Abstract

Argentina’s path to economic prosperity is through efficient, sustainable and economically thriving cities. Not only are cities a spatial concentration of people, but also they generate agglomeration economies by concentrating ideas, talent, and knowledge. Argentina is one of the most urbanized countries in Latin America, with 90 percent of Argentine people currently living in cities. Argentina’s cities are geographically and economically diverse, and its largest urban area – Metropolitan Buenos Aires – is one of Latin America’s urban giants. Argentine cities need to address three main challenges to leverage their economic potential. Argentina’s current patterns of urban development are characterized by (a) high primacy and unbalanced regional development, (b) limited global economic footprint of urban economies, with employment concentrated in nontradable and resource intensive sectors, and (c) unplanned low-density urban expansion. Argentine cities thus face the challenges of moving toward a more balanced regional development, transitioning from local to global cities, and from urban sprawl to articulated densities to take full advantage of the benefits of agglomeration economies. To address these challenges, Argentina needs the leadership of the federal government; the coordinating power of provinces; and the capacity of empowered, financially sound municipalities. Argentine cities also need system-wide policy reforms in areas such as territorial planning, municipal finance, housing, urban transport, and local economic development. Leveraging the Potential of Argentine Cities: A Framework for Policy Action aims to deepen our empirical understanding of the interplay between urbanization and agglomeration economies in Argentina by asking the following: (a) What are the main trends and spatial patterns of Argentina’s urbanization that underlie agglomeration economies?, (b) Are urban policies leveraging or undermining the benefits of agglomeration economies?, and (c) Are Argentine cities fully reaping the benefits of agglomeration economies to deliver improvements in prosperity and livability? By addressing such questions and exploring their implications for action, this study provides a conceptual framework, empirical data, and strategic directions for leveraging the potential of Argentine cities. Document type: Book

Abstract

Nearly one billion people worldwide live in rural areas without access to the paved road network. This paper measures the impacts of India's $40 billion national rural road construction program using regression discontinuity and data covering every individual and firm in rural India. The main effect of new feeder roads is to allow workers to obtain nonfarm work. However, there are no major changes in consumption, assets or agricultural outcomes. Nonfarm employment in the village expands only slightly, suggesting the new work is found outside of the village. Even with better market connections, remote areas may continue to lack economic opportunities. Document type: Book

Abstract

International audience; HSR and tourism: what can we learn from the past 50 years?Important investements in High Speed Rail (HSR) lines have been carried out all over the world since the opening of the first line in 1964. The analysis of the wider effects brought by these systems has been the core of major publications in the literature with the objective of investigating the benefits of the investments themselves.One aspect, less treated but of great interest, is the impact of HSR systems on the tourism market. Indeed, for an optimal assessment of this impact, some variables should be taken into account: firstly, how many tourists would not have gone to a given destination had the HSR not existed? Secondly, what are the characteristics of the tourists choosing to visit a destination served by a HSR line and what is the duration of their journey? ? Thirdly, do visitors spending justify the returns on investment?Some studies confirm that there is an impact, for example during the period between 1999 and 2010, the emerging HSR services did have significant impacts on boosting tourism in China. Provinces with HSR services were likely to have approximate 20% additional numbers of foreign arrivals and 25% greater tourism revenues than provinces without such systems (Chen and Haynes, 2012). But other authors show that it is not always the case in all the served cities (Todorovitch et al., 2011) and sometimes, a decrease of the journey has also been observed (Delaplace et al., 2014).The objective of this contribution is to show, through a literature review of studies carried out ex-post, that the effects are not systematic, since they depend on the implementation of the HSR service and on the characteristics of the places served. Indeed, if the HSR allows, in some cases, the increase in the number of tourists, a decrease of the length stay might follow. Some of the main findings of the scientific literature over the past 40 years are that the changes of accessibility of a destination served by a new HSR link is not the only element playing a role in tourism dynamism. It is necessary to take also into account the way HSR systems improve the image of the destination itself and the way they contribute to the coordination of the local stakeholders.

Abstract

he aim of this P is to propose a state-of-the-art concerning the interaction between High-Speed Rail systems and the tourism market, in order to identify the possible best practices aiming to enhance the value of the tourist activities. This question arises because there are many projects of High-Speed Rail and others are ongoing, whose economic justification is based on the benefits deriving from them. In November 2013 there were 21.472 km of High Speed Railways (i.e., whose speed is greater than 250 km / h) in the world, 13964 km were under construction and 16347 km were scheduled by 2025. In 2025, 51784 km should be operational (UIC 2013), as in Germany, Belgium, Brazil, China, the United States, France, Iran, Morocco, and Portugal. Because of increase in accessibility, which the territories served benefit, the actors involved expect a dynamic economy, in general, and of the tourism in particular. Although expectations are important in France as abroad, a literature review of studies carried out ex-post shows that the effects are not systematic. Indeed, there is not a systematic dynamism because of the implementation of the High-Speed service. More specifically, we show that different types of tourism are variously impacted by High-Speed Rail service. Urban and business tourism are the most impacted ones. Specifically, we show the importance of the prior existence of famous cities. These last ones must offer a basket of tourist products and services that benefit a good accessibility from being served by a High Speed Rail station. But it can be noted also that, if the high speed allows, in some circumstances, the increase in the number of tourists, a decrease of stay is also possible. Moreover, as the number of cities served by High Speed Rail increases, High Speed Rail can be itself a differentiation asset to develop tourism market. The role of high speed should also be related to accessibility, understood both as attractiveness of the destination such as coordination of the actors in order to propose a coordinated and renewed supply.