data from the 20...

The objective of this paper is to analyze the effects on regional manufacturing productivity of various external factors that characterize the economic, social, and institutional environments to which they belong. We define and distinguish here between homogeneous and urban heterogeneous...

Using the endogenous growth model proposed by Romer (1990) and operationalized by Stern, Porter, and Furman (2000), we seek to identify factors that affect innovative capacity in the U.S. We find strong evidence of endogeneity between employment growth and innovative capacity. In response, we...

This paper revisits the issue of income convergence by examining the question of whether poorer census block groups have been catching up with wealthier census block groups over the 1980-2000 period. The dataset consists of 161 census block groups in Alabama's west-central Black Belt region....

We combine panel data with SVECM methodologies to assess the role of real shocks in determining price differentials in Italy. The main results can be summarized as follows. At a national level, we find strong evidence of persistent price and productivity misalignments across regions. In...

Regional scientists frequently work with regression relationships involving sample data that is spatial in nature. For example, hedonic house-price regressions relate selling prices of houses located at points in space to characteristics of the homes as well as neighborhood characteristics....

This paper proposes to investigate the effect of spillovers on firms' R&D investment decisions. We develop an analysis merging the geographer's toolbox with standard econometric techniques. For a chosen sample of sectors, we test the existence of positive spatial autocorrelation at the level of...

The purpose of this paper is to identify factors that explain the differences in state PCPI levels and to examine the question of how demographic factors have influenced changes in state PCPI levels over the census years between 1950 and 2000. The results suggest that the racial composition of...

Entrepreneurship is becoming an important economic development strategy for communities across the nation. This research distinguishes between innovative and non-innovative entrepreneurs as well as “traditional” entrepreneurs – percent nonfarm proprietors of total employed – across...