Evolutionary economics and industry location

This paper aims to provide the outlines of an evolutionary economic geography of industry location. We discuss two evolutionary explanations of industry location, that is, one that concentrates on spin-offs, and one that focuses attention on knowledge and agglomeration economies. We claim that both mechanisms (spin-offs and agglomeration economies), through which organisational routines diffuse, though complementary in some respects, should be carefully disentangled. We further argue that evolutionary approaches have some similarities with the new economic geography in general, yet differ fundamentally in their models and explanations of spatial concentration of industry. As such, an evolutionary approach promises to provide a truly new programme in economic geography for what concerns industry location.