ANNUAL REPORT 2015

STAFF 4

ACTIVITIES 7

RESEARCH 11

FISCAL FEDERALISM, TAXATION AND POLITICAL ECONOMY 12

REGIONAL GROWTH AND INDUSTRIAL POLICY 15

REGIONAL LABOUR MARKETS AND DYNAMICS 18

PUBLICATIONS 21

PRESENTATIONS 27

PRESS 31

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VIVES, the Research Centre for Regional Economics, is a research institute within the Faculty of

Economics and Business at the KU Leuven. Its mission is to conduct fundamental and applied research

on regional economics and policy to support the public debate on the economic and social development

of regions, with a particular emphasis on Flanders. This annual report introduces our research team and

presents some important VIVES activities of the past year. The report also provides an overview of our

research activities and a list of publications, presentations by VIVES researchers and press articles

covering the research performed at VIVES.

The research activities of VIVES in 2015 resulted in 16 international publications, 3 discussion papers,

8 policy paper and 8 briefings in the domains of i) fiscal federalism, taxation and political economy, ii)

regional growth and industrial policy, and iii) regional labour markets. Furthermore, 3 VIVES researchers

successfully completed their PhD in 2015. To mark the closing of a fruitful four-year Flemish policy

research program on Entrepreneurship and Regional Economics (Steunpunt ORE), VIVES organized a

final workshop on industrial policy in Flanders for a broad audience of researchers and policy makers.

In 2015, VIVES managed to attract substantial new sources of research funding, which led to the hiring

of 4 new researchers into the VIVES team at the turn of 2015. Professor Joep Konings obtained the

Methusalem grant, excellence financing from the KU Leuven, to carry out important fundamental

research on the micro channels of macro-economic fluctuations. Next, the Econopolis Chair was

launched with a special research focus on the drivers of firm growth and a biennial lecture series in which

an internationally renowned economist will be invited to present a keynote lecture for a public of

academics and professionals. A research grant was received from the Forum for Multinational

Companies in Belgium (MCB Forum) to conduct research on multinational behaviour in Belgium and the

role of corporate taxation, including the notional interest deduction scheme. Since its founding in 2008,

VIVES can also count on the sponsorship of entrepreneurs and individuals who support fundamental

and policy-oriented research on the socioeconomic development of regions, in particular of Flanders

and institutional transformation, including state formation.

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CHAIRMAN

Prof. Dr. Joep Konings

Globalization and regional competition

DIRECTOR

Prof. Dr. Erik Buyst

Institutional economics

SENIOR FACULTY

Prof. Dr. Joze Damijan

International economics and regional integration

Dr. Cathy Lecocq

Regional economic development

Dr. Jo Reynaerts

Industrial policy

Prof. Dr. Stijn Vanormelingen

Industrial organization

STAFF 1

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RESEARCHERS

Fiscal federalism, taxation and political economy

Geert Goeyvaerts

Regional tax policy and

public policy

Geert Jennes

Fiscal transfers and

fiscal federalism

Meradj Morteza

Pouraghdam

Law and economics

Sander Ramboer

Local tax policy and

tax competition

Jakob Vanschoonbeek

Political economy of state

fragmentation

Regional growth and industrial policy

Lieselot Baert

Economics of

congestion

Floriana Borino

Shocks and regional

productivity growth

Koen Breemersch

International trade and

regional performance

Stijn De Ruytter

Regional economics and

clusters

Machteld Joly

Firm growth

Jeroen Van den

Bosch

Firm productivity and

competition

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Regional labour markets and dynamics

Birgit Derzelle

Migration

Asmae El Gallaa

Regional employment

dynamics and price-cost

margins

Robrecht

Vandendriessche

Regional labour markets

Marieke Vandeweyer

Regional job multipliers

SUPPORT

Greet Lauvrijs

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Public defense Luca Marcolin

On March 13, Luca Marcolin successfully defended his dissertation titled “Essays

on the Labor Market and Productivity” in the auditorium of the Arenberg Castle,

Heverlee. The main focus of Luca’s PhD is on the analysis of the links between the

firm’s internationalization, its profitability, and its workers’ wages.

ACTIVITIES 2

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VIVES Seminar on political economy and fiscal

federalism

Geert Jennes organized a seminar on political economy and fiscal federalism on

April 23, in Leuven. Klaas Staal of the University of Bonn presented “The political

economy of country size and public good provision” and David Stadelmann of the

University of Bayreuth presented “How local autonomy protects future generations

from today’s public debts”.

Conference in honor of Christopher A. Pissarides

Professor Joep Konings coordinated the plenary

session at the conference in honor of the 2010

Economics’ Nobel laureate, Prof. Chris Pissarides

on the 1st of July. The plenary session dealt with the

Greek crisis and in particular: “Macro Policies in

Europe: Do we have the right model?”

Public defense Wouter Torfs

On July 3, Wouter Torfs successfully defended his dissertation

on “Labour Markets in Space”. Wouter analyzed local labour

markets and commuting patterns in Belgium, with a special

focus on regional border effects and trends of increasing

urbanization.

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Public defense Geert Jennes

On October 2, Geert Jennes successfully defended his PhD

dissertation “The political geography of fiscal transfers:

Evidence using data on Belgium”. His work focused on the

relationship between the geographic distribution of the

government budget in Belgium and the geographic distribution

of political power and government popularity.

Inauguration Econopolis Chair

On November 9, Econopolis, VIVES and the Faculty of Economics and Business KU

Leuven celebrated the formal inauguration of the ‘Econopolis Chair’. The aim of the

‘Econopolis Chair’ is to do fundamental research on ‘Hidden Champions’ and

their drivers of growth. Additionally, a biennial ‘Econopolis Chair’ lecture series will

be organized in which internationally renowned lecturers will be invited to give a

keynote lecture.

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STORE Workshop on “Industrial Policy in Flanders”

In cooperation with the Department of Economics, Science and Innovation (EWI) of

the Flemish government, the Policy Research Centre Entrepreneurship & Regional

Economics (STORE) hosted a second workshop on industrial policy in Flanders on

November 30 at the Brussels Campus of the Vlerick Business School. This event

marked the closing of a four-year research program analyzing firm growth,

entrepreneurship and regional supply linkages in Flanders.

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RESEARCH 3 Research at VIVES mainly focusses on three domains:

FISCAL FEDERALISM, TAXATION AND POLITICAL ECONOMY

Research on fiscal policy and political economy includes interregional transfers,

regional debt and state reform, government size, decentralization and fiscal

autonomy, political economy and the size of nations, and tax competition between

regions.

REGIONAL GROWTH AND INDUSTRIAL POLICY

Research in this domain covers a wide range of topics such as regional

competitiveness, industrial policy and the importance of service industries,

entrepreneurship and urban economics.

REGIONAL LABOUR MARKETS AND DYNAMICS

The study of regional labour markets includes the dynamics of regional labour

markets, labour mobility, wages and labour productivity and the drivers of regional

employment growth.

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FISCAL FEDERALISM, TAXATION

AND POLITICAL ECONOMY

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Calculations of the fiscal transfers between regions typically assume a balanced federal

budget. However, in the Belgian context, the presence of persistent primary surpluses of the

Flemish region in combination with persistent primary deficits of the Walloon region -and to a

lesser extent of the Brussels region- further increase the actual net fiscal transfer from Flanders

to the rest of Belgium. The work of Jennes (2015a) therefore recalculates net fiscal transfer in

Belgium over the period 1970-2002 taking the federal budget deficits into account and studies

the political geography of the federal public debt in Belgium. Using a game-theoretical

framework, Jennes explains why interregional fiscal transfers resulting from the federal debt

may provide an explanation for the large overall size of deficits and debt that have

characterized Belgium since the 1970s. Based on the empirically analysis of the geography of

deficit incentives in Belgium, Jennes also tests whether Francophone Belgian politicians

governing at the federal level have more of an incentive to run a federal deficit than Flemish

politicians in the federal government.

In further research published as VIVES briefing, Jennes (2015b) predicts the impact of the

fiscal policy planned by the government Michel in the period 2015-2018 on the ‘normal’

interregional transfers and the fiscal transfers resulting from the federal budget deficit.

In a study published in the Bulletin of Documentation of the Federal Public Service Finance,

Ramboer (2015) presents the results of his research on fiscal interest in Flanders. More

specifically, he tested the impact of fiscal decentralization on productive expenditures within

the Belgian federal context, with a particular interest in the discontinuity in the tax revenue of

Flanders following the fifth state reform in 2001. Fiscal decentralization provides local

governments with an extra incentive to spur local development because increases in local

house prices, business activity and constituents’ income will – given increased tax autonomy -

raise their own tax revenue. Fiscal interest theory suggests that in an attempt to broaden the

tax base, an increase in tax autonomy of local government will therefore lead to a

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REFERENCES

Jennes, G. (2015a), “The political geography of the federal public debt in Belgium.” VIVES Discussion Paper 48.

Goeyvaerts, G. and Buyst, E. (2015) “Een tax shift in de regionale vastgoedfiscaliteit,” VIVES Briefing 28 October 2015.

Jennes, G., (2015b), “Effect van het beleid van de regering Michel op de begrotingstransferten tussen het Belgische gewesten (2015-2018),” VIVES Briefing 13 April 2015.

Ramboer, S. (2015), “Fiscal interest in Flanders: The impact of tax autonomy on productive expenditure”, Bulletin of Documentation of the Federal Public Service Finance 75(1), 75-122.

disproportionate increase in productive public expenditure, i.e. any spending generating

positive feedback effects in tax revenue such as infrastructure projects.

Following the debate in the media on the ‘tax shift’ – a discussion which mainly focused on

federal government competences -, Goeyvaerts and Buyst (2015) decided to study the need

and the possibilities to carry out a tax reform at the regional level. After the sixth state reform,

regional governments in Belgium have more fiscal autonomy than ever. Yet, there is still little

evidence of any structural reforms. Buyst and Goeyvaerts focus on the major regional

competences with respect to real estate taxation. In a briefing, they come up with a proposition

to reform the property tax, the registration fees and the mortgage interest and capital deduction

(‘woonbonus’) that can thoroughly improve the efficiency of the regions’ tax systems.

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Het onderzoek naar regionale economie en industriebeleid vertrekt van data op niveau

REGIONAL GROWTH AND

INDUSTRIAL POLICY

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In a study published in an international journal, Goesaert, Heinz and Vanormelingen

(2015) look at the performance of downsizing firms. Their research builds on detailed data on

firm downsizing events (the timing, number of job losses and reason of downsizing) collected

from German newspaper articles which are matched with the financial data of large German

firms. The authors do not find any evidence of an improvement in the short run of firm

productivity and profitability after job-shedding. Specifically, firms which downsize because

of a business downturn, witness a contemporaneous drop in productivity and profitability,

while firms that use job-shedding to increase their efficiency witness a decrease in

productivity especially in the first year after downsizing.

Using detailed firm-level data, VIVES conducts policy-oriented research on regional

growth and industrial policy for Flanders in the context of STORE, the Policy Research Centre

Entrepreneurship and Regional Economics, hosted by VIVES. Baert and Reynaerts (2015a,

2015b) identified the lead and middle firms in the Flemish industry. The former are the firms

with the highest productivity and the largest contribution to added value in the Flemish

industry, whereas the latter are the firms with an increasing share in the added value and

important growth in labour productivity. The studies show that lead firms as well as middle

firms are mostly situated in low-tech sectors such as the food, chemical and metal products

industry.

Building on the work of Baert and Reynaerts (2015a), Lecocq and De Ruytter (2015) found

that lead firms in the industry in Flanders are not only important in terms of their total added

value and employment, but also for the positive spillover effects they generate on the

productivity of other firms in the region that are active in the same sector as the lead firms.

The results point to an important role of lead firms in regional clustering and to improve the

productivity and competitiveness of the industry in Flanders.

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REFERENCES:

Goesaert, T., Heinz, M., and Vanormelingen, S., (2015), “Downsizing and firm performance: evidence from German firm

data,” Industrial and Corporate Change 24(6), 1443-1472.

Lecocq, C. and De Ruytter, S. (2015), "'Lead firms' in de Vlaamse industrie en de productiviteit van andere ondernemingen

in de regio," Beleidsrapport STORE-B-14-017, pp. 15.

Baert, L. and Reynaerts, J. (2015a), "De economische activiteit en het transformatieproces van lead firms in Vlaanderen sinds 2005," Beleidsrapport STORE-B-14-013, pp. 41.

Baert, L. and Reynaerts, J. (2015b), "De economische activiteit van middle firms in Vlaanderen," Beleidsrapport STORE-B-

14-014, pp. 25. Baert, L., Reynaerts, J. and Vanschoonbeek, J. (2015), “De economische activiteit van lead en middle firms in de Vlaamse

dienstensector,” Beleidsrapport STORE-B-15-005, pp. 31

Lecocq, C., and Van Looy, B. (2015), “What differentiates top regions in the field of biotechnology? An empirical study of

the texture characteristics of biotech regions in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific”, Industrial and Corporate Change,

forthcoming.

Research of Baert, Reynaerts and Vanschoonbeek (2015) also studied the economic

activities of service sectors in Flanders. They found that both lead firms and middle firms in

the services sectors are for a large part active in the less knowledge-intensive sectors such

as the wholesale and retail trade, transportation and storage businesses. In the same way as

the lead firms in the industry, lead firms active in service sectors have grown in importance

since 2008, with increasing shares in total added value and employment in Flanders.

Lecocq and Van Looy (2015) studied regions that developed substantial technological

activities in the field of biotechnology. They find evidence for the existence of two different

avenues for becoming a leading biotech region: in some regions large, established R&D

intensive firms have been of particular importance for the development of regional biotech

technology activities while in other regions the orientation and contribution of scientific actors

(entrepreneurial universities and/or research centres and/or research hospitals) in terms of

technology development differentiates top regions from other biotech regions. At the same

time, the results demonstrate that both entrepreneurial oriented knowledge institutes and a

strong industrial texture consisting of many competing firms is of crucial importance in

sustaining innovation and growth in regions during the rapid growth phase of science-based

industries.

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REGIONAL LABOUR MARKETS

AND DYNAMICS

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belangrioeksthema binnen VIVES betreft de studie van de dynamiek van de

Persyn (2015) analyses the effect of differences in dialects on the commuting flows between

Flemish municipalities. The study provides evidence of less commuting between municipalities

with strong differences in dialects, even after controlling for commuting time and economic

factors. The differences in dialects are probably indicators of local cultural differences or

network effects that inhibit labour mobility. The results point to an upper limit of the amount of

additional labour mobility that can be expected from purely economic interventions such as

infrastructure improvements.

Using Belgian linked employer-employee data, the research of Torfs and Zhao (2015)

provide more insights in the commuting behaviour of high-skilled versus low-skilled workers.

Torfs and Zhao build an assignment model in which workers search for employment in the

central business district, the suburban district or both districts. They find that only high-skilled

workers commute from the suburbs to the central district, while low-skilled workers continue to

search a job locally due to the costs of commuting. Their results show that only high-skilled

workers seem to benefit from the agglomeration economies present in the dense central

business district.

In their discussion paper, Goos, Konings and Vandeweyer (2015) show that high-tech

employment - broadly defined as all workers in high-tech sectors but also workers with STEM

degrees in low-tech sectors - has increased in Europe over the past decade. The researchers

estimate that every high-tech job creates five additional low-tech jobs in the same region

because of the existence of a local high-tech job multiplier. The paper also shows how the

presence of a local high-tech job multiplier results in convergence between European regions.

That is, employment in Europe’s lagging regions is becoming more similar to Europe’s high-

tech hubs.

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This convergence, however, is happening at a glacial pace, and some suggestive evidence is

presented that lifting several institutional barriers to innovation in Europe’s lagging regions

would speed up convergence leading to faster high-tech as well as overall employment while

also addressing Europe’s regional inequalities.

In a study conducted for the VOKA chair, Konings, Lecocq and Vandendriessche (2015)

argue that reinstating the competitiveness of the Belgian firms requires not only the lowering

of labor costs – as expressed in the political ambitions of the government Michel - but also calls

for a thorough revision of the current social dialogue system. The study points to the presence

of a substantial mismatch between the system of ‘paritaire comités’ in Belgium and the rapidly

evolving economic structures. As a result, companies active in the same product markets and

sectors are competing with each other based on uneven wage agreements. Regression

analyses also show that the competitiveness of Belgian firms would benefit from further

decentralizing of the wage negation process at the level of the firm.

REFERENCES:

Goos, M., Konings, J. and Vandeweyer, M., (2015) “Employment growth in Europe: the roles of innovation, local job multipliers and institutions,” VIVES Discussion Papers 50.

Konings, J., Lecocq, C. and Vandendriessche, R., (2014), “Decentralisatie van het Sociaal Overleg,” VOKA Beleidspaper maart 2015, 1-46.

Persyn, D., (2015), “Dialecten en arbeidsmobiliteit”, VIVES Briefing 28 September 2015.

Torfs, W., and Zhao, L. (2015), “Everybody needs good neighbors? Labour mobility costs, cities and matching”, Regional Science and Urban Economics 55, 39-54.

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PUBLICATIONS 4

INTERNATIONAL PUBLICATIONS

Damijan, J.P., Haller, S., Kaitila, V., Kostevc, C., Maliranta, M., Milet, E., Mirza,

D., and Rojec, M., (2015) “The Performance of Trading Firms in the Services

Sectors – Comparable Evidence from Four EU Countries”, The World Economy

38(12), 1809-1849.

Damijan, J.P., and Kostevc, C., (2015), “Learning from Trade through Innovation:

Causal Link between Imports, Exports and Innovation in Spanish Micro Data,”

Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 77(3), 408-436.

Damijan, J.P., Kostevc, C. and Polanec, S., (2015), “Access to Finance,

Exporting and a Non-Monotonic Firm Expansion,” Empirica 42(1), 131-155.

Damijan, J.P., Kostevc, C. and Rojec, M., (2015), “Bright past, shady future? Past

and potential future export performance of CEE countries in a comparative

perspective,” Post-Communist Economies 27(3), 306-335.

Damijan, J.P., Kostevc, C. and Rojec, M., (2015), “Growing Lemons and

Cherries? Pre- and Postacquisition Performance of Foreign-acquired Firms

in New EU-member States,” The World Economy 38(4), 751-772.

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Damijan, J.P., and Stare, M., (2015), “Do Innovation Spillovers Impact Employment

and Skill Upgrading?” The Services Industries Journal 35(13), 728-745.

Decramer, S., Fuss C., and Konings, J. (2015). “How Do Exporters React to Changes

in Cost Competitiveness?” The World Economy, forthcoming.

Goesaert, T., Heinz, M., and Vanormelingen, S., (2015), “Downsizing and firm

performance: evidence from German firm data,” Industrial and Corporate Change

24(6), 1443-1472.

Jennes, G. and Persyn, D., (2015), “The Effect of Political Representation on the

Geographic Distribution of Income: Evidence using Belgian Data,” European Journal of Political Economy 37, 178–194.

Konings, J. and Vanormelingen, S, (2015), “The Impact of Training on Productivity

and Wages: Firm Level Evidence,” Review of Economics and Statistics 97(2), 485-

497.

Konings, J., Vandenberghe, V. and Rycx, F. (2015). “(Mis)alignment of Productivity

and Wages: Firm-level Evidence”, International Journal of Manpower, forthcoming.

Lecocq, C., and Van Looy, B. (2015), “What differentiates top regions in the field of

biotechnology? An empirical study of the texture characteristics of biotech regions

in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific,” Industrial and Corporate Change,

forthcoming.

Marcolin, L., and Konings, J. (2015) “International Rent Sharing and Takeovers”,

International Journal of Manpower, forthcoming.

Persyn, D., and Torfs, W., (2015), “A Gravity Equation for Commuting with an

Application to Estimating Regional Border Effects in Belgium”, Journal of Economic Geography, forthcoming.

Torfs, W., and Zhao, L. (2015), “Everybody needs good neighbors? Labour mobility

costs, cities and matching”, Regional Science and Urban Economics 55, 39-54.

Van Biesebroeck, J., Konings, J. and Volpe, C.M. (2015). “Did Export Promotion

help Firms Weather the Crisis?” Economic Policy, forthcoming.

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VIVES DISCUSSION PAPERS

DISCUSSION PAPERS

Goos, M., Konings, J. and Vandeweyer, M. (2015). “Employmenth Growth in

Europe: The Roles of Innovation, Local Job Multipliers and Institutions” Tjalling C. Koopmans Research Institue Discussion Paper 15(10).

Discussion Paper 48:

Geert Jennes

“The political geography of the federal

public debt in Belgium”

Discussion Paper 49:

Geert Jennes

“The Law of 1 over n”

Discussion Paper 50:

Goos, Konings en Vandeweyer

“Employment growth in Europe: the

roles of innovation, local job multipliers

and institutions”

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VIVES BRIEFINGS

Briefing January 5:

Stefaan Decramer and Joep Konings

“Loonkosten en export”

Briefing March 11:

Lieselot Baert and Jo Reynaerts

“Het belang van transport voor de

Belgische industrie en de implicaties

van een kilometerheffing op

vrachtwagens”

Briefing April 13:

Geert Jennes

“Effect van het beleid van de regering

Michel op de begrotingstransferten

tussen de Belgische gewesten (2015-

2018)”

Briefing May 27:

Cathy Lecocq, Jo Reynaerts and

Marieke Vandeweyer

“Op weg naar Europa 2020: een

sterkte-zwakte analyse van

Vlaanderen”

Briefing June 24:

Jo Reynaerts

“Klein maar fijn? Indicaties van de

effecten van het nieuw industrieel

beleid in Vlaanderen”

Briefing August 28:

Jan Eeckhout

“Are big cities too small?”

Briefing September 28:

Damiaan Persyn

“Dialecten en arbeidsmobiliteit”

Briefing October 28:

Geert Goeyvaerts and Erik Buyst

“Een tax shift in de regionale

vastgoedfiscaliteit”

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Beleidsrapport STORE-B-12-003:

Cathy Lecocq, Jo Reynaerts and

Marieke Vandeweyer

“EFRO 2014-2020: een sterkte-zwakte

analyse van Vlaanderen”

Beleidsrapport STORE-B-14-008:

Stijn De Ruytter and Leo Sleuwaegen

“Het beleid ter stimulering van hoge

groei ondernemingen: internationale

vergelijking”

Beleidsrapport STORE-B-14-009:

Cathy Lecocq and Stijn De Ruytter

“Regionale productiviteitsontleding

van de Vlaamse industrie”

Beleidsrapport STORE-B-14-011:

Jonas Debrulle and Johan Maes

“Smells like team spirit? How

entrepreneurial founding team

motivations affect new venture

financial and innovation performance”

Beleidsrapport STORE-B-14-013:

Lieselot Baert and Jo Reynaerts

“De economische activiteit en het

transformatieproces van lead firms in

Vlaanderen sinds 2005”

Beleidsrapport STORE-B-14-014:

Lieselot Baert and Jo Reynaerts

“De economische activiteit van middle

firms in Vlaanderen”

Beleidsrapport STORE-B-14-017:

Cathy Lecocq and Stijn De Ruytter

“‘Lead firms’ in de Vlaamse industrie

en de productiviteit van andere

ondernemingen in de regio”

Beleidsrapport STORE-B15-001

De Ruytter, S., Ramboer, S. en

Sleuwaegen, L.

“Het belang van de strategische

context voor de ontwikkeling van Hoge

Groei Ondernemingen”

Beleidsrapport STORE-B15-002a

Joep Konings, Jo Reynaerts and

Robrecht Vandendriessche

“De strategische transformatiesteun”

Beleidsrapport STORE-B15-002b

Joep Konings, Jo Reynaerts and

Robrecht Vandendriessche

“De effectieve belastingvoet”

STORE POLICY PAPERS

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Beleidsrapport STORE-B-15-005:

Lieselot Baert, Jo Reynaerts en Jakob Vanschoonbeek “De economische activiteit van lead en middle firms in de Vlaamse dienstensector”

Beleidsrapport STORE-B-15-006:

Jo Van Biesebroeck, Joep Konings en

Volpe Martincus

“Economische analyse van

exportpromotie als buffer tegen de

economische crisis”

Beleidsrapport STORE-B-15-013:

Cathy Lecocq en Jeroen Van den

Bosch

“Managementpraktijken in Vlaanderen”

Beleidsrapport STORE-B15-014

Ramboer, S. en Sleuwaegen, L.

“Het belang van de strategische

context voor de ontwikkeling van Hoge

Groei Ondernemingen”

POLICY PAPERS

Ramboer, S. (2015), “Fiscal interest in Flanders: The impact of tax autonomy on

productive expenditure,” Bulletin of Documentation FPS Finance 75(1), 75-122.

Konings, J., Lecocq, C. and Vandendriessche, R., (2014), “Decentralisatie van het

Sociaal Overleg,” VOKA Beleidspaper maart 2015, 1-46.

PRESENTATIONS 5

PRESENTATIONS

Geert Goeyvaerts presented on February 5 the paper “The Rent-User Cost Equivalence

Theorem: Evidence from Time Series” at the ENHR Economics Workshop in Oslo.

On March 7, Geert Goeyvaerts presented “The Rent-User Cost Equivalence Theorem:

Evidence from Time Series” at the Workshop on Real Estate Economics and Finance in

Wiesbaden.

Koen Breemersch presented “Competition and Product Mix Adjustment of Multi-Product

Exporters” at the National Bank of Belgium on March 30, in Brussels.

On April 9, Geert Jennes presented his paper “The geography of incentives to run a

federal budget deficit in Belgium” at the EPCS annual meeting in Groningen.

Koen Breemersch presented “Competition and Product Mix Adjustment of Multiproduct

Exporters: Evidence From Belgium” at the Center of Excellence: Governments & Markets

Seminars in Leuven on May 4.

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Koen Breemersch presented on May 5 “Competition and Product Mix Adjustment of

Multiproduct Exporters: Evidence from Belgium” at the UCL doctoral workshop in Louvain-

la-Neuve.

Lieselot Baert presented “An examination of inter-port competition for imports in the US”

on the WCTRS SIG2 Conference on May 12, in Antwerp.

Bas van Aarle presented “Structural Reforms and Their Effects in the EU: Evidence from

the Lisbon Strategy” at the CEUS workshop on May 21, in Düsseldorf.

Marieke Vandeweyer presented “The effect of minimum wages on employment in

emerging economies: A literature review” on the Belgian day for labour economists on

June 4, in Brussels.

Joep Konings participated in a discussion concerning FDI spillovers at the LEIT workshop

from June 9 till 13, in Izola, Slovenia.

Lieselot Baert presented “Firm-level productivity and transport: Evidence from Belgian

manufacturing,” at the ITEA Annual Conference on June 19, in Oslo.

Joep Konings presented “Globalization and Rent Sharing” at the last meeting with regard

to the EDIPO research project of Belspo on June 22, in Brussels.

On June 26, Joep Konings took part in a panel debate concerning the role of the ECB at

the Trends Summer University in Knokke.

Marieke Vandeweyer presented “Doubling the minimum wage and its effect on labour

market outcomes: Evidence from Brazil” at the 4th SOLE|EALE World meeting on June

27, in Montreal.

Geert Goeyvaerts presented “Improve, move or wait under the same roof” at the ENHR

conference on June 30, in Lisbon.

Joep Konings chaired the plenary session at the conference in honor of Christopher A.

Pissarides on the 1st of July, in Paris.

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Geert Jennes presented “The Law of 1/n for the supra-local governments of Belgium:

does more politicians mean more public spending?” at the IIPF annual conference in

Dublin, on August 22.

On August 27, Marieke Vandeweyer presented “Why is wage inequality so high in the

United States? Pitching cognitive skills against institutions (once again)” at the 30th

Annual Congress of the European Economic Association in Mannheim.

Geert Jennes presented “The geography of incentives to run a federal budget deficit in

Belgium” at the American Political Science Association annual meeting in San Francisco

on September 6.

On September 23, Joze Damijan presented “The problem of SME excess debt” at the

International Conference Challenges for debt restructuring and financing of SMEs in

Ljubljana.

Geert Jennes participated in a panel discussion with regard to “De miljardentransferts:

hoe lang nog?” at the Vlaamse Volksbeweging in Brussels on October 3.

On October 15, Joep Konings gave a lecture titled “Creative destruction as the engine of

the Flemish Economy?” at the KU Leuven Senior Academy in Antwerp.

Geert Jennes presented “Interregional net interest transfers: political economy,

quantitative framework, and application to Belgium” at the University of Halle Colloquy on

November 27.

On November 30, Geert Jennes gave a guest lecture at the University of Bayreuth

concerning “Centralised taxing and spending and the geographic common pool problem”.

Jakob Vanschoonbeek presented “The economics of state fragmentation - Assessing the

economic impact of secession" at the Center of Excellence: Governments & Markets

Seminars in Leuven on December 9.

30

VIVES INFORMAL SEMINAR SERIES

Sander Ramboer presented “Assessing the effects of local taxation on employment”

on February 27.

Robrecht Vandendriessche presented: “De invloed van regeringsformaties op interest

spreads” on April 3.

Jakob Vanschoonbeek presented: “De politieke economie van disintegratie - De economische impact van afscheiding” on April 3.

Jakob Vanschoonbeek presented “The Economics of State Fragmentation - Assessing the Economic Consequences of Secession” on April 24.

Geert Goeyvaerts presented “Improve, move or wait under the same roof” on September 9.

Robrecht Vandendriessche presented “The duration of government formation and government bond yields” on September 21.

Jeroen Van den Bosch presented “Cleansing Effect of Recessions?” on October 21.

31

Loonkostenhandicap doet Belgische export tot 4 procent dalen, Trends, January 6.

Exportprestaties bedrijven niet enkel bepaald door hoge loonkosten, De Tijd, January 6.

Zijn de transfers naar Wallonië tot €16 miljard gestegen?, De Zevende Dag, January 11.

Vlaming betaalt 978 euro aan Waal, De Tijd, January 22.

Zo veel betaalde elke Vlaming aan Waal in 2001, Gazet van Antwerpen, January 23.

Dit geeft weer hoop, De Tijd, January 23.

Economen, de profeten van vandaag, De Morgen, January 23.

Kilometerheffing zal weinig verschil maken, De Standaard, March 12.

Besparingen van Michel I doen transfers wat afnemen, Metro, April 14.

Transfers naar Wallonië dalen licht door maatregelen regering, Het Belang van Limburg, April 14.

Geldtransfers naar Wallonië dalen licht, Gazet van Antwerpen, April 14.

348 miljoen euro minder transfers naar Wallonië, Het Nieuwsblad, April 14.

31

PRESS 6

32

Regering-Michel doet transfers (beetje) dalen, De Standaard, April 14

Ontwaak, arbeider van de toekomst, De Morgen, April 14.

Zonder transfers bedraagt Waals overheidstekort 8 miljard euro, Trends, May 21.

Grexit is enkel een ramp voor Griekenland zelf, Trends, July 2.

QE zal de eurozone niet redden, Trends, July 2.

Steeds meer Brusselse jongeren aan het werk, De Standaard, July 3.

Witte kassa treft vooral Belgische gastronomie, De Standaard, July 16.

Zwaar jobverlies in aantocht ondanks horecaplan, De Standaard, July 16.

Witte kassa zal tot 13.000 banen kosten, Metro, July 17.

Weg met de Maastrichtnormen!, De Tijd, August 4.

Deze gemeenten kunnen best fuseren, De Standaard, August 19.

Dialectgenzen zijn een barrière op de arbeidsmarkt, De Standaard, 28 September.

Dialectgrenzen zijn een barrière op de arbeidsmarkt, Het Nieuwsblad, 28 September.

Geld voor eigen kiezers, De Standaard, October 7.

Leuvense economen pleiten voor taxshift in vastgoed, De Tijd, October 29.

La dette Belge? Un boulet Wallon!, Le Vif/ L’Express, December 11.

33

VIVES Waaistraat 6 bus 3550

3000 LEUVEN, BELGIUM vives@kuleuven.be

www.feb.kuleuven.be/VIVES