Regional industrial structure and agglomeration economies: An analysis of productivity in three manufacturing industries

Joshua Drucker and Edward Feser

Regional Science and Urban Economics, 2012, vol. 42, issue 1-2, 1-14

Abstract: We investigate whether a more concentrated regional industrial structure – the dominance of a few large firms in a given industry in a region – limits agglomeration economies and ultimately diminishes the economic performance of firms in that industry, especially small ones. In an application to three industries using establishment-level production functions and a combination of confidential and publicly available data sources, we find a consistently negative and substantial direct productivity effect associated with regional industrial structure concentration and only mixed and relatively weak evidence that agglomeration economies are a mediating factor in that effect.

Keywords: Industrial structure; Agglomeration economies; Manufacturing; Productivity; Small firms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L11 O10 R30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (55)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:regeco:v:42:y:2012:i:1:p:1-14

DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2011.04.006

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