Patricia Melo is an Honorary Associate of the Social, Economic and Geographical Sciences (SEGS) department at the James Hutton Institute. Patricia received her PhD (2010) and MSc (2006) at Imperial College London in regional economics and transport, and obtained her BSc in economics from the Technical University of Lisbon (2003).
Biography
The main focus of Patricia’s research is the spatial disparities in socio-economic performance. Work on socio-economic disparities has included the analysis of the effect of urban agglomeration economies and transport investment on regional development, the importance of proximity to urban areas to rural development, rural-urban interactions and city-region economies. Her research has also focused on the factors determining travel demand and sustainable transport, and commuting patterns.
Patricia has published research in top journals including Regional Science and Urban Economics, the Journal of Economic Geography, the Journal of Regional Science, Urban Studies, and Regional Studies. She has also written short general-readership pieces about her work; some examples are provided below:
- Informing rural policy in Scotland (Oct. 2016)
- While we live in a globalised world, the concentration of activity in cities continues to drive economic growth (Mar. 16)
- Commuting patterns in rural Scotland (Nov. 15)
- Lost in Space? Travel-to-Work Areas, City-Regions, and Strategic Development Planning Authorities (July 15)
- Regional employment growth in Scotland: 2001-2011 (Mar. 15)
- How important are regional income disparities in Scotland? (Oct. 14)
Ongoing and recent research projects
- RELOCAL – Resituating the Local in Cohesion and Territorial Development (EU H2020, 2016/20).
- Place-based policy and its implications for policy and service delivery (SG RESAS Programme RD3.4.2, 2016/21).
- Demographic change in remote areas (SG RESAS Programme RD3.4.1, 2016/21).
- GLAMURS – Green Lifestyles, Alternative Models and Up-scaling Regional Sustainability (EU Seventh Framework Programme, 2014/16).
- CXC – ClimateXChange, Scotland’s centre of expertise on climate change.
- Income Elasticities of Food Demand in Africa: A Meta-Analysis. European Commission – Joint Research Centre (2015).
- TiPSE – Territorial Dimension of Poverty and Social Exclusion in Europe (EU Seventh Framework Programme, 2012/14).
- The relationship between economic performance and social outcomes in rural communities (SG RESAS Programme WP8.1, 2013/16).
- The productivity effects of transport improvements (Economic and Social Research Council, 2011/12).
- Assessment of Wider Economic Impacts: a report for HS2 (Department for Transport, 2010).
Research
- Spatial disparities in socio-economic performance.
- Agglomeration economies and economic productivity.
- Transport investment and economic performance.
- Rural-urban interdependencies.
- Travel demand and travel mode choice.
- Econometric analysis of panel data.
Publications
Journals
- Colen, L.; Melo, P.C.; Abdul-Salam, Y.; Roberts, D.; Mary, S.; Paloma, G.Y. (2018) Income elasticities for food, calories and nutrients across Africa: a meta-analysis., Food Policy, 77, 116-132.
- Melo, P.C.; Ge, J.; Craig, T.; Brewer, M.J.; Thronicker, I. (2018) Does work-life balance affect pro-environmental behaviour? Evidence for the UK using longitudinal microdata, Ecological Economics, 145, 170-181.
- Melo, P.C. (2017) People, places and earnings differentials., Regional Studies, 561, 389-403.
- Mohammad, S.I.; Graham, D.J.; Melo, P.C. (2017) The effect of the Dubai Metro on the value of residential and commercial properties., Journal of Transport and Land Use, 10, 263-290.
- Melo, P.C.; Graham, D.J.; Levinson, D.; Aarabi, S. (2017) Agglomeration, accessibility, and productivity: evidence for large metropolitan areas in the US., Urban Studies, 54, 179-195.
- Melo, P.C.; Silva, J.D.E. (2017) Home telework and household commuting patterns in Great Britain., Transportation Research, Part A – Policy and Practice, 103, 1-24.
- Melo, P.; Copus, A.; Coombes, M. (2016) Modelling small area at-risk-of-poverty rates for the UK using the World Bank Methodology and the EU-SILC., Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy, 9, 97-117.
- Melo, P. (2016) Driving down road transport CO2 emissions in Scotland., International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, 10, 906-916.
- Canavan, S.; Graham, D.J.; Melo, P.C.; Anderson, R.J.; Barron, A.S.; Cohen, J M. (2015) Impacts of moving-block signalling on technical efficiency application of propensity score matching on urban metro systems., Transportation Research Record, 2534, 68-74.
- Copus, A.; Melo, P.; Kaup, S.; Tagai, G.; Artelaris, P. (2015) Regional poverty mapping in Europe – challenges, advances, benefits and limitations., Local Economy, 30, 742-764.
- Melo, P.C.; Ramli, A.R. (2014) Estimating fuel demand elasticities to evaluate CO2 emissions: Panel data evidence for the Lisbon Metropolitan Area., Transportation Research Part A; Policy and Practice, 67, 30-46.
Technical / contract reports
- Colley, K.; Currie, M.; Hopkins, J.; Melo, P. (2016) Access to outdoor recreation by older people in Scotland, Report for Rural Communities Research, Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services (RESAS) Division, The
Scottish Government. Social Research Series, 85pp - Melo, P.C.; Abdul-Salam, Y.; Roberts, D.; Gilbert, A.; Matthews, R.B.; Cohen, L.; Sebastien, M.; Gomez Y Paloma, S. (2015) Income elasticities of food demand in Africa: a meta-analysis., JRC Technical Report, EUR 27650 EN, Publications Office of the European Union.
Conference papers
- Melo, P.C.; Abdul-Salam, Y.; Roberts, D.; Cohen, L.; Sebastien, M.; Gomez Y Paloma, S. (2016) Income growth and malnutrition in Africa: is there a need for region-specific policies?, 90th Annual Conference of the Agricultural Economics Society, University of Warwick, 4-6 April 2016.
- Gavves, E.; Melo, P.; Graham, D.J. (2013) Fuel demand and road transport CO2 emissions: evidence for the greater Porto region., World Conference of Transport 2013, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 15-18 July 2013.
