Esteban Fernández Vázquez

University of Oviedo | UNIOVI · Department of Applied Economics

One of the most pressing socio-economic issues across EU countries has been the depopulation of a significant part of its territory. Less urbanized areas are perceived as non-attractive places to live and have been losing population steadily in the latest decades. For the case of Spain, this European-wise phenomenon has been exacerbated for several...

Accessibility improvement has been regarded as one of the main regional policy goals in the recent decades. As a result, many countries has undertaken complex transport infrastructure investment programmes worth billions of dollars. The best examples of such investment can be China or, in the European context, Spain and more recently Poland. There...

The study of market power has garnered interest from academia, policymakers, and industry in recent times since the publication of de Loecker et al. (2020). This paper introduced a novel methodology to estimate the markup, a proxy commonly used to denote market power. Using said methodology, they found that the markup has been increasing nearly con...

It implements two estimations related to the foundations of info metrics applied to ecological inference. These methodologies assess the lack of disaggregated data and provide an approach to obtaining disaggregated territorial-level data. For more details, see the following references: Fernández-Vázquez, E., Díaz-Dapena, A., Rubiera-Morollón, F. et...

Links between gender, poverty, and energy have been hinted at in many studies mainly focused on livelihood strategy and economic development of low income, showing that the consequences of energy poverty may vary between women and men mainly because women are more exposed to deal with energy-related activities. At the European Union, where more tha...

The study of market power in the primary food industry is of high interest to policymakers seeking to help develop poorer countries, due to its potential source to create market inefficiencies and hamper economic development. Recent papers have provided ample empirical evidence, that market power has been increasing nearly continuously since the 19...

The study of market power has gained a lot of attention by scholars and policy-makers since De Loecker and Eeckhout (Global market power. Working paper 24768, National Bureau of Economic Research, 2018). In their work, they show the temporal evolution of market power worldwide using detailed data from the financial statements of thousands of firms....

This paper tries to shed light in the research that relates mining activities and regional diversification by studying how a group of local economies heavily specialized in mining diversified its economy after the ending of public subsidies that supported coal extraction. The case of study are the mining municipalities located in the center of Astu...

A distância ao principal centro das cidades tem sido, desde o contributo teórico de Alonso, a característica que é recorrentemente utilizada para explicar o preço de dada habitação. Estudos mais recentes vieram demonstrar que com o surgimento de cidades multipolares, com redes de transportes complexas e uma organização territorial socialmente difer...

Mexico has experienced intense urbanization in recent decades. Although all the metropolitan areas of the country have grown, the size generated by the megalopolis of the Valle de México is especially relevant since it is able to generate more intense agglomeration economies than those of the rest of the urban concentrations. This heterogeneity in...

The distance to the closest Central Business District has been, since Alonso theoretical contribution , one of the main variables used to explain housing prices. Recent studies made in the context of modern polycentric cities, with complex transit systems and heterogeneous social realities , have underline that other factors can also contribute to...

Technical efficiency (TE) is a key topic in fishery economics due to its relevance in guiding fishing regulations and policy measures. In some territories, the presence of artisanal and small-scale fisheries (SSFs) is clearly decreasing but is still substantial, and regulators are concerned about their productivity and TE. A distinguishing feature...

In this paper we propose a methodology to obtain social indicators at a detailed spatial scale by combining the information contained in census and sample surveys. Similarly to previous proposals, the method proposed here estimates a model at the sample level to later project it to the census scale. The main novelties of the technique presented are...

This paper assesses the effects of the individual educational capital on their odds to belong to the formal or informal labour market in Argentina. Using recent microdata that studies more than 11,000 workers we estimate a probit model that relates the probability of belonging to the formal or informal labour market depending on his/her years of sc...

In the EU, territorial inequalities in terms of income and poverty have been broadly analysed at the national and regional levels. However, mainly due to the lack of reliable data, very little attention has been paid to territorial inequalities within European regions, i.e., at a more local level, such as in metropolitan areas, cities or neighbourh...

Statistical information for empirical analysis is frequently available at a higher level of aggregation than is desired. The spatial disaggregation of the socioeconomic data is considered complex due to the inherent spatial properties and relationships of the spatial data, namely, spatial dependence and spatial heterogeneity. The spatial dependence...

Info-metrics is a framework for modeling, reasoning, and drawing inferences under conditions of noisy and insufficient information. It is an interdisciplinary framework situated at the intersection of information theory, statistical inference, and decision-making under uncertainty. In a recent book on the Foundations of Info-Metrics, Golan (OUP, 20...

En este artículo se presenta un procedimiento sencillo para obtener proyecciones demográficas para áreas geográficas pequeñas. El método aquí presentado se basa en asumir que las tendencias de las zonas que se van a proyectar serán similares a las observadas en períodos anteriores, y en tomar las proyecciones para áreas geográficas más extensas com...

An Input-Output model was applied to quantify and compare, for the first time in Europe, the economic contribution of marine recreational (MRF) and commercial fishing (MCF) to a regional economy (Asturias, Spain). The approach considers separately the commercial artisanal fishing (MCAF) and attempts to overcome traditional problems concerning the t...

Information-based estimation techniques are becoming more popular in the field of Ecological Inference. Within this branch of estimation techniques, two alternative approaches can be pointed out. The first one is the Generalized Maximum Entropy (GME) approach based on a matrix adjustment problem where the only observable information is given by the...

Regional information about gross domestic product or gross added value is usually available with annual frequency. However, higher-frequency data at regional level is not so frequently available. This type of information is essential in order to (i) monitor the economic situation and (ii) forecast future values of regional output. The application o...

Wilson’s original introduction of the concept of entropy to the modelling of input–output and commodity flow systems provided a more flexible alternative to the prevailing state of the art. Following a brief review of prior approaches, the modified Wilson approach is presented and illustrated with an application to Korea. Thereafter, recent develop...

The relation between urban agglomeration and final food consumer prices is controversial. Pressure over the land in large cities results in higher prices in general and for feeding products in particular. On the other hand, large cities provide greater competition among firm, which might drop prices down. Previous literature studying this issue was...

Continental integration processes can alter traditional development axes. Paelinck and Polèse´s work in 1999 explains that in the case of Mexico there is a tension between the U.S. border and the rest of the country: Mexico´s integration in the NAFTA should have reduced the U.S. border attraction, extending the growth to territories located between...

Forecast combination methods reduce the information in a vector of forecasts to a single combined forecast by using a set of combination weights. Although there are several methods, a typical strategy is the use of the simple arithmetic mean to obtain the combined forecast. A priori, the use of this mean could be justified when all the forecasters...

This paper analyses the efficiency of Argentinean public universities and its deter‑minants over a 10‑year period (2004–2013). We quantify the effect on the efficiency scores of a set of institutional variables, i.e. policy decisions under the control of universities. Efficiency scores are determined on a first stage using nonparametric Data Envelo...

In this paper, Ciccone's (2002) approach is applied to the Spanish case in 2011 but by estimating it using local labor markets (LLMs) instead of NUTS-2 or NUTS-3 regions. It is especially relevant in the case of Spain because the NUTS-3 (provinces) are large regions in comparison with other cases in Europe. From a sample of income taxpayers publish...

Forecast combination has been studied in econometrics for a long time, and the literature has shown the superior performance of forecast combination over individual predictions. However, there is still controversy on which is the best procedure to specify the forecast weights. This paper explores the possibility of using a procedure based on Entrop...

Background: Regional Economics and Economic Growth focus on the question of whether trade leads to a greater concentration of economic activity. Nevertheless, little empirical work has assessed the impact of trade on regional convergence. Therefore, this paper studies the regional convergence that has occurred in Mexico since NAFTA came into effect...

The unavailability of geographically disaggregated information does not allow obtaining empirical evidence in order to answer some important questions in the field of urban and regional economics. The objective of this work is to calculate the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at local level, for the 42 municipalities of Valle del Cauca - Colombia in 20...

Higher cost of living in urban areas? An AIDS-based analysis of food in Spain. Regional Studies. This article measures the urban–rural gap in the consumption costs for Spain in 2013, basing the comparisons on the estimation of an almost ideal demand system (AIDS) of food from data on the household budget survey. Besides an unconditional comparison,...

Empirical analysis of regional convergence is normally based on data collected at a geographical scale corresponding to states or large regions (NUTS-2 or NUTS-3 for the case of Europe). However, it could be more realistic to consider that the dynamics generating economic growth take place at a smaller spatial scale. Potential heterogeneity across...

Despite theoretical advances, non-linear input–output models have been empirically applied only to a limited extent. This is mainly due to the fact that the number of parameters to be estimated is much higher than the number of available data points. Taking advantage of the recent proliferation of input–output databases and by applying an estimatio...

Small area estimation techniques are becoming increasingly used in survey applications to provide estimates for local areas of interest. The objective of this article is to develop and apply Information Theoretic (IT)-based formulations to estimate small area business and trade statistics. More specifically, we propose a Generalized Maximum Entropy...

A true cost of living (COL) index should compare the cost derived by two consumption levels and two price vectors maintaining the same utility in the two cases. Its application and empirical testing has been, generally, focalized on a temporal perspective. A spatial perspective it is also interesting for economic analysis because it allows for maki...

Regional Economics and Economic Growth focus on the question of whether trade leads to a greater concentration of economic activity. Yet little empirical work has assessed the regional convergence impacts of trade. Therefore this paper studies the regional convergence from trade in Mexico after NAFTA. Unlike previous papers, working with municipal-...

The compilation of the information required to construct survey-based input-output (I-O) tables consumes resources and time to statistical agencies. Consequently, a number of non-survey techniques have been developed in the last decades to estimate I-O tables. These techniques usually depart from observable information on the row and column margins...

Population projections are used as a common framework to orientate different policies and planning in several fields including public retirement systems, health care and education. They would be also needed for the urban planning as well as for other local policies such us social services but these projections are usually made at a certain level of...

The Spanish Integral Plan of Industrial Policy 2020 points out the energy cost containment as one of the priority actions to improve the competitiveness of industry. In fact, electricity prices for industrial consumers are of particular importance for international competitiveness, as electricity usually represents a significant proportion of its t...

Measuring the effect of technological activities on productivity growth is an issue that attracted much attention in recent works on empirical econometric studies. Specifically, in the field of regional economics, several attempts have been made in order to quantify the contribution of R&D to labor productivity growth at a regional scale, consideri...

Even though there is a general consensus in the regional economics literature about the relevance of agglomeration economies in the distribution of economic activity, analyses of regional differences in employability in Spain have found limited empirical evidence about the role played by population concentrations. Our hypothesis in this paper is th...

The availability of geographically disaggregated data, especially referred to the urban and metropolitan areas, is a growing need not only for academic studies in the field of economics but also for policy makers. However, in many cases the degree of disaggregation of official statistics does not allow to have information at a desirable level. In t...

A relatively frequent problem when cross-classified data is needed (for example region $\times $ industry) is that only aggregate (not cross-classified) data exists. Filling the gaps by combining data from diverse sources usually requires data conciliation. Ecological inference and entropy estimation techniques can be useful tools for this type...

The literature on stochastic input–output (I–O) analysis has paid considerable attention to the bias in the Leontief inverse. This paper extends previous studies by assuming supply and use tables (SUTs rather than I–O tables or input coefficients matrices) to be stochastic. This is a natural starting point because SUTs have become the basic data so...

We present an application of an estimation procedure based on entropy econometrics in order to infer data on wages for Mexican municipalities using aggregated information. Mexico is a specially useful case because official data are available with a high level of disaggregation. Specifically, their objective is to estimate wages paid by industry and...

The spatial dynamics of dispersion/concentration of economic activity can be explained by opposing centripetal and centrifugal forces. Neoclassical economics provides a precise explanation for centrifugal processes but it was not until the advent of the New Economic Geography that the existence and workings of centripetal forces were understood. Th...

The GRAS technique, proposed by Junius and Oosterhaven (2003), is the method commonly used to update or regionalize input-output matrices from a prior with positive and negative cells. This paper presents an adjustment technique based on Generalized Cross Entropy (GCE) as an alternative to GRAS. The basic idea of the proposed method is to assume ea...

Existe una amplia literatura que estudia la productividad de las ciudades y las causas de las diferencias existentes. Tales diferencias pueden deberse a factores económicos, geográficos o características de la propia ciudad tales como su tamaño, estructura urbana o gestión entre otros. En algunos países las estadísticas oficiales permiten disponer...

The relationship between city size and territorial productivity has attracted much attention in the urban economic literature. Some theories on the field claim for a strong positive correlation between the size of the municipalities and their income, mainly motivated by economical reasons, geographical characteristics or other factor of the urban e...

In the last 20 years Spain has experienced a significant increase of internal mobility, in particular from the peripheral to the core regions, as well as an extraordinary inflow of workers coming from all around the world, which also tend to settle down in the core regions. Using the analytical regions proposed by Polèse et al. (in Eur Urban Reg St...

Developed countries in general, Spain in particular, have experienced a dramatic rise in the reception of foreign workers in the last decade. Among all the economic and social effects originated by the arrivals of immigrants, the literature has paid some attention to the potential effect that this immigration can produce on the internal migration p...

Most regional empirical analyses are limited by the lack of data. Researchers have to use information that is structured in administrative or political regions which are not always economically meaningful. The non-availability of geographically disaggregated information prevents to obtain empirical evidence in order to answer some relevant question...

This introduction summarizes the main contributions of the papers selected to be published in this special issue. These papers were presented (among others) in the Fourth Seminar Jean Paelinck hold in Oviedo (Spain) in 2010 and their quality justified the edition of this Special Issue. As members of the organizing committee, we are pleased with the...

Las dinámicas de dispersión/concentración de la actividad económica a lo largo del espacio se explican por la oposición de fuerzas centrípetas vs. centrífugas. La Economía Neoclásica señaló con precisión las causas de los procesos centrífugos pero fue necesario esperar a la Nueva Geografía Económica para entender completamente la existencia y funci...

The classical approach to estimate spatial models lays on the choice of a spatial weights matrix that reflects the interactions among locations. The two main alternative proposals to specify the structure of these weights may be called exogenous and endogenous procedures. In this paper, we propose an intermediate solution by using entropy econometr...

Abstract: The classical approach to estimate spatial models lays on the choice of a spatial weights matrix that reflects the interactions among locations. The rule used to define this matrix is supposed to be the most similar to the «true» spatial relationships, but for the researcher is difficult to elucidate when the choice of this matrix is righ...

In several socioeconomic applications, matrices containing information on flows-trade, income or migration flows, for example–are usually not constructed from direct observation but are rather estimated, since the compilation of the information required is often extremely expensive and time-consuming. The estimation process takes as point of depart...

The classical approach to estimate spatial models lays on the choice of a spatial weights matrix that reflects the interactions among locations. The rule used to define this matrix is supposed to be the most similar to the "true" spatial relationships, but for the researcher is difficult to elucidate when the choice of this matrix is right and when...

The empirical analysis of public infrastructure productivity has been limited by several econometric problems. These problems are probably the cause of the great variability in results reported in the literature. One of these econometric problems is the existence of multicollinearity when infrastructure is included as an input in a production funct...

The traditional approach to estimate spatial models bases on a preconceived spatial weights matrix to measure spatial interaction among locations. The a priori assumptions used to define this matrix are supposed to be in line with the ``true'' spatial relationships among the locations of the dataset. Another possibility consists of using some infor...

The traditional approach to estimate spatial models bases on a preconceived spatial weights matrix to measure spatial interaction among locations. The a priori assumptions used to define this matrix are supposed to be in line with the “true” spatial relationships among the locations of the dataset. Another possibility consists on using...

Spatial econometric methods measure spatial interaction and incorporate spatial structure into regression analysis. The specification of a matrix of spatial weights W plays a crucial role in the estimation of spatial models. The elements w ij of this matrix measure the spatial relationships between two geographical locations i and j, and they are s...

Resulta revelador intentar plasmar la idea referida a un conglomerado de agentes que constituyan un núcleo alrededor del cual gire la actividad objeto de estudio. La concepción de una estructura formada por un centro y una periferia, constituye un paradigma clásico y recurrente en muchos campos de la ciencia. Siguiendo esta línea, los investigadore...

In this paper we adopt an entropy econometrics-based estimator to study regional variations in regression coefficients and apply it to analyse productivity growths generated by R&D activities at a regional level. Considering the possible effects of the region's own R&D stock as well as the spillovers produced in other regions, the paper proposes th...

El análisis empírico de la productividad de las infraestructuras se ha enfrentado a múltiples problemas econométricos que parecen estar detrás de la gran variabilidad en los resultados obtenidos en la literatura. Uno de esos problemas es la multicolinealidad existente al estimar los parámetros de una función de producción regional que incluye entre...

Structural decomposition analysis (SDA) is a well-known methodology to assess the relative importance of effects that together constitute the actual change in a variable of interest. A widely recognized problem of SDA is that the results often depend strongly on the specific decomposition formula chosen, while numerous formulae are equivalent from...

This paper proposes the use of the Path Based approach as a general and flexible method to carry out exact decompositions when some additional information for intermediate periods is available. This additional information is used in a Maximum Entropy estimation procedure to arrive at parameter estimates that determine the temporal paths followed by...

The main objective of this research is to construct a Social Accounting Matrix for Colombia referred to year 2003, since this is the last year with available statistical information to its elaboration. The interest of this work is therefore to provide a countable framework as the MCS that can be used in the analysis as the incorporated in this stud...

ABSTRACT : R&D activities by one industry often have positive effects on the productivity performance of other industries, as a consequence of technology spillovers. Econometric problems (such as multicollinearity), however, have prevented researchers from identifying the industries that have been responsible for the most important technology spill...

R&D activities by one industry can have positive effects on the productivity performance of other industries, as a consequence of technology spillovers. Multicollinearity problems, however, have precluded the identification of industries that have been responsible for the most important technology spillovers. This paper proposes an alternative esti...

Spatial econometrics is a subdiscipline that have gained a huge popularity in the last twenty years, not only in theoretical econometrics but in empirical studies as well. Basically, spatial econometric methods measure spatial interaction and incorporate spatial structure into regression analysis. The specification of a matrix of spatial weights W...

Shift-Share analysis is a well-known methodology frequently used to obtain insights into the determinants of regional growth processes. It can address many issues, such as output growth, employment growth and productivity growth. After the initial equation proposed by Dunn (1960), several extensions have been suggested in order to overcome some con...

The study of the inequality and welfare from an economic perspective implies the use of quantitative tools that allow us build suitable measurements for this study. The use of Social Accounting Matrices (SAM) has been pointed up for many authors like a useful way to analyse the relationships between the economics agents and, more in detail, like an...

The conception of a structure made up of a core and periphery is a common, classic paradigm in many fields of science. Following this line, in 1999 researchers Stephen Borgatti and Martin Everett developed a model of structural analysis based on the delimitation of a core formed by a group of densely connected actors, in contrast to a class of acto...

El objeto de esta comunicación es mostrar distintas posibilidades de utilización de la teoría matemática de la información al análisis input-output. Abordaremos este cometido desde tres ópticas diferentes. La primera de ellas se refiere al proceso de agregación de una matriz. El empleo de medidas de información permitirá cuantificar qué cantidad de...

The interest on regional economics has strongly developed in the lastest decades; however, and in spite of the great extension of the information that statistical sources of data offer to economic researchers, one of the major problems arising with these kind of studies still keep being