Industrial districts, innovation and I-district effect: territory or industrial specialization?

Working Paper 08.07. 15/06/2008

Departament d’Economia Aplicada, UAB

Industrial districts, innovation and I-
district effect: territory or industrial
specialization?

Rafael Boix

Department of Applied Economics

Universitat Autdnoma de Barcelona

Edifici B, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona (Spain)
Tel. +34 935812244 Fax. +34 93 5812292

E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: The I-district effect hypothesis establishes the existence of highly
intense innovation in Marshallian industrial districts due to the presence of
external localization economies. However, industrial districts are
characterized by specific manufacturing specializations in such a way that
this effect could be due to these dominant specializations. The objective of
this research is to test whether the effect is explained by the conditions of the
territory or by the industrial specialization and to provide additional evidence
of the existence and causes of the highly intense innovation in industrial
districts (I-district effect). The estimates for Spain of a fixed effects model
interacting territory and industry suggest that the high innovative
performance of industrial districts is maintained across sectors whereas the
industrial specialization behaves differently depending on the type of local
production system in which it is placed. The I-district effect is related to the
conditions of the territory more than to the industrial specialization. The
territory is a key variable in explaining the processes of innovation and
should be considered a basic dimension in the design of innovation and
industrial policies.

Keywords: industrial districts, innovation, external economies, district effect
JEL: O14; O31; R12

<<   1   2   3   4   5   6   >>

More intriguing information