The emergence of new industries at the regional level in Spain. A proximity approach based on product-relatedness

Ron Boschma (), Asier Minondo () and Mikel Navarro

No 1201, Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) from Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography

Abstract: How do regions diversify over time? Inspired by recent studies, we argue that regions diversify into industries that make use of capabilities in which regions are specialized. As the spread of capabilities occurs through mechanisms that have a strong regional bias, we expect that capabilities available at the regional level play a larger role than capabilities available at the country level for the development of new industries. To test this, we analyze the emergence of new industries in 50 Spanish regions at the NUTS 3 level in the period 1988-2008. We calculate the capability-distance between new export products and existing export products in Spanish regions, and provide econometric evidence that regions tend to diversify into new industries that use similar capabilities as existing industries in these regions. We show that proximity to the regional industrial structure plays a much larger role in the emergence of new industries in regions than proximity to the national industrial structure. This suggests that capabilities at the regional level enable the development of new industries.

Keywords: Regional branching; diversification; new industries; capabilities; Spain; proximity index (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N94 O14 R11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 27 pages
Date: 2012-01, Revised 2012-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (53)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Emergence of New Industries at the Regional Level in S pain: A Proximity Approach Based on Product Relatedness (2013)
Journal Article: The Emergence of New Industries at the Regional Level in S pain: A Proximity Approach Based on Product Relatedness (2013)
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