Paula Ibarra-Silva (p)

Martin Hulényi

Application: Young Scientists Sessions (YS-)
The objective of this research proposal is to determine if regional differences in per capita income in Chile can be explained by the scope of Economy, Geography or Institutional approach. Considering the theoretical framework and the Chilean context of recent decades, the elimination of restrictions on international trade, the opening of the Chilean economy together with significant regions inequalities, it would be interesting to combine Economic, geography and Institutional approach field suggested by literature to contribute the explanations on the regional difference from a multidisciplinary perspective.
Literature on regional inequality has been traditionally focused on the regional economy context. Based in the first instance on the neoclassical analysis (constant returns to scale and perfect competition), it has now incorporated various alternatives, which divide into two. On the one hand, with origins in the theory of growth, the Solow Model and Endogenous Growth Theory, and on the other hand, originated from the international trade theory, the neoclassical Heckscher-Ohlin (HO) and New Economic Geography (NEG). Recently, NEG models emphasize the interaction among increasing returns to scale, transport costs and market size in a context of monopolistic competition; they predict the agglomeration of economic activities in the territory. In addition, Institutional approach, with New Institutionalism, which has the main premise that “institutions matter”, is interested in charting the impact of institutions on change measured over the time. All of these could have as a result a disequilibrium as policy makers remain attached to specific solutions. In this sense, inequality could be a disequilibrium. As related to Economic perspective Rodriguez (2017) argues that inequality is the most important obstacle to development; in this context, Chile is one of the most unequal countries in the region. Gonzalez (2020: 779) analyses the Chilean case – economic growth, high level of inequality as well social consent -and argues that it is necessary to “investigate Chile’s underlying institutions is key to understanding the profound roots of inequality”.
Evidence from empirical studies under a multidisciplinary perspective has been development mainly for European countries at national level. However, there is no evidence regard regional level (Rodriguez-Posse, 2020). In addition, evidence from empirical studies under a multidisciplinary perspective shows that the work done in the Latin American region is limited and virtually non-existent for the Chilean case. Thus, this research constitutes an original contribution from a multidisciplinary perspective.

Lorenz Wimmer, Ingrid Setz, Andreas Chmielowski (p)

Paula Ibarra-Silva

Air pollution poses a significant environmental risk to human health. Previous studies have shown that this risk is not evenly distributed across different population groups and space. In this case study, we investigate the spatial relationship between nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) exposure and the migrant share at a high spatial resolution for Vienna, Austria. We overcome data limitations of previous studies by combining a novel model-based data set on NO₂ concentration and sociodemographic data from 2019 on a 250m² grid in a spatial autoregressive model, controlling for contributing factors. Our results confirm a significant positive correlation between air pollution and the proportion of migrants for different spatial aggregation levels and model specifications. The findings provide evidence on the presence of environmental inequality in intra-urban spaces and emphasize the need to reduce the unequal distribution of the pollution risks for migrants.

Martin Hulényi (p), Jan Fidrmuc, Nicholas Debarsy

Andreas Chmielowski

Borders impede economic activity in the areas in their proximity.
Hence, their elimination could lead provide the border regions with an economic boost.
In this paper, we investigate the impact of integration into the EU on municipalities located in regions in the proximity of the borders affected by EU integration.
Our aim is to use a broad dataset to cover and directly compare different the effect of different stages of EU deepening as well as EU widening processes.