Regional Economics Commons^™

Theoretical Perspectives On Industry Clusters, Gashawbeza W. Bekele, Randall Jackson

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

The concept of industry clustering has generated much discussion in regional economic development theory and practice in recent years. Yet it is fair to say that an accepted definition or a unified theoretical framework has failed to emerge from the discussion, as the concept often seems to enliven itself under divergent theoretical approaches, including but not limited to work on agglomeration economies, industrial districts, business networks, knowledge spillovers, and regional innovation systems. This paper provides a review of the major theoretical propositions that seek to explain the clustering of economic activity and its presumed link with regional economic development. While …