IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/regstd/v48y2014i9p1514-1528.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Skew Productivity Distributions and Agglomeration: Evidence from Plant-Level Data

Author

Listed:
  • Toshihiro Okubo
  • Eiichi Tomiura

Abstract

Okubo T. and Tomiura E. Skew productivity distributions and agglomeration: evidence from plant-level data, Regional Studies . This paper empirically examines how the shapes of plant productivity distributions vary across regions based on Japan's manufacturing census. It focuses on the skewness to examine the asymmetry by estimating the gamma distribution at the plant level. By linking the estimated shape parameters with economic geography variables, it is found that the productivity distribution tends to be significantly left skewed, especially in cores, regions with diversified industrial compositions, regions with weak market potential and in agglomerated industries. These findings suggest that agglomeration economies are likely to accommodate heterogeneous plants with wide ranges of productivities.

Suggested Citation

  • Toshihiro Okubo & Eiichi Tomiura, 2014. "Skew Productivity Distributions and Agglomeration: Evidence from Plant-Level Data," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(9), pages 1514-1528, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:regstd:v:48:y:2014:i:9:p:1514-1528
    DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2012.753143
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00343404.2012.753143
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00343404.2012.753143?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
    ---><---

    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. Okubo, Toshihiro & Tomiura, Eiichi, 2012. "Industrial relocation policy, productivity and heterogeneous plants: Evidence from Japan," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1-2), pages 230-239.
    2. Pierre‐Philippe Combes & Gilles Duranton & Laurent Gobillon & Diego Puga & Sébastien Roux, 2012. "The Productivity Advantages of Large Cities: Distinguishing Agglomeration From Firm Selection," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 80(6), pages 2543-2594, November.
    3. Paolo Angelini & Andrea Generale, 2008. "On the Evolution of Firm Size Distributions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(1), pages 426-438, March.
    4. di Giovanni, Julian & Levchenko, Andrei A. & Rancière, Romain, 2011. "Power laws in firm size and openness to trade: Measurement and implications," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 42-52, September.
    5. Gilles Duranton & Henry G. Overman, 2005. "Testing for Localization Using Micro-Geographic Data," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 72(4), pages 1077-1106.
    6. 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.
    7. Chad Syverson, 2004. "Market Structure and Productivity: A Concrete Example," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(6), pages 1181-1222, December.
    8. Luís M B Cabral & José Mata, 2003. "On the Evolution of the Firm Size Distribution: Facts and Theory," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1075-1090, September.
    9. Okubo, Toshihiro & Picard, Pierre M. & Thisse, Jacques-François, 2010. "The spatial selection of heterogeneous firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 230-237, November.
    10. Olley, G Steven & Pakes, Ariel, 1996. "The Dynamics of Productivity in the Telecommunications Equipment Industry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(6), pages 1263-1297, November.
    11. Chad Syverson, 2004. "Product Substitutability and Productivity Dispersion," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(2), pages 534-550, May.
    12. Soo, Kwok Tong, 2005. "Zipf's Law for cities: a cross-country investigation," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 239-263, May.
    13. Henderson, J. Vernon, 2003. "Marshall's scale economies," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 1-28, January.
    14. Richard E. Baldwin & Toshihiro Okubo, 2006. "Heterogeneous firms, agglomeration and economic geography: spatial selection and sorting," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 6(3), pages 323-346, June.
    15. Peter Huber & Michael Pfaffermayr, 2010. "Testing for Conditional Convergence in Variance and Skewness: The Firm Size Distribution Revisited," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 72(5), pages 648-668, October.
    16. 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.
    17. Fujita, Masahisa & Tabuchi, Takatoshi, 1997. "Regional growth in postwar Japan," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 643-670, November.
    18. Erzo G. J. Luttmer, 2007. "Selection, Growth, and the Size Distribution of Firms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(3), pages 1103-1144.
    19. Melo, Patricia C. & Graham, Daniel J. & Noland, Robert B., 2009. "A meta-analysis of estimates of urban agglomeration economies," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 332-342, May.
    20. Orietta Marsili, 2005. "Technology and the Size Distribution of Firms: Evidence from Dutch Manufacturing," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 27(4), pages 303-328, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Toshihiro Okubo & Eiichi Tomiura, 2019. "Regional variations in exporters’ productivity premium: Theory and evidence," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 803-821, August.
    2. Forslid, Rikard & Okubo, Toshihiro, 2023. "Trade, location, and multi-product firms," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    3. Kozo Kiyota & Toshiyuki Matsuura & Lionel Nesta, 2019. "What'S Behind The Figures? Quantifying The Cross‐Country Exporter Productivity Gap," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 57(3), pages 1256-1271, July.
    4. Yang, Yang & Mukhopadhaya, Pundarik & Yu, Zhuangxiong, 2020. "Relationship between city size and firm productivity – A new interpretation using the Chinese experience," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 546-558.
    5. KIYOTA Kozo & MATSUURA Toshiyuki & Lionel NESTA, 2016. "Understanding the Cross-country Productivity Gap of Exporters," Discussion papers 16019, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    6. Igor Bagayev & Ronald B. Davies, 2017. "The Impact of Protection on Observed Productivity Distributions," Working Papers 201705, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    7. Kozo Kiyota & Toshiyuki Matsuura & Lionel Nesta, 2019. "On Export Premia," GREDEG Working Papers 2019-10, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France, revised Mar 2019.
    8. Ito, Banri & Xu, Zhaoyuan & Yashiro, Naomitsu, 2015. "Does agglomeration promote internationalization of Chinese firms?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 109-121.
    9. Chun‐Yu Ho & Yue Sheng, 2022. "Productivity advantage of large cities for creative industries," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 101(6), pages 1289-1306, December.
    10. Rutzer, Christian, 2014. "A Theory of Trade Liberalization and Innovations with Heterogeneous Firms," Working papers 2014/02, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.

    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. Valter Di Giacinto & Matteo Gomellini & Giacinto Micucci & Marcello Pagnini, 2014. "Mapping local productivity advantages in Italy: industrial districts, cities or both?," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 14(2), pages 365-394.
    2. Antonio Accetturo & Valter Di Giacinto & Giacinto Micucci & Marcello Pagnini, 2018. "Geography, productivity, and trade: Does selection explain why some locations are more productive than others?," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(5), pages 949-979, November.
    3. OKUBO Toshihiro & Rikard FORSLID, 2010. "Spatial Relocation with Heterogeneous Firms and Heterogeneous Sectors," Discussion papers 10056, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    4. KONDO Keisuke & OKUBO Toshihiro, 2020. "The Impact of Market Size on Firm Selection," Discussion papers 20053, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    5. Forslid, Rikard & Okubo, Toshihiro, 2014. "Spatial sorting with heterogeneous firms and heterogeneous sectors," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 42-56.
    6. Daguo Lv & Lingyu Zhang & Ren Lu & Jingtao Yao, 2022. "Industry characteristics and agglomeration of heterogeneous firms," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 49(1), pages 31-49, March.
    7. Syed Hasan & H. Allen Klaiber & Ian Sheldon, 2020. "The impact of science parks on small- and medium-sized enterprises’ productivity distributions: the case of Taiwan and South Korea," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 135-153, January.
    8. Békés, Gábor & Harasztosi, Péter, 2013. "Agglomeration premium and trading activity of firms," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 51-64.
    9. Arimoto, Yutaka & Nakajima, Kentaro & Okazaki, Tetsuji, 2014. "Sources of productivity improvement in industrial clusters: The case of the prewar Japanese silk-reeling industry," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 27-41.
    10. Diego Puga, 2010. "The Magnitude And Causes Of Agglomeration Economies," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 203-219, February.
    11. Combes, Pierre-Philippe & Gobillon, Laurent, 2015. "The Empirics of Agglomeration Economies," 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 247-348, Elsevier.
    12. Hisamitsu Saito & Munisamy Gopinath & JunJie Wu, 2011. "Heterogeneous firms, trade liberalization and agglomeration," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(2), pages 541-560, May.
    13. Spyridon Stavropoulos & Dimitris Skuras, 2016. "Firm Profitability and Agglomeration Economies: An Elusive Relationship," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 107(1), pages 66-80, February.
    14. Behrens, Kristian & Robert-Nicoud, Frédéric, 2015. "Agglomeration Theory with Heterogeneous Agents," 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 171-245, Elsevier.
    15. Ana Gouveia & Sílvia Santos & Marli Fernandes, 2017. "The empirics of agglomeration economies: the link with productivity," GEE Papers 0067, Gabinete de Estratégia e Estudos, Ministério da Economia, revised Feb 2017.
    16. Hisamitsu Saito, 2015. "Firm Heterogeneity, Multiplant Choice, And Agglomeration," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(4), pages 540-559, September.
    17. Yang, Yang & Mukhopadhaya, Pundarik & Yu, Zhuangxiong, 2020. "Relationship between city size and firm productivity – A new interpretation using the Chinese experience," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 546-558.
    18. Halvarsson, Daniel, 2013. "Industry Differences in the Firm Size Distribution," Ratio Working Papers 214, The Ratio Institute.
    19. Duranton, Gilles & Puga, Diego, 2014. "The Growth of Cities," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 5, pages 781-853, Elsevier.
    20. Martin, Philippe & Mayer, Thierry & Mayneris, Florian, 2011. "Spatial concentration and plant-level productivity in France," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 182-195, March.

    More about this item

    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:taf:regstd:v:48:y:2014:i:9:p:1514-1528. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/CRES20 .

    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.