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Wages, Productivity and Industry Composition – agglomeration economies in Swedish regions

Author Info

  • Klaesson, Johan

    ()

    (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology)

  • Larsson, Hanna

    ()

    (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology)

Abstract

It is a well known fact that wages have a tendency to be higher in larger regions. The source of the regional difference in wages between larger and smaller areas can be broadly divided into two parts. The first part can be attributed to the fact that regions have different industrial compositions. The second part is due to the fact that average regional productivity differs between regions. Using a decomposition method, akin to shift-share, we are able to separate regional wage disparities into an industrial composition component and productivity component. According to theory it is expected that productivity is higher in larger regions due to different kinds of economies of agglomeration. Also, larger regions are able to host a wider array of sectors compared to smaller regions. Output from sectors demanding a large local or regional market can only locate in larger regions. Examples of such sectors are e.g. various types of advanced services with high average wages. The purpose of the paper is to explain regional differences in wages and the productivity and composition components, respectively. The paper tests the dependence of wages, productivity and industrial composition effects on regional size (using a market potential measure). In the estimation we control for regional differences in education, employment shares, average firm size and self-employment. Swedish regional data from 2004 are used. The results verify that larger regions on average have higher wages, originating from higher productivity and more favorable industry composition.

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Paper provided by Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies in its series Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation with number 203.

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Length: 29 pages
Date of creation: 23 Nov 2009
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0203
Contact details of provider: Postal: CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
Phone: +46 8 790 95 63
Web page: http://www.infra.kth.se/cesis/
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Keywords: Agglomeration Economies; Regions; Wages; Productivity; Industrial Composition; Sweden;

Find related papers by JEL classification:

  • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
  • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
  • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
  • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General
  • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

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Cited by:

  1. Andersson, Martin & Lööf, Hans, 2009. "Agglomeration and Productivity - evidence from firm-level data," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 170, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.

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