The main exporter of the world and its increasing labor costs: China

The main exporter of the world and its increasing labor costs: China  by Varga Anita I think it is not surprising that in 2011 China was again the biggest exporter of the word. Some of the main advantages of the country are the low labor and transportation costs. However the former is getting higher and higher. Comparing countries by their exports in 2011 China was followed by the European Union, Germany and the United States. The reason...

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How Beijing-Shanghai rail will effect economic growth?

How Beijing-Shanghai rail will effect economic growth?  by Vanda SzendreiImproving public transportation has always played an important role in economic development. Now you can see the possible effects of the new Chinese high speed railway, even for clustering. In the summer of 2011 the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway started to operate connecting together two major economic zones. The railway is 1.318-kilometre...

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The prosciuotto cluster of San Daniele

The prosciuotto cluster of San Daniele  by Szabó BalázsThe prosciutto of San Daniele is a world famous ham which is made only by a few town. The business model of this region is based on the experience of decades and the cooperation of local manufacturers.The success roots from the unique production process and the special two-tier cluster system of San Daniele makes the brand even more valuable.  Perhaps most of us have seen the...

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The Ocean’s Hot Dog – The Fish Stick and its Development

The Ocean’s Hot Dog – The Fish Stick and its Development  by Éva Révész At first sight it might seem strange to mention fish sticks together with the topics like science parks and clusters but as you will see, they are strongly related. Transport costs are extremely important in the theory of New Economic Geography and in each and every field of economics. With the lowering of transport costs, after a certain point the economy settles in...

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The Californian high-speed rail project

The Californian high-speed rail project  A prestige investment by Szilard Peredi The construction of the high-speed rail in California started with big expectations, but now it seems that the efficiency of the project is strongly questionable. The High-speed rails are probably the most amazing transport systems of the world. These rails are the symbols of the future’s technologies in some way. Maybe that’s the reason, why it becomes to a prestige investment instead of an efficient movement of the governments. Of course, it’s very hard to compute the costs and the benefits before the construction. The engineers have to take into account...

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The industrial park of Pécs

The industrial park of Pécs  by Márton Kormanik This post examines the way the industrial park of Pécs was created and whether it was successful or not. It also tries to outline if the industrial park was capable of coping with the recent crisis or not. The following post is going to be about the industrial park of Pécs. There was a campaign for encouraging the establishment of new industrial parks throughout different regions of the country....

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“Canal-mania” –water system during the Industrial Revolution in Great-Britain

“Canal-mania” –water system during the Industrial Revolution in Great-Britain  by Mónika Kiss Britain canal-building process between 1760-1840 was extremly important in the process of industrial revolution, as it reduced the transport costs and caused agglomerations to rise.  Transport costs are the heart of the New Economic Geography theory, as they are the most important exogenous factor. If transport costs start to fall, until...

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I believe Europe can fly – The SESAR program

I believe Europe can fly – The SESAR program By Eszter Szücs At the time when we in Hungary still cry about the collapse of our airline, the Malév, in the EU there is an ambitious new project about the union of the EU countries’ skies. This project is called SESAR, and it is developped to be the European air traffic control infrastructure modernisation programme. With the success of this programme, the EU will have a new generation of air management...

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The rise and fall (and rise?) of the Hartford Empire

The rise and fall (and rise?) of the Hartford Empire  Attempts at reducing regional inequality in the greater Hartford area  by Rozalia Kepes The 20th century brought unseen inequality on Hartford county in Connecticut: by today, a ring of wealthy White suburbs surrounds an extremely poor, predominantly Black and Hispanic inner-city area. After years of unsuccessful interventions, downtown Hartford might stand a chance at regaining its...

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Berlin airports economic effects

Berlin airports economic effects  by Priksz Tamás The numbers of Berlin’s airport is decreasing. By nowadays Berlin has only two airports – Tegel, Schönefeld - and in a longer perspective the aim is to build only one called Berlin Brandenburg Willy Brandt Airport. And the BER is starting to operate in one year from now, in 2013. The question is why this new airport is constructed what was the motivation to concentrate the aviation services...

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The Great City and the new city model

The Great City and the new city model  by Popper DávidA new city is planned to be built from scratch in China. The main goal of the project would be an environmentally friendly city model that also ensures all the services of modern city life. This article examines the emerging questions related this project. In October 2012, a lot of online press website has dealt with the news, that in China a new city is planned to be built from scratch....

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Highway to heaven? – Regional effects of the Hungarian M6 motorway

Highway to heaven? – Regional effects of the Hungarian M6 motorway by Pass Dániel On 31st March 2010, M6, the newest motorway of Hungary was opened to the traffic by the prime minister. It was more than two and a half year ago, so we can answer the question whether it has been a good investment? Or was it a mistake to waste a lot of money to this enourmos project? The M6 motorway is a north-south motorway in Hungary connecting the capital...

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How should we imagine the industry clusters of Europe 30 years later?

How should we imagine the industry clusters of Europe 30 years later?  by Ferenc Nyakas The industry of the world is going to change in the next decades – what should we expect for our continent? The decision makers of Europe have to face up with the challenge of the current crisis, but they also have to care about the further future and competitiveness of the continent. The competitiveness can be raised by more effective activities in...

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Sex and the city

Sex and the city by Péter Lukács  Young women seem to outnumber men in the western cities lately. This phenomenon is controversial however, since cities require more skilled workers which could only explain the higher proportion of male inhabitants. One paper argues that attractive marriage markets appear to draw women into the cities. Numbers prove that in the western world young women outnumber young man in urban areas. According to...

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Tropicalisation at Its Best – Copycats Stealing Venture Capital

Tropicalisation at Its Best – Copycats Stealing Venture Capital  Innovation without innovation  by Teodora Lang Copycats are rapidly becoming popular in the eyes of venture capital investors, shifting the whole business towards emerging “tropical” areas. The smell of speedy success is tempting; the question is how fast it will start to stink… Innovation clusters such as Silicon Valley are facing serious competition when it comes...

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The impact of CERN

The impact of CERN  by Kozics György It has been more almost 60 years since the foundation of CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research), and now we can ask the question: how much impact did it have on the economy of the Geneva region? This summer, me and my friends spent one day in Geneva. While wandering the streets, suddenly a tram occurred with a label: „14 CERN”. While running after the tram to see the place where thousands...

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Does history matter? – A tale of the 1879’s great flood of Szeged

Does history matter? – A tale of the 1879’s great flood of Szeged  by Szilléry Mirjam The 1879’s great flood of Szeged is a case where it can be tested whether history played a role in spatial distribution or not. By examining what changed after the reconstruction it can be found that the location of the city is rather determined by first geography factors while the location of certain institutions within the city can be explained with historical...

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