Andrés Artal-Tur

Proximity, trade and ethnic networks of migrants: case study for France and Egypt

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to study how proximity affects the trade-migration link. By focusing on two case studies, France and Egypt, the authors explore if migrants promote and help to deal with market heterogeneity in international markets. Using an ethnic network approach the authors also test for interactions between the characteristics of migrants and proximity issues. Design/methodology/approach - – The paper builds on two case studies to illustrate the main working hypotheses. The main framework is that of ethnic networks, proximity ties, and market heterogeneity. Static and dynamic panel data methods are employed when estimating extended gravity trade equations. The authors account for country-pair fixed effects and instrument by lagged stocks of migrants, in order to deal with bilateral commonalities and endogeneity issues in the estimation procedure. Findings - – The paper provides evidence on how proximity enhances trade. Additional trade effects are found for countries sharing closer ties. Networks of migrants appear to help firms to deal with fixed trade costs, also generating some market heterogeneity that at the end influences the trade-migration linkage. Characteristics of migrants also seem to matter, interacting with proximity issues, and resulting in specific trade effects. Practical implications - – Proximity issues seem to matter in the trade creation effects of networks of migrants. In this way integration processes between countries would be showing some positive externalities in the side of trade flows. Characteristics of emigrants should be taken into account when defining migratory policies, mainly for the education and assimilation issues. Originality/value - – The paper get deeper insights in some emerging issues in the trade-migration literature by focusing in two relevant case studies.

The Socio-Economic Impact of Migration Flows

Though globalisation of the world economy is currently a powerful force, people’s international mobility appears to still be very limited. The goal of this book is to improve our knowledge of the true effects of migration flows. It includes contributions by prominent academic researchers analysing the socio-economic impact of migration in a variety of contexts: interconnection of people and trade flows, causes and consequences of capital remittances, understanding the macroeconomic impact of migration and the labour market effects of people’s flows. The latest analytical methodologies are employed in all chapters, while interesting policy guidelines emerge from the investigations.

The Determinants of Migrants’ Remittance Inflows in the MENA Region: A Macroeconomic Approach

Macroeconomic studies on the determinants of remittance flows have traditionally reviewed the role that economic conditions of host and home countries of migrants play in this process. New contributions have enlarged that setting by dealing with socio-political (demographics, institutions) and individual (education) dimensions influencing migrants’ behaviour when they remit money back home. In this investigation, we test for the role of all these variables in a general framework when analysing the case of the MENA (Middle East and North of Africa) region. Results indicate that the state of the business cycle, the characteristics of households (fertility, income per capita), and those of the migrants themselves (mainly education endowments) are the leading factors influencing the volume of such capital entrances. Institutional factors appear to play a secondary, although significant, role. The empirical results suggest altruism, insurance, and investment as the key motives driving remitters’ behaviour in the case of the MENA region.

Can Personal Values Modulate the Perception of Tourism Impacts by Local Population?: Testing for the Role of Product Identity in a Mining Tourism Destination

Tourism industry presents a remarkable development, with more than 1185 million international travels in 2016. This situation poses enormous pressure on world tourism destinations. The impact of tourist activities is increasingly perceived as a negative question by local residents, affecting their quality of life. In this context, the present chapter investigates how linkages between personal values and tourism development can modulate the perception of tourism impacts by local residents. Social and physical attributes of a given place help to conform the sense of being of the local population. This sense is known as place identity in literature. Mining heritage destinations deeply root on that sense while developing their tourism activities. In the analysis of the mining heritage destination of La Union in Spain, we employ structural equations modelling in testing for this main research hypothesis. Results of the investigation show that place/product identity helps to modulate the perceptions of tourism impacts by residents. Main effects are found to arise on attitudes toward socio-cultural impacts, where identity issues seem to exert the highest influence, increasing the quality of life standards of local population. In this regard, research findings recommend building on local identity issues to increase the level of sustainability of tourism destinations.

The relationship between cultural tourist behaviour and destination sustainability

ABSTRACT Tourism based on cultural issues is growing fast in recent years. This type of tourism promotes the diversification of demand and supply at destinations, while keeping and valuing the local culture. Improving our knowledge on cultural tourism could help to foster the sustainability of destinations. Despite efforts devoted to define the “cultural tourist”, still little is known about her/his particular behaviour. The objective of this paper is twofold. First, identifying the profile of cultural tourists versus visitors not pursuing any cultural activity. Second, and building on econometric modelling, comparing the behaviour of these two groups in terms of factors influencing expenditure and trip satisfaction. All these findings are putted in context regarding the literature on tourism sustainability.

Culture and cultures in tourism

ABSTRACT In this special issue of Anatolia, we explore a number of new trends and products related to cultural tourism, searching for a deeper understanding of how culture is becoming a central factor of attraction in tourism. Contributed papers deal with a number of on-going trends in cultural tourism, including the importance of heritage valuing for sustainability of destinations, the raising wave of religious travels in Arab countries recently opening to tourism, or the analysis of interactions between cultural visitors and local residents.

Estimating the impact of cruise tourism through regional input–output tables

ABSTRACT In this paper we estimate the economic impact of cruise tourism with an application to the Port of Cartagena, Spain. As a novelty, we build on a newly available regional input–output (IO) framework. This allows us to compute the indirect and induced effects of cruise ship visits, which adds to the direct effects obtained from survey data. Results identify the total impact in terms of employment, wages, gross operating surplus and value added. Methodologically, the use of regional IO tables improves the accuracy of previous methodologies building on country IO Tables. Results of the investigation provide important policy recommendations to the public and private stakeholders in order to manage this rising activity.

How much does urban location matter for growth

ABSTRACT This paper analyses the effect of location characteristics on urban growth using regression cubic splines. Our empirical analysis shows that in Spain, differences in accessibility to major urban centres and geographic isolation help explain differences in population growth rates across municipalities between 2001 and 2014. Moreover, even though physical proximity to large cities is usually assumed to be closely related to the attractiveness of a municipality, we found that urban population growth is even more related to the joint effect of distance to major centres and agglomeration. In this respect, there seems to be a threshold from which agglomeration diseconomies come into play such that a greater proximity to major cities and/or being localized within a more densely populated area goes against local growth.

Immigrants’ Networks, Distance, and Trade Creation Effects: An Study Employing Province-Level Data for Italy, Spain and Portugal

Neoclassical trade theory assumed international flows of goods (commodities) to be substituting for people (factor) flows under certain circumstances. However, recent empirical evidence shows a complementary relationship between these two types of flows, with migration creating new trade exchanges. Immigrants tend to form networks across borders, reducing fixed trade costs. They also retain some preference for their home-produced goods. These two channels provide the rationale of the immigration trade-enhancing linkage. In this study we investigate that issue for the cases of Italy, Spain and Portugal, employing province-level data for the period 2002–2010. Results show that the first channel (network channel) is the most important in this case. In addition, we observe that the larger the distance between trade partners (in terms of geography, culture, income per capita, or institutions), the bigger the trade creation effect found. All these findings are relevant for prescriptions in terms of EU Common Policies of Migration and Trade.