We test the industry life cycle hypothesis for 205 industries in West Germany between 1976 and 2009. In particular we analyse whether population indicators follow a cyclical path. Using a novel non-linear regression approach to identify life cycles we find that the number of establishments,...

Local industrial clusters have attracted much attention in the recenteconomic and geographical literature. A huge number of case studies have beenconducted. This paper presents a meta-analysis of the case studies of 159 localindustrial clusters in various countries and industries. Based on an...

A stochastic model of the evolution of the firm population in a regionand industry is developed. This model is used to make predictions about theexpected probability distribution of the firm number in regions and their dynamics.Data on the spatial distribution of firms in Germany is used to...

This paper studies the frequency of observing a certain number offirms or employees in a region for a given industry. Various predictions for thesefrequencies are deduced from theoretical considerations. Then, the empirical distri-butions of 198 industries in Germany are analysed. It is found...

A growing body of work emphasizes the role that the spatial component plays in the in the innovationprocess. These perspectives brought the region’s infrastructure and its endowment withcrucial factors into the focus of research. Given that these factors do significantly influence...

This paper analyzes how the qualitative change in human labor occurs in mutualdependence with the advancement of the epistemic base of technology. Historically, arecurrent pattern can be identified: humans learned to successively transfer laborqualities to machines. The subsequent release of...

In economics simulation models are used quite a lot to carry out mathematical experiments.However, the specification of the parameter set with which to run these simulations is, ingeneral, quite an adventure into the unknown. Criticism is easily found with the procedure, asit is difficult to...