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- Li, Wenjuan, 1963-
(author)
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Firms and people in place : driving forces for regional growth
- 2007
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The aim of the thesis is to quantitatively study the driving forces and mechanisms for regional growth from an endogenous and exogenous perspective and reveal the most important factors contributing to regional growth, by focusing on three aspects: local labour market, the supply side and the demand side of the labour market. The thesis is designed to use Swedish micro register data to develop spatial models with higher spatial resolution. It was found that endogenous factors are important and probably explain about at least one third of total regional economic growth. Among the endogenous factors, localised demographic composition, labour force and labour market, firms, and business environment have the strongest influence on regional economic growth. The findings from the Swedish context were briefly compared to China’s economic growth in the last fifty years. The thesis consists of three related papers. The first paper studied the endogenous and exogenous factors in 108 Swedish LA regions during the 1990s. By using the SNI92 code, individual longitudinal data and an improved shift-share analysis method, it was found that the endogenous factor is important for regional economic growth because it is able to accelerate, decelerate or reverse the impact from exogenous factors during the period studied. The second paper studied regional growth from the supply side of the labour market by focusing on population redistribution and place attractiveness. A ‘floating grid’ approach was developed to understand the factors shaping place attractiveness. The approach disregards administration zones by focusing on a small spatial unit—vicinity which is one kilometre square. Each unit has a unique set of surrounding zones that are local area and hinterland. By constructing spatial models, the total explained variance in place attractiveness was decomposed into partial explanatory effects that are assigned for physical attraction, demographic, service and labour market factors over the spatial scales. The finding is that the spatial scale of vicinity and demographic factors contribute most to place attractiveness. The third paper studied regional growth from the demand side of the labour market by focusing on workplace and its economic performance. The ‘floating grid’ approach was once more applied while the basic analysis unit is a constructed workplace that holds working-square, local area and hinterland as surrounding zones. The economic performance of the workplace was attributed to external demand, local demand, business environment and labour force factors over different spatial scales. A method was developed to quantitatively identify intervals of partial explanatory effects that are components of the total explained variance. It was found that working-square and labour force factors contribute most to workplace economic performance.
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| 3. |
- Alfredsson, Eva, 1963-
(author)
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Green consumption energy use and carbon dioxide emission
- 2002
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to explore the quantitative potential to reduce energy requirements and CO2 emissions through changed patterns of consumption, given unchanged levels of consumption expenditure. The thesis question is analysed using a systems analysis approach which in this case means that life cycle assessment data on energy requirements and CO2 emissions related to household consumption are combined with a financial and behavioural analysis to make sure that the budget constraint is kept and that both the first and second order effects of adopting a green consumption pattern are analysed. The budget constraints are kept using a general linear model. By using marginal propensities to spend to direct the reallocation of saved or deficit money calculated utility is maintained as far as possible. Further, investigations explore the impact of individual household demographic characteristics and geographic context on household consumption patterns, energy requirements and CO2 emissions. The key result of this thesis is that changed household behaviour, choosing “green“ products and energy efficient technology will not make a big difference. What can be achieved in the short time perspective by adopting an almost completely green consumption pattern and energy efficient technology is a reduction of energy requirements by around 8% and CO2 emissions by around 13%. With a longer time perspective and further technological change that provides additional possibilities to move consumption patterns in a greener direction, the effect on energy requirements and CO2 emissions is still fairly small. By 2020, the potential to reduce energy requirements is around 13% and CO2 emissions around 25%. In the most extreme scenario (2050), the scope for reducing energy requirements is 17% and for CO2 emissions 30%. All these reductions will be outpaced by growth in income almost as soon as they are implemented. Of policy relevance the results reveal that very limited impact can be expected by a policy relying on greener consumption patterns, whether adopted voluntarily or as a result of incentives such as tax changes. Such a policy cannot achieve more than a small and temporary reduction to growth in energy requirements and CO2 emissions. It is also shown that, prescribing specific consumption patterns as a means of reducing energy requirements and CO2 emissions has to be done with care. This is illustrated by one of the experiments in which adopting a partly green consumption pattern, a green diet, in fact increased total energy requirements and CO2 emissions. This, and the results of all the other experiments show the importance of applying a systems approach. It demonstrates that life cycle data alone are irrelevant for assessing the total effects of adopting green consumption patterns. Further research on the potential to reduce energy requirements and CO2 emissions thus primarily needs to better capture system wide effects rather than to improve on, and fine tune the measurement of the energy requirements and CO2 emissions related to individual products.
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| 4. |
- Lindgren, Urban, 1966-
(author)
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Local impacts of large investments
- 1997
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The aim of the thesis is to investigate local impacts of large investments. This problem has been approached from three directions and, therefore, the study consists of three themes, namely: the changing spatial patterns of corporate activities, the short-term local economic impacts of investments, and the long-term socio-economic impacts of investments on the local municipality.In order to put the impact studies of investments into a broader context the first theme provides an analysis of the macro-orientated processes that change the spatial pattern of a forest- based industry. The empirical investigation is based on a case-study of a major Swedish forest company (SCA — Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget), analysing its development from the 1950s to the present (Paper I). The locational changes of production plants, sales units and headquarters have been mapped and, parallel to this study of the company's spatial evolution, the underlying corporate strategies are discussed.The second theme focuses on the short-term local economic impacts of investments which are carried out at production units. The empirical data has been collected from a major investment introducing a new technology (Light Weight Coated paper - LWC) at Ortviken, an SCA-owned paper mill in Sundsvall. The point of departure for the analysis is the identification of contracted suppliers and their location in order to obtain a picture of the investment's diffusion in the local economy. As the choice of supplier is an important part of the study, criteria on how suppliers are chosen have also been examined (Paper II). Moreover, by using results from a number of similar investment studies, an attempt is made to summarize general experiences within a tentative model for estimating the share of local purchase deriving from major investments: the Local or Non-Local (LNL) model (Paper III).The third theme of the thesis pinpoints long-term local impacts of large investments. The investment generates impacts not only concurrently with the implementation phase, but also during the operation period of the invested item. The investigation of long-term socio-economic impacts has been performed by two studies employing different methodological approaches. The first study (Paper IV) deals with ex ante local impacts of locating a nuclear waste repository in Storuman or Mala, two sparsely populated municipalities in northern Sweden. The model is a traditional macro- formulated cohort model which is combined with a 'basic/non-basic' assumption regarding the intcrdependency within the local trade and business. The second study (Paper V) refers once again to the forest-based industry by emphasising the long-term socio-economic impacts of the investment examined in Paper II. This paper employs a micro-analytical modelling approach, so that, the municipal population is represented individually within the model. A microsimulation model is elaborated in order to analyse the long-term (15 years) local population and labour market dynamics induced by the LWC-investment.Some major findings of the thesis are:* The share of local purchase is connected to the composition of the investment. Analyses have shown that the higher the technological demand and the more technically advanced the goods and services related to the investment, the smaller is the local share of the purchase.* It has proved possible to trace chain effects on different local labour-markets induced by changes in production at a particular place of work. Through linkages between the partial labour markets the closure of a major place of work will not only affect the occupational groups to which laid-off employees belong, but also give rise to changes in unemployment levels in many other occupations.
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| 5. |
- Westin, Kerstin, 1954-
(author)
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Valuation of goods transportation characteristics : A study of a sparsely populated area
- 1994
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This study describes how consumers and providers of transportation services in a sparsely populated area valuate different transportation characteristics and estimates how these valuations might affect the total goods flows and the flows on individual Origin-Destination links. It also tests Stated-Preference methods as a tool for valuating transportation characteristics.The hypothesis was that transportation consumers in sparsely populated areas are more sensitive to changes in the transportation characteristics cost and frequency than they are to changes in goods safety, time accuracy, and delivery time. The reason for this assumption was that the supply of transport modes and transport operators in these areas is limited in comparison to more urban areas. Acceptable transportation costs, in the sense that transportation is economically feasible, and possibilities to obtain a certain minimum transportation frequency are essential. It might, therefore, be necessary to renounce demands for time accuracy, goods safety, and delivery time.The results indicate that the consumers were most sensitive tp lowered distribution frequency. The probability of accepting a transportation service dropped by .19 when frequency decreased from three times to once per week. Changes in the characteristics delivery time and time accuracy were also significant. Reduced frequency would, from a consumer perspective, also result in the largest impact on the total goods. However, a cost increase of 25 percent and lower goods safety would result in a greater reduction of the total goods flow than would longer delivery time and lower time accuracy.The providers, on the other hand, were very sensitive to increased costs and lower revenues. A drop in quantity from 90 percent to 40 percent vehicle utilization was also significant. However, respondents in the strata 'private trucks' assigned more importance to changes in frequency and quantity. The largest effect on the total goods flow would be caused by a 25 percent cost increase. High demands on time accuracy would affect the goods flow more than would lowered revenue.A significant conclusion is that the Stated-Preference method used is an adequate tool in valuating transportation characteristics. However, great care must be taken in formulating the characteristics and levels used. Also, in addition to the characteristics tested in this study, there may be other characteristics that help explain the probability that consumers and providers in sparsely populated areas will accept a transport
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