Kanematsu Seminar (Jointly supported by Kobe-DEEH and Rokko Forum)
| Date&Time | Tuesday, August 21, 2018, 4:00pm - 5:30pm |
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| Place | Meeting Room at RIEB (Annex, 2nd Floor) |
| Intended Audience | Faculty, Graduate Students, Undergraduates, and People with Equivalent Knowledge |
| Language | English |
4:00pm - 5:30pm
| Speaker | Stephen SUN |
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| Affiliation | Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study |
| Topic | Seeds of American Industrialization: A New View From Economic Geography |
| Abstract | This article examines the degree to which a large preexisting demand encourages the growth of connected industries using the case of the 19th century United States' agricultural implements industry. The agricultural implements industry is distinguished by having linkages with both the agricultural and manufacturing sectors and by the fact that its output is mostly sold outside of cities, which creates product- level spatial variation in demand not seen in other manufactures. I study the impact of proximity to demand and of spillovers and find a strongly significant effect for both, with proximity to demand being roughly 1.5 times as important. These results provide evi- dence of a role for agriculture as a foundation for manufacturing growth and further implies the existence of positive spillovers which could drive further industrialization. I also find evidence for a role for human capital. |