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Art clusters in cities are welcomed by planners, residents and business. In respect to an urban economy, art clusters are viewed as beneficial because of their contribution to neighbourhood ambience in ways likely to attract young professionals who possess, it is said, higher propensity for innovation and creativity. Clusters of art activity are also seen as place-makers that enhance liveability, an important asset in the contemporary spatial economy. Yet there is little empirical work which examines the forces that drive the location of these places of art and their connection to the urban economy. This paper takes art galleries in Sydney, Australia, as a case study. Using data from a comprehensive survey, interviews and direct observation, the study finds a peculiar story of art clustering. Sydney's galleries are found to be concentrated in exclusive locations. The study finds powerful agglomeration forces, including opportunities for stable property tenure, adjacency to the city's cultural institutions, input of government funding and the presence of wealthy buyers among local residents. Certainly, the agglomerations identified meet criteria for recognition as cultural districts, yet in ways different to the images of edgy neighbourhoods presented in the literature as the substance of art in a post-industrial city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Tropical Geography is the property of Tropical Geography Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A growing body of studies has investigated the geography of entrepreneurship in developed countries, with entrepreneurship researchers recently extending this topic to the developing country context. However, geography-oriented studies that consider extreme spatial differences in such contexts remain scarce. To address this gap, this paper provides a spatial-econometric analysis of the role of agglomeration economies and knowledge spillovers on start-up rates across cities in Turkey between 2009 and 2018 by considering extreme spatial differences, a common characteristic of many developing countries. By doing so, this paper determines whether the leading stylized facts that are empirically tested in developed countries hold for developing countries and analyses the extent to which extreme spatial differences matter to regional entrepreneurship performance. The spatial-econometric analysis also offers an evaluation of the mimicking effect, which examines how nearby cities influence each other in the new firm formation process. The econometric model reveals that while the entrepreneurial patterns of developed countries have some relevance to Turkey in general, the outcomes vary significantly between leading and lagging regions. This underscores the crucial importance of accounting for entrenched spatial disparities in developing countries when researching entrepreneurship and the need to identify suitable policy combinations for promoting local ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to empirically analyze the difference in the closure rate of the commercial district according to the industry structure of the commercial district. Theoretically, the larger the number of stores in a commercial district, the greater the positive externality caused by the agglomeration economies in consumption, namely, the external economies of scale. However, the agglomeration economies could occur from comparison shopping or one-stop shopping, depending on the business structure of the commercial district. According to the empirical results of the regression analysis of all 1164 commercial districts in Korea, the more specialized a commercial district is by stores in a specific industry, the lower the closure rate of that commercial district. This means that the agglomeration economies in consumption are driven by comparison shopping rather than by one-stop shopping and implies that it is necessary to introduce incentives that allow stores in the same industry to cluster together in terms of policy. Meanwhile, if the closure is limited to a specific industry, it will cause an endogeneity problem since it affects the industry structure of the commercial district. Considering this, as a result of additional estimation by 2SLS and GMM using instrumental variables, the error in estimation due to the endogeneity problem was not large, confirming that COVID-19 corresponds to an overall external shock that is not limited to a specific industry. In addition, this paper presents diagnostic indicators for commercial districts to measure the impact of COVID-19. Through this, it will be possible to alleviate conflicts between social classes over compensation or subsidies for sanctions for quarantine. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time to use all commercial districts in Korea for a research in evaluating the impact of COVID-19, and empirical results on agglomeration economies focusing on the consumption side are limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines a regional economic model within the framework of welfare economics under various economic and spatial constraints. These constraints include decreased local budgets, limited conditions for markets for goods and services, markets for factors of production, public goods, and fewer opportunities of agglomeration economies. In many areas of a given region, such constraints can be more evident, partly because of external forces of severe economic competition among different regions and countries. Unless effective planning and policy remedies are considered, these regions may cause obstacles to pursuing stable and sustainable growth and development. This paper presents the sustainable resilience policy of a generalised framework of smart planning strategy that uses an intra- and inter-regionally coordinated cooperative networking system. The regional economic model used in this paper reveals that the system may work sufficiently only if the scale and scope of coordination are optimally organised because of the presence of the barriers of physical distance; complexity of contracts; and other economic, spatial, and administrative restrictions. Our scenario enables the region not only to passively receive incoming external economies but also to actively discharge the spill-over effect to others, which forces involved economic agents to cooperate rather than compete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The centralised regime and variation of resources have led persistent regional disparities in Indonesia. Presently, there is lack of study that examines the impact of agglomeration economies and technology of firm establishment on regional growth in Indonesia. This paper applies agglomeration economies, approximated using proxy variables of concentration of four largest sectors (CR4), specialisation (LQ), diversity (DIV) and competition (COM) variables and technological capacity, approximated by total factor productivity (TFP), to explain the impact of firm establishment on economic growth. The paper found that districts with less specialisation and more advance technology would have higher economic growth. The paper recalls the importance of higher share of high-tech industry and a more spatial dispersion of industry to accelerate economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Central Asian Economic Review is the property of Narxoz University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Papers in Regional Science is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper examines regional distribution of indigenous lead firms in global production networks (GPNs). The paper triangulates unique evidence at the firm-level from a large innovation survey, extensive field interviews and detailed case studies in Czechia. The results indicate that lead firms are not predominantly urban species, as often assumed in the literature, but tend to be located to a surprisingly high extent in rural areas. Nevertheless, rural lead firms differ significantly from the urban ones in many respects. Urban regions turn out to be a seedbed for young, ambitious, close to the market and networked lead firms in new industries, which conforms to typical urbanization economics in action, whereas rural regions tend to harbor mature, established and relatively self-reliant lead firms with strong technical know-how in traditional industries, which build on location-specific resources and traditions. The results call for a more nuanced view on the coupling between GPNs and location advantages and more granular take on the regional dimension of innovation policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a new unified theoretical general equilibrium model in which the interactions between heterogeneous workers and firms influence heterogeneous city evolutions. Given the heterogeneous worker–firm–city framework, I study in depth the possible heterogenous city evolutions and the resulting implications on the labor market, as well as on overall productivity. In particular, it is shown that the same exogenous shocks may lead to completely different results depending on the relative dominance of the two countervailing effects of congestion and agglomeration. In an open economy setting, it is also shown that such relative dominance may affect the trading partner and generate the comovement of city evolution in each country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between urban agglomeration and firm innovation using a recently developed dataset that consistently measures city boundaries across Asia together with geo-referenced firm-level data. It finds that the spatial distribution of innovation by firms is highly concentrated within countries. Further, firms in larger cities have substantially higher propensities to introduce product and process innovations and to undertake R&D activities, a result that holds for subgroups of countries and even when the largest cities are excluded from the analysis. Finally, the presence of high-quality universities and highly ranked engineering departments in cities is positively associated with firm innovation, lending support to the idea that the accumulation of human capital locally is a key channel through which urban agglomeration affects innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

It is sometimes claimed that the degree of polycentricity of an urban region influences that region’s competitiveness. However, because of widespread use and policy relevance, the underlying concept of polycentricity has become a ‘stretched concept’ in urban studies. As a result, academic debate on the topic leads to situations reminiscent of Babel’s Tower. This meta-study of the scientific literature in urban studies traces the conceptual stretching of polycentricity using scientometric methods and content analysis. All published studies that either apply the concept directly or cite a work that does, were collected from the Scopus bibliographic database. This resulted in a citation network with over 9000 works and more than 20,000 citations between them. Network analysis and clustering algorithms were used to define the most influential papers in different citation clusters within the network. Subsequently, we employed content analysis to systematically assess the mechanisms associated with the formation of polycentric urban systems in each of these papers. Based on this meta-analysis, we argue that the common categorisation of polycentricity research in intra-urban, inter-urban and inter-regional polycentricity is somewhat misleading. More apt categorisations to understand the origins of polycentricity’s conceptual ambiguity relate to different methodological traditions and geographical contexts in which the research is conducted. Nonetheless, we observe a firm relation across clusters between assessments of polycentricity and different kinds of agglomeration economies. We conclude by proposing a re-conceptualisation of polycentricity based on explicitly acknowledging the variable spatial impact of these different kinds of agglomeration economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For many years, services attracted most of the foreign direct investment (FDI) in Central and Eastern European countries. Recently, a distinctive type of business services, i.e., advanced business services (ABS), has become the focal point in FDI in the region. This paper is aimed at defining the role of agglomeration economies in FDI in ABS in Poland. The topic is important from the policy point of view, as foreign investment is supported by the host country’s authorities, and various incentives are provided. The research method applied in this paper is the negative binomial regression. The outcome variable was the number of firms operating in ABS in particular regions. Explanatory variables pertain to the characteristics of 16 regions classified as Level 2 under the Nomenclature des Unités territoriales statistiques (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics or NUTS) in Poland. The main conclusion of the research is that agglomeration economies are important in the decision of the firms investing in ABS in Poland. The most important factor is the concentration of supply factors, such as abundance of educated employees. The specific features of ABS are associated with lower importance of demand factors in a region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the role of knowledge externalities, which may result from agglomeration economies and regional knowledge, on regional export productivity. Knowledge externalities are the result of knowledge transmission between economic agents, being its dissemination not limited to regional borders and varies between technological intensity sectors. Using a panel of 23 NUTS III Portuguese regions and the 137 Brazilian mesoregions with export data for High and Medium-High technological intensity and Low technological intensity sectors, we found a larger productivity gap between the High and Medium-High Technological sector and the Low Technological sector in Portugal than in Brazil. Using spatial econometric techniques, we found a positive impact of R&D on export productivity in the High and Medium-High Technological sector, but only in the Portuguese case. The spatial spillover effects are different in the two countries. The specialisation and diversifications economies have a negative impact on the export productivity in the Portuguese High and MediumHigh Technological sector. In the Brazilian case, it was estimated a positive direct and total effect on productivity due to specialisation economies [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers agglomeration economies. A new firm is planning to open a plant in a country divided into several regions. Each firm receives a positive externality if the new plant is located in its region. In a decentralized mechanism, the plant would be opened in the region where the new firm maximizes its individual benefit. Due to the externalities, it could be the case that the aggregate utility of all firms is maximized in a different region. Thus, the firms in the optimal region could transfer something to the new firm in order to incentivize it to open the plant in that region. We propose two rules that provide two different schemes for transfers between firms already located in the country and the newcomer. The first is based on cooperative game theory. This rule coincides with the τ -value, the nucleolus, and the per capita nucleolus of the associated cooperative game. The second is defined directly. We provide axiomatic characterizations for both rules. We characterize the core of the cooperative game. We prove that both rules belong to the core. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of specialty towns is positioned as an important breakthrough and down-to-the-ground path in the implementation of China's new-type urbanization strategy. It highlights the roles of place-based industrial specialization and agglomeration economics. In this process, the Chinese government plays a supportive and guiding role in enabling and aligning multiple actors to engage with to build new platforms for innovation and entrepreneurial activities that integrate the functions of production, living, and ecology. The specialty towns construction strategy is aimed at promoting people-based urbanization and the regional ability of endogenous development. Given the "top-down" and standardization-led nature of the specialty towns policy program, implementation and practices at the local level are both challenging and problematic. This paper adopts perspectives and concepts from evolutionary economic geography and agglomeration economics to explore the antecedents and mechanisms of urbanization. It emphasizes the geographical spatiality of the program in local implementation. Taking 134 provincial specialty towns of Zhejiang province as research cases, the paper refers to a mixed set of methodologies of on-site, interview-based fieldwork; an online survey; and a document analysis to identify the historical foundations, industry attributes, and development objectives of the specialty towns. It also generates a typology of the 134 specialty towns, as well as a typological guideline regarding policy intervention for the broader implementation of specialty towns in China. Three main types of specialty towns are identified in our study: The first type is built on the basis of state-led, sci-tech industrial parks/new towns, whose development aims are oriented toward the development of new industrial paths. The second type is based on firm-led specialized markets located in small administrative towns that support the upgrading and renewal of existing local traditional industries. The third type is featured by the local presence of place-specific natural or sociocultural resources, and it is based on scenic spots. It is oriented to the development of the tourism economy. In conclusion, this study promotes the incorporation of evolutionary economic geography perspectives into the policy implementation of specialty towns and calls for taking the concepts of history, space, and place into account for a better understanding of these towns. By so doing, future policy methods will not be standardized, quota-based, and top-down.

This paper examines empirically the economic relationship between local labour market size and firm returns to training. Anchoring in the literature of micro‐foundation of agglomeration economies, we suspect that this relation is driven by two mechanisms: (i) labour pooling which should positively influence the returns to training through matching and learning effects and (ii) the risk of labour poaching, which tends to reduce the returns to training in larger labour markets. Our estimates, based on a large sample of French industrial firms, reveal that returns to training are increasing with the labour market size, suggesting that labour pooling dominates labour poaching effects. On average, returns to training lie between 6.7 and 7.7%, more in line with the microeconomic literature on education than previous studies focusing on training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agglomeration economies is a potent tool in socio-economic revamping, rejuvenation and sustenance of regions, this is as a result of the impulse it transmitted through the multiplier effect it is capable of generated. Therefore, this paper underscores the influence of firms structural characteristics on the degree of agglomeration economies enjoyed amongst firms, using the Lagos region as a case study. The first stage in the collection of primary data involves the reconnaissance survey, thereafter one hundred and three questionnaire were administered in twelve industrial estates; one questionnaire in each of the firm. The paper reveals the following structural characteristics as germane to industrial enterprise; age of firms, areal plant size (m²), capacity utilization (in percentage), and Labour size and firms investment. The paper has also found out those agglomeration economies enjoyed ranges from transportation, labour, power supply, to joint water supply. The Roy's Largest Root test employed to test for the significance of the canonical correlations at 0.05 significant levels shows the calculated F-value 3.5247 and the tabulated F-value 2.90. This suggests that the degree of agglomeration economies enjoyed by firms is significantly explained by the size and structural characteristics of the firms. The paper therefore recommends more and active government participation in the industrial scene, given the necessary support for the expansion of firm's structural characteristics which will lead to increase agglomeration economies enjoyed by these firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the Brazilian census and administrative panel data, the present paper provides evidence that the spatial concentration of analytical skills generates positive wage externalities for all workers in the local labor market. We rely on shift‐share instrumental variables to overcome the endogeneity of skill concentrations. The observed externality is independent from the classical market size economies. The estimates are robust to geography, institutions and workers' sorting on unobservable abilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the location choice of German investors in the Czech Republic based on a unique dataset covering all Czech companies with a German equity holder. Using a nested logit approach the impact of agglomeration economies, labour market conditions and distance on location choice is investigated. The main result of the paper is that apart from a low distance to the location of the parent company the attractiveness of a Czech district for German investors is mainly driven by agglomeration economies. Besides localization economies the agglomeration of German companies in a region plays a decisive role. The importance of labour market characteristics differs between investment sectors, sizes and periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the role of knowledge externalities in firms' employment and workers' wages. We test whether agglomeration economies and regional knowledge base exert a greater impact on wage growth than on employment growth, using spatial panel econometric techniques to control for unobserved spatial effects. Using a spatial panel for six Portuguese manufacturing industries, we found that regional knowledge spillovers, contrary to the theoretical assumptions, have a greater impact on employment in firms than on workers' wages. This analysis might enhance important policy debates about the effects of regional policies on employment and wages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the increasing relevance of knowledge-based activities in the global economy, their spatial distribution at the intrametropolitan scale has rarely been studied. The aim of this paper is to shed light on the intrametropolitan spatial localisation of knowledge-based activities by assessing some of its main causal mechanisms, paying special attention to agglomeration economies and borrowed size (both questioned in the era of Information and Communications Technologies because of the theorised 'death of distance'), the controversial role of industrial diversity and specialisation (traditionally considered exclusive processes) and path dependence. The empirical application refers to the case of the Madrid urban region for the period between 2012 and 2017. This study area proves particularly appropriate for two main reasons. First, the area is a main urban region in the European and global urban systems. Second, the area is a good example of a multicore urban region with a traditionally strong metropolis. The results show that the knowledge economy remains strongly dependent on the size of the city itself (agglomeration economies) and of the surrounding areas (borrowed size), that the specialisation and diversity processes are complementary and appear at different scales and that in the specialisation of certain areas in some knowledge economy activities, the city's trajectory (path dependence) plays an important role. The results of the present study have various practical implications for policymakers when considering not only strategies (and investments) to coordinate land availability, worker training, connections between research centres and companies and amenities but also strategies to coordinate with the surrounding municipalities (e.g. in terms of mobility or joint public and private projects). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International trade is one of the key spheres of economic policy. It is crucial for a country to understand the dynamics of its export markets to create a coherent strategy to improve its position in global markets. Research in this field is particularly interesting for both economists and policy makers. However, due to a lack of data, most of the well-established literature is focused on the national level. Therefore, there is little evidence on the influence of local characteristics on export markets. This research aims to evaluate the influence of regional factors on the competitiveness of firms in international markets, focussing on the importance of agglomeration economies and location, among other local factors. To identify this influence, this paper studies the case of Brazil. This country offers rich disaggregated information that allows this type of research and displays enormous differences across rural and urban areas. Given these differences, the assumption of homogeneous effects is too restrictive. Therefore, to study the patterns across different territories around the country, Geographically Weighted Generalized Linear Model (GWGLM) method is applied. The results indicate an interaction between location and the influence of several local characteristics such as human capital, the degree of development and the local economic structure. This relationship creates virtuous circles in a few locations where urban agglomerations create a suitable environment for firms, while opposite patterns appear in other locations. JEL codes: F14, R11 and R12 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As recovery from the Great Recession continues, economic development scholars and practitioners are again focused on the pace and the sustainability of recovery, as well as on efforts to minimise the severity of future downturns. This paper contributes to the literature by exploring the relationship between industry diversity and economic resilience over time. Using fixed effects models with data from the Bureau of Labour Statistics and the Census Bureau, the paper examines the influence of industrial diversity and concentration on unemployment rate stability in Ohio counties between 1977 and 2011. Results indicate that while more concentrated counties had lower unemployment rates when times were good, counties with more diverse industry structures fared better during times of national or local employment shocks. The paper also finds that there is a relationship between concentration in particular industries and the ability to withstand a shock changes over the 35 years examined, thus highlighting the need to take care when interpreting findings over shorter periods and the need to consider the particular industry of dependence. While local policymakers have little ability to affect industrial concentration in the short run, the paper recommends that highly concentrated counties adopt policies that may help buffer their economies to effects of negative shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The main purpose of the paper is to highlight some limits of the traditional theoretical interpretation of the relationships between the city and economic activities. This interpretation usually makes reference to two elements: agglomeration economies, cumulatively generating gains in efficiency and consequently in competitiveness and attractiveness and external connectivity, linked to multiple networks of both physical and immaterial nature. This approach, mainly functional and geographical, nowadays looks quite reductionist and overlooks crucial aspects of the urban realm that explain urban economic success The first aspect concerns the social and cultural nature of the main interpersonal and inter-institutional relationships taking place inside the city, conducive to crucial processes of cooperation, collective learning, creativity and innovation. In addition to this, the growing concentration on (mainly large) cities of command and control functions which not only witnesses the presence of their political power - underlined by a growing literature in geography and political science - but also widely determines income distribution in space, at the local, national and global scale. The functional interpretation of the city should be complemented by a relational-cognitive and hierarchical-distributive approach. The latter one is particularly interesting for the interpretation of the development of 'monopolistic' cities which operate on economic functions in which they can benefit from a captive market: capital cities and art cities in particular. Methodology/Approach: While the first part of the paper is mainly theoretical, it presents also an empirical side in the second issue, namely the destiny of medium-sized cities. The last section of the paper concerns a logical turnaround: 'cities as businesses' where high surpluses are generated in the real estate field, taking advantage of the economic success of the cities themselves and appropriating a consistent share of the generated profits in the form of land rents. Findings: The traditional view is that medium-sized cities cannot take full advantage of agglomeration economies and therefore will necessarily show lower growth rates in the long term. This paper argues against this view, on both theoretical and empirical grounds, looking at the evidence of European cities in the last twenty years. In many countries, this process should be more appropriately taxed in order to allow sustainable and socially equilibrated development: a fairer sharing of these surplus-values between private and public parties is justified by the collective nature of urban externalities. Originality/Value of paper: The implications of the arguments presented here are relevant on both the interpretative and policy ground. The sources of urban economic success are not linked only to functional or efficiency elements but also to cultural-psychological and to power elements. The former ones require subtler policy strategies and the latter more appropriate policy tools oriented towards the widely ignored challenge of income distribution in space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the influence of agglomeration and spatial sorting on wages in Brazilian cities. The empirical strategy is based on a two‐step estimation. The first step estimates a wage equation with the observed characteristics of workers and firms and location effects. The second step decomposes the location effects into employment density and fixed effects of firm and worker. We estimate an urban wage premium for a developing country with the simultaneous inclusion of worker and firm fixed effects, instrumental variables, and nighttime lights. We find agglomeration effects of 4.3–5.7%, which are larger than those obtained for developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Papers in Regional Science is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The aim of this paper is to infer the spatial extent of agglomeration economies for the creative service industries (CSI) in Barcelona and its relationship with firm performance controlling for urban characteristics and demand factors. Using micro-geographic data from the mercantile register for firms between 2006 and 2015, I estimated the effect of intra-industry and inter-industry agglomeration in rings around location on productivity in Barcelona. The main results are: (1) for CSI, at a micro-spatial level, localisation economies are important within the first 250 m; (2) for non-CSI, having employees in the CSI in close proximity (250–500 m) enhances their productivity; (3) for symbolic-based CSI firms, localisation economies—mainly understood as networking and/or knowledge externalities—have positive effects on TFP at shorter distances (less than 500 m), while for the two other knowledge-based CSI (i.e. synthetic and analytical) localisation economies seem not to be so important; and (4) market potential does not offset localisation economies for CSI. These results strongly suggest the importance of agglomeration externalities in CSI, which are strongly concentrated in the largest cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of spatial structure, as measured on the monocentricity–polycentricity dimension, on labour productivity at the prefectural level in China. Using pooled cross-sectional and instrumental variable techniques, we find that, all else being equal, prefectures with a more monocentric spatial structure have a higher labour productivity, robust to different specifications. Furthermore, large agglomeration economies may fuel the beneficial effects of monocentricity. We conclude that, in terms of economic performance, monocentric-oriented spatial strategy could be a better choice for Chinese prefecture-scale regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revue d'Économie Régionale & urbaine is the property of Librairie Armand Colin and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper argues that the spatial scope of agglomeration economies is more complex than is often assumed in the literature. We provide insight into this issue by showing that agglomeration on short distances (<5 km) does not significantly affect wages, whereas it has a significant and positive effect on medium distances (5–10 km). This effect attenuates rapidly across geographic space, becoming insignificant after 40–80 km. We offer several explanations for this observed distance decay pattern. The results do not imply, however, that nearby agglomeration is irrelevant to the wage formation: only highly urbanized areas benefit from agglomeration on longer distances. Furthermore, this article finds no evidence that foreign economic mass affects wages in the Netherlands, which suggests that national borders are still a substantial barrier for economic interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an empirical study of the geographic and industrial scope of agglomeration economies. We also explore if small establishments make better neighbours than their larger counterparts. We address these issues by studying the effects of local industrial characteristics on the location decisions of new establishments using the random profit maximization framework. We carry out separate econometric estimations for seven industries in Catalonia, a Spanish region, using data from 1995–2002. Agglomeration economies seem to work at a very local level. Evidence of localization, urbanization and diversity effects is found. There is no strong evidence that establishments prefer to be located near to small rather than large establishments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the association between industrial agglomeration and productivity has been widely examined and documented, little work has explored the possibility that these ‘external’ productivity shifts are the product of more advanced technologies. This paper offers a look at this hypothesis using data on individual-level computer usage across a sample of U.S. metropolitan areas over the years 1984, 1989, 1993 and 1997. The results indicate that, for a wide array of industries at the two, three, and four digit SIC level, an industry's scale within a metropolitan area is positively associated with the frequency of computer use by its workers. However, in spite of these observable differences in workplace technology, I also find that estimated localization effects on wages are largely not explained by computer usage. Even after controlling for computer use, there remain significant own-industry scale effects in labour earnings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Papers in Regional Science is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

City size plays an important role in the context of growing urbanization in developing countries, such as India. In the backdrop of this fact certain questions are pertinent: whether economic activities are concentrated in a few large cities; which economic factors determine the size of large cities; whether it is possible to trace different groups among the large cities, and whether the relationship pertaining to city size, migration, and poverty is discernible are some of the research issues which are analyzed in this paper by considering 47 million-plus cities in India. The estimated Pareto distribution suggests that within the group of large million-plus cities, production is not so diversified, though the extreme form of concentration such as primacy or rank size rule does not hold either. In fact, three broad groups are evident, as brought out by the results of the cluster analysis. Both OLS and Tobit regression results indicate that the wage rate, amount of municipal solid waste generation, and the number of salaried employed persons are positively associated with city population while the number of registered motor vehicles has a negative effect on it. However, the infrastructure index calculated through factor analysis does not show any significant effect on the city size. Based on the results of factor analysis, increased migration and reduced poverty are seen to be associated with city size. Finally, we bring out the important policy suggestions for sustainable urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper revisits the question of the role of knowledge externalities in firm productivity. It also addresses the overlooked issue of a plausible non-linear effect and differences among industries. Using a panel of Portuguese manufacturing firms, it finds that regional knowledge spillovers differ substantially across industries and they are non-linear, which is critical issue to promoting more assertive regional policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates the impact of agglomeration economies on the regional employment growth in the knowledge intensive services (KIS) in Slovakia over the period 1998 to 2014 by estimating spatial econometric models. Assuming that knowledge spillovers and externalities are stronger between industries with shared knowledge bases and complementarities, we analyse the role of different forms of sectoral variety at the district level in Slovakia. Results indicate that localization economies has a generally negative impact on the employment growth in the KIS sector, however the results show a strong evidence of the beneficial effect of related variety, while no role is played by unrelated variety. When looking at knowledge spillover between KIS and manufacturing, the KIS industry is affected by related variety in manufacturing industry, while no evidence of externalities is found from the tertiary sectors to manufacturing. The results question the merits of interventions promoting regional specialisation and emphasise that diversity into the related industries should be one of the policy issue areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper undertakes a meta-analysis of the effect of agglomeration economies on foreign direct investment (FDI) location. It finds strong differences in these economies arising from both measurement and study-specific characteristics. Economies generated from domestic rather than foreign activity have the strongest effects on FDI, with the latter only significant if related to the home country of the investor. Support is also found for studies that identify different sources of agglomeration economies, although this is largely underexplored in the empirical literature. The average agglomeration economies estimate is not influenced by publication bias and indicates genuine effects for agglomeration economies on FDI location choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses whether and how agglomeration economies - related variety, specialisation and urbanisation - affect the export performance of Italian local labour markets (LLM). Adopting spatial econometric techniques, and controlling for potential non-linear effects, we find that related variety has a negligible effect on LLMs' export intensity, while the effect of specialisation economies is negative. On the contrary, urbanisation economies positively affect export intensity. The robustness of these results is tested and confirmed using an alternative (institutional-based) spatial weights matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades the importance of space exploration and its associated economy and industry have grown significantly. Beyond its scientific, technological, and engineering advantages space exploration has created significant direct and indirect socioeconomic benefits. Apart from economic growth, employment, and providing a fiscal contribution, these benefits include cultural, educational, environmental, and social benefits that can be termed community capitals. There are important distributional aspects to these benefits manifested in the way that the space sector is becoming a propulsive industry within the activity complex form of agglomeration economy. In regard to this potential impact on urban and regional economic development, it appears that the space industry can make a significant contribution to realising the policy objectives of levelling up in the United Kingdom (UK) and cohesion policy in the European Union (EU). The agency of this development is the evolution of industrial strategies and policies based upon the concept and practice of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) which evolves its space variant, Space 4.0. This article explores these possibilities from UK and EU perspectives to address the question of whether the space sector is becoming a key propulsive driver of regional policy in general and levelling up in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)