01623365

Component

This study investigates the relationship between urban accessibility and firm agglomeration, as reflected in patterns of urban employment densities. The authors use measures of accessibility derived from the regional highway network, combined with small-scale (Census block-level) data on employment from the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) data set to generate proxies for different sources of agglomeration, specifically urbanization and localization economies. These variables are employed in a set of employment density regressions for 20 two-digit NAICS code sectors to identify the propensity of each sector to agglomerate in response to varying levels of accessibility. The density regressions are applied to sample data from the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota (Twin Cities)metropolitan region for the years 2000 and 2010. The authors find that in general urbanization effects tend to overshadow those of localization effects. Moreover, these effects tend to vary by sector, with many service-based sectors showing a stronger propensity to agglomerate than manufacturing and several "basic" sectors like agriculture, mining and utilities.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADD10 Standing Committee on Transportation and Economic Development.

01618707

17-06733

English

15p

2017

Transportation Research Board 96th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

References; Tables

Accessibility; Employment; Urban areas; Urbanization

Agglomeration; Localization

Minneapolis (Minnesota); Saint Paul (Minnesota)

Economics; Highways; Planning and Forecasting

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2017 Paper #17-06733

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 8 2016 12:45PM