Localization and Productivity

CompNet-EBRD Workshop, October 8-9, 2018, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, London, United Kingdom

The workshop of The Competitiveness Research Network (CompNet) at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) can be considered a great success.

Filippo di Mauro, Chairman of CompNet, briefly introduced the Network’s organization and activities, the 6th vintage dataset and some stylized facts from the just released Cross-Country Report. The Chairman highlighted the usefulness of the newest CompNet dataset for more comprehensive productivity research – and consequently encourages researchers in the field to apply for data access.

The presented research work represents an excellent group of frontier work in the field of localisation and productivity. The research was mainly focused on subjects such as spillovers from FDI on productivity in cross-border regions, the urban productivity premia for firms, spatial proximity and its effect on TFP, endogenous productivity growth and international trade, natural resource heterogeneity, and firms’ entries and its effect on knowledge spillovers.

The workshop agenda as well as all presentations can be found below:

Introductory Remarks 

• Welcome address
  

  Filippo di Mauro (Chairman of CompNet) and Ralph de Haas (Steering Committee, EBRD)

Session 1: Chair: Cagatay Bircan (EBRD)

• Border Regimes and Indirect Productivity Effects from Foreign Direct Investment
  ^{Victoria Purice (University of Groningen); Bruno Merlevede (Ghent University)  
  Discussant: David Nguyen (NIESR)}
• Mechanisms of the Urban Productivity Premium: Evidence from Italian Firms
  ^{Andrea Petrella (Banca d'Italia); Andrea Lamorgese (Banca d'Italia)    
  Discussant: Marco Di-Cataldo (LSE)}
• Impact of Clustering on Manufacturing Total Factor Productivity (TFP), Great Britain, 1984-2014
  ^{Richard Harris (Durham University) 
  Discussant: Daisy Nguyen (University of Bern - WTI)} 
  

Keynote Speech
Beata Javorcik (University of Oxford)

Session 2: Chair: Reint Gropp (IWH)

• Innovation and Trade Policy in a Globalized World
  ^{Sina Ates (Federal Reserve System); Ufuk Akcigit (University of Chicago) 
  Discussant: Eric Bartelsman (VU Amsterdam)}
• Good Mine, Bad Mine: Natural Resource Heterogeneity and Dutch Disease in Indonesia
  ^{Paul Pelzl (VU Amsterdam); Steven Poelhekke (VU Amsterdam) 
  Discussant: Juan Pablo Rud (Royal Holloway University of London)}
• Colocation and Knowledge Diffusion: Evidence from Million Dollar Plants
  ^{Vincenzo Scrutinio (London School of Economics) ; Christian Fons-Rosen (Universitat Pompeu Fabra); Katalin Szemeredi (Corvinus University of Budapest) 
  Discussant: Tatsuro Senga (Queen Mary University of London)}