Javier Romaní

How Important to a City Are Tourists and Daytrippers? The Economic Impact of Tourism on The City of Barcelona

The authors devise a multidimensional methodology that quantifies the impact of tourism on urban economies. Tourism is a ‘cross-sectional’ activity that affects many sectors, both directly and indirectly. Therefore, it is important to consider the impact of urban tourism on sectors traditionally defined as ‘tourism-related’, but also its impact on other sectors through its inter-sectoral relationships. The authors calculate the percentage of the turnover of each sector that is attributable to the tourism industry. They also establish the geographical distribution of this impact: how is the effect shared between the city and its neighbouring areas? Finally, they stress that the effect of urban tourism should be quantified not only in terms of turnover, but also in terms of its contribution to GDP and employment.

Determinants of Individual Commuting in Catalonia, 1986-91: Theory and Empirical Evidence

Commuting exists because an important fraction of workers in developed countries do not live close to their workplaces, but at long distances from them, so that they must travel to their jobs and then back home daily. This paper studies commuting in Catalonia (a Spanish region) for the 1986-91 period. We introduce the main facts of commuting in Catalonia by a descriptive analysis using several statistical methods, first on its sectoral side (de-composing the Catalonian economy into 24 sectors), then on its territorial side (dividing Catalonia in 16 homogeneous territorial units called regions) and an analysis of the professional categories. Then, we comment briefly on the theory of residential location, which provides us with the theoretical framework needed for the study of commuting. The last part of the paper consists of an estimation of commuting using a logit model with individual data from the 1991 Spanish Population Census, in order to select the most relevant variables and estimate their effect on commuting.

The Business Excellence Attraction Composite Index (BEACI) in small areas. Design and application to the municipalities of the Barcelona province

The location of economic activity, in general, and the ones of business excellence (high-tech or knowledge-intensive businesses that have a low environmental impact), in particular, is not dependent on one single factor, but rather on a series of economic, geographical, social and political variables. The aim of this article is to design a composite index for assessing the capacity to attract this kind of economic activity for small areas. As a case study, we have calculated this index for 26 of the main municipalities in the province of Barcelona (Spain).

“Economic Impact of Cruise Activity: The Port of Barcelona”

ABSTRACT This article shows the methodology and the main figures of the local and regional economic impact generated by cruise activity. This article is pioneering in combining different issues: estimating the impact of the cruise port activity, presenting these impacts disaggregated at a sectoral level, using a rigorous methodology and carrying out extensive fieldwork. It is demonstrated that all sectors, not just traditional tourism-related sectors, benefit from cruise tourism. In order to test and apply our methodology we focus the analysis on the Port of Barcelona, which has become the leading cruise port in the Mediterranean area.

On the links between spatial variables and overeducation

ABSTRACT This article considers the role that diverse spatial variables play in explaining overeducation. Unlike previous analyses of the Spanish case, we have directly tested the links between current mobility (commuting and migration) and overeducation, and in contrast to previous literature, we have included a direct measure of potential spatial flexibility at an individual level (worker availability to migrate, in response to the needs of his/her firm). Regional labour market conditions are also considered in the analysis. Our results show that the links between overeducation and spatial variables vary depending on the specific sub-group of wage earners considered, based on gender and education.