The Formation and Significance of New Industrial Districts: A Study of Four Countries' Experience

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Accompanying the increasing integration of global production and trade connections has been the rise of new industrial districts. These are spatially distinct areas of economic activity dominated by a specialized set of trade-oriented industries which induce in turn population and employment growth. The literature on new industrial districts focuses on agglomeration forces and externalities, the networks and relationships among firms, and the functioning of local labor markets. Because of the wide variety of forms such industrial districts take on, and because disagreement exists over which districts to designate as new and specialized, this research will amplify and generalize the theory of their formation and location. The theoretical portion of the study will concentrate on non-place embeddedness, non-local externalities, interdistrict labor mobility, and the role of the State in new industrial district formation. The empirical portion will examine districts in four countries: the United States, Japan, Korea, and Brazil. A typology of industrial districts will be developed, and specific hypotheses will be tested which reflect the theoretically expected attributes attributed to each district type. Data for the analysis will come from published statistics available in each country. An international team of researchers will work on case study districts in each country, and they will compare and contrast their findings across national contexts. This research will produce a fuller basic theory of new industrial district formation based on a broader analysis of embeddedness, externalities, and developmental agents. It will result in a typology of new industrial districts which is more comprehensive and adaptable to various national situations. The four nation comparison of new industrial districts will permit an interpretation of how national differences in political structure, stage of development, economic strategy, and corporate structure, condition their growth and formation.