Specialization and Convergence of Industry-Specific Employment in Germany: A Linear Mixed-Model Approach with Spatial Components

Brenner T. and Kauermann G. Specialization and convergence of industry-specific employment in Germany: a linear mixed-model approach with spatial components, Regional Studies. Nations as well as regions differ in their growth rates. Whether these different growth rates lead to a convergence or divergence is a well-studied topic. However, the literature on clusters shows that regional economic growth is often related to the presence of specific industries. Hence, convergence and divergence might also be a phenomenon of specific industries instead of the whole economy. Therefore, the spatial distribution of each industry in Germany is examined in this paper and whether the distribution of employment converges to or diverges based on this spatial distribution is analysed. The industry characteristics that relate to the convergence are also studied.