Urban economists hypothesize that industrial diversity matters for urban growth and development, but metrics for empirically testing this relationship are limited to simple concentration metrics (e.g. location quotient) or summary diversity indices (e.g. Gini, Herfindahl). As shown by recent...

Ellison and Glaeser's (1997) index of geographical concentration distinguishes between natural advantages and spillovers as a source of industrial agglomeration, but the well-known 'observational equivalence' means little is known about the relative importance of these. This paper uses the...

In this paper we compare the magnitude of local productivity advantages associated to two different spatial concentration patterns in Italy, i.e. urban areas (UA) and industrial districts (ID). UA typically display a huge concentration of population and host a wide range of economic activities,...

In recent years, several contributions have been focused on a new sort of productive systems that share some characteristics with Marshallian industrial districts. These contributions have analysed the competitiveness of these new areas and how have been promoted by policy makers. In this line,...

This paper assesses the influence of spatial heterogeneity on the choice of entry modes by multinational enterprises (MNEs). We claim that the location of the target firm influences the choice of partial ownership, i.e., an MNE's choice to maintain a local partner. MNEs normally execute partial...

We study the determinants of agglomeration of Canadian manufacturing industries from 1990 to 2009. In so doing, we revisit the seminal contribution by Rosenthal and Strange (2001, "The determinants of agglomeration", J Urban Econ 50(2), 191-229) using a long panel and continuous measures of...

On the last decades, European countries have increased their focus on local production systems as a matter of industrial policy measures. Based on the works related to industrial districts of Becatini (1989), Brusco (1990), Ybarra (1991 and 1996) and Dei Ottati (1994), or the later contributions...

The appearance in scientific life some new notions and terms adequate to them is a natural process. In the field of research laws and regularities of spacial economics more and more popular now is becoming the notion of regional or territorial cluster. It should be agreed with those researchers...

The research in the topic of industrial districts has been focused on the identification of which industries are forming industrial districts and on the causes behind the development of the clusters. As well as there are historical and efficiency reasons that are behind the current configuration...