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on Economic Geography |
| By: | Michael Fritsch (Friedrich Schiller University Jena, School of Economics and Business Administration); Yvonne Schindele (Friedrich Schiller University Jena, School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | We investigate regional differences in the contribution of newly founded businesses to regional employment. This is labeled the direct employment effect of new businesses. The analysis is at the spatial level of West German planning regions for the period 1984-2002. We find rather pronounced differences for the direct employment effect across regions. Regression analyses for explaining these differences show that the start-up rate, the education level of the regional workforce, and an entrepreneurial character of the regional technological regime have a positive impact on the direct employment effect of new businesses. The overall effect of population density is negative, but the marginal effect is positive for regions beyond a certain threshold. Our results suggest that the success of the new businesses is not at the expense of the incumbents but that direct and indirect employment effects of new businesses are positively interlinked. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, new business formation, regional development, direct employment effect |
| JEL: | L26 M13 O1 O18 R11 |
| Date: | 2008–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2008-077&r=geo |
| By: | Tharakan, J.; Tropeano, J.P. |
| Abstract: | We propose a model where imperfect matching between firms and workers on local labor markets leads to incentives for spatial agglomeration. We show that the occurence of spatial agglomeration depends on initial size differences in terms of both number of workers and firms. Allowing for dynamics of workers' and firms' location choices, we show that the spatial outcome depends crucially on different dimensions of agents' mobility. The effect of a higher level of human capital on regional disparities depends on whether it makes workers more mobile or more specialized on the labor market. |
| JEL: | J61 J42 R12 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gbl:wpaper:200802&r=geo |
| By: | Edward L. Glaeser (Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government; Faculty of Arts and Sciences); William R. Kerr (Harvard Business School, Entrepreneurial Management Unit) |
| Abstract: | Why are some places more entrepreneurial than others? We use Census Bureau data to study local determinants of manufacturing startups across cities and industries. Demographics have limited explanatory power. Overall levels of local customers and suppliers are only modestly important, but new entrants seem particularly drawn to areas with many smaller suppliers, as suggested by Chinitz (1961). Abundant workers in relevant occupations also strongly predict entry. These forces plus city and industry fixed effects explain between sixty and eighty percent of manufacturing entry. We use spatial distributions of natural cost advantages to address partially endogeneity concerns. |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship, Industrial Organization, Agglomeration, Labor Markets, Input-Output Flows, Innovation, Research and Development, Patents. |
| JEL: | J2 L0 L1 L2 L6 O3 R2 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hbs:wpaper:09-055&r=geo |
| By: | BOURDEAU-LEPAGE, Lise (CEMAGREF - UR DTGR – 38402 Saint Martin d’Hères); HURIOT, Jean-Marie (LEG - CNRS UMR 5118 - Université de Bourgogne) |
| Abstract: | Bien que la région soit un concept multiforme, voire omniforme, le découpage régional est le cadre privilégié de la pensée spatiale et de l’action territoriale. Or la moitié des être humains du monde, et plus des trois quarts des européens, habitent dans une ville. Les villes produisent plus que proportionnellement à leur poids démographique, et concentrent les activités économiques de haut niveau, particulièrement la production de haute technologie, les sièges sociaux, la finance et les services aux entreprises. Dans l’économie globalisée, les performances régionales semblent être soumises à celles des villes, et les interactions économiques régionales, nationales et mondiales sont principalement le fait des villes. Ce papier examine le décalage entre d’une part la prégnance du concept de région et du découpage régional et d’autre part le rôle dominant des villes dans l’économie. Le biais régional a des sources profondes et durables, théoriques comme empiriques. Mais même si la région cache la ville, elle reste un cadre territorial incontournable. / Though the region is a multiform or even omniform concept, the concrete region is the privileged framework of spatial thought and action. Now half of the human beings in the world, and more than three quarters of Europeans live in cities. Cities produce more than proportionally to their population and concentrate high-order economic activities, especially high technology production, headquarters, finance and producer services. In the global economy, regional performances appear to be depending on city performances, and most regional, national and world economic interactions are urban interactions. This paper examines the gap between on the one hand the prominence of the concept of region and of the regional division of space, and on the other hand the dominant economic role of cities. The regional bias is deeply and durably rooted, theoretically as well as empirically. Even though the region hides the city, it remains an inescapable spatial scale. |
| Keywords: | régions ; villes ; économie spatiale ; cities ; regions ; spatial economics |
| JEL: | R00 R12 |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lat:legeco:2008-03&r=geo |
| By: | Natércia Godinho Mira (Universidade de Evora, Departamento de Gestão, CEFAGE-UE) |
| Abstract: | In spite of the relation between industrial specialisation and geographic concentration of industries, these are two different concepts. After clarifying both, the aim of this paper is to analyze the structural change on Portuguese manufacturing industry from two perspectives: the specialisation of regions in particular sectors and the regional concentration of those sectors (industries). Our empirical study uses yearly data for the period 1996 - 2004 and made use of absolute indicators to measure whether individual industries became more or less concentrated in Portuguese regions, and whether the industry structure of the Portuguese regions became more similar. In the first case we talk about geographical concentration of industries, in the second about a decrease of sectoral specialisation of regions. The results suggest a high level of concentration and a variable level of specialisation between regions. |
| Keywords: | European Integration; Industrial Specialisation; Geographic Concentration; Industries Location. |
| JEL: | F15 L60 R10 R30 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cfe:wpcefa:2008_13&r=geo |
| By: | Gerald A. Carlino; Albert Saiz |
| Abstract: | The City Beautiful movement, which in the early 20th century advocated city beautification as a way to improve the living conditions and civic virtues of the urban dweller, had languished by the Great Depression. Today, new urban economic theorists and policymakers are coming to see the provision of consumer leisure amenities as a way to attract population, especially the highly skilled and their employers. However, past studies have provided only indirect evidence of the importance of leisure amenities for urban development. In this paper we propose and validate the number of leisure trips to metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) as a measure of consumers' revealed preferences for local leisure-oriented amenities. Population and employment growth in the 1990s was about 2 percent higher in an MSA with twice as many leisure visits: the third most important predictor of recent population growth in standardized terms. Moreover, this variable does a good job of forecasting out-of-sample growth for the period 2000-2006. “Beautiful cities” disproportionally attracted highly educated individuals and experienced faster housing price appreciation, especially in supply-inelastic markets. Investment by local government in new public recreational areas within an MSA was positively associated with higher subsequent city attractiveness. In contrast to the generally declining trends in the American central city, neighborhoods that were close to “central recreational districts” have experienced economic growth, albeit at the cost of minority displacement. |
| Keywords: | Cities and towns |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedpwp:08-22&r=geo |
| By: | Grimpe, Christoph; Patuelli, Roberto |
| Abstract: | Nanomaterials are seen as a key technology for the 21st Century, and much is expected of them in terms of innovation and economic growth. They could open the way to many radically new applications, which would form the basis of innovative products. In this context, it seems all the more important for regions to put their own innovation systems in place, and to ensure that they offer a suitable location for such activities in order to benefit from the expected growth. Many regions have already done so by establishing ‘science parks’ and ‘nanoclusters’. As nanomaterials are still in their infancy, both public research institutes and private businesses could play a vital role in the process. This paper investigates what conditions and configurations allow a regional innovation system to be competitive in a cutting-edge technology like nanomaterials. We analyse European Patent Office data at the German district level (NUTS-3) on applications for nanomaterial patents, in order to chart the effects of localised research and development (R&D) in the public and private sector. We estimate two negative binomial models in a knowledge production function framework and include a spatial filtering approach to adjust for spatial effects. Our results indicate that there is a significant positive effect of both public and private R&D on the production of nanomaterial patents. Moreover, we find a positive interaction between them which hints at the importance of their co-location for realising the full potential of an emerging technology like nanomaterials. |
| Keywords: | nanotechnology, innovation, patents, Germany, spatial autocorrelation, spatial filtering |
| JEL: | L60 O32 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:7387&r=geo |
| By: | Johannes Gräb (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen / Germany); Michael Grimm (ISS, The Hague / The Netherlands) |
| Abstract: | The literature shows that regional disparities in growth and poverty are often relatively high, that these regional disparities do not necessarily disappear as the economies grow and develop and that these disparities are itself in many cases an important driver of the overall performance of an economy. In this paper we make use of the advantage of a multilevel random coefficient model to explain spatial disparities in incomes among Burkinab`e households. Our findings show that it is not a geographical concentration of people with poor endowments that make areas poor in Burkina Faso. Household income disparities are largely driven by differences in neighborhood endowments and to a smaller extent by provincial or regional characteristics. We conclude that the policy should target small scale geographical units, such as villages. Providing infrastructure, enhancing the functioning of labor markets and fostering demand for education can compensate for climatical disadvantages. |
| Keywords: | Spatial inequality, poverty, multilevel modeling, decomposition, Sub-Saharan Africa |
| JEL: | C21 I32 O12 R12 |
| Date: | 2008–07–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:got:iaidps:173&r=geo |
| By: | Karlsson, Charlie (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); Johansson, Börje (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | The understanding of economic development in regions in developed countries has gone through a fundamental change during recent decades. Nowadays, regions are increasingly looked upon as independent, dynamic market places that are connected via flows of interregional and international trade. Regional development is driven by changes in the economic specialisation, which can be explained by two different, but complementary theoretical frameworks for analysing location and trade, one old and one new.The old theoretical framework assumes that changes in the economic specialisation of regions depend upon changes in the supply of durable and semi-durable regional characteristics. The new theoretical framework, known as the new economic geogra¬phy, assumes that changes in the economic specialisation of regions are driven by the dynamic interaction between regional market potentials and rational firms experienc¬ing increasing returns. In their pure form, these theoretical frameworks can explain changes in regional economic specialisation and consequently regional develop¬ment without any reference to knowledge creation and other changes in knowledge assets. This is certainly a bit odd for a period of history often referred to as the era of the knowledge economy. So, does knowledge have no role to play as a force driving re¬gional spe¬cialisation and regional development? Or, is it so that the traditional “knowledge free” explanations of changes in regional specialisation and regional de¬velopment are missing important points? In this paper, we claim that knowledge infrastructure, human capital, talent, creativ¬ity, knowledge generation, knowledge protection, knowl¬edge accumulation, knowl¬edge appropriation, knowl¬edge flows, etc. as well as the creative use of knowledge are basic drivers of the spe¬cialisation of regions and hence of regional development. The purpose is to discuss the role of knowledge and talent in regional de¬velopment seen in both a regional and a global context. |
| Keywords: | creativity; knowledge; innovation; regional development |
| JEL: | O10 R10 R11 |
| Date: | 2008–10–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0148&r=geo |
| By: | Pierre-Philippe Combes; Miren Lafourcade; Jacques-François Thisse; Jean-Claude Toutain |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a unique database that provides value-added, employment, and population levels for the entire set of French departments for the years 1860, 1930, and 2000. These data cover three sectors: agriculture, manufacturing, and services. This allows us to study the evolution of spatial inequalities within France and to test the empirical relevance of economic geography predictions over the long run. The evidence confirms the existence of a bell-shaped evolution of the spatial concentration of manufacturing and services. In contrast, labor productivity has been converging across departments. Last, our study also confirms the presence of strong agglomeration economies during the full time-period. Market potential during the first sub-period (1860-1930), and higher education during the second (1930-2000), together with sectoral diversity, account for the spatial distribution of these gains. |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pse:psecon:2008-54&r=geo |
| By: | Danièle Patier (LET - Laboratoire d'économie des transports - CNRS : UMR5593 - Université Lumière - Lyon II - Ecole Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'Etat); Jean-Louis Routhier (LET - Laboratoire d'économie des transports - CNRS : UMR5593 - Université Lumière - Lyon II - Ecole Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'Etat) |
| Abstract: | The surveys specifically focused on the thorough knowledge of urban freight transport appeared about ten years ago. The local problematic of goods transport at local level was partially taken into account by the city planners and by the researchers: until recent years, the integration of goods transport in the total urban flows models was estimated applying a multiplying factor to car traffic. Delivering goods was not considered like a concern.Because of the quick growth of car traffic in the cities, the main stakes changed too: the fight against traffic congestion, the management of the lack of space (shipment consolidation and storage), the attempts to reduce local environmental impacts and global externalities (energy saving, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions), and economic valuation of city centres (under the pressure of a slowed down economic growth).All these changes were taking place in a context in which available rooms for manoeuvre were limited by factors such as congestion, concerns about the quality of urban life and budget restriction. It resulted in a growing unease on the freight transport industry and the city authorities, the latter having little or no data, methods and references in order to elaborate a satisfactory policy framework. |
| Keywords: | surveys on urban freight transport ; urban freight movements ; urban freight data collection ; urban goods data collection ; diversity of measurement units and methods ; state of the art |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00328991_v1&r=geo |
| By: | Florida, Richard (Martin Prosperity Institute); Mellander, Charlotta (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); Qian, Haifeng (School of Public Policy, George Mason University) |
| Abstract: | The relationships between talent, technology and regional development have been widely examined in the advanced economies. While there is a general consensus as to the important role talent plays in regional development, debate has emerged on two key issues. The first involves the efficacy of educational (i.e. human capital) versus occupational (i.e. the creative class) measures of talent; the second involves the factors affecting the distribution of talent. In this study, we have used structural equation models and path analysis. We employed both educational and occupational measures of talent to examine the relationships between talent, technology and regional economic performance in China, and to isolate the effects of tolerance, differing levels of consumer service amenities, and the location of universities on the distribution of talent. Contrary to the findings of empirical studies on the developed economies, we found the relationships between the distribution of talent and technology and between the distribution of talent and regional economic performance in China to be weak. We found the presence of universities – a factor highly influenced by government policy – and the actual stock of talent to be strongly related. We also found that tolerance, as measured by the “Hukou index,” plays an important role in the distribution of talent and technology in China. |
| Keywords: | China; Talent; Human Capital; Creative Class; Tolerance; Technology; Regional Development |
| JEL: | O30 P30 R12 |
| Date: | 2008–10–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0145&r=geo |
| By: | Gilles Duranton (University of Toronto); Andrés Rodríguez-Pose (London School of Economics); Richard Sandall (London School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the association between one of the most basic institutional forms, the family, and a series of demographic, educational, social, and economic indicators across regions in Europe. Using Emmanuel Todd’s classification of medieval European family systems, we identify potential links between family types and regional disparities in household size, educational attainment, social capital, labor participation, sectoral structure, wealth, and inequality. The results indicate that medieval family structures seem to have influenced European regional disparities in virtually every indicator considered. That these links remain, despite the influence of the modern state and population migration, suggests that either such structures are extremely resilient or else they have in the past been internalized within other social and economic institutions as they developed. |
| Keywords: | institutions; family types; education; social capital; labor force |
| JEL: | J12 O18 R11 |
| Date: | 2008–10–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imd:wpaper:wp2008-07&r=geo |
| By: | Mellander, Charlotta (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper sheds new light on the Swedish industry structure, by defining it through its occupational and educational structure. It is a merge of all Swedish private firms and all individuals employed within those firms, aggregated over industry, for the year 2001. Education is separated from creative occupations, and we also identify industries with the largest concentration of service and manufacturing occupations. The growth pattern within the industry segments between 1993 and 2001 is provided, and an examination of the spatial distribution. While there is a close relation between larger markets and knowledge, creative and service industries, we can detect a weaker link to the manufacturing industries. The effect from being located in the main urban area within the urban region, as well as within one of the three metropolitan regions, is highly significant for all industries, but relatively weaker for the manufacturing industry. The results also imply that diversity and creativity, in terms of the number of establishments, closely relate to the metropolitan regions. The concentration of activities, in terms of the number of employees, is more driven by large markets in general. |
| Keywords: | Occupation; Industry; Creativity; Knowledge; Market Size |
| JEL: | J24 R30 |
| Date: | 2008–10–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0150&r=geo |
| By: | Montrone, Silvestro; Perchinunno, Paola; Torre, Carmelo Maria |
| Abstract: | The objective of the present work is to use statistical data to identify territorial zones characterized by the correlation between urban access to services and quality of housing and the value of property ownership. While poverty is widely accepted to be an inherently multi-dimensional concept, it has proved very difficult to develop measures that both capture this multidimensionality and make comparisons over time and space easy. With this in mind, we attempt to apply a Total Fuzzy and Relative (TFR) approach, based on a fuzzy measure of the degree of association of an individual to the totality of the poor and an approach of semantic distance (Munda, 1995), based on the definition of a “fuzzy distance” as a discriminating reference to rank the availability to property in real estate market, as complement of urban poverty, in a specific case (the Italian City of Bari). |
| Keywords: | Urban Difficulty, Scan Statistics, Fuzzy logic, Property appraisal |
| JEL: | C5 R2 R31 C1 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:10970&r=geo |
| By: | Dirk Dohse; Tanja Staehler |
| Abstract: | The BioRegio contest and the BioProfile contest initiated by the German Federal Government have drawn much international attention as prototypes of a new kind of technology policy aiming at the exploitation of regional innovation and growth potential through clustering. There is, however, little systematic analysis of their actual impact on the development of commercial biotechnology in Germany. The current paper tries to fill this gap. We find that although these contests have catalyzed the emergence and early growth of German commercial biotech it takes more than isolated policy action by national governments to grow a self-sustainable biotech industry in Europe |
| Keywords: | clustering, biotech, technology policy, regional development |
| JEL: | R11 R38 O3 |
| Date: | 2008–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1456&r=geo |
| By: | Matsuki, Takashi; Usami, Ryoichi |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the existence of regional convergence of per capita outputs in China from 1952–2004, particularly focusing on considering the presence of multiple structural breaks in the provincial-level panel data. First, the panel-based unit root test that allows for occurrence of multiple breaks at various break dates across provinces is developed; this test is based on the p-value combination approach suggested by Fisher (1932). Next, the test is applied to China’s provincial real per capita outputs to examine the regional convergence in China. To obtain the p-values of unit root tests for each province, which are combined to construct the panel unit root test, this study assumes three data generating processes: a driftless random walk process, an ARMA process, and an AR process with cross-sectionally dependent errors in Monte Carlo simulation. The results obtained from this study reveal that the convergence of the provincial per capita outputs exists in each of the three geographically classified regions—the Eastern, Central, and Western regions—of China. |
| Keywords: | panel unit root test;multiple breaks;combining p-values;nonstationary panels;China;convergence |
| JEL: | O47 C12 C33 |
| Date: | 2007–03–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:10167&r=geo |
| By: | Arthur Huang; David Levinson (Nexus (Networks, Economics, and Urban Systems) Research Group, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the emergence of retail clusters on a supply chain network comprised of suppliers, retailers, and consumers. An agent-based model is proposed to investigate retail location distribution in a market of two complementary goods. The methodology controls for supplier locales and unit sales prices of retailers and suppliers; a consumer's willingness to patronize a retailer depends on the total travel distance of buying both goods. On a circle comprised of discrete locations, retailers play a non-cooperative game of location choice to maximize individual proÞts. Our Þndings suggest that the number of clusters in equilibrium follow a power-law distribution and that hierarchical distribution patterns are much more likely to occur than the spread-out ones. In addition, retailers of complementary goods tend to co-locate at supplier locales. Sensitivity tests on the number of retailers and retailers' sequence of moving are also performed. |
| Keywords: | clustering, agent-based model, location choice, power-law distribution pattern, retailing |
| JEL: | R30 L22 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nex:wpaper:clustercomplements&r=geo |
| By: | Rudiger Ahrend |
| Abstract: | This article uses “extreme-bound”-type analysis to revisit the determinants behind widely differing economic growth in Russian regions. Using data of 77 regions for 1993-2004, it separately examines the growth drivers for the phase of economic decline up to 1998, and for the period of strong growth afterwards. Looking at forty variables considered to be potentially related to growth, it determines, for each of the two periods, the ones robustly associated with Russian economic performance. Among the variables considered are proxies of politico-institutional features, indicators of economic reform, and measurements of both economic and non-economic initial conditions. The main findings, based on close to one million regressions, are as follows: during the period of economic decline up to 1998, differences in Russian regional growth were almost entirely driven by initial conditions, with resource and human capital endowments, industrial structure, and geographical location playing the dominant roles. However, since the 1998 crisis, the importance of initial conditions has declined significantly, and is now basically reduced to hydrocarbon wealth and advantageous geographical location. More reform-oriented policies, as well as better regional leadership are found to have come to make a significant difference. These results point to determinants of economic performance in periods of actual economic decline being quite different from those in “normal” times of economic growth. <P>Comprendre la performance économique des régions russes pendant les périodes de déclin et de croissance : Une approche par analyse de bornes extrêmes <BR>Cet article adopte une approche par « analyse de bornes extrêmes » pour explorer les déterminants d’une croissance économique très inégale entre les régions russes. En utilisant des données couvrant 77 régions de 1993 à 2004, les déterminants de la croissance sont examinés pour la période de depression économique allant jusqu’à 1998, ainsi que pour la période d’expansion forte qui l’a suivie. Parmi 40 variables potentiellement importantes pour la croissance, sont déterminées, pour chacune des deux périodes, les variables associées de façon robuste à la performance économique russe. Les variables examinées incluent des aspects politico-institutionnels, des indicateurs des reformes économiques, ainsi que les conditions initiales économiques et non-économiques de ces régions. Les résultats principaux, dérivant d’un nombre de régressions atteignant presque un million, sont les suivants: pendant la période de stagnation se déroulant jusqu’en 1998, les différences de croissance entre régions sont expliquées presque entièrement par les conditions initiales, en termes de ressources naturelles, de capital humain, de structure industrielle, et de situation géographique. Toutefois, depuis la crise de 1998, l’influence de ces dernières a considérablement diminué, et seules la richesse pétrolière et une situation géographique avantageuse sont demeurées importantes. Une politique de réformes économiques, ainsi que la plus grande qualité des dirigeants régionaux, ont commencé à avoir un impact important. Ces résultats suggèrent que les facteurs de la croissance économique en période de déclin sont différents de ceux prévalant pendant les périodes “normales” de croissance positive. |
| Keywords: | economic growth, transition, Russia, Russie, natural resources, ressources naturelles, political economy, économie politique, economic reform |
| JEL: | O4 O52 P2 R11 |
| Date: | 2008–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:644-en&r=geo |
| By: | Zhu Wang (Economic Research Department, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.); Daniel Yi Xu (Department of Economics, New York University.) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a theory of “family network”, in contrast to “local externalities”, to explain the geographic concentration of industry. For many industries, one most important source of entrants is spinoffs, who typically locate near parent firms and benefit from knowledge linkage and business relation within the family network. As a result, firms are more likely to enter and less likely to exit if they are associated with a large family. Using a unique dataset of US automobile industry in its early years, we identify six historically important production centers and sixty spinoff families. Our empirical analysis disentangles the effect of “family networks” from other “local externalities,” and provides strong evidence that it was the former rather than the latter that caused the geographic concentration of US automobile production. |
| Keywords: | Spinoffs, Entry and Exit, Geography of Industry |
| JEL: | J6 L0 R1 |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:net:wpaper:0814&r=geo |
| By: | Sassi, Maria |
| Abstract: | Economic and agricultural convergence across the EU regions has for a long time attracted the attention of economists and more so in the recent decade following the EU enlargement. Empirical contributions have referred explicitly or implicitly to the Solow’s model of economic growth testing absolute and conditional b-convergence. The recent literature suggests that the prevailing neoclassical and sectoral approach is not suitable to face the implication of structural change on economic convergence whose understanding is key within the current process of significant marginalization of agriculture and partly of industry in favour of the service sector. In this context the aim of the paper is the understanding the size and evolution of this change, the way in which it has affected aggregate economic convergence and if the agricultural sector has influenced the process despite its small and decreasing contribution to total GDP comparing the results from the neoclassical and Paci, Pigliaru approach |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development, |
| Date: | 2008–01–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aes007:7961&r=geo |