O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar, com base no padrão de comércio externo e interno brasileiro, se a especialização da produção no Brasil e nas macro-regiões encontra-se de acordo com a dotação relativa de fatores, ou se há outras questões que expliquem a localização da produção. A fundamentação teórica veio do teorema de Heckscher-Ohlin, mais especificamente da abordagem da qualificação da mão-de-obra e do comércio intra-indústria. O teorema de Heckscher-Ohlin foi confirmado para os trinta tipos de comércio externo observados no trabalho, e pôde-se verificar um comportamento semelhante entre os resultados obtidos para o Brasil, como um todo, e aqueles conseguidos para as suas regiões. No comércio observado entre o Brasil e as regiões e a Ásia, os Estados Unidos, a União Européia e o resto do mundo, a dotação de fatores constatada foi de mão-de-obra não qualificada. Considerando apenas o comércio do Brasil e das regiões com o Mercosul, pôde-se verificar que o Brasil e as regiões apresentaram abundância relativa de mão-de-obra qualificada. Com relação aos resultados para o comércio intra-indústria, dos 30 dimensionamentos efetuados para o comércio exterior, apenas em três casos o comércio interindústria não foi observado: no comércio do Brasil, do Sudeste e do Sul com o Mercosul. Pode-se sugerir, então, que, na relação entre o Brasil e as macrorregiões e seus principais parceiros comerciais no mercado mundial, o comércio interindústria foi observado na maior parte dos casos, confirmando, assim, os resultados verificados no teorema de Heckscher-Ohlin. Na análise dos testes do teorema de Heckscher-Ohlin realizados para o comércio interno entre as regiões do Brasil, pôde-se verificar que a validade do teorema foi confirmada para quatro das cinco regiões consideradas. Somente para o comércio verificado entre o Nordeste e as demais regiões o teorema não foi constatado. A região Sudeste foi considerada como relativamente abundante em mão-de-obra qualificada, enquanto as demais regiões se apresentaram como relativamente abundante em mão-de-obra não qualificada. O comércio intra-indústria somente foi observado, no mercado doméstico, entre macrorregiões, para as relações comerciais do Nordeste com o Centro-Oeste. Com base nos resultados verificados para o teorema de Heckscher-Ohlin, pode-se sugerir que a dotação diferenciada de fatores foi importante determinante da especialização da produção, no Brasil e nas regiões, para o comércio no mercado mundial e doméstico. O dimensionamento do comércio intra-indústria confirma os resultados observados do teorema de Heckscher-Ohlin para a quase totalidade dos casos analisados. Cabe destacar que, na revisão bibliográfica realizada para a elaboração deste estudo, não se observou trabalhos que já tivessem testado a validade do teorema de Heckscher-Ohlin para os comércios externo e interno, considerando as macrorregiões. O que se verificou foram trabalhos que consideravam o Brasil como um todo. Esses testes regionais somente foram possíveis de serem realizados em função do modelo inter-regional que foi construído por Guilhoto et al (2003), bem como das informações detalhadas sobre importação e exportação, publicadas pelo Ministério do Desenvolvimento da Indústria e do Comércio - MDIC - (Brasil, 2003) e pelos microdados da Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicilio - PNAD - (IBGE, 1999a). / The aim of this study was to evaluate, based on the trade procedures for the external and internal Brazilian trade, if the production especialization in Brazil and in macro-regions is according to the relative allotment of factors, or if there are other questions that explain the production localization. The theoritical basis came from Hecksscher-Ohlin, more specifically, from the assessment of the labor qualification and from the trade intra-industries.The theorem of Heckscher-Ohlin was confirmed for the 30 (thirty) kinds of external trade observed, at work, and it was noticed a similar behavior among the results obtained for Brazil, as a whole, and the ones obtained for its regions. In the trade evidenced among Brazil and regions of Asia, the United States, the European Union and the rest of the world, the allotment of factors establihed was the one of non-qualified labor. Considering Brazil’s trade and of the regions with MERCOSUL alone, it was noticed that Brazil and the regions offer relative abundant qualified labor. Regarding the results abtained from for the trade intra-industries, of the 30 outlinings for the external trade, only in three cases the intra-industry trade was not observed: in the Brazilian market, of the South and Southeast with the MERCOSUL. It can be suggested, then, that in the trade analyzed between Brazil and the macro-regions and their main business partners in the international market the trade intra-industries was observed in most cases, therefore, confirming the results verified in the theorem of Heckscher-Ohlin. In the test analysis of the theorem of Heckscher-Ohlin, carried out for the domestic market among ther egions in Brazil, it was noticed that the validity of the theorem was confirmed for four out of the five regions considered. Only between the Northeast and the other regions, the theorem was not evidenced. The Southeastern region was considered relately rich in qualified laborforce, whereas the other regions presented as relatively abundant in non-qualified labor. The intra-industry trade was only observed, in the domestic market among macro-regions, for the business relations of the Northeast and the Midlle-west. Based on the results obtained for the theorem of Heckscher-Ohlin, it can be suggested that the different allotment of factors was an important determiner of the production especialization, in Brazil and in the regions, either for the domestic as for the international markets. The outlining of the intra-industry trade confirms the results observed of the theorem of Heckscher-Ohlin, for almost all of the cases analyzed. It is worth pointing out that in the bibliographic review carried out in order to do this study it was not observed studies which had tested the validity of the theorem of Heckscher-Ohlin for the internal and external trade, considering the macro-regions. What was evidenced were the studies done considering Brazil as a whole. These regional tests were only possible to be carried out for the regions making use of the inter-regional model which was constituted by Guilhoto et al (2003), as well as of the detailed information about importation and exportation, published by the Ministery for the Development of the Industry and Commerce -MDIC- (Brasil, 2003) and by the microdata of the National Research by Domicile Sample - PNAD- (IBGE, 1999a).

Este trabalho investiga a eficiência produtiva dos setores industriais nas regiões brasileiras. Para isso, utiliza um painel de dados da Pesquisa Industrial Anual do IBGE para o período de 2000 a 2006, desagregado por mesorregiões, setores da indústria de transformação e por setores de intensidade tecnológica. São estimados modelos de fronteira de produção estocástica para obtenção das estimativas das eficiências produtivas regionais e setoriais. Esses indicadores de eficiência são então analisados com base na literatura de economia espacial e das Cadeias Espaciais de Markov, que visam investigar o efeito da boa e da má vizinhança. Os resultados indicam que as mesorregiões mais eficientes tendem a localizar-se na faixa litorânea do Brasil, mas, na medida em que tratamos de setores mais básicos da economia, há maior dispersão da alta eficiência pelo espaço brasileiro. Além disso, percebe-se um deslocamento, ao longo do tempo, de altos índices de eficiência para as mesorregiões do Centro-Oeste. Em relação à eficiência setorial, observou-se que, em geral, os setores menos intensivos em tecnologia são menos eficientes: constatou-se que o setor de Alta Intensidade Tecnológica é 11% mais eficiente do que o setor de Baixa Intensidade. Os resultados das análises da influência das economias espaciais sobre a eficiência produtiva indicam que a vizinhança afeta o desempenho competitivo da região, constatando-se que o efeito da boa vizinhança em estimular o aumento da eficiência é maior do que o efeito da má vizinhança em retraí-la. Além disso, concluiu-se que as economias espaciais influenciam a eficiência produtiva regional. Em geral, as economias de aglomeração têm influência positiva sobre a eficiência, enquanto que, em relação às economias de urbanização, encontramos a predominância dos efeitos de congestionamento. As economias de localização apresentaram um efeito forte e positivo sobre a eficiência das atividades industriais das mesorregiões, indicando que regiões mais especializadas mostraram-se mais eficientes. / This thesis investigates the productive efficiency of the industrial sectors in Brazilian regions. It uses a panel data set from Pesquisa Industrial Anual of IBGE during 2000 to 2006, disaggregated by mesoregions, industrial manufacturing sectors and by technological intensity sectors. It estimates stochastic frontiers of production to obtain regional and sectorial productive efficiency indicators. These efficiency indicators are analyzed based on the spatial economy literature and on Spatial Markov Chains, which investigate the effect of good and bad neighborhoods. The results indicate that the most efficient mesoregions tend to be located on the coast of Brazil, but, as we deal with more basic sectors of the economy, there is a larger dispersion of high efficiency on Brazilian space. Furthermore, we realize, as the time passes, an increasing motion of high efficiency levels to mesoregions of the Center-West. Considering the sectorial efficiency, we observed that, in general, the less technological intensive sectors are less efficient: we verify that the High Technological Intensity sector is 11% more efficient than the Low Intensity sector. The results from analyzing the influence of the spatial economies on the productive efficiency indicate that the neighborhood affects the competitive performance of the region; verifying that the effect of a good neighborhood in stimulating the enhance of the efficiency is higher than the effect of the bad neighborhood on contracting it. We also concluded that the spatial economies influence the regional productive efficiency. In general, the agglomeration economies have positive influence on efficiency, but considering the urbanization economies, the congestion effect predominates. The localization economies present a strong and positive effect on the efficiency of industrial activities of the mesoregions, indicating that more specialized regions are seen as more efficient.

Wong, Pang Hing. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-114). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / ABSTRACT / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT / TABLE OF CONTENTS / LIST OF FIGURES / LIST OF TABLES / LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS / Chapter CHAPTER ONE --- INTRODUCTION / Chapter 1.1 --- Background --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Research Justification --- p.1 / Chapter 1.3 --- Research Objectives --- p.3 / Chapter 1.4 --- Research Significance --- p.4 / Chapter 1.5 --- Outline of Thesis --- p.4 / Chapter CHAPTER TWO --- REGIONAL COOPERATION AND PORT DEVELOPMENT IN THE GPRD / Chapter 2.1 --- Regional Cooperation in the GPRD --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Overview --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Different Actors on Regional Cooperation in the GPRD --- p.7 / Chapter 2.2 --- Port Development under Regional Cooperation --- p.12 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Global Trend of Port Development --- p.12 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Forces Affecting Port Competition and Cooperation --- p.13 / Chapter 2.3 --- Regional Development and Hong Kong Port --- p.14 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- Role of Hong Kong's Port --- p.14 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Relationship with Other Ports in the GPRD --- p.16 / Chapter 2.3.3 --- Future Strategy of Hong Kong's Port --- p.17 / Chapter 2.4 --- Discussion --- p.19 / Chapter 2.5 --- Summary --- p.20 / Chapter CHAPTER THREE --- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY / Chapter 3.1 --- Research Objectives --- p.21 / Chapter 3.2 --- Research Methodology --- p.22 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Integrated Approach --- p.22 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- SWOT Analysis --- p.24 / Chapter 3.3 --- Conceptual Framework --- p.26 / Chapter 3.4 --- Research Design --- p.29 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Case Study --- p.29 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Data Collection --- p.30 / Chapter 3.4.3 --- Semi-structured In-depth Interview --- p.31 / Chapter 3.5 --- Summary --- p.31 / Chapter CHAPTER FOUR --- PORT DEVELOPMENT IN PEARL RIVER DELTA: HONG KONG PORT AND SHENZHEN PORT / Chapter 4.1 --- An Overview of Greater Pearl River Delta --- p.32 / Chapter 4.1.1 --- An Overview of the Development of the Container Ports in the GPRD Region --- p.32 / Chapter 4.1.2 --- Functions and Positioning of Ports in the GPRD --- p.34 / Chapter 4.2 --- Hong Kong Port and Shenzhen Ports --- p.40 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Development of Hong Kong Port --- p.40 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Development of Shenzhen Ports --- p.45 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- Changing Position of Hong Kong Port with the Impact of Shenzhen Ports --- p.49 / Chapter 4.4 --- Summary --- p.52 / Chapter CHAPTER FIVE --- CURRENT SITUATION OF HONG KONG PORT / Chapter 5.1 --- SWOT Analysis of the Hong Kong Port --- p.53 / Chapter 5.1.1 --- Strengths --- p.53 / Chapter 5.1.2 --- Weaknesses --- p.61 / Chapter 5.1.3 --- Opportunities --- p.63 / Chapter 5.1.4 --- Threats --- p.70 / Chapter 5.2 --- Comparative Advantages of the Shenzhen Ports --- p.77 / Chapter 5.3 --- Summary --- p.75 / Chapter CHAPTER SIX --- COOPERATION BETWEEN HONG KONG PORT AND SHENZHEN PORTS / Chapter 6.1 --- The Relationship between Hong Kong Port and Shenzhen Ports --- p.76 / Chapter 6.1.1 --- Competition --- p.77 / Chapter 6.1.2 --- Cooperation --- p.78 / Chapter 6.1.3 --- Partnership between Hong Kong Port and Shenzhen Ports- --- p.79 / Chapter 6.1.4 --- Limitation on the Current Cooperation --- p.82 / Chapter 6.2 --- Potential of Further Cooperation between Hong Kong Port and Shenzhen Ports --- p.83 / Chapter 6.2.1 --- Market Changes: Shifting of Industries from Eastern PRD to Western PRD --- p.84 / Chapter 6.2.2 --- Complementary of the Other's Weaknesses --- p.86 / Chapter 6.2.3 --- Environmental Conservation --- p.88 / Chapter 6.2.4 --- Over-competition: Duplicated Infrastructure --- p.89 / Chapter 6.3 --- Obstacles on Further Cooperation --- p.91 / Chapter 6.3.1 --- Different Expectation between Provincial Government and Local Governments --- p.91 / Chapter 6.3.2 --- Different Expectation between Government and the Port Industry --- p.92 / Chapter 6.3.3 --- Market Force --- p.93 / Chapter 6.3.4 --- Extent of Government Involvement --- p.95 / Chapter 6.3.5 --- Different Background between Two Cities --- p.96 / Chapter 6.4 --- Summary --- p.97 / Chapter CHAPTER SEVEN --- CONCLUSION / Chapter 7.1 --- Introduction --- p.98 / Chapter 7.2 --- Major Findings --- p.99 / Chapter 7.2.1 --- The Strength and Weakness of Hong Kong Port --- p.99 / Chapter 7.2.2 --- The Changing Status of Hong Kong Port in Facing the Competition from Shenzhen Ports --- p.101 / Chapter 7.2.3 --- Possible Directions of Strengthening Regional Cooperation --- p.103 / Chapter 7.3 --- Further Research --- p.105 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.106 / APPENDIXES / Chapter Appendix One --- Questions to Interviewees (in English) --- p.115 / Chapter Appendix Two --- List of Interviewees --- p.117

It is the purpose of this study to examine the early state-chartered banks of Kentucky: their creation, career and dissolution. To do this it will be necessary to survey the period of Kentucky history from 1802, when the Kentucky Insurance Company was awarded its charter by the Legislature and granted banking powers, to about 1830, when all previously chartered state banks had become non-existent or were in the process of liquidation. Throughout this period it will be necessary to notice the major political trends, events and problems. These, however, will be of secondary importance, and attention primarily will be centered upon the economic factors involved in the early history of the state, which profoundly influenced the successes and failures of early banking institutions.

The increase of city expenditures was noticeable for the past two decades. During the depression there arose a greater demand on the part of both tax payers and city officials for some information concerning the costs of city government, what was responsible for the increase, for what municipal funds were expended, and where the cost of city government was headed. The question of how expenditures in certain departments compared with those of other departments was also a pertinent one. Education suffered an enormous reduction as compared to what had been spent from 1928 to 1932. There was a wide-spread belief that education has suffered the brunt of the retrenchment program. There is a cry that expenditures for education has been sacrificed for other functions of government. This study is an attempt to show how expenditures for each department compared with those of other departments, how the city tax dollar was distributed and how the trends of city expenditures compared with other economic trends.

The objective of this dissertation is to analyze the economic impact of newly operational ethanol biorefineries on rural counties in the U.S. Midwest region for the period 2001 to 2015 using a quasi-experimental approach. Rapid growth in the ethanol industry expanded the number of ethanol plants located in the U.S. Midwest from 54 in 2001 to 173 in 2015. Out of the counties with 119 new ethanol biorefineries, 97 counties met the general treatment criteria defined in this dissertation, but only 56 of those counties qualified for the rural treatment criteria. Counties with ethanol biorefineries that qualified for treatment were organized into a treated group based on county level data. Six counterfactual control groups (or control counties without ethanol biorefineries) were contemporaneously matched to the treated counties based on the Mahalanobis distance metric evaluated on a set of 29 selection variables. Matching occurred on two levels. In the first level, matching was performed both for the in-state level and over the entire Midwest region. In the second level, three criteria were used to select the final control groups: Mahalanobis distance metric best match, population best match, and rural-urban continuum codes (RUCC) best match. Economic impact is evaluated based on the growth rate in real per capita earnings for the treated group over a period from one to five years after treatment relative to the control group. A difference-in-differences (DID) model is used to assess the significance of results where the dependent variable is the natural log of real per capita earnings and a set of control variables is used to capture state fixed effects, time fixed effects and spillover effects. Empirical results evaluated against a representative Midwest control group and over six regression models adjusting for various fixed effects produced, on average, one-sided significant results for average treatment on the treated (ATOT) with a (min, max) range of growth rates as (5.53%-7.63%), (10.0%-12.0%), (14.7%-19.6%), (14.5%-18.3%), and (13.3%-18.9%) from one to five years after treatment, respectively. The minimum value of these estimates can be represented as an uncorrected average annual growth rate as 2.75%, 3.33%, 3.68%, 2.90%, and 2.22% over the respective period from one to five years after treatment. Employment levels for the treated group increased on average by 211 at the county level five years after treatment. A comparative Midwest control group lost, on average, 169 jobs over the five year period after treatment. A treated county employment multiplier calculated using the direct, indirect and induced employment impacts varied from 1.46 during the year of treatment to 7.6 five years after treatment relative to the control group. Five years after treatment, the treated group employment rate gradually increased, on average, by 2.2% which was better than either of the two counterfactual control groups used in this comparison. Overall, the analysis presented in this dissertation does show statistically significant positive economic impacts, on average, for rural U.S. Midwest counties with newly operational ethanol biorefineries relative to control counties without an ethanol biorefinery. These results demonstrate that the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) contributed to positive rural economic development impacts in treated counties with the possibility of spillover effects positively affecting contiguous counties.

This dissertation combines large scale datasets to evaluate crop prediction, land values, and consumption of a crop being considered to advance a sustainable bioeconomy. In chapter 2, we propose a novel application of the multinomial logit (MNL) model to estimate the conditional transition probabilities of crop choice for the state of Kentucky. Utilizing the recovered transition probabilities the forecast distributions of total acreages for alfalfa, corn, soybeans, tobacco, and wheat produced in the state from 2010 to 2015 can be recovered. The Cropland Data Layer is merged with the Common Land Unit dataset to allow for the identification of crop choice at the field level. Our findings show there are higher probabilities of planting soybeans or wheat after corn relative to corn after corn, tobacco, or alfalfa. In addition, the transition probability of the crop rotation demonstrates that corn will be planted after soybean, and vice versa and that alfalfa has a lower probability of being rotated with other crops from year to year. These findings are expected with traditional crop rotation in the U.S., and a characteristic of a perennial crop, especially for alfalfa. Finally, forecasting results indicate that there are significantly wider distributions in corn and soybean, whereas there is a little variation in the tobacco, wheat and alfalfa acres in the simulation. In chapter 3, we identify critical consumer-demographic characteristics that are associated with the consumption of products containing hemp and investigate their effect on total expenditure in the U.S. To estimate the likelihood of market participation and consumption level, the Heckman selection model, is employed using the maximum likelihood estimation procedure utilizing Nielsen consumer panel data from 2008 to 2015. Results indicate marketing strategies targeting consumers with higher education and income levels can attract new customers and increase sales from current consumers for this burgeoning market. Head-of-household age in different regions shows mixed effects on decisions to purchase hemp products and consumption levels. Findings will provide a basic understanding of a consumer profile and overall hemp market that has had double-digit growth over the last six years. As the industry continues to move forward, policymakers are going to need a deeper understanding of the factors driving the industry if they are going to create regulations that support the development of the industry. In chapter 4, we investigate the factors that affect agricultural land values by proposing a new rich dataset, Zillow Transaction and Assessment Data (ZTRAX) provided by Zillow from 2009 to 2014. we also examine whether National Commodity Crop Productivity Index (NCCPI) could be a good indicator of land values or not by comparing two different regression models between county-level cash rent and parcel-level NCCPI. Finally, this study incorporates flexible functional forms of the parcel size to test the parcel size and land values relations. Findings show that factors influencing agricultural land values in states with heterogeneous agricultural lands such as Kentucky are not different from other states with relatively homogeneous agricultural lands. This study also provides suggestive evidence that there is a non-linear relationship between parcel size and land values. Furthermore, we find that a disaggregated NCCPI at parcel-level could be considered an acceptable indicator to estimate agricultural values compared to an aggregated cash rent at county-level.

This thesis develops a new structure that explicitly combines two CGE models, a national and a regional, in an integrated structure that gives the thesis model the name IRES, in short for the Integrated Regional Equation System. The typical features of the integrated structure are the adding-up conditions and the two-way linkages between the national and the regional modules facilitated by the interface shifters. The adding-up conditions ensure the two modules produce consistent results and updated databases. The inclusion of the interface shifters on the one hand plays a role in ensuring compatibility of results of the two modules, i.e. no distortion occurs because technical or taste changes are transferred across modules. On the other hand, the interface shifters assist the operation of IRES in different modes: the model can be used as a top-down model, a bottom-up model or an integrated model where national and regional shocks can be introduced at the same time. Hence, IRES has more flexibility in its application than a regional model or a national model alone, as IRES can make use of availability of data at any levels in the economy. IRES has a new labour market in which regional migration is no longer the only factor that settles the labour market as in the original setting of the MMRF model. Regional unemployment and regional participation rates are modelled to response to changes in regional employment growth using elasticities estimated econometrically in this thesis. IRES implements historical patterns of regional migration so that results of regional migration are consistent with observed patterns. Altogether, regional migration, regional unemployment and participation rates determine the equilibrium of the labour market. IRES adopts new approaches to modelling margin demands and indirect taxes. These new approaches are very effective in reducing the size of IRES but they do not compromise the use of the model. These approaches are readily applicable to any other regional CGE models.

This thesis concerns both static and dynamic modeling in a spatial computable general equilibrium setting. First, we have applied a static framework for the assessment of economic impacts of the Öresund bridge. Secondly, we make an attempt to enhance the static framework through the introduction of economic dynamics. Third, we introduce the STRAGO model, incorporating monopolistic competition, dynamics and additive transport costs. STRAGO is applied to the analysis of effects from a kilometer tax on freight. The last paper presents a framework for studying the division, or fragmentation of production. This framework uses the standard theory of monopolistic competition, with a production chain extension, through a recursive view of markets. The optimal level of fragmentation in such industries is studied. / QC 20100811

Though successively decreasing over time, gender wage gaps are still large in all western countries. When gender wage gaps exist, there is an unequal distribution of economic power between men and women. This paper examines variables that significantly relate to the differences in the size of the gender wage gap across Swedish municipalities. With data gathered from Statistics Sweden and the Swedish Social Insurance Agency for the year 2011, a series of OLS regressions are performed. By examining what variables are statistically related to variations in the gender wage gap over municipalities, for example, average wage, human capital, gender segregation and work absence, the aim is to further contribute to the field of gender economics. The results in this paper show that the gender wage gap exists in all 290 Swedish municipalities. It varies greatly with women earning only 56 percent of men’s wages in Danderyd to women earning 87 percent of men’s wages in Haparanda. In municipalities where average wages are high the gender wage gap is large. Long-term illness and lowered capacity to work are strong factors negatively affecting the gender wage gap. In municipalities where women are more affected by long-term illness and lowered capacity to work than men the gender wage gap is larger. Furthermore, there is a significant relation between the gender wage gap and human capital. The gender wage gap is larger in municipalities where a large share of the population has a higher education.