The tendency towards urbanization in the emerging world accompanied by the constant pursuit for higher productivity prompts an urge for studies aiming at understanding agglomeration economies. In the context of Brazil, a country with extremely high regional disparities, exploring this issue is important not only for private stakeholders, but also for public policy practitioners. In the framework of static agglomeration effects, we investigate the industrial scope of agglomeration economies in Brazil. On the basis of identified registration data covering the whole formal labor market in three distinct years (2004, 2008 and 2012), we estimate separate models for the logarithm of the hourly individual wage for five broad economic sectors (S1-Manufacturing low-tech, S2-Manufacturing medium-tech, S3-Manufacturing high-tech, S4-Services less-knowledge, and S5-Services high-knowledge). Different estimation strategies are considered in a two-stage mode: with and without individual fixed effects in the first stage, and with and without instrumental variables for population density in the second stage. The main results indicate that there is not a unique optimal local industrial mix to foster productivity in different technological sectors. Comparing possible theoretical approaches (MAR, Jacobs, Porter) related to combinations of diversity, specialization and competition, we find that for S5 only diversity is significant (and positive), suggesting that a Jacobs' perspective is rather adequate. For S1, S2 and S4, the MAR framework seems more adequate to explain the underlying patterns. In the case of S3, there are elements from both Marshall's and Jacobs' perspectives. These results seem to be robust to different specifications and estimation strategies. Finally, the urbanization economies coefficient appears to be positive and significant for all sectors, ranging from 0.0511 to 0.0940 in different specifications, under the simplest estimation (OLS in the first and the second stages). Ordering these effects between the sectors from the highest to the lowest, we find the following sequence: S3, S1, S5, S4 and S2. This can be considered as evidence that high-tech and low-tech manufacturing sectors benefit more from the urban or metropolitan scale in Brazil, followed by services associated with higher knowledge intensity.

BackgroundInfant mortality is an important measure of human development, related to the level of welfare of a society. In order to inform public policy, various studies have tried to identify the factors that influence, at an aggregated level, infant mortality. The objective of this paper is to analyze the regional pattern of infant mortality in Brazil, evaluating the effect of infrastructure, socio-economic, and demographic variables to understand its distribution across the country.MethodsRegressions including socio-economic and living conditions variables are conducted in a structure of panel data. More specifically, a spatial panel data model with fixed effects and a spatial error autocorrelation structure is used to help to solve spatial dependence problems. The use of a spatial modeling approach takes into account the potential presence of spillovers between neighboring spatial units. The spatial units considered are Minimum Comparable Areas, defined to provide a consistent definition across Census years. Data are drawn from the 1980, 1991 and 2000 Census of Brazil, and from data collected by the Ministry of Health (DATASUS). In order to identify the influence of health care infrastructure, variables related to the number of public and private hospitals are included.ResultsThe results indicate that the panel model with spatial effects provides the best fit to the data. The analysis confirms that the provision of health care infrastructure and social policy measures (e.g. improving education attainment) are linked to reduced rates of infant mortality. An original finding concerns the role of spatial effects in the analysis of IMR. Spillover effects associated with health infrastructure and water and sanitation facilities imply that there are regional benefits beyond the unit of analysis.ConclusionsA spatial modeling approach is important to produce reliable estimates in the analysis of panel IMR data. Substantively, this paper contributes to our understanding of the physical and social factors that influence IMR in the case of a developing country.

The spatial mismatch between residential locations and jobs can be particularly relevant for low-skilled individuals. In this paper, we first explore such phenomenon from the perspective of the distance of the residence to the geographic concentration of jobs, and locational disadvantages of the urban form itself. Such unequal conditions in the labor market present a great challenge for the spatial sustainability of the multiple equilibria achieved simultaneously at the labor and the housing markets. We estimate the main aspects that influence wage differentials among individuals, focusing on the role of accessibility on labor market outcomes. We suggest the inclusion of geographical characteristics as instruments to deal with endogeneity problems that arise in the estimation of urban price models. Our strategy is based on the inclusion of a specific geographic/historic variable as instrument, namely the river shore access to the first school built by the Jesuits in São Paulo, the city's founding location. Geography acted as a determinant of the location of the transportation infrastructure in the region, so that the road and rail networks in the city present a strong spatial correlation with pre-urban "waterways". Nowadays, the vast majority of rivers and creeks are covered with asphalt and cement, and economic agents are practically unaware of their existence.

Abstract. The spatial mismatch hypothesis states that a lack of connection to job opportunities may affect an individual's prospects in the labour market, especially for low-skilled workers. This phenomenon is especially observed in large urban areas, in which low-skilled minorities tend to live far away from jobs and face geographical barriers to finding and keeping jobs. This paper aims to investigate whether this negative relationship between spatial mismatch and labour market outcomes is valid in Brazil after controlling for individual characteristics. Our conclusions indicate that there is no clear relation between different measures of accessibility to jobs and the probability of being unemployed. However, for wages there is a clear correlation, which is stronger in larger metropolitan areas than in the country and has a more detrimental effect for low-skilled workers. This paper contributes to the literature by investigating the spatial mismatch in urban labour markets in Brazil. For the empirical literature in the country, this is an original contribution, as the comparison of intra-urban labour market dynamics of different urban areas provide a more comprehensive perspective of the role city size may play in local labour markets. Given the exploratory nature of this work, our results still rely on strong identification hypotheses to avoid potential bias related to simultaneous location decisions of workers and firms within the city. Even if these conditions do not hold, the results are still meaningful as they provide a better understanding of the conditional distribution of wages and the unemployment rate in the biggest metropolitan areas of Brazil.JEL classification: R32, J64, J31

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Abstract. This Manifesto provides a joint proposal to create a Regional Science Academy as a think-tank support platform for a strategic development of the spatial sciences. The Regional Science Academy is a strategic spatial knowledge catalyst: it acts as a global intellectual powerhouse for new knowledge network initiatives and scholarly views on regions and cities as vital centrepieces of interconnected spatial systems. This contribution highlights its role and presents various activity plans.'All the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come' Victor Hugo 1 Prologue 'The most dangerous worldview is the worldview of those who have not viewed the world' Alexander von HumboldtOver the past months, various scholars with a deep professional interest in the spatial sciences have met in varying compositions and on different occasions to discuss the strong and weak points in the spatial sciences, in particular from the perspective of their future vitality, with a view to identifying promising opportunities that would make a difference. Their intensive discussions were prompted by a widely shared concern on the lack of innovativeness, vibrancy, and external recognition of the spatial sciences. R1

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Este trabalho contou com o apoio financeiro da FIPE, da FAPESP e do Governo do Canadá, sem o que sua consecução teria sido impossível. Agradeço ao Programa de Pós-Graduação em Economia da FEA-USP, ambiente propício para a minha evolução como pessoa e pesquisadora, e à McMaster University, local de meu intercâmbio. Agradeço ao Professor Eduardo Amaral Haddad por seu papel fundamental como orientador e conselheiro. Sua contribuição esteve além da simples função de orientador, sendo também um exemplo de pesquisador, por sua conduta ética, caráter, e trabalho sério e competente. Toda a paciência dispensada e ensinamentos foram essenciais para minha formação. Destaco também as oportunidades as quais tive acesso por seu intermédio, como cursos no exterior e o intercâmbio. Ao Professor Antonio Páez, coorientador do trabalho, um agradecimento especial por sua valorosa contribuição em relação ao direcionamento e estreitamento do escopo da análise. O aprendizado durante este período de interação foi muito intenso e valioso. A ele devo também em grande medida o intercâmbio ao Canadá, que enriqueceu muito o trabalho e ampliou minha visão de mundo. Aos meus familiares, em especial à minha mãe, Maria Cristina Bonomi, pelo amor, apoio incondicional e compreensão. Na vida, eles constituem um exemplo a ser seguido, contribuindo para formar o meu caráter e me tornar uma pessoa melhor. Aos demais professores do Departamento de Economia da FEA-USP, que fizeram parte da minha vida nestes sete anos, contribuindo para as minhas inquietações. Em especial, aos Professores Carlos Azzoni e Danilo Igliori, pelos valiosos comentários no Exame de Qualificação, e também os Professores Carlos Luque e Lenina Pomeranz, pelo incentivo. Ao Desnes, um agradecimento especial pelo apoio, carinho, e por não me deixar desistir. À turma do Mestrado de 2007, amigos e companheiros de um momento tão intenso de aprendizado e crescimento, que tornaram este um período muito especial da minha vida. Obrigada pelo respeito e carinho que todos vocês me dispensaram, sempre. Ao João Eduardo, pela amizade incondicional e pelo exemplo de competência e seriedade. À Vanessa e à Daniela, companheiras de Itália e amigas para toda hora. À Keiti, pelo enorme carinho. Aos grandes amigos do Nereus, que passam, mas que permanecem-André Chagas, Silvio, Gervásio, Ludmila, Marinho, Raulzito, Weslem, Sarahpor me acompanharem nesta caminhada. Aos demais amigos e colegas do IPE-USP, às meninas, aos amigos dos tempos antigos, por fazerem parte da minha vida. que possam ocasionar a morte prematura torna-se cada vez mais essencial.