The driving forces of service localization during the 20th century : evidence from the United States

Summary, in English

Despite the expanding role of services in the global economy, economic history has paid lit-tle attention to their geographic localization. This paper provides a description of the increasing specialization and localization patterns of services across US counties compared to other sectors from 1930 to 2010. It stresses that market potential influences most of these changes. I use cen-sus employment data by sector to re-examine the debate of comparative advantage vs. economic geography on county location coeÿcients for services. The interaction between county and indus-try characteristics shows that the geography of services has been influenced by market potential since 1980. OLS and 2SLS results suggest a cumulative effect of increasing returns to scale that enhanced the agglomeration of services through linkages with other services and manufacturing firms. This provides a complementary view on the rise and transformation of the Manufacturing Belt as the cradle of the service economy.

• Author: Alexandra L. Cermeno
• Department/s: Department of Economic History
• Publishing year: 2019
• Language: English
• Pages: 145-174
• Publication/Series: European Review of Economic History
• Volume: 23
• Issue: 2
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ereh/hey011
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Topic: Economic History
• Keywords: new economic geography; market potential; service location; United States
• Status: Published
• Project: The evolution regional economies in the Nordic region – A long run approach
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 1474-0044