Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/37506
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
Beiträge zur Jahrestagung des Vereins für Socialpolitik 2010: Ökonomie der Familie - Session: Agglomeration, Transport and Trade No. G3-V2
Publisher: 
Verein für Socialpolitik, Frankfurt a. M.
Abstract: 
Identifying the impact of local firm concentration on individual firm performance is likely to produce a selection bias related to the positive effects of local concentration if agglomeration economies and natural advantages coincide. We overcome this problem by exploiting exogenous variation arising from a natural experiment. When Germany was divided after World War II, a great many firms fled the socialist East to prevent expropriation and located in random West German regions. Based on micro-level data for the population of firms in the machine tool industry from 1949–-2002, we identify the impact of relocated firms on incumbent firms' survival. We find a negative effect on incumbent survival, suggesting that the costs of increased competition dominate the potential benefits of agglomeration.
Subjects: 
Agglomeration Economies
Competition Effect
Natural Experiment
JEL: 
R10
L10
H25
Document Type: 
Conference Paper

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