CMSSE Public Research Seminar. Presentation by Kristian Behrens.

On April 11, 2013, CMSSE was held a public research seminar. Report on the theme "Unweaving textile clusters: International tradeand industrial localization" by Kristian Behrens (Associate professor at the Université du Québec à Montreal (Canada)).

K. Behrens

On April 11, 2013, 12:00-14:00.
Public research seminar.
Associate professor Kristian Behrens (Université du Québec à Montreal (Canada), Canada Research Chair in Regional Impacts of Globalization). "Unweaving textile clusters: International trade and industrial localization".

The aim of this paper is twofold. I first extensively document the localization of Canadian manufacturing industries – especially textiles – using micro-geographic data. Then I investigate what drives the observed decrease in spatial concentration between 2001 and 2009, with special attention to the role of international trade. The end of the Multi Fibre Arrangement (mfa) in 2005 provides a large exogenous source of variation in imports and exports of textiles. I find that growing imports from low-cost countries are associated with firm death – especially in textiles – and less localization, while growing exports to high-cost countries are associated with firm survival and more localization. Conditional on death, trade had almost no impact on the spatial structure of manufacturing. Using a novel methodology that controls for the uneven spatial distribution of industries, I find some evidence for the spatial clustering of firm deaths, though not for textiles.

The address of the seminar: Conference-hall (3rd floor), b. 47, pr. Rimskogo-Korsakova, Saint Petersburg.