|
|
|
| LOCATION ANALYSIS OF MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES ON THE SCALE OF LARGE METROPOLITAN STATISTICAL AREAS IN THE UNITED STATES |
| WANG Lei, FU Jian-rong |
| Institute for the Development of Central China, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China |
|
|
|
|
Abstract This paper provides empirical support to this insight by examining the locational features of manufacturing industries across all large Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in the United States. It collects from the Census Bureau employment data of all manufacturing sectors in each county and classifies large MSAs into core and fringe areas (counties) according to the standard as defined by the National Center for Health Statistics. This paper then computes the location quotient of each manufacturing sector for all large MSAs against the national level (large MSA location quotient) as well as that for all core areas against large MSAs (core area location quotient). It finds that manufacturing activities associated with customized products are concentrated in core counties of large MSAs with both large MSA location quotient and core area location quotient greater than one; industries dependent on local market for their more standardized products are usually found in fringe areas with large MSA location quotient greater than one but core area location quotient less than it; sectors that used to originate from core areas but leave for non-metropolitan regions afterwards due to technology progress or demand changes have lower large MSA location quotient but higher core area indices; industries whose both indices are lower than one have substantial distance from large MSAs with their products highly standardized and apt for long transportation. Following the overall analysis of industrial location on the aggregate level, this paper computes Herfindahl-Hirschman index of each sector to demonstrate their distribution across large MSAs. The results show that most light manufacturing industries that are closer to urban areas are more evenly distributed between large MSAs than heavy industries whose operations are largely independent of big cities. The only few exceptions are fashion and jewelry-related sectors whose spatial concentration at particular places can be traced to their own histories.
|
|
Received: 20 March 2014
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2015, Vol. 30 
