Spatial Inequality, Geography and Economic Activity
| Autor: | Sandra Achten, Christian Lessmann |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: |
Economics and Econometrics
Sociology and Political Science Inequality media_common.quotation_subject Geography Planning and Development Instrumental variable Regression analysis Building and Construction Development Random forest Geography Spatial inequality Negative relationship Econometrics Construct (philosophy) media_common Parametric statistics |
| Zdroj: | SSRN Electronic Journal. |
| ISSN: | 1556-5068 |
| DOI: | 10.2139/ssrn.3352910 |
| Popis: | We study the effect of spatial inequality on economic activity. Given that the relationship is highly simultaneous in nature, we use exogenous variation in geographic features to construct an instrument for spatial inequality, which is independent from any man-made factors. Our instruments are inequality measures based on grid-level data for existing countries as well as for artificial countries. In the construction of the instrumental variable, we use both a parametric regression analysis as well as a random forest classification algorithm. Our IV regressions show a significant negative relationship between spatial inequality and economic activity. This result holds if we control for country-level averages of different geographic variables. Therefore, we conclude that geographic heterogeneity is an important determinant of economic activity. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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