Industry characteristics linked to establishment concentrations in nonmetropolitan areas

In this paper we investigate industry characteristics associated with the c lustering of establishments in three-digit SIC manufacturing industries in nonmetropolitan areas. The dispersion parameter k of the negative binomial distribution is selected as the measure of industry spatial concentration. Associations between industry characteristics and spatial concentration are investigated using OLS regression analysis. Our findings indicate that the spatial clustering of establishments is positively related to industry ave rage establishment size, reliance on natural resource inputs, labor intensi ty, cast shares of professional and technical employees, and cost shares of low-skilled workers. Agglomeration is negatively related to multiplant str ucture, employment in precision production, and reliance on local product a nd input markets.