spatial agglomeration, evolutionary economic geography, increasing returns, externalities, knowledge specificities, Pavitt taxonomy

E12, E25, P16, C67, O14

This paper delves into geographical agglomeration patterns of economic activities focusing on the connection between these agglomeration tendencies and sectoral patterns of innovative activities. Within a broad evolutionary perspective, we refine upon incumbent statistical models, trying to distinguish between intra- and inter-sectoral agglomerative forces, conditional on different types of sectoral innovative activities. Utilizing data spanning three distinct years, a decade apart, we investigate the systematic nature of spatial distributions, the relationship between agglomeration drivers and technological paradigms, and shifts in agglomerative tendencies over time. Our findings suggest that economic space is far from uniform, but the spatial heterogeneity differs across sectors as it is driven by various factors, including increasing returns, urbanization advantages, and sector-specific forms of knowledge generation and diffusion.