IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/anresc/v74y2025i1d10.1007_s00168-024-01342-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The socio-economic consequences of remote working: evidence from the European administrations in Brussels

Author

Listed:
  • André Spithoven

    (Universiteit Gent
    Belgian Science Policy Office
    Vrije Universiteit Brussels)

  • Bruno Merlevede

    (Universiteit Gent)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic urged policymakers to promote remote work. We showcase the impacts of remote working for the EU administrations in Brussels. Based on meticulous data collection and using an input–output multiplier approach, the paper calculates four scenarios on the socio-economic consequences of value-added and employment for Brussels and its neighbouring regions. Each scenario diminishes the time non-Belgian EU employees spend in Brussels. The estimates demonstrate a substantial contribution of the EU administrations in the regions of Belgium and highlight the impact of remote working, which is relevant for other cities’ economies known for being international hotspots.

Suggested Citation

  • André Spithoven & Bruno Merlevede, 2025. "The socio-economic consequences of remote working: evidence from the European administrations in Brussels," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 74(1), pages 1-23, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:anresc:v:74:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s00168-024-01342-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s00168-024-01342-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00168-024-01342-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00168-024-01342-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. McCann, Philip, 2001. "Urban and Regional Economics," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198776451.
    2. Belussi, Fiorenza & Sammarra, Alessia & Sedita, Silvia Rita, 2010. "Learning at the boundaries in an "Open Regional Innovation System": A focus on firms' innovation strategies in the Emilia Romagna life science industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 710-721, July.
    3. Valero, Anna & Van Reenen, John, 2019. "The economic impact of universities: Evidence from across the globe," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 53-67.
    4. Soroui, Sarah T., 2021. "Understanding the drivers and implications of remote work from the local perspective: An exploratory study into the dis/reembedding dynamics," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    5. Kristinn Hermannsson, 2016. "Beyond Intermediates: The Role of Consumption and Commuting in the Construction of Local Input–Output Tables," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(3), pages 315-339, July.
    6. Ludovic Halbert, 2004. "The Decentralization of Intrametropolitan Business Services in the Paris Region: Patterns, Interpretation, Consequences," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 80(4), pages 381-404, October.
    7. Semin Suvarierol, 2009. "Networking in Brussels: Nationality over a Glass of Wine," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(2), pages 411-435, March.
    8. repec:bla:jcmkts:v:47:y:2009:i::p:411-435 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Monica Molino & Emanuela Ingusci & Fulvio Signore & Amelia Manuti & Maria Luisa Giancaspro & Vincenzo Russo & Margherita Zito & Claudio G. Cortese, 2020. "Wellbeing Costs of Technology Use during Covid-19 Remote Working: An Investigation Using the Italian Translation of the Technostress Creators Scale," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-20, July.
    10. Ludivine Martin & Laetitia Hauret & Chantal Fuhrer, 2022. "Digitally transformed home office impacts on job satisfaction, job stress and job productivity. COVID-19 findings," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(3), pages 1-23, March.
    11. Marta Fana & Sergio Torrejón Pérez & Enrique Fernández-Macías, 2020. "Employment impact of Covid-19 crisis: from short term effects to long terms prospects," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 47(3), pages 391-410, September.
    12. Nicola Francesco Dotti & André Spithoven & Ariane Wautelet & Walter Ysebaert, 2021. "The ‘certain’ returns from expenditures for ‘uncertain’ activities: a local multiplier approach to evaluate regional R&I policy," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(2), pages 389-409, February.
    13. Chatterjee, Sheshadri & Chaudhuri, Ranjan & Vrontis, Demetris, 2022. "Does remote work flexibility enhance organization performance? Moderating role of organization policy and top management support," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1501-1512.
    14. Prithwiraj (Raj) Choudhury & Cirrus Foroughi & Barbara Larson, 2021. "Work‐from‐anywhere: The productivity effects of geographic flexibility," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(4), pages 655-683, April.
    15. Kristinn Hermannsson & Peter G. McGregor & J. Kim Swales, 2018. "Students’ consumption expenditures in economic impact studies: assumptions revisited in an input–output approach for Scotland," Regional Studies, Regional Science, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 57-77, January.
    16. Antoine Pennaforte & Bowen T, 2017. "The impact of digital communication technologies and new remote-working cultures on the socialization and work readiness of individuals in WIL programs: An international perspective," Post-Print hal-02103161, HAL.
    17. Geoffrey Hewings & John Parr, 2007. "Spatial Interdependence in a Metropolitan Setting," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(1), pages 7-22.
    18. Markus Perkmann, 2006. "Extraregional Linkages and the Territorial Embeddedness of Multinational Branch Plants: Evidence from the South Tyrol Region in Northeast Italy," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 82(4), pages 421-441, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hermannsson, Kristinn & McIntyre, Stuart G., 2014. "Local consumption and territorial based accounting for CO2 emissions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 1-11.
    2. Ng, Peggy M.L. & Lit, Kam Kong & Cheung, Cherry T.Y., 2022. "Remote work as a new normal? The technology-organization-environment (TOE) context," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    3. Simona Iammarino & Philip McCann, 2010. "The Relationship between Multinational Firms and Innovative Clusters," Chapters, in: Ron Boschma & Ron Martin (ed.), The Handbook of Evolutionary Economic Geography, chapter 8, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Tiberius, Victor & Chen, Nicole & Bartels, Mirko & Oelsnitz, Dietrich von der, 2024. "Breaking out! A netnography study on motives of a digital nomad lifestyle," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    5. Irene Sala & Maurizio Sobrero, 2021. "Games of policy and practice: multi-level dynamics and the role of universities in knowledge transfer processes," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 866-906, August.
    6. Zenon Pokojski & Agnieszka Kister & Marcin Lipowski, 2022. "Remote Work Efficiency from the Employers’ Perspective—What’s Next?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-16, April.
    7. Ro’i Zultan & Eldar Dadon, 2023. "Missing the forest for the trees: when monitoring quantitative measures distorts task prioritization," Working Papers 2319, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Economics.
    8. Carl Gaigné & Jacques-François Thisse, 2013. "New Economic Geography and the City," Working Papers SMART 13-02, INRAE UMR SMART.
    9. Ioannou, Stefanos & Wójcik, Dariusz & Pažitka, Vladimír, 2021. "Financial centre bias in sub-sovereign credit ratings," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    10. Gerrit van der Pol, 2008. "Urban economic (re)development after declining base industries: a comparison between Emmen (NL) and Durham, North Carolina (USA)," NEURUS papers neurusp131, NEURUS - Network of European and US Regional and Urban Studies.
    11. Dickson, Matt & Donnelly, Michael & Kameshwara, Kalyan Kumar & Lazetic, Predrag, 2024. "The Scarring Effect of Graduate Underemployment: Evidence from the UK," IZA Discussion Papers 17364, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Ferretti, Marco & Guerini, Massimiliano & Panetti, Eva & Parmentola, Adele, 2022. "The partner next door? The effect of micro-geographical proximity on intra-cluster inter-organizational relationships," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    13. John Parr, 2015. "The city and the region as contrasts in spatial organization," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 54(3), pages 797-817, May.
    14. Nicholas Bloom & John Van Reenen & Heidi Williams, 2019. "A toolkit of policies to promote innovation," Voprosy Ekonomiki, NP Voprosy Ekonomiki, issue 10.
    15. Nicholas Bloom & Renata Lemos & Raffaella Sadun & John Van Reenen, 2020. "Healthy Business? Managerial Education and Management in Health Care," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(3), pages 506-517, July.
    16. Vicente Romero de à vila Serrano, 2019. "The Intrametropolitan Geography of Knowledge-Intensive Business Services (KIBS): A Comparative Analysis of Six European and U.S. City-Regions," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 33(4), pages 279-295, November.
    17. Norlander, Peter & Erickson, Christopher, 2022. "The Role of Institutions in Job Teleworkability Before and After the Covid-19 Pandemic," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1172, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    18. Tobias Schlegel & Curdin Pfister & Dietmar Harhoff & Uschi Backes-Gellner, 2022. "Innovation effects of universities of applied sciences: an assessment of regional heterogeneity," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 63-118, February.
    19. Bautista, M. A. & González, F. & Martínez, L. R. & Muñoz, P. & Prem, M., 2020. "Chile’s Missing Students: Dictatorship, Higher Education and Social Mobility," Documentos de Trabajo 18163, Universidad del Rosario.
    20. Barrero, Jose Maria & Bloom, Nick & Davis, Steven J., 2020. "Why Working From Home Will Stick," SocArXiv wfdbe, Center for Open Science.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C67 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Input-Output Models
    • O19 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - International Linkages to Development; Role of International Organizations
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:anresc:v:74:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s00168-024-01342-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.