Se aporta evidencia sobre los condicionantes regionales de la eficiencia productiva de las empresas y su efecto sobre el crecimiento económico, indagando en tres aspectos: i) en qué medida las diferencias en la dotación regional y la estructura productiva sectorial de las regiones, limitan o potencian el crecimiento, ii) la importancia de un tejido empresarial con fuerte desarrollo tecnológico, como generador de sinergias en la economía, iii) el papel de la Inversión Extranjera Directa, como motor de posicionamiento de empresas nacionales en el contexto internacional, vía impulso de las exportaciones. En el capítulo I, un modelo de determinantes de la eficiencia productiva time varying permitió identificar al País Vasco, Cataluña y Madrid, como las regiones más eficientes dentro de España. No obstante, la eficiencia promedio de Madrid y el País Vasco decrece, como resultado de un proceso de relocalización industrial y/o estancamiento de los sectores más tradicionales, a pesar de las ventajas que le concede una mayor dotación de capital en infraestructuras, la presencia de capital extranjero, o las características propias del asentamiento industrial en dichas regiones. Cataluña, por el contrario, gana posición y presenta crecimiento en los niveles de eficiencia para casi todos los sectores, lo que puede sugerir un fortalecimiento de las sinergias propias de la concentración y la diversificación de la industria en esta región, probablemente reforzados por importantes niveles de inversión en I+D y atracción de capital extranjero. En el capítulo II, se contrasta la hipótesis de presencia de spillovers tecnológicos de tipo intrasectoriales e interindustriales up-stream y down-stream sobre la productividad de las empresas, prestando especial atención a los canales de transmisión. La Productividad Total de los Factores se predice por Olley y Pakes. Se identificó efectos spillovers intraindustriales sectoriales positivos, presentes tanto en empresas que invierten en I+D, como en las que no. Los spillovers interindustriales resultaron positivos y significativos a nivel sectorial y regional, sugiriendo que el contacto geográfico es necesario para que los mismos tengan lugar. Se observó una diferencia entre generadores, versus receptores de spillovers. Las empresas que se ubican en la frontera tecnológica probablemente siguen canales formales de difusión del conocimiento y se benefician en menor medida de efectos spillover. Las empresas más jóvenes se benefician más de los spillovers interindustriales down-stream. Es posible que éstas nazcan como parte de las sinergias generadas en sectores competitivos. Las empresas de madurez intermedia tienen mayor efecto spillover intraindustrial, sugiriendo que la experiencia en el mercado es importante para la apropiabilidad del conocimiento tecnológico generado por otras empresas en el sector. En el capítulo III, se presenta evidencia sobre la hipótesis de presencia de externalidades de la Inversión Extranjera Directa, en el desempeño exportador de las empresas nacionales, considerando el control simultáneo por los efectos imitación, información y competencia, e identificando si son generados por empresas extranjeras y/o por otras empresas nacionales en el mismo sector. Sobre la decisión de exportar, se identificó un efecto información neto positivo, originado por el desempeño exportador total del sector; y un efecto imitación negativo originado por empresas extranjeras, que puede representar posibles barreras a la entrada a los mercados internacionales. Sobre la intensidad exportadora, se identificó un efecto información sectorial neto positivo, un efecto competencia positivo por empresas extranjeras, y un efecto imitación positivo por otras empresas nacionales y negativo por empresas extranjeras. La entrada de empresas extranjeras endurece la competencia, y ofrece información sobre el funcionamiento de los mercados extranjeros, que obliga a las empresas nacionales a abrir sus horizontes de mercado. Pero, si las empresas nacionales no tienen la capacidad suficiente para competir, serán desplazadas, condicionadas a desaparecer o abastecer exclusivamente el mercado nacional. / This thesis examining the evidence on the regional determinants of productive efficiency of firms and its effect on economic growth. It focus on three aspects: i) the extent to which differences in regional endowments and industrial structure of regions, limit or enhance growth, ii) the importance of business network with a strong technological development, that reinforce synergies in the economy, iii) the role of foreign direct investment as an engine of national firms positioning in the international context, via promotion of exports. In Chapter I, a model of determinants of time varying technical efficiency was estimated. The results show the Basque Country, Catalonia and Madrid, as the most efficient regions within Spain. However, the average efficiency of Madrid and the Basque Country decreases as a result of a process of industrial relocation and / or stagnation in the more traditional sectors, despite the advantages granted by a high level in infrastructure capital, the presence foreign capital, or the characteristics of the industry in these regions. In Catalonia, growth presents a enhanced efficiency levels for almost all sectors. The importance and diversification of industry in this region may suggest a strengthening of the market synergies, probably reinforced by significant levels of R & D and foreign capital. In Chapter II, the hypothesis of the presence of technological spillovers intra industry and inter industry type (up-stream and down-stream) on the productivity of firms was tested. We focus on the transmission channels. The Total Factor Productivity is predicted by Olley and Pakes. Positive sectoral intra industry spillovers effects was identified in both firms investing in R & D, as those will not be. The inter industry spillovers were positive and significant at sectoral and regional level, suggesting that the geographical contact is necessary for them to take place. A difference was observed between receptors versus generators spillovers. Companies that are located nearer the technological frontier probably follow formal channels of disseminating knowledge and benefit less from spillover effects. Younger firms benefit more from the inter industry downstream spillovers. It is possible that they were born as a consequence of the synergies in competitive sectors. Intermediate maturity companies have greater intra industry spillover effect, suggesting that market experience is important for appropriability of technological knowledge generated by other firms in the sector. In Chapter III, evidence is presented on the assumption of the spillover effect from Foreing Direct Investment in the export performance of domestic firms. Considering the simultaneous control by imitation, information and competition effects, and identifying if they are generated by foreign and / or domestic firms in the same industry. About the decision to export, a positive net effect information originated by the total export performance of the industry was identified; and negative imitation effect caused by foreign companies, which may represent potential barriers to entry into international markets. On the export intensity, positive net information effect by industry, positive competition effect by foreign companies, and a positive imitation effect by other domestic and negative companies by foreign companies was identified. The entry of foreign firms competition hardens, and provides information on the operation of foreign markets, forcing domestic firms to open their market horizons. But if domestic firms do not have sufficient capacity to compete, be displaced, subject only to disappear or supply the domestic market.

In this study we analyse some aspects of the interdependences between the economy and the environment by applying the input-output approach. Although economic activity affects the environment in many ways, in this study we only focus on one: the atmospheric pollution.Concretely, we consider nine different gases. On one hand, the six greenhouse gases regulated by Kyoto protocol: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and perfluorocarbons (PFCs). And, on the other hand, three gases related to local environmental problems such as acidification and eutrophication: sulphur oxides (SOx), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and ammonia (NH3).The study is structured in four self-contained essays that examine the relation between the economic activity and emissions in Spain from different perspectives. After an introductory chapter, in Chapter 2 we describe the methodology and the database used in other chapters. First, we present the basis of the input-output analysis emphasising those characteristics that make it a suitable approach to study the interdependences between the economy and the environment. Then, we describe the database and the procedure required to obtain an environmentally extended input-output table for Spain. We apply the environmentally extended input-output model presented in this chapter to describe the Spanish situation regarding atmospheric pollution in 1995 and 2000. In Chapter 3, we examine the contribution of the driving forces of the evolution of emissions in Spain from 1995 to 2000. For doing so, we decompose the change in emissions into the three main 'sources'. First, shifts in total intensity emission matrix (the eco-technological effect); second, changes in the composition of final uses (the structure effect); and third, changes in the level of final uses (the level effect). We quantify the effects of these three determinants performing a structural decomposition analysis. Chapter 4 shows the capacity of input-output analysis to study the relationship between the economic activity and the environment at a micro level.The purpose of this chapter is to analyse the different impact on atmospheric pollution of different households with different 'economic position'. We calculate total (direct and indirect) emissions generated by private consumption of Spanish households classified by quintiles of expenditure in the year 2000. In Chapter 5 we estimate the emissions embodied in Spanish international trade. By applying a multiregional input-output model we define and compare two approaches: the responsibility emission balance and the trade emission balance. We evaluate the international responsibility of Spain in 1995 and 2000. Finally, Chapter 6 summarises the conclusions of this study. / El propósito de esta tesis es el de analizar algunos de los factores que determinan las interdependencias existentes entre la economía y el medio ambiente. Aunque la actividad económica afecta al medio ambiente de forma muy diversa, el objeto de estudio de este trabajo está centrado en el análisis de un único problema medio ambiental: la contaminación atmosférica. Concretamente se consideran nueve gases diferentes. Por un lado los seis gases de efecto invernadero regulados por el protocolo de Kioto: dióxido de carbono (CO2), metano (CH4), óxido nitroso (N2O), hexafluoruro de azufre (SF6), hidrofluorocarbonos (HFCs), y perfluorocarbonos (PFCs). Y por otro lado, tres gases relacionados con problemas medioambientales de carácter más local y/o regional como son la acidificación y la eutrofización: óxidos de azufre (SOx), óxidos de nitrógeno (NOx), y amoniaco (NH3).

Tesi realitzada al Dept. d'Història i Institucions Econòmiques / This thesis aims to provide a complete picture on the long term evolution of economic inequality in Portugal. Indeed, Portugal is today one of the most unequal European countries and in this thesis we look at the historical roots of this phenomenon. Last decades, economic historians have provided a wide variety of indexes to estimate the long term evolution of income inequality. In this thesis we estimate all those indexes of inequality proposed by the literature. More concretely, we provide long term series on the evolution of top income and wealth shares, wage inequality, personal income inequality, functional income distribution, the Williamson index, the Extraction ratio, Economic polarization, Welfare and Regional inequality. Wage inequality in Portugal followed an N-curve, increasing until the late 1950s to decline until the 1980, when it turned to increase again. The Portuguese experience fits to the international pattern since the 1950s onwards. The Portuguese case also fits to the Extended Kuznets Curve hypothesis, according to which, wage inequality may follow an N-curve during the transition from an agrarian to a post-industrial society. Top income shares decreased until the 1980 to increase intensively thereafter following the international pattern, and specially the Anglo-Saxon countries experience. Although Leigh (2007) stated that top income shares were a good proxy of income inequality, the Portuguese case shows that this relation may not always hold. In this sense, during Portuguese industrialization top income shares decreased continuously whereas income inequality followed an inverted U-curve, which fits the predictions made by the well-known paper by Kuznets (1955). All approaches to inequality are relevant although this finding shows that they are not equivalent and may evolve in opposite directions. Personal income inequality increased intensively during the first half of the Salazar regime and remained in high levels until the end of the dictatorship. It fell dramatically during the Portuguese revolution of the 1970s and it turned to increase thereafter. The Extraction ratio, which measures the capacity of the economic elites to gather the surplus of an economy also increased intensively during the first half of the dictatorship, clearly defining this regime as deeply regressive in distributional terms. It decreased intensively after the 1950s due to rapid economic growth and turned to increase during the democratic period. The global balance is striking because this index uses to decline in the long term. In Portugal, however, the ER was higher in 2006 than in the 1920s. Finally, this thesis also provides the first long term estimates of regional pc GDP for Portugal since 1890 onwards. Regional inequality increased until the 1970s to decrease afterwards. Increasing regional inequality was due to a long term process of regional specialization, whereas the declining trend was associated to the industrialization of the more backward Portuguese regions. During the period analysed, economic activity concentrated intensively on the Atlantic Coastal regions whereas the inner (and overall northern) regions fell behind. To conclude, Portuguese fast economic growth over the twentieth century should be re-evaluated from the social point of view if we look inside the black box of income per capita. This thesis has enlightened this black box and the vision is rather negative. The fruits of economic growth have not trickled down to most of the population during most of the period studied. As a result, most of the Portuguese have been largely excluded from the growing prosperity of the country. / El principal objectiu d’aquesta tesi és oferir una panoràmica completa sobre l’evolució de la distribució de la renda a llarg termini a Portugal. Portugal és actualment un dels països més desiguals d’Europa i aquí volem determinar quins són els orígens d’aquest fenomen. Per tal d’assolir aquest objectiu s’han estimat una àmplia varietat d’indicadors proposats per la literatura sobre les desigualtats. Els principals resultats d’aquest treball són els següents. En primer lloc, les desigualtats salarials segueixen una corba en forma de N ajustant-se a la pauta internacional a partir de la segona meitat del segle XX i a les prediccions de la Corba estesa de Kuznets. Per altra banda, els top income shares han caigut fins als anys 1980, però d’aquí en endavant han crescut amb molta intensitat ajustant-se a la pauta distributiva dels països anglosaxons. La desigualtat personal de la renda va augmentar amb molta intensitat durant la primera meitat del règim Salazarista i es va mantenir en uns nivells molt elevats fins al final de la Dictadura. Va caure amb intensitat durant la Revolució del 1974 i va tornar a créixer durant el període democràtic. La ràtio d’extracció també va créixer amb molta intensitat durant els primers anys de la dictadura definint clarament aquest règim com a molt regressiu en l’esfera distributiva. És important destacar que la ràtio d’extracció era més elevada al 2006 que als anys 1920, un fet absolutament extraordinari. Finalment, aquesta tesi també aporta noves estimacions sobre els PIBs regionals de Portugal des de 1890 fins al 1980. Aquestes noves dades mostren com les desigualtats regionals van créixer fins al 1970 per caure durant la següent dècada. També es pot observar una concentració molt intensa de l’activitat econòmica a les regions costeres. Per acabar, el ràpid creixement econòmic de Portugal al llarg del segle XX hauria de ser re-avaluat des del punt de vista social si es mira a l’interior de la caixa negra de la renda per càpita. Aquesta tesi ha il•luminat aquesta caixa negra i ha mostrat com els fruits del creixement econòmic han estat distribuïts persistentment de forma molt desigual.

El estudio de la polarización en la RMB nos demuestra cómo, en las últimas dos décadas, a las anteriores modalidades de crecimiento (agregación, dispersión, procesos de transformación interna) se ha ido superponiendo progresivamente un nuevo orden “reticular” del crecimiento basado en el desarrollo de la movilidad y las infraestructuras arteriales de transporte.Una lógica con características distintivas respecto de la tradicional relación infraestructura-crecimiento. La búsqueda de accesibilidad y exposición visual, las nuevas sinergias entre actividades, y sobre todo, la autonomía de los crecimientos que encuentran en la red arterial de infraestructuras nuevos valores de centralidad diferentes a los de la ciudad compacta, resultan las principales características innovadoras de la polarización.Procesos de ocupación del territorio que se desarrollan en buena medida corrigiendo o contraviniendo lo previsto en los planes municipales, bajo lógicas que ignoran los límites administrativos, dilatando las interdependencias funcionales y denotando la necesidad de una visión supramunicipal a la hora de regular la implantación de las nuevas piezas urbanas.La fragmentariedad de los desarrollos y su falta de integración con el entorno, la deslocalización de usos y las combinaciones funcionales inéditas, el lenguaje corporativo o comercial de las arquitecturas, etc., nos hablan de un proceso “autorganizativo”, regido más por las leyes del mercado que por los mecanismos urbanísticos de ordenación.A escala de tramo o fragmento, la aparente espontaneidad de las nuevas piezas urbanas y sus implicaciones sobre el paisaje metropolitano contemporáneo, nos plantean la duda acerca de la eficacia del instrumental urbanístico convencional para abordar el “proyecto” de un proceso distanciado de las lógicas de orden formal y funcional tradicionales, y acompañado por cambios sustanciales en los comportamientos sociales y estrategias económicas.En este sentido, el análisis fenomenológico de la polarización nos revela algunas de las leyes o reglas subyacentes a este proceso autorganizativo, una “racionalidad interna” que explica la recurrencia de algunos “materiales” y sus relaciones, a partir de los cuales se construye el “espesor” de la carretera.Tendencias en la agrupación de actividades, patrones en la agregación de los artefactos, formas de los accesos y mecanismos publicitarios empleados, son algunas de las características a tener en cuenta hacia un proyecto territorial renovado, que incorpore los procesos de polarización como una capa más en la configuración del paisaje metropolitano contemporáneo.Considerando que sólo desde el conocimiento de este proceso es de donde pueden surgir respuestas disciplinares renovadas, se han tratado de interpretar las reglas o leyes que subyacen a los crecimientos por polarización relacionándolas con posibles estrategias proyectuales, poniendo de relieve sus valores o potencialidades, así como individualizando sus problemáticas y sugiriendo algunas pautas correctoras para su transformación.La falta de relación entre infraestructura, crecimiento y contexto es el común denominador al que se enfrentan estas potenciales estrategias de proyecto, buscando evitar la independencia actual con que plantean los trazados viarios, las perspectivas de desarrollo urbano y las demandas relativas al medio ambiente y al paisaje.La regulación de las actividades, los mecanismos de repetición tipológica, el proyecto del vacío y el diseño de la sección, el trabajo por tramos, la intervención en los principales nodos o en los espacios de articulación transversal, son algunas de las acciones proyectuales, muchas veces complementarias entre sí, que se sugieren hacia un proyecto integral del espesor de la carretera.Así, el estudio fenomenológico y pre-proyectual de la polarización no tiene por objetivo convertir las infraestructuras arteriales en ejes de urbanización o “ciudades lineales”, ni trasladar mecánicamente o acríticamente modelos urbanos a la ordenación territorial, sino explorar estrategias proyectuales alternativas para la localización y creación de piezas metropolitanas de “nueva centralidad”, jerarquizando aquellos emplazamientos con mayor potencialidad de transformación, y creando el marco adecuado para una ocupación progresiva y racional del suelo, que conjugue las demandas formales y funcionales del mercado con criterios espaciales y de estructura del paisaje metropolitano.

L'annex contenia a l'epígraf 1 els números 7 i 13 de la revista A .C. que podeu consultar a l'enllaç http://www.numerossueltos.com/revistas/ac.html (consultat el dia 13/11/13) / The research object of this dissertation is the City of Rest and Holiday (CRV) of the GATCPAC. A project that was born in 1931, presented at CIAM IV, published in various journals, but never executed because of the Spanish Civil War. The GATCPAC placed the holiday resort on the beach of the Llobregat delta, between the towns of Castelldefels, Gava and Viladecans. The place was categorized as rural, an extremely flat landscape defined by strips of dunes, a pine forest and wetlands. The project was inspired by the need to provide a space for the rest of the Barcelona working class, which thanks to the progressive government policies of the Spanish Second Republic had, by law, and for the first time, a weekend. In order to convince the society about the need of the project the GATCPAC created a cooperative for its promotion and organization. The search of this specific place was lead by the idea of combining nature and resting: the GATCPAC was convinced that for urban life stress recovering, it was indispensable to have contact with nature. This connection was clear during the weekend when thousands of people leave the city leading both to the sea and mountainous natural landscapes. The challenge of the project was to combine the order, civility and culture inherent in the "city", with the amplitude, the relationship with the land and freedom inherent of "rural areas". The resources used by the architects to reconcile "city" and "rural areas" interpreted the landscape as an organizing pattern, minimized building by concentrating activity, avoided urbanization, conceptualized the "gap" as another dimension of the project, used agriculture to isolate the resort and "activate" the landscape. Thus, the project preserved the virgin nature appearance, and was only ordered by a minimum mesh of roads and canals. The buildings, keeping large distances one from another, were erected above the pines, occasionally, as landmarks in the landscape. The GATCPAC reached these conclusions about landscape after reviewing several urban past projects, which were reinterpreted under the perspective of the rest. Among them, which stood as relevant were the Russian ¿deurbanizing¿cities, the siedlung and the Soviets settlements devised by Ernst May, as well as the conceptual framework laid down by Le Corbusier. The project also incorporated "organic" mechanisms to settle in the area, which could be related to the Catalan urban culture, a culture that had been evolving between 1910 and 1920, and was influenced by Howard's garden cities theory. This dissertation explains and contextualizes the project, but also demonstrates the validity of the parameters with which the GATCPAC ordered the CRV. This work also shows that the interest of the GATCPAC model, unlike most modern urban theories, lies in avoiding to consider a radical restructuring of the existing city, at least in the short term, but to "turn on to the suburbs", with a clear landscape intention. The existing city, which is dense and stressful, is complemented by an antithetic area located at a close distance. This is a "revealing" mechanism, facing the contemporary suburban landscape, where open spaces are mixed with housing, factories and infrastructures, facing the urban agglomerations caused by weekend escapes, and facing the territorial problem of second residences. Despite the current landscape situation is radically different than from the thirties, the GATCPAC proposal of the activation of the suburbs is still inspiring because it poses a challenge to a very present situation: the territorial sustainable balance between urban life and the desire for nature contact of its inhabitants.

La tesi doctoral planteja una anàlisi i una avaluació territorial del creixement de l'habitatge unifamiliar a la província de Barcelona durant un període de 17 anys, tot diferenciant els llindars d'especialització del paisatge residencial a partir de la localització d'habitatges aïllats i adossats a diferents municipis. La tesi demostra que, tot i que el fenomen de l'habitatge unifamiliar no és nou a la regió de Barcelona, des de finals dels anys vuitanta adquireix una dimensió nova en funció de l'escala territorial i el volum de les produccions, d'una banda, i en tant en quant es tracta en una gran part d'habitatge principal i no secundari, d'una altra. La tesi para una especial atenció a detectar quins municipis s'han especialitzat més en aquest tipus d'habitatge i diferencia entre els llocs que bàsicament han produït habitatge aïllat o adossat de forma clara; els llocs que han combinat aquestes dues tipologies d'habitatge unifamiliar; i els llocs que han produït simultàniament habitatge adossat i habitatge en bloc, dues tipologies gens incompatibles als municipis de major grandària. La tesi demostra igualment que s'ha esdevingut una substitució dels territoris que han acollit aquests creixements residencials que han passat de ser municipis metropolitans més propers a la ciutat central a ser ciutats mitjanes i viles de segona i tercera corona metropolitanes, tot configurant un model territorial fortament orientat vers la dispersió.Finalment, la tesi planteja que el desenvolupament de la urbanització dispersa a la regió de Barcelona no s'ha d'explicar només com el resultat de la 'fugida' de la ciutat de famílies amb recursos que volen viure més a prop de la natura en cases unifamiliars. Al costat d'aquest grup de població, hi hauria tot un gruix de famílies que podrien, i en molts casos voldrien, viure en zones urbanes compactes però que, a causa del diferencial de preus de l'habitatge entre ciutats metropolitanes, acaben finalment accedint a l'habitatge adossat de grandària petita en zones més llunyanes. D'aquesta manera, la tesi planteja com les causes de la suburbanització accelerada no són únicament de tipus cultural i vinculades a la percepció de l'habitat sinó que tenen molt a veure amb el funcionament dels mercats de compra i els llindars d'accessibilitat de les famílies als parcs d'habitatge metropolitans. La tesi proposa com a conclusió una avaluació d'aquest creixement com molt insostenible no només en termes ambientals i urbanístics sinó també culturals en tant en quant significa l'aparició d'un territori residencial en absolut caracteritzat per la complexitat i la diversitat característiques de la imatge de ciutat mediterrània. / This researh analyzes the growth and expansion of the single-family house tipology in the Barcelona region from 1987 to 2001. The main aim of this work is to define clearly different typologies of residencial landscape depending on the type of low-density houses built during the last two decades: detached houses; or terrace houses. The localition patterns of these two different type of single-family houses show how the 311 municipalities included in the analysis have been producing a highly specialized residential landscape orientated towards the detached houses in some cases and to the terrace house in other cases. Despite the fact that the existance of single-family houses is not a new fenomenon in the Barcelona region, the research demonstrates how since the 80's decade the expansion of the low-density residential landscapes have adquired a completely new dimension because of the important amount of dwellings finally built and because of the use of these new houses as the primary house in a majority of cases, and not as a secundary house which was the current trend during the 60's and 70's decades. Apart from focusing on the specilisation levels of the housing parks of the 311 municipalities of the region, the research also demonstrates how this specialisation goes hand in hand with the substitution of the territories that have hosted this type of urban growth. As the quantitave analysis clearly shows, municipalities located in the 2nd and the 3rd ring, quite fare away from the central city and not specifically defined by metropolitan trends, have been substituting during the last decade the municipalities located closer to Barcelona as the places accounting more average growth of single-family houses. The result of this dispersion pattern is a territorial model defined by urban sprawl.Finally, the research work demonstrates that the development of sprawl in the Barcelona region is not only the result of the willing for leaving the city and being closer to natural or non urbanised areas living in a single-family house. As the colleted and produced data show, besides this type of afluent population that leave the city to live in a big house in the countriside there exists another very important group of population that is responsible for sprawl but because of very different reasons: due to the fact of the higher prices of dwellings in more densified urban areas many lower-class families go and live in suburban towns in cheaper terrace-houses because of their less surface and their more external location in relation with Barcelona and the other central cities in the region. In conclusion, housing market evolution can not be forgotten when explaining the causes of urban sprawl.The research proposes in a final part a monitorisation of these development of single-family houses in the majority of municipalities of the Barcelona region both from in environmental and cultural terms. Regarding the environmental approach, this type of urban growth is clearly insustainable when analyzing some parameters as: consumption of land; domestic water consumption; increasing risk of provoked fire in ecologically fragile areas; exponential increase of mobility, trafic flows and number of automoviles. Regarding the cultural approach, this type of urban growth means a new type of residential landscape which is specialised and morphologically homogenious. It is the loss of complexity the main risk that cities in the Barcelona region are facing as a consecuence of the intensive development of low-density houses new neighbourhoods.

IN ENGLISH:This thesis represents an attempt to examine the evolution and causes of regional inequality in Spain during the early stages of economic development, in the period in which the integration of the domestic market was completed and the Spanish economy was going through the early stages of industrialization. With this objective, the research adopts a New Economic Geography (NEG) approach. This theoretical framework aims to analyse the distribution of economic activity across space and it appears to be particularly suitable for the study of regional inequality from a historical perspective (Krugman, 1991).After reviewing the NEG literature, both theoretical and empirical, in which market accessibility becomes a key variable to understand where production takes place, the first step in the research is the construction of two databases that are essential for the empirical analysis in the following chapters. Firstly, GDP estimates at a provincial level are obtained following the standard methodology developed by Geary and Stark (2002) for the years 1860, 1900, 1914 and 1930. At a second stage, the availability of GDP figures allows constructing estimates of market potential at a provincial level using Harris (1954) equation (Crafts, 2005). The results suggest that the integration of the domestic market brought about significant changes in the relative accessibility of the Spanish provinces. In particular, it has been stressed that the construction of the railway network and the subsequent fall in transport costs triggered a polarised geographical pattern with two clearly differentiated groups where coastal provinces (plus Madrid) showed higher market potential than their inland counterparts.More importantly, the availability of an indicator of market access becomes essential for the empirical analyses undertaken in the next chapters. First, the focus is placed on the industrial sector. The exercise conducted in chapter 4 aims to disentangle the factors that lie behind the intense process of spatial concentration recorded in Spain's industry between the mid-19th century and the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). To do this, a model that combines comparative advantage in line with the Heckscher-Ohlin model, and NEG-type mechanisms is estimated (Midelfart-Knarvik et al., 2002). The results show that in the mid-19th century, the spatial distribution of industry in Spain was determined by comparative advantage. However, when industry began to concentrate in a limited number of provinces, evidence in favour of NEG effects is found. In this case, the main driving force in industrial location was the interaction between market potential and increasing returns.Once the impact of NEG-type mechanisms has been confirmed in industry, the aim of chapter 5 is to examine whether geography also had an influence at a more aggregate level, when income per capita is considered. In so doing, the empirical strategy developed by Ottaviano and Pinelli (2006), in which growth literature (Barro and Sala-i-Martin, 1991) and economic geography are combined, is applied to the Spanish case. Conditioned growth regressions are estimated, i.e., income per capita growth rates are regressed on the customary proximate sources of growth and a set of explanatory variables (wider influences) that include, among others, first nature geography (à la Sachs) and second nature geography (à la Krugman) variables. In the second half of the 19th century, the impact of geography on provincial growth came from pure geography. Then, in the first decades of the 20th century, there is evidence of a positive and significant relationship between market potential and economic growth, as some recent cross-country studies within NEG have demonstrated (Redding and Venables, 2004). In the light of these results it can be concluded that the role of geography needs to be considered in the analysis of regional inequality in the long term. / EN CASTELLANO:Esta tesis representa un intento de indagar en la evolución y las causas de la desigualdad territorial en España durante las primeras etapas del proceso de desarrollo económico, en el período en el que se completó la integración del mercado doméstico a la vez que la economía española transitaba por las primeras etapas de la industrialización. Con este objetivo, la investigación adopta un enfoque de Nueva Geografía Económica (NEG), un marco teórico cuyo fin es analizar la distribución de la actividad económica en el espacio, y que por lo tanto, se convierte en una herramienta de gran utilidad para el estudio de la desigualdad regional. Tras revisar esta literatura, tanto a nivel teórico como empírico (capítulo 2), en el capítulo 3 se procede a la elaboración de sendas bases de datos que resultan fundamentales para el análisis posterior. En primer lugar, se lleva a cabo una estimación del Producto Interior Bruto a nivel provincial en diversos años comprendidos entre 1860 y 1930 para, a continuación, calcular el potencial de mercado de las provincias españolas. Una vez obtenido este indicador de acceso a los mercados se examina, primero, los determinantes que se hallan detrás del intenso proceso de concentración espacial de la industria que se dio en España entre mitad del siglo XIX y la Guerra Civil (capítulo 4). Para ello, se estima un modelo que permite cuantificar la fuerza relativa de los factores vinculados a la existencia de ventaja comparativa en la dotación de factores en la línea de los argumentos de tipo Heckscher-Ohlin, y por otro lado, de los mecanismos de tipo NEG. Finalmente, a partir de la nueva base de datos de PIB provincial construida, en el capítulo 5 se estudia el efecto del potencial de mercado sobre la desigualdad regional a partir de la estimación de regresiones de crecimiento condicionadas, basadas en un modelo NEG donde, junto a las variables típicas utilizadas en este tipo de estudios, se incorporan al análisis tanto los elementos de geografía pura (à la Sachs) como los de segunda naturaleza vinculados al potencial de mercado (à la Krugman).

A presente tese doutoral teve como objetivo investigar os critérios que levaram o Governo do Estado da Bahia (Brasil) a definir no seu Planejamento Territorial, 27 Territórios de Identidade, incluídos os 417 municípios, utilizando-os como elementos constitutivos para a formulação de políticas públicas, voltadas para o desenvolvimento local e regional. Os Territórios de Identidade foram criados mediante Decreto nº 12.354, de 25.08.2010, constituindo-os como marco territorial de aplicação para as políticas públicas da Bahia. Configuram-se como unidades de planejamento e aplicação de políticas possibilitando as ações em prol do desenvolvimento, de acordo com as demandas características da população de cada região e com a participação da sociedade civil organizada, levando-se em consideração aspectos sociais, econômicos e culturais, que caracterizam cada Território de Identidade. A tese analisa diversos indicadores socioeconômicos denominados-- ―indicadores do desenvolvimento‖--dos municípios do Território de Vitória da Conquista (TRVC), comparando-os com os indicadores do Estado, colocando em evidência repercussões econômicas, sociais e geográficas. As informações foram obtidas através de questionários aplicados junto aos gestores das 24 Prefeituras dos municípios integrantes do TRVC, tanto pessoalmente como online, e mediante entrevistas a técnicos e políticos das secretarias dos municípios e Estado da Bahia. Os resultados da investigação permitem comprovar que adivisão em Territórios de Identidade teve lógica similar às propostas anteriores de regionalização do Brasil, -- divisão do país em Territórios da Cidadania-- definidos a partir das características específicas dos arranjos sociais e locais de cada região (ambientais,demográficas e sociais). Entre os principais problemas encontrados no TRVC destacam-se, entre outros, a falta de oportunidades de trabalho,a segurança pública, saneamento básico, habitação e os déficits em relação a serviços públicos, saúde e educação (escolas), bem como a degradação dos recursos naturais, a contaminação da água, do solo e do ar e o problema endêmico da escassez de água. Este trabalho poderá contribuir na tomada de decisão pelos atores envolvidos no processo de elaboração de políticas públicas específicas aos municípios dos territórios baianos. Com os resultados obtidos, conclui-se que os Territórios de Identidade ainda não se constituem como unidades consolidadas de planejamento, participação e gestão de políticas públicas, em prol do desenvolvimento local. / This PhD thesis aimed to investigate the criteria that led the Government of the State of Bahia (Brazil) to define in its Territorial Planning, 27 identity Territories, including 417 counties, using them as building blocks for the formulation of public politic elements, dedicated to local and regional development. The Identity Territories were created by Decree, nº 12.354, of 25.08.2010, constituting them as territorial framework of application for public politics of Bahia. Are configured as planning units and implementation of politics, enabling actions to promote development, according to the demands of the population characteristics of each region and with the participation of civil society, taking into consideration social aspects, economic and cultural, that characterize each Identity Territory. The thesis examines various socioeconomic denominated indicators, -- ―development indicators‖ – of the counties of the Territory of Vitoria da Conquista (TRVC) comparing them with the indicators of the state, highlighting economic, social and geographical implications. Data were obtained through questionnaires with the managers of the 24 prefectures of the member municipalities of TRVC, either in person or online, and through interviews with the technical and political secretaries of municipalities and the State of Bahia. Research results allow to to prove that the division in Identity Territories had similar logic to the previous proposals for the regionalization of Brazil, If the division of the country in Citizenship Territories, defined based on the specific characteristics of social and local arrangements in each region (environmental, demographic and social). Among the main problems encountered in the TRVC, stand out, among others, the lack of job opportunities, public security, basic sanitation, housing and deficits in relation to public services, health and education (schools), and degradation of natural resources, contamination of water, soil and air, and the endemic problem of water scarcity. This work may contribute to the decision making of stakeholders involved in the formulation of public politic process to municipalities of the Bahian territories. With the results obtained, it was concluded that the Identity Territories are not yet constituted as consolidated planning units, participating in management of public policies, in favor of local development. / La presente tesis doctoral tiene por objeto investigar los criterios que llevaron al Gobierno del Estado da Bahia (Brasil) a definir en la Planificación Territorial 27 Territorios de Identidad que incluyen 417 municipios, utilizándolos como elementos constitutivos en la formulación de políticas públicas para el desarrollo local y regional. Los 27 Territórios de Identidade fueron creados mediante el Decreto nº 12.354, de 25/08/2010, y constituyen el marco territorial de aplicación de las políticas públicas bahianas. Se configuran como unidades de planificación y aplicación de políticas y acciones de desarrollo, acordes con las características de la población de cada región, contando con la participación de la sociedad civil y teniendo en cuenta los aspectos sociales, económicos y culturales que caracterizan a cada Território de Identidade. La tesis analiza diversos indicadores socioeconómicos --llamados "indicadores de desarrollo"- - de los municípios del Territorio de Vitória da Conquista (TRVC), comparándolos con los indicadores del resto del Estado, poniendo en evidencia su impacto económico, social y geográfico. La información se obtuvo a través de cuestionarios realizados a los gerentes de las 24 prefecturas, de miembros de municipios del TRVC, tanto personalmente como online, y mediante entrevistas a técnicos y políticos de las secretarías de los municipios y los departamentos del Gobierno del Estado de Bahía. Los resultados de la investigación permiten comprobar que la división en Territórios de Identidade tiene una lógica similar a la de propuestas anteriores de regionalización de Brasil. Es el caso de la división del país en Territorios de la Ciudadanía, definidos a partir de las características específicas de los acuerdos sociales y locales en cada región (ambiental, demográfica y social). Entre los principales problemas detectados en el TRVC destacan, entre otros, la falta de oportunidades de trabajo, la seguridad pública, el saneamiento básico, la habitación y los déficits en materia de servicios públicos, salud y educación (escuelas), así como el deterioro de los recursos naturales, la contaminación del agua, el aire y el suelo y el problema endémico de la sequía. El trabajo de investigación hacer posible la toma de decisiones de los actores en el proceso de elaboración de políticas públicas específicas de los municipios de los territorios bahianos. A partir de los resultados obtenidos, se concluye que los Territórios de Identidade todavía no constituyen unidades sólidas de planeamiento, participación y gestión de políticas públicas a favor del desarrollo local.

Investment in human capital is a key tool for the social and economic progress in every country. Thus one of the most important public policies in the last century has focused on increasing the level and quality of education among the population. This goal has been reached by all developed countries. However, the rapid increase of the percentage of the population with high education in developed economies during the last decades has probably contributed to labour market inefficiency. It is observed that part of this population is not working in jobs that require their level of education; otherwise they end up in jobs that require workers with a lower level of education. This situation is called overeducation. This dissertation examines several aspects related to the overeducation phenomenon in Spain. In particular, the first empirical analysis studies whether overeducated workers obtain a higher return on this training – specifically, non-education training activities – than the rest of workers. If it is so, overeducated workers could overcome part of the wage penalty derived from their education-occupation mismatch. The results showed that non-formal education activities have a positive effect on wages, but only overeducated workers who have undergone non-formal education activities receive a wage premium. It seems that this type of training provides overeducated workers with new abilities that permit them to reduce the wage penalisation derived from the mismatch between their level of education and occupation. The aim of the second empirical analysis is to test a supported theory based on the existence of individuals’ skill heterogeneity to explain the wage penalty associated with overeducation. From such a perspective, the wage penalty associated with overeducation is due to the huge variation of skills between workers with the same level of education. Then, overeducated workers would not suffer a wage penalty. In fact, they would earn lower wages as a result of their lower skills. Our hypothesis was that the wage penalty associated with overeducation could be explained by lower skill levels. As a consequence, overeducated workers may not be suffering a wage penalty in Spain, but their earnings are determined by their skill level. Our results show that individuals’ skill heterogeneity explains only 18% of the effect of educational mismatch on wages in Spain. The wage penalty still remains for those overeducated workers who are not less skilled than properly matched workers. Finally, the last empirical analysis aims to identify a relationship between the situation of overeducation of parents and the educational performance of their children. Previous literature found that children of highly educated parents tend to perform better than children of less educated parents. One possible explanation for the positive relationship between parents’ human capital and students’ performance is based on children’s perceptions about the importance of education. In this sense, students whose parents have a high level of education and good jobs might be more aware of the value of education and, consequently, have higher motivation and perform better than other students. Under this point of view, our hypothesis is that the existence of parents’ job-education mismatch can modify the students’ perception about the importance of education and, consequently, have an effect on their performance at school. In particular, we analyse whether there is a relationship between parents’ educational mismatch and the educational performance of their children, and we checked whether it is similar across the performance distribution or, by contrast, whether there are differences between students at the top and at the bottom of the performance distribution. The results shows that students whose parents are overeducated have a penalty in their academic achievement in all three subjects analysed, this effect being stronger for students with lower educational outcomes. So, the results seemed to confirm our hypothesis.

This doctoral thesis consists of three different empirical studies which represent new contributions to the empirical research of firms’ R&D cooperation behaviour, one of the most relevant research issues in the field of Economics of Innovation. The three studies that constitute the dissertation focus on the Spanish case. The first empirical chapter analyses the heterogeneity in firms’ decisions to engage in R&D cooperation, taking into account the type of partner (competitors, suppliers or customers, and research institutions) and the sector to which the firm belongs (manufactures or services), while controlling for the possible correlation between such R&D cooperation strategies. In general terms, the results suggest that determinants of R&D cooperation differ between the different types of cooperation and between the two sectors under consideration. Placing a higher importance to publicly available information (incoming spillovers), receiving public funding and firm size increases the probability of cooperation with all kind of partners but the role is much stronger in the case of cooperative agreements with research institutions and universities. The results also suggest that R&D intensity and the importance attributed to the lack of qualified personnel as a factor hampering innovation are key factors influencing positively the decisions to cooperate in the service sector but they do not seem to affect these decisions in the manufacturing sector. The aim of the second study is to analyse if R&D collaborative agreements are persistent at the firm level, and in such a case, to study what are the main drivers of this phenomenon. R&D cooperation activities at the firm level can be persistent due to true state dependence, this implying that cooperating in a given period enhances the probability of doing it in the subsequent period and it can also be a consequence of firms’ individual heterogeneity, so that certain firms have certain characteristics that make them more likely to carry out technological alliances. A second objective of this study is to evaluate the differentiated persistence pattern of collaboration agreements for three different types of partners: customers and/or suppliers, competitors and institutions. The results suggest that firms are persistent in cooperation activities as a strategy to carry out their innovation activities. There is a significant state dependence effect for cooperation even once it considers the different types of cooperation separately. In this case, the highest persistence is found in the case of collaboration with institutions, followed by customers and clients. The results also suggest that institutional cooperation may provide the basis and tools for forming future agreements with other type of collaboration partner vertical or horizontal. The third empirical chapter examines the impact that the geographical scope of collaborative research may have on innovation performance. This study advances beyond the studies on the differences between national and international cooperation with respect to the impact on innovation output by disaggregating the geographical scope of the international alliances as well as analysing if absorptive capacity is equally important for national and international research alliances. The obtained results allow to conclude that the benefits of research collaboration differ across different dimensions of the geography. The result suggest that firms benefit from interaction with international partners as a way to access new technologies, specialized or novel knowledge that they are unable to find locally. In addition, that research collaboration simultaneously with partners in different geographical areas leads to better innovation performance if compared to collaborations exclusively with partners geographically closer. Regarding the role played by absorptive capacity on the relationship between collaboration research and innovation performance, it can be conclude that a firm can learn more from its foreign partners, with different culture and environment, but if the firm possesses the potential capacity to acquire and assimilate such new knowledge, the benefit from cooperation increases. / Esta tesis doctoral consiste en tres estudios empíricos diferentes que representan nuevas contribuciones a la investigación empírica del comportamiento de cooperación en innovación de las empresas, el cual es uno de los temas más relevantes en el campo de la Economía de la Innovación. Los tres estudios que constituyen esta tesis se centran en el caso español y utiliza el Panel de Innovación Tecnológica de las Empresas Españolas (PITEC). En el primer estudio se analiza la heterogeneidad en las decisiones de las firmas a participar en acuerdos de cooperación para la innovación, tomando en cuenta el tipo de socio (competidores, proveedores y/o clientes e instituciones de investigación) y el sector al que pertenece la firma (manufacturas y servicios). El segundo estudio empírico aporta evidencia sobre el comportamiento dinámico de la cooperación en innovación. El objetivo principal consiste en analizar si los acuerdos de cooperación son persistentes a nivel de la firma y en tal caso, estudiar cuáles son los principales conductores de este fenómeno de persistencia. También se estudia si existen diferentes patrones de persistencia de los acuerdos de cooperación teniendo en cuenta el tipo de socio separadamente así como también la posibilidad de encontrar persistencia cruzada entre estos tipos de cooperación. Finalmente, el tercer estudio tiene como objetivo estimar el impacto de la cooperación con socios localizados en diferentes áreas geográficas sobre el rendimiento innovador de las empresas. Este capítulo también analiza el rol que juega la capacidad de absorción en la relación entre la cooperación en innovación según el área geográfica de los socios y el rendimiento innovador.