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Commuting patterns, infrastructure and the location of economic activity. A study of sector concentration and municipality specialisation in Sweden.

Carlsson, Cecilia LU (2012) NEKP01 20121
Department of Economics
Abstract (Swedish)
This thesis investigates the impact of commuting and the quality of infrastructure on the degree of sector concentration and municipality specialisation in Sweden. Data on seven sectors and 286 Swedish municipalities for the years 2001 and 2003 is used in the empirical study performed using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS). The robustness of the results is tested with respect to changes in the variable-transformation method as well as the measurement of some of the included variables. Although partly affected, the obtained results in general seem to be qualitatively quite robust to the performed changes.

Both the direction and the magnitude of commuting influence the concentration of economic activity, whereas the degree and type of... (More)
This thesis investigates the impact of commuting and the quality of infrastructure on the degree of sector concentration and municipality specialisation in Sweden. Data on seven sectors and 286 Swedish municipalities for the years 2001 and 2003 is used in the empirical study performed using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS). The robustness of the results is tested with respect to changes in the variable-transformation method as well as the measurement of some of the included variables. Although partly affected, the obtained results in general seem to be qualitatively quite robust to the performed changes.

Both the direction and the magnitude of commuting influence the concentration of economic activity, whereas the degree and type of municipality specialisation is mainly affected by the direction of the occurring commuting flows. In general, however, the results indicate that interactions between municipality and industry characteristics have a larger impact on the type of municipality specialisation than on the sector concentration of economic activity. Partly in contrast with theoretical
predictions, sectors for which links to other producers are of large importance tend to be relatively less concentrated in municipalities characterised by large market potential. Such municipalities also tend to be less specialised in sectors for which links to consumers and producers are of relatively large importance. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Carlsson, Cecilia LU
supervisor
organization
course
NEKP01 20121
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
commuting, infrastructure, concentration, specialisation, New Economic Geography, OLS
language
English
id
2797419
date added to LUP
2012-06-15 09:31:05
date last changed
2012-06-15 09:31:05
@misc{2797419,
  abstract     = {{This thesis investigates the impact of commuting and the quality of infrastructure on the degree of sector concentration and municipality specialisation in Sweden. Data on seven sectors and 286 Swedish municipalities for the years 2001 and 2003 is used in the empirical study performed using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS). The robustness of the results is tested with respect to changes in the variable-transformation method as well as the measurement of some of the included variables. Although partly affected, the obtained results in general seem to be qualitatively quite robust to the performed changes.

Both the direction and the magnitude of commuting influence the concentration of economic activity, whereas the degree and type of municipality specialisation is mainly affected by the direction of the occurring commuting flows. In general, however, the results indicate that interactions between municipality and industry characteristics have a larger impact on the type of municipality specialisation than on the sector concentration of economic activity. Partly in contrast with theoretical
predictions, sectors for which links to other producers are of large importance tend to be relatively less concentrated in municipalities characterised by large market potential. Such municipalities also tend to be less specialised in sectors for which links to consumers and producers are of relatively large importance.}},
  author       = {{Carlsson, Cecilia}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Commuting patterns, infrastructure and the location of economic activity. A study of sector concentration and municipality specialisation in Sweden.}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}