REGION

Interdependence Between the Tourist Regions of Sergipe, Brazil

Luiz Carlos de Santana Ribeiro — 2024-08-23

We constructed an interregional input-output system for the tourist regions of Sergipe and identified the contribution of Tourism Characteristic Activities (TCAs) to the state's economy. It is the first system built for tourist regions in Brazil that disaggregates tourism activities by sector and region, representing a novel approach in Brazilian literature. By measuring the weight of tourist activities, we avoid overestimating tourism in the regional economy. Researchers can use this method for countries and regions that do not have a Tourism Satellite Account. The main results estimate that TCAs in Sergipe accounted for 1.53% of the state's gross value added (GVA) in 2015, 3.7 times lower when considering only tourism activities. The Polo Costa dos Coqueirais stands out among the tourist regions, particularly regarding the distribution of TCAs' GVA within the state. Tourist road transportation is considered a key sector in all tourist regions.

China's Impact on Sustainable Economic Growth in Central Asian Countries in the Context of the Silk Road Economic Belt

Bin Zhang — 2024-08-27

This paper examines how the economic relations between China and the Central Asian countries affect the economic development of the Central Asian countries in the context of the Belt and Road economy. China has come up with the global economic strategy initiative known as `"`One Belt, One Road" as a way of incorporating and expanding its economic activities around the world into this initiative. The article argues that China's economic activities in Central Asia are part of its global economic strategy. China's global "``Belt and Road Initiative" is aimed at realizing its political aspirations through economic dominance, which then leads to a virtuous cycle. Of course, we all know that every country in the world needs to develop its economy, and Central Asian countries are no exception. Central Asian countries have the need and desire to cooperate with China to develop their own economies, which is the basis of this article. The method of argumentation in the article is to analyze the development needs and relations of cooperation between the two sides in terms of economic indicators, trade cooperation, economic dependence, infrastructure investment, geopolitical pattern of energy, and transportation of goods of Central Asian countries, respectively, and at the same time, data from World Energy Statistics Yearbook, World Bank, China Statistical Yearbook, and China's Outward Foreign Direct Investment Statistical Bulletin are used as the basis. This provides a clear understanding of the patterns of economic cooperation between China and Central Asian countries, and how they interact with each other. Despite the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, Central Asia remains a central element of the People's Republic of China's (PRC) security strategy, a strategic location that creates a continuum between China's internal and external security. The guiding principle of China's policy towards Central Asia is primarily stability, which is the main theme of current Chinese politics, with the goal of ensuring continuity from domestic stability to the stabilization of border regions and surrounding areas. Throughout their independent existence, the Central Asian states have had different perceptions of Russia, the United States, China, and European countries, which is one of the prerequisites for the formation of multidirectional foreign policies in Central Asian countries. The balance of interests among Russia, the United States, China, and European countries in the region is of vital importance for Central Asian countries, which ensures the independent foreign policy and development paths of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan, as well as contributes to the stability of the region.

Positive Outcomes of Cross-Border Tourism Development Cooperation: A Case of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan

Imanaly Akbar — 2024-08-29

The development of cross-border tourism between neighboring countries has become increasingly popular in recent decades. In European countries where the visa-free regime is established, this scheme is well developed and positively affects the development of the country's economy. Developing cross-border areas and establishing cross-border cooperation with neighboring countries is one of the priorities of Central Asian state policy. In the last ten years, several large-scale cross-border platforms aimed at developing tourism have been implemented among the more developed countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan) in Central Asia, so our study was based on the border regions of the three countries mentioned above. The study aims to highlight the benefits of cooperation in cross-border tourism by examining the experiences and expectations of experts who are well-versed in the field of tourism. A qualitative research method was mainly used in semi-structured interviews focused on the positive results associated with the development of cross-border tourism among people familiar with the region's tourism. The analysis showed that according to the informants, the development of cross-border tourism has a moderate impact on the joint development of infrastructure projects by countries. The results also showed that all of the survey participants believed that cross-border tourism would provide an impetus to strengthen joint tourism marketing and the exchange of knowledge and innovation between countries. In short, it can be seen from the results of the research that the respondents generally highly appreciated the positive influence of the development of cross-border tourism on the growth of the country's economy.

Varying size and shape of spatial units

Rozeta Simonovska — 2024-10-09

When an analysis over a specific geographic area is performed, the way that area is divided into regions can affect the outcome of the analysis. Results obtained based on different geographic units can be conflicting. This issue is known as the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP). The objective of this paper is to understand the extent to which the regional setting influences the results of an analysis with spatially aggregated variables, with a focus on agglomeration effects, in the case of Germany. Relying on a sample of manufacturing firms over 7 years we estimate a fixed effects model to explain the firm-specific total factor productivity in dependence of region-based agglomeration variables. We simulate 1000 regional settings of Germany on three scales and overtake thereby some characteristics of the administrative units, which are used as the baseline. We infer that the spatial scale and shape matter in the case of Germany.

The Impact of Education (Level of Knowledge) on the Prevalence of Obesity in Different Urban Environments

Yuval Arbel — 2024-11-30

We investigate the impact of high-rise buildings on the prevalence of obesity in the US during 2011-2020 stratified by educated vs. non-educated populations. We use a quadratic specification that accounts for non-monotonic variation. Findings demonstrate that concentration of above 147 skyscrapers in a state is detrimental with regards to the projected prevalence of obesity. The main public policy repercussions of our study are: 1) the promotion of education for medical literacy due to the fact that for each number of skyscrapers the prevalence of obesity is lower among educated populations. 2) widening pavements, pathways and open spaces following urban development.