Spatial rural economic development
Regional employment and population change have displayed considerable spatial disparities within Northern Ireland in recent years. In order to gain an improved understanding of the underlying drivers of regional economic development, statistical analysis has been undertaken to identify and quantify the determinants of regional employment and population change within rural areas in Northern Ireland. The analysis was undertaken using specialised econometric techniques that account for interactions between employment and population within a spatial context.
The results demonstrate the importance of agglomeration effects (i.e. employment growth within a particular region has a positive effect on employment growth in neighbouring regions) in determining employment in rural areas, including spill-over effects from urban regions to nearby rural areas.
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