The strong emergence of ICT in the past decades was accompanied by much research on the potential productivity boosting qualities of ICT: high productivity growth was expected. However, empirical evidence on the productivity impact of ICT stayed behind: the Solow paradox. Since then analytical...

How can cities and metropolitan regions remain prosperous and competitive in a rapidly changing economy? In our paper we argue that 'the knowledge economy' offers perspectives for growth and added value creation. The paper clarifies what elements the knowledge economy actually consists of, how...

In this paper we analyze the regional embeddedness of firm's networks in Dutch regions. Theorizing on urban economic networks is an important issue in the urban economic growth literature (Batten 1995, Hess 2004). For this, 2000 firms in basic sectors (industrial, business-services and...

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has had an undeniable impact on our society. Some people argue that technology has projected us onto a new wave of social and cultural change. Nevertheless, despite the growth of technology and the social significance of its applications, we have...

Empirical studies in spatial economics have shown that agglomeration economies may be a source of the uneven distribution of economic activities and economic growth across cities and regions. Both localization and urbanization economies are hypothesized to foster agglomeration and growth, but...

We decompose the wage premium after foreign acquisitions of Dutch domestic firms into the con- stituent firm- and worker-level premia. Firm-level premia grow up to 3.5%, accounting for the major- ity of the acquisition premium. Worker-level premia by contrast, grow up to 1% and only materialize...

Among Polish cities facing socio-economic difficulties are the former regional capitals which lost their administrative status due to the 1998 reform, reducing the number of regions from 49 to 16. Making use of this quasiexperimental setting, we assess the impact of the loss of administrative...

China's Industrial Transfer Policy (ITP) is a novel place-based development policy of unprecedented scale. The policy targets a set of inland cities aiming to i) grow them in size and ii) restructure them into manufacturing hubs. These cities would eventually relieve pressure in China's coastal...

In this paper, we analyse the sectoral and functional division of labour in Central and Eastern European (CEE) regions within the convergence debate. By analysing the investment decisions of multinational corporations in 49 NUTS-2 regions across 6 European CEE countries (Poland, Czech Republic,...