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Trading Places: Industrial Specialization in the European Union
Author(s) -
Brülhart Marius
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
jcms: journal of common market studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.54
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1468-5965
pISSN - 0021-9886
DOI - 10.1111/1468-5965.00113
Subject(s) - european union , manufacturing , international trade , international economics , manufacturing sector , business , core (optical fiber) , intra industry trade , economic geography , economics , trade barrier , materials science , marketing , composite material
This article examines the location of manufacturing industries in the European Union. It draws on intra‐industry trade measures for 1961–90 and on sectoral employment data by countries and regions. The analysis of employment data suggests that EU industry has become increasingly localized in the 1980s. Increasing‐returns industries are strongly concentrated at the economic core of the EU and display low levels of intra‐industry trade. High‐tech industries are also strongly localized, but show no centre‐periphery gradient and no specific pattern of intra‐industry trade. The main potential for future specialization appears to remain in sectors sensitive to labour costs, which are still relatively dispersed and have high levels of intra‐industry trade. Employment in these industries is shifting towards the EU periphery. ‘Neoclassical’ determinants of international specialization are thus likely to dominate the ongoing adjustment process in EU manufacturing.