This project explores the determinants of industrial location i n terms of both current and historical conditions. The questions addressed include: In what urban locations do different manufacturing industries in the USA concentrate and how much persistence in location patterns is there over time? Can persistence be linked to dynamic externalities and how strongly do measures reflecting various externalities affect productivity measures? How strong is the direct link between industrial location patterns and local air quality and has the link weakened in the last twenty years with stronger environmental regulation? What is the indirect link between air quality and industrial location decisions, given the impact of air quality on wages and rents through disamenity capitalization effects, which impact firms' costs? For metropolitan areas in the USA this study combines data from the Sixth Count of the 1970 Population census (detailed industry employment), the 1972 Census of Manufacturing, the 1987 Census of Manufacturing, and the 1970 and 1987 County Business Patterns publication (to fill in holes in the Census of Manufacturing created by censoring for disclosure reasons), and other government sources (City and County data Book, State and Metro Area Data Book, and EPA publications). These data are used to estimate econometric models of where industries locate, their scale of operation, their productivity, and the nature and extent of external economies of scale. They are used to estimate models of the determinants of urban air quality, account for the interactions between air quality and industrial composition, air quality and wages and rents, and industrial composition and wages and rents.
