Does spatial proximity raise firm productivity? Evidence from British manufacturing
Does spatial proximity raise firm productivity? Evidence from British manufacturing
The UK’s economy is one of the most regionally imbalanced in Europe. The government’s recent industrial strategy discusses various means of addressing this, one of which is the strengthening of existing clusters. Using plant-level indices of spatial proximity derived from postcode district data, this article investigates the extent of spatial concentration and its impact on total factor productivity in advanced manufacturing sectors in Great Britain. The results from estimation of production functions indicate that, in most advanced manufacturing sectors, spatial concentration has a negative impact on productivity in small plants and a positive effect in larger plants. Large plants likely benefit more from knowledge spillovers due to their higher levels of absorptive capacity.
spatial proximity, clustering, externalities, firm productivity, British manufacturing
467-487
Evenhuis, Emil
ae647a82-b6e1-434f-b0e5-56126e8ab1b1
Sunley, Peter
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Harris, Richard
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Moffat, John
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Martin, Ron
b90cc12c-ef7e-4a69-b130-77cef171c060
Pike, Andy
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22 October 2019
Evenhuis, Emil
ae647a82-b6e1-434f-b0e5-56126e8ab1b1
Sunley, Peter
a3efb579-965f-4f39-812e-9e07caf15afd
Harris, Richard
06406708-486c-48e6-9a2f-59bea3ccd3a0
Moffat, John
f3710684-91e3-4dd3-b09d-ee54e0346c22
Martin, Ron
b90cc12c-ef7e-4a69-b130-77cef171c060
Pike, Andy
5a7121d9-ab52-430f-a524-a4793e277118
Evenhuis, Emil, Sunley, Peter, Harris, Richard, Moffat, John, Martin, Ron and Pike, Andy
(2019)
Does spatial proximity raise firm productivity? Evidence from British manufacturing.
Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 12 (3), .
(doi:10.1093/cjres/rsz017).
Abstract
The UK’s economy is one of the most regionally imbalanced in Europe. The government’s recent industrial strategy discusses various means of addressing this, one of which is the strengthening of existing clusters. Using plant-level indices of spatial proximity derived from postcode district data, this article investigates the extent of spatial concentration and its impact on total factor productivity in advanced manufacturing sectors in Great Britain. The results from estimation of production functions indicate that, in most advanced manufacturing sectors, spatial concentration has a negative impact on productivity in small plants and a positive effect in larger plants. Large plants likely benefit more from knowledge spillovers due to their higher levels of absorptive capacity.
Text
Does Spatial Proximity Raise Firm Productivity - AM (plus Appendix)
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 27 August 2019
Published date: 22 October 2019
Keywords:
spatial proximity, clustering, externalities, firm productivity, British manufacturing
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Local EPrints ID: 436024
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/436024
ISSN: 1752-1386
PURE UUID: f4c55511-f360-493b-8d23-fd2f34ee6720
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Date deposited: 26 Nov 2019 17:30
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 05:04
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Contributors
Author:
Emil Evenhuis
Author:
Richard Harris
Author:
John Moffat
Author:
Ron Martin
Author:
Andy Pike
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