The Rise and Fall of Spatial Inequalities in France: a Long-Run Perspective

Pierre-Philippe Combes (), Miren LAFOURCADE, Jacques Thisse () and Toutain, Jean-Claude

No 7017, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

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.

Keywords: agglomeration economies; economic geography; economic history; human capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N93 N94 O18 R12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eec, nep-geo, nep-his and nep-ure
Date: 2008-10
View list of references

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.cepr.org/pubs/dps/DP7017.asp (application/pdf)
CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org

Related works:
Working Paper: The rise and fall of spatial inequalities in France: A long-run perspective (2008)
Working Paper: THE RISE AND FALL OF SPATIAL INEQUALITIES IN FRANCE: A LONG-RUN PERSPECTIVE (2008)
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: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:7017

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.cepr.org/pubs/dps/DP7017.asp

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers
Address: Centre for Economic Policy Research, 53--56 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DG
Series data maintained by ().