At the origin of the industrial district: Alfred Marshall and the Cambridge school

F. Belussi, K. Caldari
2008 Cambridge Journal of Economics  
This paper investigates the origin and evolution of the concept of the industrial district. The idea of industrial district is quite spread in modern industrial economics and in business studies, with a variety of meanings and typologies. Indeed the true first original conceptualisation dates back to Alfred Marshall and the economists of the so-called Cambridge School. Quite often the concept of industrial district is considered as synonymous of agglomeration, localisation, and clustering. But,
more » ... according to the meaning given originally by Marshall, these processes of industry "territorialisation" are quite different from the more "compound localisation" that is the Marshallian industrial district. Therefore, the aim of our contribution is focused on disentangling its original meaning from other subsequent interpretations, referring particularly to the debate on this subject arisen among the economists of the Cambridge School in the early fifties of the XX century. JEL: B0; L11; R12; O14;O18
doi:10.1093/cje/ben041 fatcat:nflw6bx5tbcatbm76pv2ggifx4