Does Regional Economic Growth Depend on Proximity to Urban Centres?

Government Support Measures for Domestic Air Connectivity

“…Especially since the entry and rapid growth of low-cost carriers in the early 2000s, market shares of different airlines shifted significantly. As a result, the market share of incumbent carriers in the EU declined from 78% to 60% between 1998 and 2008 (Reichmuth et al, 2008) and reached 58% in 2017 (Akgüç et al, 2018). New entrants have put competitive pressures on the industry, driving down prices: the minimum price for a ticket from Paris to Milan dropped from more than EUR 400 in 1992 to EUR 25 in 2017 (European Commission, 2017).…”

“…According to Brueckner (2003) a 10% increase in passenger enplanements leads to a 1% increase in employment in service related industries in US metropolitan areas. Reducing travel times to large metropolitan areas can be a significant driver of higher growth in GDP per capita at the regional level (Ahrend and Schumann, 2014). Surveys of factors important to location decisions by international firms generally find accessibility to be of great importance, both to local and international destinations.…”

The impact of road infrastructure investment on incumbent firms in Korea

“…It can create growth in well-connected surrounding regions. Across 600 European TL3 regions, 1 OECD research shows that regions without a major urban agglomeration, but located close to one, have experienced stronger per capita GDP growth than other areas (Ahrend and Schumann, 2014). The positive impact declines with distance.…”

Improving well-being through better housing policy in New Zealand

“…Agglomeration economies generated by cities are an important factor in knowledge diffusion and thus productivity growth, and population density has been a strong predictor of economic performance in European countries (Ahrend and Schumann, 2014[39]). Lowdensity urban sprawl undermines agglomeration benefits through longer travel times within a city if jobs fail to disperse in line with housing, higher fiscal costs of supplying infrastructure and public services (Adams and Chapman, 2016 [40]; Ahlfeldt et al, 2018 [38]), higher transport emissions (though greater use of electric vehicles would reduce this effect) and loss of environmental amenities within and at the borders of urban areas. On the other hand, density can have negative implications for open space preservation, traffic congestion, health and self-reported well-being (Ahlfeldt et al, 2018[38]).…”