Pan, Jutong. / "August 2011." / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 23-24). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 2 --- Basic Model --- p.4 / Chapter 3 --- Analysis --- p.6 / Chapter 3.1 --- Starrett Theorem with Labor Productivity Differences --- p.6 / Chapter 3.2 --- A Simple Case: Indivisible Labor --- p.9 / Chapter 3.3 --- Divisible Labor and Partial Labor Mobility --- p.12 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Scenario 1: high transportation costs and no trade across regions --- p.13 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Scenario 2: low transportation costs and inter-regional trade --- p.17 / Chapter 3.3.3 --- The parameter conditions for Scenario 1/2 --- p.20 / Chapter 4 --- Conclusion --- p.21

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Concern over significant increase in obesity has prompted interdisciplinary research to address the physical food environment in various regions. Empirical studies analyze units of geography independently of each other in studying the impact of the built environment in the health of a region. However, we know that geographical spaces have neighbors and these adjacent areas should be considered in analytical analysis that attempt to determine the effects present. This research incorporates the first neighbor influences by developing a refined hierarchical regression model that takes spatial autocorrelation and associated problems into account, based on Relative Risk of corporate supermarkets, to identify clustering of corporate supermarkets in Marion County. Using block groups as the unit of analysis, 3 models are run respectively incorporating population effect, environment effect, and interaction effects: interaction between population and environmental variables.Lastly, based on network distance to corporate supermarkets as a cost matrix, this work provides a solution to increase supermarkets in an optimal way and reduce access issues associated with these facilities. Ten new sites are identified where policy should be directed towards subsidizing entry of corporate supermarkets. These new sites are over and above the existing block groups that house corporate supermarkets. This solution is implemented using TransCAD™

The dissertation suggests that geographical, institutional, religious and cultural links may be determinants of growth. We address a number of issues in this thesis. The starting point is naturally a study on growth, while the main focus is on the analysis of inequalities between countries with respect to their environment, and also on inequalities within countries.<p>The very first step of the study, presented in Chapter one, is to build such non-physical relations between countries. In this chapter, we present both the choices and methods used to model the institutional and cultural weights matrices. Chapter 1 also presents a comparative study between the different matrices built. The final aim of this chapter is to identify the differences between the geographical, institutional and cultural environment.<p>The following chapter incorporates these innovative new types of matrices in a study on growth. An externality growth model is therefore developed that takes proximities between entities into account, whether geographical, institutional or cultural. The purpose of the chapter is threefold. First, it compares the results obtained from spatial econometrics methods with classical regression, where observations of growth are considered as independent. Second, it examines whether the development of an externality model improves the quality of the estimation. Third, it investigates whether the institutional and cultural types of proximity make sense compared to the geographical one.<p>Chapter 3 narrows the analysis of countries’ dependency with regard to their neighborhood, whether geographical, institutional or religious, and a quintile regression approach allows us to check whether the countries' wealth level matters. Do the poorest countries react in the same way as richer ones regarding the wealth of their geographical, institutional and religious neighbors? The gross impact of neighboring wealth on a country’s wealth is then estimated, and some relative effects of the three matrices combined are also shown, as well as the robustness of the estimates.<p><p>Finally, Chapter 4 analyzes the dependence of poverty regarding neighborhood. The relative wealth and poverty of the neighborhood are examined as factors that can influence a country’s poverty level. The poverty index used is the proportion of people living on less than one or two dollars a day. The study only considers the developing countries as data for the developed countries on the proportion of this variable is near zero. Once again, the final aim is to check whether a country’s poverty is exacerbated by its geographical, institutional and religious neighborhood poverty or if it takes advantage of neighborhood wealth to manage its own poverty issues.<p> / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished