IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirb/v53y2026i1p68-89.html

Not so ‘placeless’ after all. Understanding the spatial implications of the digital economy

Author

Listed:
  • Giulia Occhini
  • Levi John Wolf
  • Emmanouil Tranos

Abstract

Empirical studies on the geography of digital economic activities are currently lacking. This is due to digital economic activities remaining largely undefined in official economic statistics. This paper introduces a novel empirical pipeline to examine the spatial characteristics of the digital economy while addressing the challenges of data missingness. Firstly, we identify digital economic activities by using commercial websites and Natural Language Processing (NLP). Secondly, we study the geographical distribution of digital firms, as well as the mechanisms causing this distribution, through considering firms as the realisation of a latent spatial Poisson Point Process. In doing so, this paper enhances our understanding of urban processes by combining data created through advanced NLP techniques with spatial econometrics. Focusing on the case of London, UK, we identify digital economic activities by applying contextualized weak supervision to text scraped from firms’ websites. By doing so, we showcase how websites can complement, or even substitute official economic statistics, leading to a more complete understanding of the digital economy. Using this data, we proceed to inferring the causes of firms’ locations in space: indeed, firms can locate in space for exogenous reasons, such as the presence of infrastructure and public incentives, or endogenous reasons, such as knowledge spillovers. We base our analysis on estimating the inhomogeneous K-function, quantifying the spatial dependency between firms. Our study reveals a tendency for digital firms to cluster due to the importance of in-person interactions that cannot be explained simply by exogenous factors such as the attractiveness of the location. To our knowledge, the paper provides the first empirical evidence uncovering the persisting relevance of space and face-to-face interactions in the digital economy, prompting reflections on the geographical footprints of digitality.

Suggested Citation

  • Giulia Occhini & Levi John Wolf & Emmanouil Tranos, 2026. "Not so ‘placeless’ after all. Understanding the spatial implications of the digital economy," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 53(1), pages 68-89, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:53:y:2026:i:1:p:68-89
    DOI: 10.1177/23998083251398897
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23998083251398897
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/23998083251398897?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Luc Anselin & Attila Varga & Zoltan Acs, 2008. "Local Geographic Spillovers Between University Research and High Technology Innovations," Chapters, in: Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy, chapter 9, pages 95-121, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Rizov, Marian & Vecchi, Michela & Domenech, Josep, 2022. "Going online: Forecasting the impact of websites on productivity and market structure," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 184, pages 1-46.
    3. Erik Brynjolfsson & Brian Kahin (ed.), 2002. "Understanding the Digital Economy: Data, Tools, and Research," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262523302, December.
    4. Arjun Ramani & Nicholas Bloom, 2021. "The Donut Effect of Covid-19 on Cities," NBER Working Papers 28876, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Danny Quah, 1999. "The Weightless Economy in Economic Development," CEP Discussion Papers dp0417, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    6. Goldfarb, Avi & Prince, Jeff, 2008. "Internet adoption and usage patterns are different: Implications for the digital divide," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 2-15, March.
    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. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Riccardo Crescenzi, 2008. "Mountains in a flat world: why proximity still matters for the location of economic activity," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 1(3), pages 371-388.
    2. Goodall, Amanda H., 2009. "Highly cited leaders and the performance of research universities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(7), pages 1079-1092, September.
    3. Balland, Pierre-Alexandre & Boschma, Ron, 2022. "Do scientific capabilities in specific domains matter for technological diversification in European regions?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(10).
    4. Anna M. Ferragina & Giulia Nunziante, 2018. "Are Italian firms performances influenced by innovation of domestic and foreign firms nearby in space and sectors?," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 45(3), pages 335-360, September.
    5. Motoyama, Yasuyuki & Cao, Cong & Appelbaum, Richard, 2014. "Observing regional divergence of Chinese nanotechnology centers," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 11-21.
    6. Rui Baptista & Joana Mendonça, 2010. "Proximity to knowledge sources and the location of knowledge-based start-ups," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 45(1), pages 5-29, August.
    7. Giancarlo Giudici & Massimiliano Guerini & Cristina Rossi-Lamastra, 2019. "The creation of cleantech startups at the local level: the role of knowledge availability and environmental awareness," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 815-830, April.
    8. Marta Aloi & Joanna Poyago-Theotoky & Frédéric Tournemaine, 2022. "The Geography of Knowledge and R&D-led Growth [Real effects ofacademic research: comment]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(6), pages 1149-1190.
    9. Marina Geenhuizen van, 2003. "Fostering Academic Entrepreneurship: New Insights into Incubation from an Evolutionary Perspective," ERSA conference papers ersa03p362, European Regional Science Association.
    10. Matthias Firgo & Peter Mayerhofer, 2015. "Wissens-Spillovers und regionale Entwicklung - welche strukturpolitische Ausrichtung optimiert des Wachstum?," Working Paper Reihe der AK Wien - Materialien zu Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft 144, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik.
    11. Carlino, Gerald & Kerr, William R., 2015. "Agglomeration and Innovation," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 349-404, Elsevier.
    12. Ewa Lechman, 2012. "Technology convergence and digital divides. A country-level evidence for the period 2000–2010," Ekonomia journal, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw, vol. 31.
    13. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Fabrice Comptour, 2010. "Do clusters generate greater innovation and growth? An analysis of European regions," Working Papers 2010-15, Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados (IMDEA) Ciencias Sociales.
    14. Breandán Ó hUallacháin, 2025. "Organisations and the dynamics of change in the location of American invention," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 62(6), pages 1099-1122, May.
    15. Agrawal, Ajay & Cockburn, Iain, 2003. "The anchor tenant hypothesis: exploring the role of large, local, R&D-intensive firms in regional innovation systems," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 21(9), pages 1227-1253, November.
    16. Daniel O. Beltran & Kuntal K. Das & Robert W. Fairlie, 2008. "Are Computers Good for Children? The Effects of Home Computers on Educational Outcomes," CEPR Discussion Papers 576, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    17. Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Zhang, Min, 2020. "The cost of weak institutions for innovation in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    18. Tappeiner, Gottfried & Hauser, Christoph & Walde, Janette, 2008. "Regional knowledge spillovers: Fact or artifact?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 861-874, June.
    19. Federico Caviggioli & Alessandra Colombelli & Antonio De Marco & Giuseppe Scellato & Elisa Ughetto, 2023. "Co-evolution patterns of university patenting and technological specialization in European regions," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 216-239, February.
    20. Granguillhome Ochoa, Rogelio & Lach, Samantha & Masaki, Takaaki & Rodríguez-Castelán, Carlos, 2022. "Mobile internet adoption in West Africa," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:sae:envirb:v:53:y:2026:i:1:p:68-89. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.