IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/restud/v72y2005i4p1077-1106.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Testing for Localization Using Micro-Geographic Data

Author

Listed:
  • Gilles Duranton
  • Henry G. Overman

Abstract

To study the detailed location patterns of industries, and particularly the tendency for industries to cluster relative to overall manufacturing, we develop distance-based tests of localization. In contrast to previous studies, our approach allows us to assess the statistical significance of departures from randomness. In addition, we treat space as continuous instead of using an arbitrary collection of geographical units. This avoids problems relating to scale and borders. We apply these tests to an exhaustive U.K. data-set. For four-digit industries, we find that (i) 52% of them are localized at a 5% confidence level, (ii) localization mostly takes place at small scales below 50 km, (iii) the degree of localization is very skewed, and (iv) industries follow broad sectoral patterns with respect to localization. Depending on the industry, smaller establishments can be the main drivers of both localization and dispersion. Three-digit sectors show similar patterns of localization at small scales as well as a tendency to localize at medium scales. Copyright 2005, Wiley-Blackwell.

Suggested Citation

  • Gilles Duranton & Henry G. Overman, 2005. "Testing for Localization Using Micro-Geographic Data," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 72(4), pages 1077-1106.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:restud:v:72:y:2005:i:4:p:1077-1106
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/0034-6527.00362
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Quah, Danny, 1997. "Empirics for growth and distribution," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 2138, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Pierre-Philippe Combes & Miren Lafourcade, 2005. "Transport costs: measures, determinants, and regional policy implications for France," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 5(3), pages 319-349, June.
    3. Thomas J. Holmes & John J. Stevens, 2002. "Geographic Concentration and Establishment Scale," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(4), pages 682-690, November.
    4. Rosenthal, Stuart S. & Strange, William C., 2001. "The Determinants of Agglomeration," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 191-229, September.
    5. Devereux, Michael P. & Griffith, Rachel & Simpson, Helen, 2004. "The geographic distribution of production activity in the UK," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 533-564, September.
    6. Quah, Danny, 1997. "Empirics for Growth and Distribution: Stratification, Polarization, and Convergence Clubs," CEPR Discussion Papers 1586, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Ellison, Glenn & Glaeser, Edward L, 1997. "Geographic Concentration in U.S. Manufacturing Industries: A Dartboard Approach," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(5), pages 889-927, October.
    8. Wagner, Alfred, 1891. "Marshall's Principles of Economics," History of Economic Thought Articles, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, vol. 5, pages 319-338.
    9. Holmes, Thomas J. & Stevens, John J., 2004. "Spatial distribution of economic activities in North America," 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 63, pages 2797-2843, Elsevier.
    10. Eric Marcon & Florence Puech, 2003. "Evaluating the Geographic Concentration of Industries Using Distance-Based Methods," Post-Print halshs-00372646, HAL.
    11. Danny Quah, 1997. "Empirics for Growth and Distribution," CEP Discussion Papers dp0324, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    12. Maurel, Francoise & Sedillot, Beatrice, 1999. "A measure of the geographic concentration in french manufacturing industries," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 575-604, September.
    13. Quah, Danny T, 1997. "Empirics for Growth and Distribution: Stratification, Polarization, and Convergence Clubs," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 27-59, March.
    14. Eric Marcon & Florence Puech, 2003. "Evaluating the geographic concentration of industries using distance-based methods," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 3(4), pages 409-428, October.
    15. Eric Marcon & Florence Puech, 2003. "Evaluating the Geographic Concentration of Industries Using Distance-Based Methods," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00372646, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lafourcade, Miren & Mion, Giordano, 2007. "Concentration, agglomeration and the size of plants," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 46-68, January.
    2. Gilles Duranton & Henry G. Overman, 2008. "Exploring The Detailed Location Patterns Of U.K. Manufacturing Industries Using Microgeographic Data," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1), pages 213-243, February.
    3. Barlet, M. & Briant, A. & Crusson, L., 2013. "Location patterns of service industries in France: A distance-based approach," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 338-351.
    4. Nakajima, Kentaro & Saito, Yukiko Umeno & Uesugi, Iichiro, 2012. "Measuring economic localization: Evidence from Japanese firm-level data," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 201-220.
    5. Valter Di Giacinto & Marcello Pagnini, 2008. "Agglomeration within and between regions: Two econometric based indicators," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 674, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    6. Behrens, Kristian & Bougna, Théophile, 2015. "An anatomy of the geographical concentration of Canadian manufacturing industries," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 47-69.
    7. William R. Kerr & Scott Duke Kominers, 2015. "Agglomerative Forces and Cluster Shapes," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(4), pages 877-899, October.
    8. Di Giacinto, Valter & Pagnini, Marcello, 2011. "Local and global agglomeration patterns: Two econometrics-based indicators," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 266-280, May.
    9. Ludwig von Auer & Andranik Stepanyan & Mark Trede, 2019. "Classifying industries into types of relative concentration," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 182(3), pages 1017-1037, June.
    10. LAFOURCADE, Miren & MION, Giordano, 2003. "Concentration, spatial clustering and the size of plants : disentangling the sources of co-location externalities," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2003091, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    11. Marta R. Casanova & Vicente Orts & José M. Albert, 2017. "Sectoral scope and colocalisation of Spanish manufacturing industries," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 65-92, January.
    12. Giulio Cainelli & Roberto Ganau & Yuting Jiang, 2020. "Detecting space–time agglomeration processes over the Great Recession using firm-level micro-geographic data," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 419-445, October.
    13. Cutrini, Eleonora, 2009. "Using entropy measures to disentangle regional from national localization patterns," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 243-250, March.
    14. Bartelme, Dominick & Ziv, Oren, 2023. "JUE Insight: Firms and industry agglomeration," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    15. Sugam Agarwal & Smruti Ranjan Behera, 2022. "Geographical concentration of knowledge and technology-intensive industries in India: empirical evidence from establishment-level analysis," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 513-552, December.
    16. Maria Dav? & Isidora Barbaccia, 2015. "Measuring agglomeration by spatial effects: a proposal," RIVISTA DI ECONOMIA E STATISTICA DEL TERRITORIO, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2015(1), pages 44-70.
    17. Kristy Buzard & Gerald A. Carlino & Jake Carr & Robert M. Hunt & Tony E. Smith, 2015. "Localized Knowledge Spillovers: Evidence from the Agglomeration of American R&D Labs and Patent Data," Working Papers 15-3, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    18. Wolfgang Dauth & Michaela Fuchs & Anne Otto, 2018. "Long‐run processes of geographical concentration and dispersion: Evidence from Germany," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 97(3), pages 569-593, August.
    19. HAEDO, Christian & MOUCHART, Michel, 2012. "A stochastic independence approach for different measures of concentration and specialization," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2012025, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    20. Marta Casanova & Vicente Orts Ríos, 2011. "Assessing the tendency of Spanish manufacturing industries to cluster: Co-localization and establishment size," Working Papers. Serie EC 2011-03, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C19 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Other
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
    • L70 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Primary Products and Construction - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:restud:v:72:y:2005:i:4:p:1077-1106. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/restud .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.