Gunther Maier

The Use and Valuation of Journals in Planning Scholarship: Peer Assessment versus Impact Factors

A Web-based survey of faculty at all ACSP schools is used to assess the value peers place on various journals. The results of the survey show that two journals—the Journal of the American Planning Association and the Journal of Planning Education and Research—dominate all others in importance. The authors analyze the survey data to identify how the relative valuation of journals differs by individual faculty or institutional characteristics. The authors then test whether the journals’ importance by peer judgment is related to journal impact factors. The results demonstrate clearly there is no correlation between the two.

Impact factors and peer judgment: The case of regional science journals

SummaryThis paper discusses the relationship between Journal Impact Factors and the scientific communitys judgment of the quality of journals in regional science, a discipline closely related to economics and geography. The paper compares the results of a survey inquiring the quality of journals in the discipline with the impact factors of these journals for a total of five years. The comparison shows that no significant positive correlation between the impact factors and the peer judgments can be found. In many cases the correlation turns out to be negative - in some cases even significantly.

The economics of traffic accidents on Austrian roads: Risk lovers or policy deficit?

Comparison of the number of fatalities per million vehicle kilometers for various countries reveals remarkable differences in road safety (see U. N., 1987). For Austria this indicator (0.036) is about 1.5 times the respective figure in West Germany (0.023), 1.9 times that in the U. K. (0.019), and 2.3 times that in the U. S. (0.016). In relative terms, then, the death toll on Austrian roads is more than double that in the U. S.

Modelling preferences and stability among transport alternatives

Abstract This research builds upon results of other studies aimed at understanding the context and shipment choices open to logistics managers. It further differentiates among such managers by characteristics of the production region and industrial cluster membership of their firms, which are positioned near or along one of the EUs primary accession borders where large increases in trade are expected. The article examines both the contingent valuation of transport choices and the stability of such choices. Earlier research applications are shown to be deficient on several points, such that the improved modelling procedures and novel possibilities of controlling for industrial or regional characteristics of firms are shown to provide better results. Finally, substantive findings offer both theoretical and policy perspectives.

Modeling search processes in space

The paper extends the well-known economic search model to take into account the fact that all search takes place in two-dimensional space. This adds arouting problem to thestopping problem usually discussed in the search literature. The paper shows that these two problems are interdependent and can only be solved simultaneously. This relates thespatial search problem as it is discussed in this paper toNP-Complete problems like the traveling salesman problem, some of the most complex problems in mathematics. The paper discusses this relationship and closes with some suggestions about how to circumvent this complexity.

History, Spatial Structure, and Regional Growth: Lessons for Policy Making

In recent years, we have seen some fundamental developments in economic theory concerning the understanding of economic growth. The traditional growth theory, which is based on the famous Solow-model (Solow, 1956), was replaced by a set of models and arguments that are commonly known as “new growth theory”. These developments are fundamental in the sense that they demonstrate that some of the basic assumptions of the traditional growth theory — and most of neo-classical economic theory in general — are inconsistent with basic phenomena of the modern economy, and that they attempt to overcome these assumptions.

ICT and Regional Economic Dynamics : A Literature Review

The objective of this report is to review the relevant theoretical and empirical literature to provide a conceptual and methodological background for the analysis of the consequences of ICT use and globalisation on the regional economies in the European Union. We highlight the key aspects of ICT as a general purpose technology, discuss the economic impacts of ICT diffusion from macro and micro perspectives, and examine the spatial consequences of ICT diffusion. We focus on regional innovation systems and globalisation in order to propose an organizing framework for the analysis of the impact of ICT diffusion on regional development.

Regional identity: a key to overcome structural weaknesses in peripheral rural regions?

Regional identity: a key to overcome structural weaknesses in peripheral rural regions? Depopulation is a well-known phenomenon in peripheral rural regions. The most identified problems are based on structural weaknesses in terms of decreasing business activities and a lack of public infrastructure. In such regions population is mainly older causing major changes in social infrastructure. For instance many schools and kindergartens close down for lack of demand, which hinders young families to migrate to such regions. The result is typically a negative cumulative process of loss of population, loss of jobs, loss of infrastructure, further outmigration. It is an enormous challenge for such regions to overcome this vicious circle. Regional identity can be seen as an important factor to overcome such structural weaknesses. The paper will discuss the concept of regional identity in order to define the term and how it is embedded in regional development theory. The empirical analysis is presenting results focusing on regional identity coming out of a qualitative data analysis and a postal survey. We designed a regional identity index, which measures the intensity of personal and social relationships of both in-migrants and out-migrants. Periphere ländliche Regionen sind vielfach durch eine stetige Abwanderung gekennzeichnet. Die häufigste Ursache wird in der wirtschaftlichen Strukturschwäche geortet, die vor allem die Funktion Arbeiten in erheblichem Ausmaß gefährdet. Die bedeutendsten Folgeprobleme der Abwanderung sind aus demographischer Sicht die Überalterung und aus versorgungstechnischer Sicht die Ausdünnung der Infrastruktur, insbesondere der sozialen Infrastruktur. Es entsteht ein negativer zirkulär-kumulativer Prozess, der zu weiteren Verlusten an Bevölkerung, Arbeitsplätzen, Versorgungseinrichtungen, Infrastruktur usw. führt und die Handlungsfähigkeit der Region maßgeblich einschränkt. Daher stellt das Durchbrechen dieses Teufelskreises eine der wichtigsten Herausforderungen für viele periphere ländliche Regionen dar. Die Rolle der regionale Identität zur Lösung derartiger struktureller Probleme ist noch zunehmend unterbelichtet. Der vorliegende Beitrag fokussiert auf das Konzept der regionalen Identität, wobei die Frage der Definition des Begriffes und dessen Einbettung in die Regionalwissenschaften näher beleuchtet wird. Die empirische Analyse präsentiert identitätsbezogene Ergebnisse einer umfangreicheren Studie im Rahmen derer eine Fragebogenerhebung, Tiefeninterviews und eine Makrodatenanalyse durchgeführt wurden. Für diesen Artikel haben wir einen Index der regionalen Identität entwickelt, der die Intensität der persönlichen und sozialen Beziehungen von Zu- und Abwanderern misst.

Cross-Border Development in the Vienna/Bratislava Region: A Review

The economic and political changes in central and eastern Europe underway since the late 1980s have fundamentally changed the European landscape and the framework for economic activity in major parts of the continent. At a time when the European Union was moving towards a higher level of integration and aiming for a free flow of labour, investment, and goods, the opening of the former Eastern Bloc provided new and additional opportunities whilst posing new challenges.

Star scientists as drivers of the development of regions

This chapter investigates the location pattern (at the NUTS 2 level) of European-based star scientists (identified by the number of citations they generated in journals in the ISI database) as well as the degree and intensity of knowledge sharing activities performed by the scientific elite in their regions of choice. Using a unique dataset of 197 star scientists, we demonstrate that Europe’s world-class researchers are strongly concentrated in a few major places and tend to embed themselves in these regions by creating multiple knowledge linkages to actors from the academic, industrial and policy world. Our empirical research clearly suggests that star scientists located in Europe are far from being isolated inhabitants of the ivory tower. By adopting various mechanisms of knowledge transfer and promoting a circulation of advanced expertise, star scientists have the potential to drive the development of Europe’s regions.