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on Economic Geography |
| By: | Mercedes Delgado; Michael E. Porter; Scott Stern |
| Abstract: | Clusters are geographic concentrations of industries related by knowledge, skills, inputs, demand, and/or other linkages. A growing body of empirical literature has shown the positive impact of clusters on regional and industry performance, including job creation, patenting, and new business formation. There is an increasing need for cluster-based data to support research, facilitate comparisons of clusters across regions, and support policymakers and practitioners in defining regional strategies. This paper develops a novel clustering algorithm that systematically generates and assesses sets of cluster definitions (i.e., groups of closely related industries). We implement the algorithm using 2009 data for U.S. industries (6-digit NAICS), and propose a new set of benchmark cluster definitions that incorporates measures of inter-industry linkages based on co-location patterns, input-output links, and similarities in labor occupations. We also illustrate the algorithm’s ability to compare alternative sets of cluster definitions by evaluating our new set against existing sets in the literature. We find that our proposed set outperforms other methods in capturing a wide range of inter-industry linkages, including grouping industries within the same 3-digit NAICS. |
| JEL: | R0 R1 |
| Date: | 2014–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20375&r=geo |
| By: | Deeken, Tim; Ott, Ingrid |
| Abstract: | In this article we analyze the interdependent issues of urbanization, growth, and globalization by presenting key empirical facts and relevant underlying economic theories on each. We look more closely, but without providing a detailed formal analysis, at a model by Baldwin and Forslid (2000) that combines a seminal model from the endogenous growth literature (Romer 1990) with one from the new economic geography literature (Krugman 1991). In the analysis the significance of a sophisticated consideration of the concept of integration is pointed out. We investigate the issue of scale, scale economies, and density and the important role integration plays in these considerations as well. We especially argue that future research should more precisely focus on integration as a dynamic concept that does not only affect agglomeration and growth, but which is itself the endogenous outcome of various interdependencies and which complements the institutional settings of the territories that are linked to each other. -- |
| Keywords: | integration,spatial institution,agglomeration,growth |
| JEL: | O4 R5 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:kitwps:59&r=geo |
| By: | Teulings, Coen (University of Cambridge); Ossokina, Ioulia V. (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis); de Groot, Henri L.F. (VU University Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | The direct impact of local public goods on welfare is relatively easy to measure from land rents. However, the indirect effects on home and job location, on land use, and on agglomeration benefits are hard to pin down. We develop a spatial general equilibrium model for the valuation of these effects. The model is estimated using data on transport infrastructure, commuting behavior, wages, land use and land rents for 3000 ZIP-codes in the Netherlands and for three levels of education. Welfare benefits are shown to differ sharply by workers' educational attainment. |
| Keywords: | local public goods, agglomeration, spatial equilibrium, residential sorting, land rents |
| JEL: | H4 H54 R13 R23 R4 |
| Date: | 2014–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8382&r=geo |
| By: | Berno Buechel (University of Hamburg); Nils Roehl (University of Paderborn) |
| Abstract: | In the framework of spatial competition, two or more players strategically choose a location in order to attract consumers. It is assumed standardly that consumers with the same favorite location fully agree on the ranking of all possible locations. To investigate the necessity of this questionable and restrictive assumption, we model heterogeneity in consumers' distance perceptions by individual edge lengths of a given graph. A profile of location choices is called a ``robust equilibrium'' if it is a Nash equilibrium in several games which differ only by the consumers' perceptions of distances. For a finite number of players and any distribution of consumers, we provide a full characterization of all robust equilibria and derive structural conditions for their existence. Furthermore, we discuss whether the classical observations of minimal differentiation and inefficiency are robust phenomena. Thereby, we find strong support for an old conjecture that in equilibrium firms form local clusters. |
| Keywords: | spatial competition, Hotelling-Downs, networks, graphs, Nash equilibrium, median, minimal differentiation |
| JEL: | C72 D49 P16 D43 |
| Date: | 2013–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pdn:ciepap:58&r=geo |
| By: | Arntz, Melanie; Gregory, Terry |
| Abstract: | Concerns have been raised that demographic ageing may weaken the competitiveness of knowledge-based economies and increase regional disparities. The age-creativity link is however far from clear at the aggregate level. Contributing to this debate, we estimate the causal effect of the workforce age structure on patenting activities for local labour markets in Germany using a flexible knowledge production function and accounting for potential endogeneity of the regional workforce structure. Overall, our results suggest that younger workers boost regional innovations, but this effect partly hinges on the presence of older workers as younger and older workers turn out to be complements in the production of knowledge. With demographic aging mainly increasing the older workforce and shrinking the younger one, our results imply that innovation levels in ageing societies may drop in the future. Moreover, differences in the regional age structure currently explain around a sixth of the innovation gap across German regions. -- |
| Keywords: | regional innovation system,demographic ageing,knowledge production function,regional disparities,age complementarities |
| JEL: | R12 R23 J11 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:14050&r=geo |
| By: | Kyriakopoulou , Efthymia (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Xepapadeas, Anastasios (Department of International and European Economic Studies, Athens University of Economics and Business and Beijer Fellow) |
| Abstract: | We study the optimal and equilibrium distribution of industrial and residential land in a given region. The trade-off between the agglomeration and dispersion forces, in the form of pollution from stationary forces, production externalities, and commuting costs, determines the emergence of industrial and residential clusters across space. In this context, we define two kinds of spatial policies that can be used in order to close the gap between optimal and market allocations. More specifically, we show that the joint implementation of a site-specific environmental tax and a site-specific labor subsidy can reproduce the optimum as an equilibrium outcome. The methodological approach followed in this paper allows for endogenous determination of land use patterns and is shown to provide more precise results compared to previous studies. |
| Keywords: | spatial policies; agglomeration; land use; atmospheric pollution; environmental tax; labor subsidy |
| JEL: | H23 R14 R38 |
| Date: | 2014–08–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0601&r=geo |