Sandy Dall'erba

The European Regional Growth Process Revisited

Abstract With the 2004 enlargement to the East, the EU regional growth process can no longer be seen in the frame of the traditional core–periphery pattern. This is why this article proposes an innovative methodology to endogenously detect convergence clubs while accounting for spatial autocorrelation across regions. Our model is estimated on 244 EU25 regions over 1991–2003. Our results indicate that four distinctive clubs are present in our sample. In addition, the model we use does not rely on the traditional neoclassical model but on Verdoorns law, which allows us to account for the presence of increasing returns to scale. Our conclusions give new insights for policy makers interested in convergence and regional policies developed to promote it.

Meta-analysis of the impact of European Union Structural Funds on regional growth

ABSTRACT Meta-analysis of the impact of European Union Structural Funds on regional growth. Regional Studies. This paper offers a meta-regression analysis of the controversial impact of European Union Structural Funds on the growth of the recipient regions. It identifies the factors that explain the heterogeneity in the size of 323 estimates of their impact recorded in 17 econometric studies. Heterogeneity comes from the publication status, the period examined, the control of endogeneity and the presence of several regressors, but not from differences in functional forms.

The Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture in the Southwestern United States: The Ricardian Approach Revisited

Abstract This paper estimates a Ricardian model of farmland value across the counties of the semiarid Southwestern United States. Compared to previous contributions, we focus on one climate zone and include the presence of extreme weather events and of farm subsidies in our analysis. We also control for heterogeneity and for various types of spillover effects. Once calibrated, the model is used to project changes due to future climate conditions. We find that the probability of a decrease is great in highland counties while an increase or decrease is equally probable in lowland counties where climate impacts farmland value less.

Comparing the Economic Impact of Natural Disasters Generated by Different Input-Output Models: An Application to the 2007 Chehalis River Flood (WA)

Due to the concentration of assets in disaster-prone zones, changes in risk landscape and in the intensity of natural events, property losses have increased considerably in recent decades. While measuring these stock damages is common practice in the literature, the assessment of economic ripple effects due to business interruption is still limited and available estimates tend to vary significantly across models. This article focuses on the most popular single-region input-output models for disaster impact evaluation. It starts with the traditional Leontief model and then compares its assumptions and results with more complex methodologies (rebalancing algorithms, the sequential interindustry model, the dynamic inoperability input-output model, and its inventory counterpart). While the estimated losses vary across models, all the figures are based on the same event, the 2007 Chehalis River flood that impacted three rural counties in Washington State. Given that the large majority of floods take place in rural areas, this article gives the practitioner a thorough review of how future events can be assessed and guidance on model selection.