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Geographic concentration and firm productivity

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Author Info
David C. Maré () (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research)
Jason Timmins () (New Zealand Department of Labour)

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Abstract

Firms operating in dense labour markets are more productive, although understanding the mechanisms behind this relationship is both challenging and contentious. This paper uses a newly assembled dataset on location and labour productivity of most New Zealand firms to examine the role of location patterns at the industry, local labour market, and industry*location levels. We derive estimates in the presence of firm, location, and period fixed effects, paying particular attention to controlling for unobserved local and industry factors. Our findings confirm that labour productivity is higher for firms in geographically-concentrated industries ("localisation"), for firms in more industrially-diversified labour markets ("urbanisation"), and for firms operating in larger labour markets. Controlling for heterogeneity of industries, locations, and firms, we find some support for a positive productivity effect of changes in both localisation and urbanisation, although not all estimated effects are statistically and economically significant.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Motu Economic and Public Policy Research in its series Working Papers with number 06_08.

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Length: 50 pages
Date of creation: Oct 2006
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Handle: RePEc:mtu:wpaper:06_08

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Web page: http://www.motu.org.nz
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Related research
Keywords: Labour Productivity Geographic concentration agglomeration

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
R12 - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
R3 - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics - - Production Analysis and Firm Location

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References listed on IDEAS
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.:
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  3. Gilles Duranton & Diego Puga, 2001. "Nursery Cities: Urban Diversity, Process Innovation, and the Life Cycle of Products," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1454-1477, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Ciccone, Antonio, 2002. "Agglomeration effects in Europe," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 213-227, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Papps, Kerry L. & Newell, James O., 2002. "Identifying Functional Labour Market Areas in New Zealand: A Reconnaissance Study Using Travel-to-Work Data," IZA Discussion Papers 443, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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    • Edward L. Glaeser & Hedi D. Kallal & Jose A. Scheinkman & Andrei Shleifer, 1991. "Growth in Cities," NBER Working Papers 3787, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Rosenthal, Stuart S. & Strange, William C., 2004. "Evidence on the nature and sources of agglomeration economies," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 49, pages 2119-2171 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(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.)

  1. David Law & Bob Buckle & Dean Hyslop, 2006. "Toward a Model of Firm Productivity Dynamics," Treasury Working Paper Series 06/11, New Zealand Treasury. [Downloadable!]
  2. Kelly Lock & Suzi Kerr, 2007. "Nutrient Trading in Lake Rotorua: Where are we Now?," Working Papers 07_06, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research. [Downloadable!]
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