Studying Spatial Economic Relationships

Presenter: Dr Karen MalamRegions

researchBITRE

Regional economies• Boundaries

– Functional unit– Customised

• Data– Small area estimation– Survey data

2

Industry Structure

• Differences in regional industry structure plays a significant, but partial, role in explaining differences in regional economic growth.

• A region's industry structure is closely tied to the size of its economy – but what is a regional economy?

• Needed to develop working zone boundaries

Information paper 49

3

Working zones

• Labour market - economic functional area • Based on commuting flows between Statistical Local Areas

Local Government Areas BITRE’s Working zones

4

Map of Melbourne’s Working Zone

Research report 125

5 Source: BITRE 2011a

Commuting to Wyndham North SLA

Source: BITRE 2011a6

Melbourne 2030 activity centres

BITRE 2011a7

Melbourne CADother CADs

All CADs

PACs

SACs

All Activity CentresRemaining Areas

-1.00

-0.50

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

Employment average annual growth rate, 2001 to 2006

Aver

age

annu

al g

rowt

h ra

te (p

er c

ent)

Population movements

Research report 122

8 BITRE 2011b

Population movements, 2001 to 2006

9 Major Cities Unit, Department of Infrastructure and Transport 2011

Household Wealth• To improve understanding of

household wealth & its relevance to regional wellbeing

• To explore the relationship between regional wealth and regional income

• To develop and analyse new measures of household wealth for Australia’s regions– 2003-04 snapshot

Information paper 63

10

Methodology• Small area estimation

• ABS Survey of Income and Housing 2003-04– Provides capital city/state balance benchmarks for each wealth component

• Small area data sources:– Valuer -General’s data on property sales– ATO Taxation Statistics– Census data– Other ABS data

• Estimates produced for 1135 Statistical Local Areas

11

Average household wealth, 2003-04

12 BITRE 2009

Comparison of wealth and income

13 BITRE 2009

Social Capital

• Analyse the spatial dimensions of social capital in Australia.

• Explore the extent to which social capital is related to particular aspects of the economic and social wellbeing of Australia’s regions.

• Measure key elements of social capital at a regional scale.

Information paper 55

14

• ABS Social Capital framework

• Data sources

– Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA)

– ABS General Social Survey

• Boundaries

– Capital cities and Balance of state

– Remoteness classification

– 69 BITRE defined regions

• 33 Social Capital indicators

Methodology

15

Network qualities• Feeling of safety at home after dark• Neighbours helping each other out• Volunteering rate• Active membership• Labour force participation rate

Network structure• Frequency of social contact• Usage of email or chat sites in the last 12 months• Proportion who live in the same SLA as they did 5 years ago

Network transactions• Could ask someone for a favour• Capacity to raise $2000 in a week for emergency• Integration into the community

Network types• I often feel very lonely• Only get together socially once a months or less with friends or relatives

Examples of indicators

16 BITRE 2005

Community involvement

17 BITRE 2005

Concluding remarks• Regional economies

• Boundaries– Administrative– ABS – Mesh blocks – Functional area– Customised area

• Availability of data– Wide variety of sources (sometimes of varying quality). – Development of new datasets – Confidentiality and small sample size

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Karen MalamBITRE Regional Research

karen.malam@infrastructure.gov.au

<www.bitre.gov.au>