Regional specialisation and industry location in the long run: Spain in the US mirror (1856-2002)
Concha Betrán (mcbetran@uv.es)
Additional contact information
Concha Betrán: Facultad de Economía, Universidad de Valencia, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, 2011, vol. 5, issue 3, 259-290
Abstract:
This paper studies the long-run pattern of regional specialisation in Spain for the period 1856–2002. We have obtained an inverted U-shape trend in manufacturing specialisation which is similar to that in the USA. Using a model that nests factor endowments and increasing returns, we find that both the latter influence manufacturing location, albeit with variations over time, factor endowments being the most decisive. Manufacturing industries intensive in agricultural and mining inputs are located near regions with these factor endowments, while human capital location gained importance from 1965 onwards. Being located near the market was also significant for some industries. The inverted U-shape observed in manufacturing specialisation is due to the fact that the importance of immobile factors increased regional specialisation. However, when mobile factors increased, as was the case with skilled labour, and when this factor converged across regions, specialisation decreased. The fact that the importance of central markets diminishing also contributed to this trend.
Keywords: Regional specialisation; Industry location; Factor endowments and increasing returns (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: R11 R12 N N9 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations View citations in EconPapers (2) Track citations by RSS feed
Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11698-010-0060-1 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to journal subscribers
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:afc:cliome:v:5:y:2011:i:3:p:259-290
Access Statistics for this article
Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History is currently edited by Claude Diebolt, Dora Costa and Jean-Luc Demeulemeester
More articles in Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History from Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC) Contact information at EDIRC.
Series data maintained by (webmaster@cliometrie.org).