"This paper evaluates the role of regional cluster composition in the economic performance of industries, clusters and regions. On the one hand, diminishing returns to specialization in a location can result in a convergence effect: the growth rate of an industry within a region may be declining in the level of activity of that industry. At the same time, positive spillovers across complementary economic activities provide an impetus for agglomeration: the growth rate of an industry within a region may be increasing in the size and “strength” (i.e., relative presence) of related economic sectors. Building on Porter (1998, 2003), we develop a systematic empirical framework to identify the role of regional clusters – groups of closely related and complementary industries operating within a particular region – in regional economic performance. We exploit newly available data from the US Cluster Mapping Project to disentangle the impact of convergence at the region-industry level from agglomeration within clusters. We find that, after controlling for the impact of convergence at the narrowest unit of analysis, there is significant evidence for cluster-driven agglomeration. Industries participating in a strong cluster register higher employment growth as well as higher growth of wages, number of establishments, and patenting. Industry and cluster level growth also increases with the strength of related clusters in the region and with the strength of similar clusters in adjacent regions. Importantly, we find evidence that new regional industries emerge where there is a strong cluster environment. Our analysis also suggests that the presence of strong clusters in a region enhances growth opportunities in other industries and clusters. Overall, these findings highlight the important role of cluster-based agglomeration in regional economic performance."

Clusters, Convergence, and Economic Performance

This study investigates regional employment and production resilience to adverse crisis shocks. We extend the concept of resilience beyond the notion of resistance and fast recovery to include the potential of positive spillovers to related industries in neighboring regions. The industrial analysis of the automotive cluster in Mexico relies on a spatial shift‐share approach to characterize the resilience ability of regional industries. The study employs the Sub‐Prime crisis as a benchmark to identify the type of employment and production recovery after an adverse shock of similar magnitude. Four industries within the automotive cluster present various degrees of spatial dependence—those industries with the most significant spillover effects on neighboring regions. The type of resilience shown by these automotive industries in the regions during the Sub Prime Crisis serves as a benchmark to base policy government and corporate decisions after the economic crisis caused by the outbreak of SARS‐CoV‐2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Growth & Change is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/grow.12515

Identifying resilient industries in Mexico's automotive cluster: Policy lessons from the great recession to surmount the crisis caused by COVID 19

By using data envelopment analysis and productivity measures obtained via Malmquist index, this paper investigates the patterns and dynamics of efficiency, productivity, and technological change of the automotive sector in Mexico. Particularly, we examine five subclusters (automotive parts, gasoline engines and engine parts, motor vehicles, small vehicles, and metal mills and foundries) and four regions (border, center, Bajio, and others) over the period 2003–2013. It is also studied the impact of the Great Crisis on the automotive cluster and subclusters efficiency and productivity performance before and after 2009. We also identify input congestion, and distinguish its source. Among other results, we find congestion in the center and border regions and various degrees of resilience to the Great Crisis.

Efficiency, Productivity, and Congestion Performance: Analysis of the Automotive Cluster in Mexico

The impact of smart specialization strategies on sub-cluster efficiency: simulation exercise for the case of Mexico

Decision-making based on peers’ actions often results in one of the following two groups: coordinators who tend to blend in with the population and make trending decisions, and anticoordinators who act against the majority. Only mixed networks of both coordinators and anticoordinators are capable of not reaching an equilibrium state, where every individual is satisfied with her choice. However, the conditions for nonequilibration, and more challengingly, the characterization of the non-equilibrium limit set remain concealed. We answer these problems for ring networks. We show that a mixed ring of coordinators and anticoordinators equilibrates if and only if it does not contain a particular arrangement of consecutive agents, and never equilibrates if and only if it contains a particular arrangement of consecutive agents with particular actions. As a result, a ring may admit both equilibrium and non-equilibrium limit sets. We further investigate the stability of the equilibrium states of the resulting network dynamics.

Evolutionary Dynamics of Mixed Rings of Coordinators and Anticoordinators

The purpose of this study is to investigate labor congestion in the automotive industry in Mexico.,By using the cluster and subcluster definitions by Delgado et al. (2016) and relying on an efficiency and production function perspective, this study estimates a standard production function and measures marginal returns of labor at the regional cluster and subclusters levels. To assess whether wages affect the finding of congestion and productivity, the model also measures the individual impact of wages on both total productivity and marginal returns of labor.,Among other results, this paper finds evidence of labor congestion in the automotive cluster in Mexico. This congestion deepens with wages and it is specific to some regions and some subclusters.,The methods used are based on panel data techniques but are fundamentally cross-section in nature. The time period available may condition these findings.,To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study reporting congestion in the automotive cluster in Mexico.

Viviana Elizabeth Zárate-Mirón

Papers

Labor congestion in the automotive cluster: the role of wages

The impact of smart specialization strategies on sub-cluster efficiency: simulation exercise for the case of Mexico