Start of research projects on climate change, skilled worker shortages and modeling spatial economic development

In the project „Modelling spatial economic development and policy recommendation”, Damiaan Persyn will assess how changes in the economic environment affect socio-economic development and the spatial distribution of households and businesses in the long run. For this purpose, Damiaan will develop a quantitative spatial model that can, for example, be used to assess the impact of increased home office use, industrial automation, as well as local policy measures, such as transport infrastructure investment and innovation subsidies for local firms.

“Climate change and its impact on firms and the spatial distribution of economic activity” will be a research focus of Martin Simmler. The aim of this project is to analyze the impact of transport and energy costs on firm decision and to assess the impact of the transition to greenhouse gas neutrality on economic activity in rural and non-rural areas in Germany. On the one hand, the project will evaluate the impact of transport costs on location and production decision of firms in Germany. On the other hand, it will focus on the spatial proximity between energy produces and uses, specifically power plants and firms, and analyze how spatial proximity impacts energy and network costs and thereby the spatial distribution of firms.

Jointly with the Institute for Employment Research, Jan Cornelius Peters will explore “Regional patterns of skilled worker shortages and their causes”.  Focus of the analysis will be the (relative) scale of skilled worker shortages in rural areas and which role structural difference between rural and more densely populated region play for regional variation in skilled worker shortages. Other aspects that the research group will assess include the regional location choice of skilled workers that immigrate from abroad, and the characteristics of companies that recruit them.