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Report
Factor supplies and specialization in the world economy
A core prediction of the Heckscher-Ohlin theory is that countries specialize in goods in which they have a comparative advantage, and that the source of comparative advantage is differences in relative factor supplies. To examine this theory, we use the most extensive data set available and document the pattern of industrial specialization and factor endowment differences in a broad sample of rich and developing countries over a lengthy period (1970-92). Next, we develop an empirical model of specialization based on factor endowments, allowing for unmeasurable technological differences, and ...
Working Paper
Location determinants of new foreign-owned manufacturing plants
Manufacturing employment in the United States has tended to fall since 1979. Geographically, the Northeast and Mideast regions have incurred the brunt of this decline and, except in the Southwest region, urban countries have tended to fare worse than rural countries. Meanwhile, foreign-owned manufacturing has been playing a larger role in the U.S. economy, especially in the Great Lakes and Southeast regions. The current research explains the pattern-among regions as well as between rural and urban countries-of new foreign plant location. Proxies measuring economic size, labor force quality, ...
Journal Article
Diversity of industry fuels economies
A strong mix of manufacturing, services, agriculture, and tourism industries make the Fifth District home to a varied economy.
Working Paper
The agglomeration of R&D labs
This paper has been superseded by WP 15-03.<p>The authors document the spatial concentration of more than 1,000 research and development (R&D) labs located in the Northeast corridor of the U.S. using point pattern methods. These methods allow systematic examination of clustering at different spatial scales. In particular, Monte Carlo tests based on Ripley's (1976) K-functions are used to identify clusters of labs ? at varying spatial scales ? that represent statistically significant departures from random locations reflecting the underlying distribution of economic activity (employment). ...
Working Paper
Analyzing firm location decisions : is public intervention justified?
This paper develops a two-region model of firm migration where moving is costly and firms have market power. In this setting, the decentralized equilibrium generates excessive inertia in firm movement relative to the 'first best' solution. Because the decentralized solution is inefficient, the widespread notion that inducing firm movement between regions yield no net social gain does not necessarily hold. That is, firm migration does not amount to a 'zero sum.' Moreover, given the presence of inertia, and contrary to the prevalent view, we show that targeted subsidies that alleviate moving ...
Working Paper
Comparing location decisions of domestic and foreign auto supplier plants
Plant locations in the U.S. auto industry have been moving southward for some time now. This paper utilizes a comprehensive dataset of the U.S. auto industry and focuses on plant location decisions of auto supplier plants that were opened less than 15 years ago in the U.S. We find that agglomeration continues to matter: suppliers want to be close to each other as well as to their assembly plant customers. We also find evidence of differences in location factors for domestic and foreign suppliers. Foreign suppliers exhibit a stronger preference to be near highways, other foreign suppliers and ...
Working Paper
Where do manufacturing firms locate their headquarters?
Firms? headquarters [HQ] support their production activity, by gathering information and outsourcing business services, as well as, managing, evaluating, and coordinating internal firm activities. In search of a better location for these functions, firms often separate the HQ function physically from their production facilities and construct stand-alone HQs. By locating its HQ in a large, service oriented metro area away from its production facilities, a firm may be better able to out-source service functions in that local metro market and also to gather information about market conditions ...