Canfei He (p), Tao Chen, Peng Zhang

Nicola Pontarollo

In this presentation, we would like to focus on the “shocks” that our economy has suffered from. To briefly introduce, firstly, we have done a research paper which discusses the economic resilience of Chinese cities under the sub-prime crisis (happened in 2008). Secondly, we are doing a relevant work that retrospects the impacts of US-China trade war on economic prosperity of China’s prefectures. The remaining parts of this extended abstract is as follows. Section 2 will discuss the research topic, research design and the main conclusions of the financial-crisis-based paper. Section 3 will shift to the work that we are conducting, and share preliminary methodologies and implications. Section 4 will conclude the extended abstract, summarizing the common points of above-mentioned researches and discussing future research outlooks.

Annekatrin Niebuhr (p), Duncan Roth, Silke Hamann, Georg Sieglen

Canfei He

We estimate spatially heterogeneous effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on labour market dynamics in Germany until December 2021. While initially slightly larger in rural regions, adverse effects quickly become more pronounced and persistent in large agglomerations. We ascribe the larger impact of the pandemic in large agglomerations to two factors. First, a combination of a higher share of skilled workers and jobs suitable for working-from-home is positively related to an increased inflow rate into unemployment. We argue that spillover effects from reduced product market demand in large cities caused by changes in behaviour such as working-from-home or online shopping are a possible explanation. Second, a higher pre-crisis unemployment rate in large agglomerations is associated with a lower outflow rate out of unemployment. This might reflect the less favourable composition of unemployment in large cities which reduces the probability of transitions into employment during crises.

Maria Tsouri (p)

Annekatrin Niebuhr

Green technological knowledge production is important for the transition towards sustainability. Within the literature of sustainability transitions, green technological knowledge is a fundamental element for the production of green innovation. However, during the recent Covid-19 crisis, the introduction of green innovations is contributed also largely to the resilience of firms and organizations. But still, little is known on the effect of green technological knowledge on the firms’ and consequently regional resilience.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic outburst, firms have introduced (or not) several green innovations, contributing to the transition towards sustainability. This alongside other firm characteristics has helped them to face the consequences of the pandemic crisis. On the other hand, the response of the firms to the pandemic crisis cannot be space indifferent, as firms are part of regional systems. There is limited empirical evidence on how spatial determinants have affected the response of the firms to the pandemic crisis. Which are the regional characteristics that drive the firms’ resilience after Covid-19? Did the regional green technological capabilities play a role in the maintenance of this resilience? How did this process affect the resilience of the entire region?
To give answers to the above questions, we considered the case of Norwegian firms and economic regions, and their response to the pandemic crisis. We combined data from PATSTAT registry, including all granted patents on green technologies (Y02) with at least one inventor located in Norway, and the Community Innovation Survey (CIS). Our level of analysis is both the firm and 85 economic regions of Norway which corresponds to the NUTS-4 European regions.

Laura Frassine, Nicola Pontarollo (p), Carolina Serpieri

Maria Tsouri

The paper introduces the novel concept of regional reactivity to shocks. Taking as a baseline the minimum level of economic performance reached after the 2008 economic crisis, reactivity is defined as the ability of regions to bounce back to the economic performance achieved before the shock in the same or shorter time required to reach the pre-shock peak from an equivalent lower bound. The analysis of the reactivity of the EU-28 regions shows a clear spatial pattern. Consequently, we use Bayesian econometric techniques that explicitly account for spatial spillovers to identify the main drivers. The results, that highlight the positive role of diversification, tertiary education and institutional quality on reactivity, can potentially be useful for defining policy strategies that emphasise or refocus the strengths of each region in light of current territorial trends and emerging challenges.