Urban Sprawl, Tech Firm Births and Agglomeration Economies: (Un)Related Variety, Specialization, and Spatial Externalities
–Ning Xiong, Yehua Dennis Wei
We find tech firm suburbanization, and that these agglomeration economies affect tech firm births simultaneously, but their spatial externalities differ across various scales. Specialization and related variety operate at all scales including neighborhood scale while urbanization economies only work at city-wide scale. Unrelated variety does not affect tech firm births at all scales. Moreover, specialization externalities appear more pronounced at neighborhood scale and its spatial scope is larger than that of related variety. These findings partially explain the recent trend of multiscale clusters of the tech industry and tech firm suburbanization, and suggest that spatial externalities of agglomeration economies should be understood at different types with a multi-scalar framework. This should be stressed by policymakers and urban planners to understand urban sprawl and achieve sustainable development.