Location of economic activities and its determinants

The last two decades have witnessed a burst of academic activity regarding the location of economic activities. This resurgence of interest by economists in how and why economic activity is distributed across space is a welcome development given the magnitude of the questions at stake. To give the reader an idea of the importance of this development, one can easily list at least three fundamental questions. First, how important are geographic considerations in determining the economic success of a location? Second, what are the economic consequences of the pervasive use of public policies to influence the location of economic activity, such as the large subsides allocated by the European Commission to attract industries in a number of European regions? Third, and finally, could certain regions potentially lose out as a result of an increased integration as some industries abandon certain regions and concentrate elsewhere? This work addresses all these important questions. Significant progress has been made on the theoretical front in addressing the mechanisms by which small-scale indivisibilities aggregate up to localised aggregate increasing returns capable of sustaining agglomerations. According to Fujita, Venables and Krugman (1999), this body of literature is entering maturity. Complementing this theoretical literature is an emerging empirical front. The present doctoral thesis combines and explores different empirical methodologies with the ultimate goal of filling the gap between theory and empirics in the field of location theory. What one can learn from this present work is not only important for the realm of spatial economics. First, it is certainly also important for policy reasons. Indeed, clusters have caught the attention of policy makers because they can be seen as the magical formula for regional development. In light of this, the spatial concentration of economic activities needs thus to be better understood both in terms of the forces at work and their possible welfare implications. Secondly, what one can learn about the nature and the causes of spatial concentration of economic activities might also be important for other economic disciplines. Indeed, external increasing returns to scale figures prominently in theories of international trade, industrial organisation and economic growth.Doctorat en sciences économiques (ECON 3)--UCL, 200