The Role of Cities: Evidence From the Placement of Sales Offices

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The Role of Cities: Evidence From the Placement of Sales Offices

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Thomas J Holmes

Abstract

What is the force of attraction of cities? Leading explanations include the advantages of a con-centrated market and knowledge spillovers. This paper develops a model of firm location decisions in which it is possible to distinguish the importance of the concentrated-market motive from other motives, including knowledge spillovers. A key aspect of the model is that it allows for the firm to choose multiple locations. The theory is applied to study the placement of manufacturing sales offices. The implications of the concentrated-market motive are found to be a salient feature of U.S. Census micro data. The structural parameters of the model are estimated. The concentrated-market motive is found to account for approximately half of the concentration of sales offices in large cities.

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Paper provided by Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau in its series Working Papers with number 02-02.

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Date of creation: Jan 2002
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Handle: RePEc:cen:wpaper:02-02

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References listed on IDEAS
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

Steven Berry & Joel Waldfogel, 2003. "Product Quality and Market Size," NBER Working Papers 9675, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Other versions:
- Berry, Steven & Waldfogel, Joel, 2005. "Product Quality and Market Size," Working Papers 1, Yale University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
Thomas J. Holmes, 2004. "Step-by-step Migrations," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 7(1), pages 52-68, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
No, Angela, 2008. "Cities and Growth: Knowledge Spillovers in the Adoption of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies," The Canadian Economy in Transition 2008018e, Statistics Canada, Economic Analysis Division. [Downloadable!]

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