Co-worker Networks and Agglomeration Externalities

Bibliographic Data

ID4042292
AuthorsRikard H Eriksson (0000-0003-3570-7690, Department of Geography and Economic HistoryUmeå University, Umeå, SE-901 87 Sweden, corresponding author), Balázs Lengyel (0000-0001-5196-5599, Agglomeration and Social Networks Lendület Research Group Centre for Economic and Regional StudiesHungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest 1112 Hungary)
Year2019
Volume95
Issue1
Pages65-89
Publication date2019-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEconomic Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-0095 • E-ISSN: 1944-8287
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00130095.2018.1498741
OpenAlexW2891595775
LanguageEN
Citations received23
References cited66

The present article provides an initial systematic analysis of how social networks influence productivity in regional agglomerations. This is accomplished by means of matched employer–employee data for the entire Swedish economy for the period 1990–2008, allowing us to construct a weighted co-worker network with aggregated tie weights on the plant level. We find evidence that increasing density of the plant-level network has a positive effect on productivity, particularly in large regional industry-clusters with high degrees of specialization. Triadic closure of ties is, however, negatively linked to productivity, suggesting the importance of nonredundant knowledge. Moreover, we find only limited support for the notion that the diversity of linkages within or across regions as such is beneficial for productivity. Instead, we show that the degree of specialization conditions the extent to which both linkages to related industries in the region and nonlocal ties are beneficial. Our results thus suggest that having dense social networks is a crucial feature of high-performing agglomerations, and that interindustry, as well as interregional, linkages are compensatory in cases when sufficient industry specialization is absent

Construct (python library) · Diversity (politics) · Economic geography · Economic growth · Economics · Economies of agglomeration · Externality · Industrial organization · Microeconomics · Network effect · Productivity · Sociology · Urban agglomeration · Computer Science · Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis · Regional resilience and development · Social Capital and Networks

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