Papers of the Regional Science Association

This paper focuses on the dynamic relations between Spain's principal regional labor markets. An economic base mechanism, some of whose assumptions are redefined, is postulated as the essential behavior hypothesis. The bifurcation hypothesis is resolved having regard to the necessary condition of cointegration between the basic sector and the regional aggregate, using series with quarterly periodicity in this case. The identified bases, which need not coincide in each region, allow a dynamic inter-regional model to be built using vector autoregression with an error correction mechanism. The results are a step towards the spatial disaggregation of Spain's labor market and reveal singular dynamic relationships.

In this paper we present a methodology for comparing the adequacy of two or more models in terms of how well they represent a given data set. A set of interregional migration models is tested, including several variations of push-pull models, Wilson's entropy maximizing model, a quadratic programming solution, and and ANOVA model. Testing is undertaken using a heuristic procedure based on a pair by pair comparison of models to see which one best represents migration flows as estimated by the Census Bureau. The results of the pairwise testing are presented visually in a “matrix map” which allows us to illustrate the degree to which a perfect ordering of the comparison indices exists, and the degree to which individual models cluster together.

The spatial division of labor and external economies associated with the nation's hierarchical system of cities are postulated to be part of the process involved in the spatial filtering of industrial development. In this process high labor costs in metropolitan areas cause less competitive industries to restructure their operations or be priced out of the larger labor markets. The industries priced out of the markets locate all or some of their operations in smaller settlements in more distant areas where labor costs are lower, given sufficient external economies. The research supports this general proposition but reveals differences based upon the types of industries and the location of their headquarter facilities. It also reveals significant differences in the locational patterns and site selection criteria of different types of plants established by local, national and foreign firms; these differences foster the development of spatially bifurcated or dual labor markets that are associated with regional city size distributions.

Spatial interaction (SI) is the process whereby entities at different points in physical space make contacts, demand/supply decisions or locational choices. The entities can be individuals or firms and the choices can include housing, jobs, production quantities, exports, imports, face-to-face contacts, schools, retail centres and activity centres. The first SI models can be grouped under the generic heading gravity models. Their main characteristic is that they model the behaviour of demand or supply segments, rather than that of individuals and firms. This article traces the development of these models from their inception in the early part of the twentieth century to the present. The key advances include the replacement of the gravity analogy by the more general concepts of entropy or information theory, a statistical framework commonly used in physics. With the arrival of the regional science paradigm over 50 years ago, a key challenge has been to broaden these models compared to those arising in spatial economics, thus arriving at a more inclusive probabilistic framework. These efforts are discussed here, as well as inclusion of geographical advances, embracing activities as generators of travel, time-geography, recognition of spatial interdependencies, and use of neuro-computing principles.

The nonprofit or volunteer sector, including both the contributors of monetary gifts and voluntary labor, has strong incentives now to shift its allocations by region and by sector. Shifts in the distribution of investments in community social capital are especially pronounced in sectors and local areas whose social heterogeneity has retarded public sector response to the demand for collective consumption goods. The redistribution of firms and households on the regional and national scales not only withdraws needed social capital from the places of origin but provides, questionable benefits, in proportion to tax incentives, to the destination regions or sectors. The theoretical justifications which underlie the so-called nonmarketplace activities of the volunteer sector can be demonstrated to have only partial nonmarketplace functions. Some empirical study of this phenomena has begun, which can help to provide policy recommendations for the management of the volunteer sector and to assist donors as well as potential recipient communities to derive more benevolent outcomes from pure and “impure” altruistic activities.