Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Segundo Abrahán Sanabria Gómez
Title:  MICRODINÁMICA EVOLUTIVA DE LOS DESEQUILIBRIOS ECONÓMICOS  REGIONALES: una propuesta metodológica
Abstract: Resumen:En la literatura internacional sobre las desigualdades económicas regionales ha predominado el enfoque teórico que defiende la hipótesis de convergencia entre regiones, el cual asume una función de producción homogénea entre regiones, con cambio tecnológico exógeno, rendimientos decrecientes en los factores y ausencia de externalidades. La literatura que se aparta de este enfoque carece de un marco conceptual y una metodología estándar, de modo que sus resultados no son comparables para evaluar su validez y pertinencia. En este artículo se delimita un marco conceptual y una metodología, capaces de representar la dinámica de un sistema económico regional y su trayectoria evolutiva, de estabilidad o degenerativa.Abstract:In the study of regional economic inequalities, the theoretical approach derived from the neoclassical theory of growth has predominated. This approach defends the hypothesis of convergence between economic regions, despite the fact that endogenous growth theory argued that technological change is endogenous and that there are increasing returns in factors, which prevents convergence.
Evolutionary economic theory with the explanation of technological progress, found that economic systems tend to imbalance based on the heterogeneity of goods and preferences, as well as irreversible accumulation processes. This condition generates trajectories of accumulation of the gains of technological progress, which is why divergent tendencies may appear between regions.
Considering this problem, a conceptual framework and a basic methodological structure are exposed for the analysis of the complex dynamics that take place in the regional economic systems. Here is intended to identify the role of geographical space in the configuration of an economic region and the other elements necessary to delimit the region as a complete set, which should become the object of analysis. Then it is argued that the theory proposed by regional convergence, presents limitations to explain dynamic phenomena and that research that deviates from this approach does not have a standard methodology. The third part specifies a methodological proposal capable of explaining behavior of dynamic systems, supported by theoretical approaches such as endogenous growth, evolutionary economics and complexity theory, which is synthesized in 6 simple equations that representing, partially, the dynamics of the main components of an economic region.
The main components of an economic region are: a) A set of agents economically organized between producers and consumers; b) A formal and informal institutional network that involves the life and economic dynamics of these actors; c) A physical space that contains the assets and in which the economic activities are carried out; d) A stock of economic assets for the production of goods and services; e) a market with the capacity to articulate and link the majority of economic activities over a specific area; f) A transport and communications network that converges in a specific space and becomes the nucleus around which most economic activities take place, it is generally a city.
Under these conditions, the structure of a methodology that allows addressing the dimension of an economic region including technological progress, externalities and increasing factor returns is specified here. Therefore, this methodology has the capacity to represent the functioning of a complex dynamic system, since an economic region is understood as a set composed of subsets, where some of them have intersections between their elements. The main subsets would be:
•  Economic dimension of a region, given by the integrated set of agents (N).
•  Institutions (I)
•  Physical geographical space (E).
•  Stock of economic assets (A)
•  Size of the market in terms of breadth and depth (M).
•  Human capacities and human talents (h).
•  State of technology (level of technological progress) (k).
•  Added income of the region (y).
•  Intensity of agents' preferences for the goods and services of the region (z).
The economic dimension of a region contains the subsets. Its magnitude is determined by the number of economic agents operating in a given region. The elements of this set are complementary to each other, and therefore generate increasing returns to scale, which is why they tend to attract each other, provided that the force resulting from their attraction for complementation is superior to the forces that disperse them, such as for example, the incentives to move to another economic sector or to other regions.
Therefore, for the elements that are part of each of these sets to remain or accumulate in a specific region, the expected return must be greater than its cost. If the expected return is greater than the cost of remaining in that region, this condition exerts a force of attraction of other subsets and creates a process of accumulation; In case this force is not enough to link its complementary resources, a process of leaving these resources to other regions will be presented.
The institutions are the established rules of the game and the behavioral patterns implicit in the agents of each region. The rules of the game homogenize agents' behaviors and link them to certain patterns. As the notion of region that is discussed here refers specifically to a regional scale, the established rules are considered to be mainly exogenous; so for all regions they are homogeneous.
The elements that differentiate institutions between regions can be classified in terms of: effectiveness, relevance and credibility. Effectiveness can be understood as the degree to which institutions manage to modify a certain set of agents' behavior. Relevance is reflected in the degree to which behaviors resulting from the application of institutions lead to agents maximizing their level of wellness. This means that if the agents follow these rules they will obtain the highest possible level of wellness compared to any other behavior. Credibility indicates the degree to which agents believe that compliance with established rules leads unequivocally to the best possible results.
The dimension of a region in physical space (E) represents the spatial scale in which goods are physically made. It is the space in which most of the agents and economic assets that operate and are economically based around a pattern of agglomeration of economic processes are established. The geographic space of a region can be delimited by the spatial scope of the economic activity, by an institution or by a combination of these two.
The stock of economic assets (A), is a set that consists of elements such as financial assets, including the financial system and its efficiency. Physical assets that include assets created to produce as machinery, generation and energy supply infrastructure, communication channels, public social services infrastructure such as drinking water, sewage systems, electric light, natural gas, vehicles for consumption, housing modern. Also included in this group is the vehicle fleet, such as vehicles, airplanes, ships, trains, urban metros, airports, productive lands, tourism assets, stock of agricultural production, information technology and communications.
Assets of natural origin as tourist attractions, water sources, level of purity of air, air speed, hydrocarbons, and exploitable minerals for economic commercial purposes.
Social services such as aqueduct companies, urban cleaning, hospitals, health centers, child protection agencies, schools, universities, research centers, training centers, justice agencies, citizen security agencies, spaces for sport and leisure.
The dimension of the markets is a set that is composed of three subsets: number of agents, aggregate level of income and volume of transactions. The number of agents indicates the potential size of a region's economy in terms of production and consumption levels. But the real size of an economic region is determined by the level and complementarity of the elements of this set, since it is this that allows the economic realization of the capital of an economic region.
The proposal in conceptual and methodological terms that is exposed in this article integrates elements of different theoretical approaches and contributes to enrich regional economic science. This proposal allows us to represent the functioning of a regional economic system, identifying the behavior of agents at the microeconomic level, their dynamics and the integration of different productive assets in the long term. In the same way, it gathers the increasing returns of technological progress and externalities by economies of scale, showing if the changes in each variable are evolutionary, stable or degenerative.
Classification-JEL: R1
Keywords: Economía regional, Clubs de convergencia, Desigualdad, Dinámica Evolutiva, Rendimientos Crecientes, Complementariedad Económica, Instituciones Económicas, Regional economy, Beta Convergence, Economic inequality, Evolutionary Dynamics, Increasing Returns, Economic Complementarity, Change Technology
Pages: 93-115
Volume: 3
Year: 2019
File-URL: http://www.revistaestudiosregionales.com/documentos/articulos/pdf-articulo-2580.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
Handle: RePEc:rer:articu:v:3:y:2019:p:93-115