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Is specialization good for regional economic development?

Is specialization good for regional economic development?
Is specialization good for regional economic development?
Debates about urban growth and change often centre on specialization. However, arguments linking specialization to metropolitan economic development contain diverse, and sometimes conflicting, claims. Is it better to be highly specialized or diversified? Does specialization refer to the absolute or relative scale of an activity in a region? Does specialization have static or evolutionary effects? This paper investigates these questions in theoretical and empirical terms. By analysing local agglomerations over time, it is found that growing absolute specialization is positively linked to wages, while changes in relative concentration are not significantly associated with wage dynamics.
0034-3404
1-16
Kemeny, Thomas
b9e4ac0c-bc73-4905-8229-f970518cde88
Storper, Michael
163e23f8-d473-43de-bc34-827d9ce8cd22
Kemeny, Thomas
b9e4ac0c-bc73-4905-8229-f970518cde88
Storper, Michael
163e23f8-d473-43de-bc34-827d9ce8cd22

Kemeny, Thomas and Storper, Michael (2014) Is specialization good for regional economic development? Regional Studies, 1-16. (doi:10.1080/00343404.2014.899691).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Debates about urban growth and change often centre on specialization. However, arguments linking specialization to metropolitan economic development contain diverse, and sometimes conflicting, claims. Is it better to be highly specialized or diversified? Does specialization refer to the absolute or relative scale of an activity in a region? Does specialization have static or evolutionary effects? This paper investigates these questions in theoretical and empirical terms. By analysing local agglomerations over time, it is found that growing absolute specialization is positively linked to wages, while changes in relative concentration are not significantly associated with wage dynamics.

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e-pub ahead of print date: 8 May 2014
Published date: 8 May 2014
Organisations: Economy, Society and Space

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 369536
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/369536
ISSN: 0034-3404
PURE UUID: fcc2e648-d8e8-40e5-817e-0f9c6efbe5e2

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Date deposited: 06 Oct 2014 11:01
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 18:05

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Contributors

Author: Thomas Kemeny
Author: Michael Storper

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