Víctor Martín

Do Differences in the Exposure to Chinese Imports Lead to Differences in Local Labour Market Outcomes? An Analysis for Spanish Provinces

Donoso V., Martín V. and Minondo A. Do differences in the exposure to Chinese imports lead to differences in local labour market outcomes? An analysis for Spanish provinces, Regional Studies. In the period 1999–2007 Spanish imports from China multiplied six times, making that Asian country the fourth largest supplier to the Spanish economy. This paper analyses whether this massive increase in imports impacted on the labour markets of Spanish provinces to differing degrees, due to differences in their initial productive specialization. The results show that Spanish provinces with a higher exposure to Chinese imports experienced larger drops in manufacturing employment as a share of the working-age population. However, this reduction was compensated for by increases in non-manufacturing employment.

Current account sustainability in Latin America

This paper examines the sustainability of the current account deficit in eighteen Latin American countries through the analysis of the stationarity properties of the current account balance. First, we apply traditional unit root tests and consider the possibility of structural breaks. Second, since the current account may have a nonlinear behaviour, we test for linearity in the data and analyse current account stationarity by means of a recently developed nonlinear unit root test. Results from linear and nonlinear unit root tests show that current account sustainability is supported for the majority of Latin American countries with the exception of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Paraguay. For the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela the current account dynamics are best described by a stationary linear model, and by a stationary linear model with a mean shift in years 2003, 1982 and 1980 in Bolivia, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, respectively. In the case of Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador and Guatemala, results show that the current account is best described by a mean-reverting nonlinear process.

Regional house price convergence in Spain during the housing boom

The aim of this paper is to identify convergence clubs in house prices among Spanish regions over the period 1995:Q1 to 2007:Q4 and to investigate which factors are responsible for club formation. Employing a novel regression-based convergence test proposed by Phillips and Sul (2007) we find that regional house prices do not converge to a common trend, which confirms the existence of some degree of segmentation in the Spanish housing market. The research results support the existence of convergence clubs, indicating that Spanish regions form four separate groups that converge to different house price levels. Results of an ordered logit model suggest that differences in population growth, size of the rental market, initial house supply and geographical situation have played a crucial role in determining club membership.

THE CONVERGENCE IN PRODUCT-LEVEL RELATIVE PRODUCTIVITY ACROSS PROVINCES: The Convergence in Product-Level Relative Productivity Across Provinces

This paper uses highly disaggregated data to analyze the convergence process in product‐level relative productivity across Spanish provinces. Over the period 1988‐2013 there is a 53 per cent reduction in product‐level relative productivity differences across provinces. The speed of convergence in product‐level productivity is faster than in income per capita. Provinces that are geographically close, have strong ties and share similar factor endowments become more similar in product‐level relative productivities.

Club convergence in Latin America

Abstract This paper assesses the convergence in per capita income of a group of 18 Latin American countries over the period 1950–2008. We employ a novel regression based convergence test proposed by (Phillips, P. C. B., and D. Sul. 2007. “Transition Modeling and Econometric Convergence Tests.” Econometrica 75: 1771–1855). Contrary to most previous studies, our approach allows us to examine for evidence of club convergence and enables to endogenously identify groups of countries that convergence to different equilibria. Our results support the existence of convergence clubs, indicating that Latin American countries form three separate groups within which income per capita dispersion is decreasing over time. Moreover, results from an ordered logit model suggest that differences in institutions quality among Latin America countries have played a crucial role in determining club membership.