Manufacturing Agglomeration Research Articles

Study on Agglomeration Level and Effect of Equipment Manufacturing Industry in the Yangtze Delta Urban Agglomeration

This paper analyzes the agglomeration level and agglomeration effect of 8 subindustries of equipment manufacturing industry and 26 prefecture-level cities in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD). From the perspective of industry, the agglomeration change trend of 8 subsectors of equipment manufacturing industry from 2006 to 2016 in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration (YRDUA) is analyzed. From the perspective of cities, the spatial differences of equipment manufacturing agglomeration degree in 26 prefecture-level cities in the YRDUA are discussed. By using CES production function, the agglomeration effect of equipment manufacturing agglomeration is studied. The results show that the YRDUA has formed an agglomeration pattern of equipment manufacturing industry, with Shanghai as the core, and Hefei, Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Nanjing as the auxiliary cities, and the overall agglomeration effect in the region is relatively obvious.

한국 제조 기업의 해외 군집현상과 서비스 기업의 해외직접투자 위치 선택에 대한 실증분석

본 논문은 2009년부터 2018년까지 MDIS 기업수준 데이터를 사용하여 한국 제조업 분야 기업의 해외직접투자가 서비스 분야 기업의 해외직접투자를 유인하는지를 외연적 한계(extensive margin)와 내연적 한계(intensive margin)로 나누어 실증분석을 시도하였다. 그 결과 우리나라 제조 기업이 군집도가 높은 지역일수록 서비스 기업의 해외직접투자도 외연적 · 내연적으로 확장되는 것이 관찰되었다. 이는 한국 서비스 기업이 해외에서 자국의 제조 기업과 연계하여 넓은 의미의 글로벌 생산-서비스 네트워크를 구축하고 있음을 시사하고 있다.

The Impacts of Urban Manufacturing Agglomeration on the Quality of Water Ecological Environment Downstream of the Three Gorges Dam

As an important way to promote economic growth and to improve ecological environment quality, industrial agglomeration strategy has been widely accepted and implemented in various regions of China. In theory, industrial agglomeration is conducive to reducing pollution emissions. However, this needs to be tested in reality. The purpose of this paper is to test the impacts of manufacturing industry agglomeration on the quality of water ecological environment in 17 prefecture-level cities downstream of the Three Gorges Dam. Therefore, a theoretical model was established to test the direct and indirect effects. Empirically, results show that the direct effect of manufacturing agglomeration on the quality of water ecological environment is −0.426, which provides statistical evidence for the important role of manufacturing agglomeration in improving the quality of water ecological environment. The indirect effect of manufacturing agglomeration on ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) is 0.118% through technological innovation, the indirect effect on NH3-N is 0.114% through economic growth, and the indirect effect on NH3-N is 0.254% through industrial structure. Due to the low overall level of the manufacturing industry and its reliance on dirty technologies, the indirect effects of industrial agglomeration are not conducive to improving the quality of the water ecological environment. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a long-term mechanism to promote the evolution of the regional economy along a path that is conducive to the improvement of the water ecological environment.

Spatial Agglomeration of Manufacturing in the Wuhan Metropolitan Area: An Analysis of Sectoral Patterns and Determinants

The important role of the entity economy, especially manufacturing, has been further highlighted after the outbreak of COVID-19. This study fills a research gap on manufacturing in the Wuhan Metropolitan Area by analyzing the spatio-temporal evolution patterns and characteristics of manufacturing, exploring the major location factors causing spatial reconstruction and comparing the effect intensities of the different factors in the manufacturing sector. From 2003 to 2018, the process of industrial suburbanization in the Wuhan Metropolitan Area continued to strengthen and currently the overall spatial pattern of manufacturing in the Wuhan Metropolitan Area is characterized by spreading in metropolitan areas and aggregation in industrial parks. The results of a spatial metering model showed that the dominant factors affecting the layout of manufacturing included innovation and technical service platforms, industrial parks, the number of large enterprises, living convenience, and air quality. However, the effect intensity of the different location factors varied among industries. The findings may help the government to understand the characteristics of agglomeration and spreading in the manufacturing industry and, in accordance with the dominant factors affecting the location of this industry, rationally develop ideas for adjusting the industrial layout in the post-coronavirus age.

How does manufacturing agglomeration affect green economic efficiency?

Abstract It is the theme of today to develop green economy and improve green economic efficiency (GEE). Adopting the panel data of 287 cities in China between 2003 and 2016, this research investigates the nonlinear impact and its action path of Manufacturing Agglomeration (MA) on GEE theoretically and empirically via adopting dynamic spatial panel Durbin model and mediating effect model. The results suggest the existence of a significant positive “U-shaped” relationship between MA and GEE, no matter in the short-term or long-term. However, for traditional economic efficiency, in the short-term, MA first inhibits it and then promotes it; while in the long-term, there is no significant positive “U-shaped” relationship between the two. In addition, industrial structure upgrading plays an important mediating role between MA and GEE, which accounts for 31.992%. Therefore, this paper believes that in order to improve green economic efficiency, it is necessary to dynamically adjust regional related policies, eliminate the congestion effect caused by manufacturing agglomeration, and achieve high-quality development of manufacturing agglomeration through industrial structure transformation and upgrading.

Industrial collaborative agglomeration, marketization, and green innovation: Evidence from China’s provincial panel data

The growth effect of collaborative agglomeration of manufacturing and producer service industries is receiving increasing attention from scholars. However, few studies have explored whether and how collaborative agglomeration of manufacturing and producer service industries affects green innovation. To bridge this gap, using the methods of the system generalized method of moments, the moderating effect, and the threshold effect, and employing the panel data of 30 provinces of China for 2003–2017, this paper studies the effect of industrial collaborative agglomeration on green innovation and how this influence fluctuates when marketization is included. The main findings are as follows: (1) During the sample period, industrial collaborative agglomeration generally had a blocking effect on China’s green innovation. A 1% increase in industrial collaborative agglomeration indicated a 0.461% decrease in green innovation efficiency. (2) Marketization can be an essential and efficient factor to correct the negative impact of industrial collaborative agglomeration through a moderating effect. (3) With the improvement of marketization, industrial collaborative agglomeration exhibits a U-shaped effect on green innovation, with the turning point occurring when the marketization index is 6.21. (4) As of 2017, 21 provinces have successfully exceeded the threshold of marketization, indicating that the current industrial collaborative agglomeration has been able to effectively improve China’s green innovation efficiency. However, the other nine provinces still trail behind them in marketization reforms, with industrial collaborative agglomeration continuing to negatively affect green innovation. (5) This paper concludes with recommendations to improve green innovation through industrial collaborative agglomeration and market reform.

The Agglomeration of Manufacturing Industry, Innovation and Haze Pollution in China: Theory and Evidence.

Haze pollution in China is a serious environmental issue, which does harm both to people’s health and to economic development. Simultaneously, as an important industrial development law, agglomeration may result in the increased concentration of manufacturing firms and, consequently, an increase in haze pollution. However, the positive externalities of agglomeration can also improve the efficiency of regional innovation, which curbs haze pollution. In this paper, we construct both theoretical and empirical models to investigate the effects of industrial manufacturing agglomeration on haze pollution. The results reveal the following: (1) By incorporating the effect of agglomeration and haze pollution into a general endogenous growth model, we show an inverted-U relationship between agglomeration and haze pollution on the balance growth path. (2) Based on data concerning haze pollution (PM2.5) and data from 285 Chinese cities, the empirical results verify the findings of the theoretical model. Further, we calculated the values of agglomeration variables, with respect to the inflection points of the inverted-U, which the cities need to reach in order to gain the specific agglomeration values required to enjoy the inhibition effect of agglomeration on haze pollution. (3) A heterogeneity analysis shows that the inverted-U relationship is more obvious among the cities in the middle and northeastern areas of China, as well as medium-size cities. (4) Cities’ environmental regulation policies and high-quality institutional environments can restrain the positive effect of agglomeration on haze pollution. (5) Using three measures of innovation, it is also empirically found that innovation is the mechanism (mediator) between agglomeration and haze pollution.

Retraction Notice: Influence of Agglomeration of Manufacturing and the Producer Service Sector on Energy Efficiency

Retraction Notice: Influence of Agglomeration of Manufacturing and the Producer Service Sector on Energy Efficiency

Manufacturing (co)agglomeration in a transition country: Evidence from Russia

AbstractWe document the geographic concentration patterns of Russian manufacturing using detailed microgeographic data. About 80% of three‐digit industries are significantly agglomerated, and a similar share of three‐digit industry pairs is significantly coagglomerated. Industry pairs with stronger buyer–supplier links—as measured using Russian input–output tables—tend to be slightly more coagglomerated. This result is robust to instrumental variable estimation using either Canadian or US instruments. Using Canadian ad valorem transport costs as a proxy for transport costs in Russia, we further find that industries with higher transport costs are more dispersed, and industry pairs with higher transport costs are less coagglomerated.

Diversified Agglomeration, Specialized Agglomeration and Innovation Efficiency of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

Based on the panel data of 31 provinces in China from 2009 to 2016, this paper uses DEA model and panel Tobit regression method to estimate and test the effect of diversified agglomeration and specialized agglomeration on the innovation efficiency of pharmaceutical manufacturing. The results show that diversified agglomeration significantly improves the innovation efficiency of pharmaceutical manufacturing industry. Specialized agglomeration is obviously not conducive to the improvement of innovation efficiency of pharmaceutical manufacturing industry; management capacity, innovation institution penetration rate and government innovation subsidies all significantly promote the innovation efficiency of pharmaceutical manufacturing industry. The effect of cooperative innovation intensity and industrial structure on the innovation efficiency of pharmaceutical manufacturing industry is not obvious.

The Effect of Manufacturing Agglomeration on Haze Pollution in China.

Based on panel data on 285 Chinese cities from 2003 to 2012, we use a dynamic spatial panel model to empirically analyze the effect of manufacturing agglomeration on haze pollution. The results show that when economic development levels, population, technological levels, industrial structure, transportation, foreign direct investment, and greening levels are stable, manufacturing agglomeration significantly aggravates haze pollution. However, region-specific analysis reveals that the effects of manufacturing agglomeration on inter-regional haze pollution depends on the region: the effect of manufacturing agglomeration on haze pollution is the largest in the Western region, followed by the Central region, and is the least in the Eastern region. Based on the above conclusions, we put forward several specific suggestions, such as giving full play to the technology and knowledge spillover effects of manufacturing agglomeration, guiding manufacturing agglomerations in a scientific and rational way, accelerating the transformation and upgrading of manufacturing industries in agglomeration regions.

Manufacturing (Co)agglomeration in a Transition Country: Evidence from Russia

We document geographic concentration patterns of Russian manufacturing using microgeographic data. About 42–52% of 4-digit and 63–75% of 3-digit industries are localized, with a higher share in the European part than in the Asian part. About 70% of 3-digit industry pairs are coagglomerated, especially those with stronger buyer-supplier links, more knowledge sharing, and lower transport costs. Pairs with a more similar workforce are, however, less coagglomerated, which points to impediments in labor mobility between regions and firms. Overall, the agglomeration forces are fairly similar to those operating in developed countries, with transportation likely to be a key driver.

Carbon emissions and optimal scale of China's manufacturing agglomeration under heterogeneous environmental regulation

This article has studied the optimal scale of manufacturing agglomeration aiming at controlling industrial CO2 emissions and the role of environmental regulation in China using the main function of panel cointegration and Full Modified Ordinary Least Square(FMOLS) based on the Dynamic Comprehensive Measure (DCM) of intensities of environmental regulation for 28 China's manufacturing subsectors and classification of the manufacturing subsectors according to their intensities of environmental regulations. The empirical results show that: (i) Higher intensity of environmental regulation can spur manufacturing subsectors get more agglomerative economies with less CO2 emissions. (ii) The relationship between the agglomerative manufacturing subsectors with high and medium intensity of environmental regulation and CO2 emissions shows inverted U-shaped changing trend. (iii) By contrast, the relationship between the agglomerative manufacturing subsectors with low intensity of environmental regulation and CO2 emissions more likely presents U-shaped changing trend. (iv) High intensity of environmental regulation aiming at high polluting manufacturing subsectors can make them reach the inflection of CO2 emissions under high scale of industrial agglomeration. Consequently, the government should take the policy with a general increase in the intensity of environment regulation, and use heterogeneous regulatory instruments according to different manufacturing subsectors so as to increase the emission reduction effect of manufacturing agglomeration.

Industrial location and global restructuring in Australian cities

ABSTRACTGlobalisation has impacted both the balance of economic power between cities as well as the distribution of economic activities within them. Studies focusing on the impacts of globalisation often investigate one or the other, but rarely tie the two together. In Australian cities, central business districts (CBDs) and inner suburbs since the 1980s have become revalorised as strategic sites for multinational firm activities, complementing an already robust agglomeration of commodities-oriented firms, domestic manufacturing, and state-led industries. This paper compares the spatial organisation of Australian firm activity across Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. It first focuses on how the firms of each of these cities extend overseas through global branch office operations, and then shifts to the distribution of firms within each capital city region. Data are drawn from a complete set of 2196 listed Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) firms with operations in more than 100 countries. We find that while the mix of industries differs significantly between cities, the overall industrial patterns observed are relatively consistent from one city to the next. Australian cities are economically fairly centralised and services-oriented industries in particular are most prominent within CBDs. Sydney’s firms are found to be the most globalised, although all cities have significant numbers of global firms. However, we find that locational requirements are significantly varied from one industry to the next and between firm headquarters and branches. This has implications for planning cities to meet firm requirements in an economy that is digital and globally connected, and for national-level policy that distributes core economic competencies amongst Australian cities.

High-Speed Rail and Manufacturing Agglomeration

In China, the roles played by high speed rail (HSR) in improving regional accessibility and promoting urban growth have recently generated significant research interest. However, the question as to how HSR could shape urban development seems rather complex. This paper aims to discuss HSR's role in shaping urban economic development by tracing links from HSR to manufacturing agglomeration with panel data from the Beijing–Guangzhou HSR network in China from 2000 to 2015. On the basis of the new economic geography model, market potential and manufacturing wages are incorporated into the analysis framework, and a treatment effect model is used to account for the endogeneity of HSR in the study. Model results provide three conclusions. First, in general, HSR significantly increases manufacturing agglomeration for HSR cities. Second, an inverted-U relationship between the agglomeration impact of HSR and market potential is confirmed. That is, while the agglomeration effect by HSR is significantly within a threshold level of market potential, HSR in fact has a negative effect, or the dispersion effect, on manufacturing agglomeration beyond the threshold level. Third, the agglomeration impact of HSR differs across regions. For example, the agglomeration impact of HSR is more significant in the second-tier HSR cities than in major HSR cities, indicating the overall trend of regional integration and economic convergence among different regions of HSR through time. Results from this study are useful for policy makers as well as for researchers for analyzing the economic implications of HSR in the future.

The Effect of Housing Price on Industrial Agglomeration in China

Based on the panel data of 268 prefecture-level cities in China during 2001-2007, this paper examines the impact of housing price on the agglomeration of manufacturing industries in China. Using instrumental variable method to alleviate the endogeneity problem, after controlling for a series of city characteristic variables, the IV regression results show that: the housing price has a significant negative impact on the manufacturing agglomeration. Further studies show that the negative effect mainly comes from the eastern region after 2003 when China’s land policy has changed greatly. For the central and western regions, the housing price has no significant effect on the agglomeration.

Agglomeration of knowledge intensive business services and urban productivity

AbstractWhile there is considerable empirical evidence on the productivity‐enhancing effects of manufacturing agglomeration, the impacts of knowledge intensive business services (KIBS) agglomeration have rarely been examined. We propose a mechanism‐based framework to study the precise channels through which KIBS agglomeration contributes to urban productivity. By estimating a model of urban productivity that incorporates agglomeration of manufacturing, KIBS and non‐KIBS using city‐level data from China, we find that KIBS agglomeration is an important source of aggregate urban productivity. The importance of KIBS agglomeration in city productivity growth is systematically related to a city's level of economic development.

Los factores que explican la mayor aglomeración de la industria de alta tecnología en la frontera norte de México: el caso de Matamoros y Reynosa

En las últimas tres décadas, la distribución geográfica de la manufactura provocó nuevas concentraciones en la industria de alta tecnología. Este estudio analiza desde las externalidades pecuniarias y tecnológicas hasta los factores del cambio en la aglomeración de dicha industria. Se aplicó un cuestionario a 55 establecimientos en Matamoros y Reynosa, en Tamaulipas. Los resultados denotan que la mayor concentración de la industria fue motivada por la ubicación geográfica de los municipios, el acceso a mano de obra no calificada y barata, y la disponibilidad de infraestructura urbana, entre otros. No hay, pues, evidencia a favor de que las externalidades pecuniarias y tecnológicas determinasen la aglomeración de la industria de alta tecnología en estas ciudades.

Spatial Agglomeration of Manufacturing in Greece: Sectoral Patterns and Determinants

This article aims to demonstrate how the industry characteristics of manufacturing sectors affect the patterns of their spatial agglomeration. It also addresses several intricate issues concerning the measurement of localization economies and estimation of their main determinants in manufacturing industries. The original empirical analysis employs annual industrial data from the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) during the period 1993–2006 in Greece at the prefecture level, i.e. for 51 prefectures. The data processing reveals three important findings. The first is the temporal persistence of localization economies in the Greek manufacturing. The second refers to the high level of agglomeration associated with the high-technology industries as well as the resource- and scale-intensive industries. Lastly, there are significant effects of industry characteristics related to knowledge externalities, labour skills and productivity, scale economies and own-transport expenditure on spatial agglomeration, as resulted from the use of alternative geographic concentration indices and panel data models. Results obtained have implications for policy-makers, who can enhance the regional manufacturing activity by affecting these industry-specific factors. Amongst others, planning measures and policies which aim at promoting the local development and regional convergence should focus on reducing transport costs for firms or sectors, by improving the infrastructure capacity, interconnectivity and quality of services.

The Geography of Trade and Technology Shocks in the United States

This paper explores the geographic overlap of trade and technology shocks across local labor markets in the United States. Regional exposure to technological change, as measured by specialization in routine task-intensive production and clerical occupations, is largely uncorrelated with regional exposure to trade competition from China. While the impacts of technology are dispersed throughout the United States, the impacts of trade tend to be more geographically concentrated, owing in part to the spatial agglomeration of labor-intensive manufacturing. Our findings highlight the feasibility of separately identifying the impacts of recent changes in trade and technology on US regional economies.