Premium
Developments in the Location of Selected Computer‐Related Industries in the united states
Author(s) -
PARK SIYOUNG,
LEWIS LAWRENCE T.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
growth and change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.657
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1468-2257
pISSN - 0017-4815
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2257.1991.tb00545.x
Subject(s) - business cycle , dispersion (optics) , econometrics , product (mathematics) , distribution (mathematics) , economics , industrial organization , economic geography , mathematics , macroeconomics , mathematical analysis , physics , geometry , optics
This study focuses upon changes in three computer‐related industries between 1974 and 1985. An attempt is made by means of entropy indices and shift‐share analysis to determine if diffusion in those industries conforms to the product‐cycle model. We employ primarily state‐level data derived from County Business Patterns and supplemented by US. Censuses of Manufacturing and Services. Our findings indicate that all the industries displayed substantial increases in employment and considerable dispersion, although by no means were the changes uniform. The hypothesis that the dispersion is following the product‐cycle model, that is, from core areas to peripheral regions, receives little support from this study. The model, however, should not be rejected out of hand, because all three industries studied have a duality in the size of firms that the data masks. This duality may affect the applicability of any model. Further attempts to explain the spatial distribution of any of these industries should begin with disintegrated data. Unfortunately such data are not presently easily attainable.