What drives ICT clustering in European cities?

ICT clusters have attracted much attention because of their rapid growth and their value for other economic activities. Using a nested multi-level model, we examine how conditions at the country level and at the city level affect ICT clustering activity in 227 cities across 22 European countries. We test for the influence of three country regulations (starting a business, registering property, enforcing contracts) and two city conditions (proximity to university, network density) on ICT clustering. We consider heterogeneity within the sector and study two types of ICT activities: ICT product firms and ICT content firms. Our results indicate that country conditions and city conditions each have idiosyncratic implications for ICT clustering, and further, that these can vary by activities in ICT products or ICT content manufacturing.     

Potential Challenges to Targeting Low- and Moderate-Income Communities in a Time of Urgent Need: The Case of CDBG-DR in New York State after Superstorm Sandy

New York State received $4.5 billion in Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds after Superstorm Sandy. A major CDBG-DR requirement is to prioritize assistance to low- and moderate-income (LMI) populations. The state is spending two fifths of funds on community-wide (e.g., infrastructure) recovery activities. For these activities to be documented as LMI, a specified percentage of residents benefiting from them must be LMI. We explore the potential tension between addressing community recovery needs and prioritizing LMI assistance. Specifically, we develop a series of scenarios to estimate the likelihood that any community-wide activities will be documented as LMI in New York State. We find that documenting these activities as LMI is largely dependent on the underlying demographics of disaster-impacted areas. Additionally, as recovery activities increase in size, thereby impacting larger populations, they are less likely to be documented as LMI, potentially disincentivizing larger, more impactful investments. We recommend empirically based LMI targets for CDBG-DR grantees.     

The Politics of Rule of Law Reform: From Delegation to Autonomy

How can we understand the delegation of power and authority – for example, from a polity to an administrator - in a world of fragmented governance? In this paper, I introduce the practices of contemporary ‘rule of law’ and ‘governance’ reform, which reframe this question in politically powerful ways. These practices are increasingly important in development contexts, and beyond. Practitioners begin with the assumption that some sort of administration occurs in the development contexts in which they work. They then focus on how to convene a political community in which to embed – and potentially legitimate - that administration. They thereby reconfigure the question of delegation into one of autonomy – or managing the extent to and ways in which the administrative legal system self-produces. In doing so, I argue that contemporary rule of law practitioners wield constitutional power under the rubric of workaday administrative reform. At the same time, they efface their political accountability.     

An endogenous growth cycle with vintage capital

This paper extends Solow's vintage capital model by (a) deriving profits as a function of investments, and (b) adding an investment financing equation in terms of profits. It is shown that these extensions lead to a completely endogenous growth model. The dynamic system yields an equilibrium which is a centre and hence the economy cycles perpetually around the equilibrium point, never reaching it.