Clustering Of Economic Activity Research Articles

Climate Change Economics over Time and Space

With average temperature ranging from −20°C at the North Pole to 30°C at the Equator and with global warming expected to reach 1.4°C to 4.5°C by the year 2100, it is clear that climate change will have vastly different effects across the globe. Given the abundance of land in northern latitudes, if population and economic activity could freely move across space, the economic cost of global warming would be greatly reduced. However, spatial frictions are real: migrants face barriers, trade and transportation are costly, physical infrastructure is not footloose, and knowledge embedded in clusters of economic activity diffuses only imperfectly. Thus, the economic cost of climate change is intimately connected to these spatial frictions. Building on earlier integrated assessment models (IAMs) that largely ignored space, in the past decade there has been significant progress in developing dynamic spatial integrated assessment models (S-IAMs) aimed at providing a more realistic evaluation of the economic cost of climate change, both locally and globally. This review discusses this progress and provides a guide for future work in this area.

Collective shared value creation as emergent strategy for cluster management organizations

PurposeCluster management organizations (CMOs) have emerged over the past few decades as intermediaries that support the competitiveness of place-based clusters of economic activity. Despite their economic origins, policymakers are now starting to experiment with a broader use for cluster policies that seeks to leverage CMOs to tackle societal challenges in approaches aligned with the concept of creating shared value (CSV). However, there remains a void in conceptual understanding around the specific roles that CMOs might play in overcoming the barriers faced by their members for CSV, which this paper aims to address. Bridging this gap presents an opportunity for cluster practitioners and policymakers in a context in which environmental and social sustainability are at the top of policy agendas.Design/methodology/approachBased on analysis of literature around collaborative approaches to CSV for mitigating transaction costs, the authors define the contours of a new conceptual framework for the roles that CMOs can play in fostering collective CSV. The authors illustrate how the different components of the framework are reflected in emerging cluster practice in the context of a new wave of European cluster-based projects tackling CSV elements.FindingsThe resulting framework reconciles the concepts of clusters and CSV by explicitly positioning CMOs as intermediaries for facilitating the CSV strategies of their members. CMOs embrace emergent strategy making that targets (tangible and intangible) collective CSV capabilities and addresses collective CSV challenges. Collective CSV can provide a theoretical anchor guiding future cluster policies to fully leverage the transformative potential of CMOs. This conceptual framework opens a promising empirical research agenda, particularly around evaluating the plurality of impacts of CMOs.Originality/valueBy stressing the social impact of CMOs alongside their well-understood economic impacts, and by enabling a categorization of functions that can support the monitoring of CMO activities toward collective CSV strategies, the framework provides a novel basis for inspiring further empirical research into the evidencing of these roles.

The spatial impact of entrepreneurial zones: firm, city and inter-city evidence

ABSTRACT We investigate the impact of a decade-long, large public entrepreneurial infrastructure investment programme in an emerging European economy. Using a unique data set, we examine the short-run firm city and inter-city effects of entrepreneurial zones (EZs). EZs have a positive impact on business investment, sales and especially the export revenues of firms located within them. The positive economic effects of EZs are limited to host and neighbouring towns and cities, decrease with distance, and eventually become negative. This points to the localized nature of the effects of EZs and their potential for spatial redistribution and clustering of economic activity.

Knowledge Space, Relatedness and Complexity: A Regional Analysis in Turkey

Regional development policies based on regions’ core strengths is key for innovative and competitive growth. For sustainable growth, each region would discover their own growth paths grounded on their core knowledge base and capabilities. Although there are studies that focus on regional clustering of economic activity and technological dispersion of sectors in Turkey, little is known related to the regions’ potential to attract new technologies based on their core strenghts. There are three objectives of the paper: The first objective is to map knowledge space (relatedness between technologies) in Turkey for 2010 and 2017. The second objective of the paper is to understand relatedness (branching opportunities) and knowledge complexity in Turkey’s regions for 2010 and 2017. The third objective is to demonstrate the relationship of regional innovativeness as measured by patent applications with relatedness and knowledge complexity across Turkey’s NUTS3 regions. The study uses data from the European Patent Office (EPO) REGPAT Database (downloaded in January 2020). In order to map Turkey’s knowledge space, we use technological relatedness between patent classes. The knowledge space is a network where nodes represent technological categories and lines represent links between each pair of technology. Relatedness of the regions is operationalized by relatedness density. Knowledge complexity is operationalized by knowledge complexity index. We use regression analysis to understand the correlation of patent applications with regions’ relatedness density and knowledge complexity. As a control variable, the regression model uses diversity variable that is operationalized by the number of technological classes in which each city has relative technological advantage. The analysis demonstrates that knowledge space in Turkey became denser between 2010 and 2017 and there are variations across regions with respect to branching opportunities and knowledge complexity. Diversity and relatedness density are positively correlated with patent applications while complexity does not have a correlation with regional innovativeness.

Sumatra Island Economic Cluster

The growth of a region cannot be released from its position in a larger urban system. Interactions in urban systems manifest in various forms such as population migration, trade, and information exchange. These interactions then have an influence on other regions. One of the expected outcomes of urban interaction is economic growth. However, not all regions can have a positive influence in their interactions in urban systems. This influence can be seen through spatial spreads that occur in existing economic indicators. This research seeks to look at clusters of economic activity on Sumatra Island because of the urban interactions that occur. This research uses the LISA method on economic data of 172 districts under the administrative area of the island of Sumatra. It is seen that the spatial distribution of economic activity is not random. There are several clusters of economic activity following the concentration of the population on the island of Sumatra namely in the area around Medan and Lampung. This spatial arrangement has no significant change between the two years of observation. While population and quality of transportation have a strong relationship, but these two variables do not appear to have a relationship with the GDRP of transportation

The Belt and Road Initiative: Reshaping economic geography in Central Asia?

This paper develops a computable spatial equilibrium model of Central Asia and uses it to analyze the possible effects of the Belt and Road Initiative on the economy of the region. The model captures international and subnational economic units and their connectivity to each other and the rest of the world. Aggregate real income gains from the Belt Road Initiative range from less than 2 percent of regional income if adjustment mechanisms take the form of conventional Armington and monopolistic competition, to around 3 percent if there are localization economies of scale and labor mobility. In the latter case, there are sizeable geographical variations in impact, with some areas developing clusters of economic activity with income increases of as much as 12 percent and a doubling of local populations, while other areas stagnate or even decline.

КЛАСТЕРЫ ПРИМОРСКИХ РЕГИОНОВ ЕВРОПЕЙСКОЙ ЧАСТИ РОССИИ

Clustering of economic activity is an issue of particular interest for regional studies and economic geography, as well as an important practical task faced by Russian regions and related to the enhancement of competitive capacities. The aim of the study is to capture the current trends in the formation and development of clusters across the coastal regions of the European part of Russia, to determine the nature and degree of interdependence between the innovation, coastal, and agglomeration factors. The study is focused on the methodological aspects of studying the interrelation of the agglomeration space and the dynamics of cluster initiatives under the influence of coastalization. The study takes into account institutionalized clusters and de facto operating ones which have formed over the past two decades in the Rostov, Kaliningrad, Leningrad, Murmansk and Arkhangelsk regions, Krasnodar Krai, the Republics of Karelia and Crimea, Sevastopol and St. Petersburg. There have been identified the features (both advantages and problems) of the cluster development in coastal agglomerations, which are the foci of early clustering in the regions under consideration. In the context of increasing geo-economic instability, the factor of coastal location and external technological dependence initiated the innovation vector in shaping the cluster specialization, including in maritime sector, focused on import substitution.

Economic geography of innovation in India: an empirical investigation

ABSTRACT Theory points toward geographical clustering of economic activity as an important determinant of innovation. A stylized fact about the Indian economy is the geographic concentration of both economic activity and innovation. The paper first analyses the spatial pattern of patent applications across Indian districts. Considering innovation to be a complex and collaborative process, this paper investigates the relevance of economic geography for innovation for all Indian districts. We estimate agglomeration economies by creating Herfindahl index, localization index and Access index for all districts. Using the count data model, we estimate the effect of agglomeration economies, knowledge spillovers along with other variables including R&D expenditure, human capital, institution and infrastructure in creating innovation. The results show a strong and statistically significant effect of the agglomeration variables on innovative activity in a district. R&D expenditures in own district and neighbouring districts also have a positive relationship with the number of patent applications. Moreover, institutions, infrastructure and local socio-economic conditions do matter for innovative activity.

Spatial Agglomeration, Human and Social Capital: The Case of Turkey Manufacturing Industry

Over the last three decades, new economic theories explode the factors depending on space and spatial characteristics. In this process, it is developed the theories on social-cultural aspects and spatial characteristics of regions instead of traditional economic theories. These theories have been main strategy for economic development and growth. Economic development has not been considered independently from space by these theories and economic performance of a region was emphasized importance of economic actors, institutional and economic infrastructure as well as geographic features. Geography or spatial features contribute to increase not only skilled workforce, knowledge spillover and distribution but also social relations and interaction. In other words, the social-cultural and humanity factors relating with spatial and geography are major factors affecting on the development and also growing of economic activities. Especially, while industrialization as engine of regional development has been benefiting from the advantages offered by spatial features, clustering of economic activities and relationships among actors are shaped according to socio-cultural and human factors revealed spatial features. In this context, clustering of economic activities has been one of the new areas of interest in the theory of economic geography. Therefore, clustering of economic activities and human-social-spatial resources has been emphasized to play a major role in growth and development of regions by essays of the new economic geography. In that context, the aim of this paper is to determine the effects of human and social capital in the spatial agglomeration of economic activities in case of Konya-Turkey. In this study, the agglomeration tendencies for manufacturing industry in Konya, which have major potentials in terms of human and social capital and manufacturing industry potential, is analysed comparatively depending on secondary resources and using statistical. In this paper, it is answered a question: can the spatial agglomeration tendency be more dominant in the regions with higher human and social capital potential than the regions with low human and social capital potential. In this framework, the paper is composed of four chapters. At first, it is involved theoretical background including theoretical evaluating and also conceptual explaining about terminology such as new economic geography theories, agglomeration/clustering, human and social capital. Secondly, it is called methodological chapter that it involves the determination of variables, explanation analytic methods and techniques, and also giving information relating with the development of Konya manufacturing industry. Thirdly, it is evaluated data getting from analyse and methods techniques. And last, it presents results and evaluations relating with the study findings.

Knowing Communities and the Innovative Capacity of Cities

The buzz-and-pipeline model (Maskell et al. 2006; Bathelt et al. 2004) claims that clusters of economic activity need both a rich “local buzz” and the creation of “global pipelines” with external actors to increase their innovative capacity. While co-location is sufficient to profit from the “buzz”, “pipelines” require a high investment in their construction and nurturing. This paper complements this model by emphasizing the role that actors outside firms, especially communities, play in facilitating both the local and the global knowledge dynamics in cities. The knowledge transfer between distant similar communities is facilitated by the cognitive proximity that bonds members of knowing communities and that appears more determinant than geographic proximity. This community-based model is empirically illustrated by a three-case study on different knowing communities in Barcelona (fabbers, coworkers and makers). The paper concludes that by fostering the development and nurturing of such communities, policy makers might contribute to increase the innovative capacity of urban agglomerations.

Knowing communities and the innovative capacity of cities

Abstract The aim of this paper is to emphasize the role that actors outside firms, especially communities, play in facilitating both the local and the global knowledge dynamics, thus contributing to the innovative and creative capacity of cities. The proposed community-based model complements the buzz-and-pipeline model (Bathelt, Malmberg, & Maskell, 2004; Maskell, Bathelt, & Malmberg, 2006) that claims that clusters of economic activity need both a rich “local buzz” and the creation of “global pipelines” with external actors to increase their innovative capacity. The paper argues that the knowledge transfer between distant similar communities is facilitated by the cognitive proximity that bonds members of knowing communities and that appears more determinant than geographic proximity. This community-based model is empirically illustrated by a three-case study on different knowing communities in Barcelona (of fabbers, coworkers and makers).

Investment Treaty Arbitration and Market Governance: A Principled Approach to Assessing Regulatory Action

The world is characterised by intertwined global value chains and regional clusters of economic activity. ‘Globalisation’ as a concept must be unpacked to show how economic activity is in fact carried out, so as to understand how market governance structures must be designed. Economic regulation of markets in a global context should proceed in a principled fashion according to general principles of law. Both economic theory (institutional economics and welfare economics) and legal doctrine (global administrative law and constitutionalism) support the need for rules that govern markets and guide appropriate regulatory responses. The object of that regulation should be the promotion of economic welfare, not simply the protection of property, as if it were an absolute right. The ‘right to regulate’ markets is recognised by the principled approach but views it from the broader perspective of the governance of social institutions, which requires a realistic assessment of both market and government failure. The public law values of transparency and accountability, through the use of public reason, are built into the three foundational principles of subsidiarity, proportionality and rationality. These principles help us design well-suited regulatory systems through their articulation in the Principles of Best Practice Regulation. This paper bring a fresh perspective to the question of when state regulatory action amounts to the (indirect) expropriation of property of an investor.

Introduction: Agribusiness Clusters in Europe, 19th and 20th Centuries

Clusters and the spatial concentration of economic development are themes which crop up more and more in recent debates in social and economic history. This special issue wants to foster an interdisciplinary crossover of theories and ideas between economic geographers and historians, and focuses on the development of several branches of agribusiness (dairy, horticulture, olive oil and agricultural machinery) in South-western and North-western Europe during the past two centuries. The five case studies unravel and analyse the connections and interdependencies between economic actors, knowledge institutions and the State in the agro-food chain. This analysis results in four main conclusions. Firstly, in the formation of regional economic clusters not only natural conditions played a major role, or other economic determinants such as an easy access to markets. Social and cultural connections between individuals and organizations that were shaped over time, and related to geographical proximity, were important too. Secondly, governments, entrepreneurs and interest organizations, who were firmly rooted in the region’s history, often cooperated and stimulated cluster development via regulatory frameworks, educational and scientific policies. Thirdly, not only consensus but also discord and competition can foster the clustering of economic activities. Finally, multi-scalar perspectives are needed in order to grasp the importance of connections between clusters and actors outside the region.

Hidden clusters: the articulation of agglomeration in City Regions

For many years, local economic development has been driven by the desire to maintain, attract and nurture clusters of economic activity in targeted industrial sectors. However, where clusters are not conventionally sector-based, public policy needs to develop alternative approaches to leverage the economic benefits and realise competitive advantage. Drawing on a study of the Sheffield City Region (SCR), the paper explores the challenge of leveraging ‘hidden’ cross-sectoral clusters, which do not fit dominant discourses of agglomeration-led growth. We posit that it is the cross-sectoral connections and networks in the SCR which represent its key strength, yet these are only partially reflected by current place marketing and policy considerations, and, in many ways, are overlooked and thus remain ‘hidden’. The paper argues that the competitive advantage of the SCR is undermined when it characterises clusters in terms of industrial sectors, and instead needs to articulate its strengths as a strategically important industrial centre. The paper concludes by drawing out a number of implications for academic theory and policy development.

Improvement and Application of the Sectoral Enterprises Geographic Clustering Model and Its Formed Urban Structure

AbstractInvestigating urban structures based on the intrametropolitan location of economic activities (e.g., industrial districts or industrial clusters) is an increasingly important theme in empirical metropolitan studies. However, the lack of an adequate research methodology and theoretical foundations has restricted the in-depth examination of underlying mechanisms that form metropolitan industrial clusters, especially when considering the differentiated roles played by two key processes: localization economies and interindustry linkages. This paper proposes an approach to systematically examining and detecting the clustering of economic activities within a metropolitan area using the city of Shenyang as a case study. The present study was based on census data, which enumerated the number of firms by economic sector at the city block level. Analytical results revealed that geographic clusters were formed by interindustry linkages. Results from applying the sectoral geographic clustering model suggested...

The impact of the Panama Canal expansion on Panama’s maritime cluster

The Panama Canal is currently in the process of a major expansion effort. After the new set of locks is opened in 2016, significantly larger ships can traverse the Canal. The current lock system has been in place for over 100 years, even though the size of ocean-going vessels has expanded considerably. One impact is on Panama’s maritime cluster. It is expected that the expansion will result in greater demand for many of the goods and services provided by the cluster. This article examines the economic impact of the Canal expansion on Panama’s maritime cluster. Clusters of economic activity can result in economies of agglomeration and supply chain network effects. Without these economies and network effects, clusters would not have a competitive advantage over businesses that are not in a cluster. It is expected that with a larger cluster, both agglomerative economies and network effects will increase. But, which cluster components will grow and which will not be affected to a great extent? To what extent will bottlenecks appear? These are some of the questions that this article addresses.

Balancing the spatial localisation ‘Tilt’: Knowledge spillovers in processes of knowledge-intensive services

This paper addresses two aspects of the knowledge spillover debate that have not yet received sufficient scholarly attention: First, even though it is recognised that knowledge spillovers occur at different spatial levels (e.g. within and across companies, regions and cities, as well as at intra- and inter-industry level), spillovers are regarded as having limited spatial scope, with decaying effects at increasing spatial distance. Secondly, most knowledge spillover models measure the effects of knowledge input variables (e.g. R&D investments, mobility of labour, local labour market structure) in terms of innovation, productivity, growth or entrepreneurship and tend to pay too little attention on the exact spillover mechanism. For methodological reasons, studies on knowledge spillovers operationalise spillovers in quantitative terms and focus primarily on technological knowledge in explicit forms instead of seeking to explain market-related spillover effects from tacit knowledge and knowing in practice. Tackling these shortcomings, the paper discusses knowledge spillovers in light of recent debates in economic geography on knowledge-generating mechanisms through networks, communities of practice, and the integration of external knowledge into the innovation activities of companies. This approach allows the author to open the knowledge spillover debate that explains the spatial clustering of economic activities to a broader understanding of knowledge spillovers generated in economic processes. This perspective then identifies spillovers that unfold an impact on intra-enterprise processes, company relationships and strategic decisions.Empirically this paper builds on a quantitative survey as well as qualitative interviews with entrepreneurs from the biotechnology and architecture/engineering sector in Brandenburg (Germany).

Using Light-at-Night (LAN) Satellite Data for Identifying Clusters of Economic Activities in Europe

Abstract. Enterprises organized in clusters are often efficient in stimulating urban development, productivity and profit outflows. Identifying clusters of economic activities (EAs) thus becomes an important step in devising regional development policies, aimed at facilitating regional economic development. However, a major problem with cluster identification stems from limited reporting of specific EAs by individual countries and administrative entities. Even Eurostat, which maintains most advances regional databases, provides data for less than 50% of all regional subdivisions of the 3rd tier of the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS3). Such poor reporting impedes identification of EA clusters and economic forces behind them. In this study, we test a possibility that missing data on geographic concentrations of EAs can be reconstructed using Light-at-Night (LAN) satellite measurements, and that such reconstructed data can then be used for the identification of EA clusters. As we hypothesize, LAN, captured by satellite sensors, is characterized by different intensity, depending on its source – production facilities, services, etc., – and this information can be used for EA identification. The study was carried out in three stages. First, using nighttime satellite images, we determined what types of EAs can be identified, with a sufficient degree of accuracy, by LAN they emit. Second, we calculated multivariate statistical models, linking EAs concentrations with LAN intensities and several locational and development attributes of NUTS3 regions in Europe. Next, using the obtained statistical models, we restored missing data on EAs across NUTS3 regions in Europe and identified clusters of EAs, using spatial analysis tools.

Using light-at-night (LAN) satellite data for identifying clusters of economic activities in Europe

Enterprises organized in clusters are often efficient in stimulating urban development, productivity and profit outflows. Identifying the clusters of economic activities thus becomes an important step in devising regional development policies, aimed at the formation of clusters of economic activities in geographic areas in which this objective is desirable. However, a major problem with the identification of such clusters stems from limited reporting by individual countries and administrative entities on the regional distribution of specific economic activities, especially for small regional subdivisions. In this study, we test a possibility that missing data on geographic concentrations of economic activities in the European NUTS3 regions can be reconstructed using light-at-night satellite measurements, and that such reconstructed data can then be used for cluster identification. The matter is that light-at-night, captured by satellite sensors, is characterized by different intensity, depending on its source—production facilities, services, etc. As a result, light-at-night can become a marker of different types of economic activities, a hypothesis that the present study confirms. In particular, as the present analysis indicates, average light-at-night intensities emitted from NUTS3 regions help to explain up to 94 % variance in the areal density of several types of economic activities, performing especially well for professional, scientific and technical services $$({R}^{2}=0.742{-}0.939)$$ , public administration $$({R}^{2}=0.642{-}0.934)$$ , as well as for arts, entertainment and recreation $$(\hbox {R}^{2}=0.718{-}0.934)$$ . As a result, clusters of these economic activities can be identified using light-at-night data, thus helping to supplement missing information and assist regional analysis.

Spillovers from universities: Evidence from the land-grant program

This paper estimates the short- and long-run effects of universities on geographic clustering of economic activity, labor market composition and local productivity and presents evidence of local spillovers from universities. I treat the designation of land-grant universities in the 1860s as a natural experiment after controlling for the confounding factors with a combination of synthetic control methods and event-study analyses. Three key results are obtained. First, the designation increased local population density by 6 percent within 10years and 45 percent in 80years. Second, the designation did not change the relative size of local manufacturing sector. Third, the designation enhanced local manufacturing output per worker by $2136 (1840 dollars; 57 percent) in 80years while the short-run effects were negligible. This positive effect on the productivity in non-education sectors suggests the existence of local spillovers from universities. Over an 80-year horizon, my results indicate that the increase in manufacturing productivity reflects both the impact of direct spillovers from universities and general agglomeration economies that arise from the increase in population.