Working Paper - 213 - Disentangling the Pattern of Geographic Concentration in Tunisian Manufacturing Industries

Mohamed Ayadi () and Wided Matoussi
Additional contact information
Wided Matoussi: University of Jendouba-LAREQUAD, http://www.uj.rnu.tn/Fr/universite-de-jendouba_11_609

Working Paper Series from African Development Bank

Abstract: In this paper, we examine the pattern of spatial concentration of manufacturing industries observed in Tunisia and explore the factors driving firms' location choices at the provincial level. We consider specialization and competition indicators as driving forces and also examine the extent to which location choice is related to Centre Business Districts. We estimate the effect of location variables on sector growth and productivity. Our results suggest that firms choose to locate in a specific governorate because of high local demand, which brings about transportation cost savings. Moreover, we find a concentration of activity in Greater Tunis where most growth in firms and employment is observed, while locating in littoral governorates enhances the productivity growth of governorate industries.Urbanization economies in Tunisia encourage the appearance of virtuous circles in the transmission of innovative ideas, so firms can benefit from the proximity of the other manufacturing units. Geographic concentration in Tunisian manufacturing industries is of the kind of commercial relations between the sectors rather than the division and the exploitation of technological complementarities between sectors.

Date: 2014-12-30
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ara
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Docume ... ing_industries_C.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:adb:adbwps:2149

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Paper Series from African Development Bank African Development Bank Group, Avenue Joseph Anoma, 01 BP 1387 Abidjan 01, Côte d'Ivoire. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Adeleke Oluwole Salami ().