This paper analyses the extent to which the reduction of import tariffs as a measure of import competition affects the quality upgrading of the food products exported to the European Union (EU). This relationship is studied using a �distance to the frontier� model which is based on a non-monotonic relationship between competition and innovation. Quality is inferred from trade data usi…

This empirical study aims to shed light on the dynamic linkages between innovation, efficiency and productivity at the individual farm level. We use a comprehensive dataset for dairy farms in Germany for the period 1996�2010. Based on a directional distance frontier framework and the Luenberger index, we estimate the changes in efficiency, technical change and productivity over the period …

We analyse the effects of geographical indication labelling on quality choices and welfare in a vertical differentiation framework with two attributes of goods, gustatory quality and geographical origin. We investigate two extreme cases of the protected designation of origin (PDO) label: a denomination standard, which guarantees only the origin of the product without any requirement on producti…

A model of interaction between a renewable natural resource with capital limitations, as exemplified by the optimal investment problem of sheep farming in a Nordic context, is analysed. Both private and social optimality are considered; with the difference that a stock value related to the number of grazing animals is attached to the social management problemdue to landscape preservation. The e…

In this article, the role of water markets in helping farmers manage the risk of water shortage is studied. Using farm survey data from Australia�s southern Murray� Darling Basin, one of the most active water markets in the world, we tested the relationship between farmers� exposure to risk and their decisions to purchase and sell water allocations (temporary water) on the market…

This article identifies the main determinants of financial inclusion, defined as the probability of using both banking and credit services, across 18 Eastern European economies and 5 Western European �comparator� countries. We elicit demographic and socio-economic information on 25,000 European households from the second round of the Life in Transition Survey undertaken during the 20…

We use employment data for 2008�2012 to analyse the impact of the subprime and Eurozone crises on the British and German financial sector. In the UK, the sector contracted and its spatial concentration increased across regions and urban hierarchy, with London as the sole winner. In Germany there has been no contraction overall, and no significant change in the spatial distribution of finan…

This article measures the spatial heterogeneity of the costs of the economic crisis and assesses the role of cities as sources of regional resilience in Europe. Cities hosting financial activities have been severely hit during the crisis; however, they also host hard and soft territorial capital elements�high physical accessibility, access to information and knowledge, advanced functions, …

Growth before and especially after the crisis differed from large city-led growth pattern. The crisis has led to big contractions especially in urban regions and in remote rural regions, while intermediate and rural regions close to a city displayed more resilience. In some countries, the capital metro region had much higher economic growth prior to the crisis, but this pattern was inverted by…

The economic recession in Europe, triggered by the financial crisis of 2008�2009, has rekindled the debate over whether Europe constitutes a viable single currency area. A key issue concerns the relationship between regional economic cyclicity and monetary union: in the absence of a common automatic fiscal stabilization mechanism and with limited geographical mobility of factors, the grea…