Mariya Bazhlekova

Market Potential and the Home Market Effect: Growth of Cities and Local Industries Mariya Bazhlekova

The field of Economic Geography and particularly the Location theory has been both very exciting and controversial. Obviously every economic activity is faced with the choice of where to settle, so it is crucial for the society ? from the small family business to the big multi-national companies. Globalisation and integration in the recent years have become a motivation for a thorough research of the field in order to fully understand the forces behind the restructuring of regions and industries. Unfortunately the broad literature hasn't come to a conclusive answer of this question ? different theories have been suggested, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. This book tries to investigate empirically one of the most recent tools used in the research ? market potential based on West German data from 1977 to 2002