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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Valter Di Giacinto (ARET, L'Aquila), Matteo Gomellini (ARET, Roma), Giacinto Micucci (ARET, Ancona), Marcello Pagnini (ARET, Bologna) Terms of use: Documents in AbstractIn this paper we compare the magnitude of local productivity advantages associated to two different spatial concentration patterns in Italy, i.e. urban areas (UA) and industrial districts (ID). UA typically display a huge concentration of population and host a wide range of economic activities, while ID are located outside UA and exhibit a strong concentration of small firms producing relatively homogenous goods. We use a very large sample of Italian manufacturing firms observed over the 1995-2006 period and resort to a wide set of econometric techniques in order to test the robustness of main empirical findings. We detect local productivity advantages for both UA and ID. However, firms located in UA attain a larger Total Factor Productivity (TFP) premium than those operating within ID. Besides, it turns out that the advantages of ID have declined over time, while those of UA remained stable. Differences in the white-blue collars composition of the local labor force appear to explain only a minor fraction of the estimated spatial TFP differentials. Production workers (blue collars) turn out to be more productive in ID, while non-production workers (white collars) are more efficiently employed in UA. By analyzing the quantiles of the sample TFP distribution, we document how higher average TFP levels within UA do not seem to be mainly driven by a selection effect pushing less efficient firms out of the market. Rather, a firm sorting effect appears to stand out, suggesting that more productive firms gain strong benefits from locating in UA. On the whole, our analysis raises the question whether Italian ID are less fit than UA to prosper in a changing world, characterized by increased globalization and by the growing use of information technologies.

Two main hypotheses are usually put forward to explain the productivity advantages of larger cities: agglomeration economies and firm selection. Combes et al. (2012) propose an empirical approach to disentangle these two effects and find no impact of selection on local productivity differences. We theoretically show that selection effects do emerge when heterogeneous trade costs and the different spatial scale at which agglomeration and selection may work are properly taken into account. Our empirical findings confirm that agglomeration effects play a major role. However, they also show a substantial increase in the importance of the selection effect. K E Y W O R D S agglomeration economies, firm selection, market size, openness to trade J E L C L A S S I F I C AT I O N : c52, r12, d241 the elasticity of productivity with respect to city population range between 0.02 and 0.10, and the evidence is confirmed for several countries and sectors. In an analysis on Italian manufacturing firms, Di Giacinto et al. (2014) detect local productivity advantages for both types of agglomerated areas they take into consideration: urban areas, which typically display a huge concentration of population and host a wide range of economic activities, and industrial districts, which exhibit a strong concentration of small firms producing roughly the same products. The authors also find that advantages are much larger for urban areas. 949 J Regional

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Valter Di Giacinto (ARET, L'Aquila), Matteo Gomellini (ARET, Roma), Giacinto Micucci (ARET, Ancona), Marcello Pagnini (ARET, Bologna) Terms of use: Documents in AbstractIn this paper we compare the magnitude of local productivity advantages associated to two different spatial concentration patterns in Italy, i.e. urban areas (UA) and industrial districts (ID). UA typically display a huge concentration of population and host a wide range of economic activities, while ID are located outside UA and exhibit a strong concentration of small firms producing relatively homogenous goods. We use a very large sample of Italian manufacturing firms observed over the 1995-2006 period and resort to a wide set of econometric techniques in order to test the robustness of main empirical findings. We detect local productivity advantages for both UA and ID. However, firms located in UA attain a larger Total Factor Productivity (TFP) premium than those operating within ID. Besides, it turns out that the advantages of ID have declined over time, while those of UA remained stable. Differences in the white-blue collars composition of the local labor force appear to explain only a minor fraction of the estimated spatial TFP differentials. Production workers (blue collars) turn out to be more productive in ID, while non-production workers (white collars) are more efficiently employed in UA. By analyzing the quantiles of the sample TFP distribution, we document how higher average TFP levels within UA do not seem to be mainly driven by a selection effect pushing less efficient firms out of the market. Rather, a firm sorting effect appears to stand out, suggesting that more productive firms gain strong benefits from locating in UA. On the whole, our analysis raises the question whether Italian ID are less fit than UA to prosper in a changing world, characterized by increased globalization and by the growing use of information technologies.

Two main hypotheses are usually put forward to explain the productivity advantages of larger cities: agglomeration economies and firm selection. Combes et al. (2012) propose an empirical approach to disentangle these two effects and fail to find any impact of selection on local productivity differences. We theoretically show that selection effects do emerge when asymmetric trade and entry costs and different spatial scale at which agglomeration and selection may work are properly taken into account. The empirical findings confirm that agglomeration effects play a major role. However, they also show a substantial increase in the importance of the selection effect when asymmetric trade costs and a different spatial scale are taken into account.

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In this paper we contribute to the empirical literature on the size of network effects of public infrastructures. A novel approach is introduced to this purpose. Moving from estimates of the common dynamics shared by the regional public capital stock series, identification of co‐ordinated policy shocks is obtained within a properly specified structural vector error correction model. Our empirical findings confirm previous evidence that transport infrastructures exert positive effects in the long run. At the same time, we find evidence that this influence is mostly attributable to the impact of co‐ordinated public policy shocks, as predicted by the literature on network externalities. Resumen En este artículo contribuimos a la literatura empírica sobre el tamaño de los efectos de red de infraestructuras públicas. Para este propósito se presenta un enfoque novedoso. A partir de estimaciones de las dinámicas comunes compartidas por series de reservas de capital público regional, la identificación de perturbaciones políticas se realiza dentro de un modelo de corrección del error vectorial estructural debidamente especificado. Nuestros descubrimientos empíricos confirman indicios anteriores de que las infraestructuras de transporte ejercen efectos positivos a largo plazo. A la vez, hallamos pruebas de que esta influencia es atribuible principalmente al impacto de perturbaciones en las políticas públicas coordinadas, tal y como predice la literatura sobre externalidades de red.