Do cultural and creative industries cluster? Case study of Catalonia

Resumen

Anyone in the world would like to visit hub cities, whether it is Barcelona, Paris, Milan, London, New York or places as such. Those cities attract individuals and firms, leading to the formation of clusters in wide range of sectors: financial or other services, manufacturing, research and development, software, and many others. Clusters do benefit the economy; one general statement that has been concluded over the last decades, leading researchers to figure out the spatial distribution of firms, the natural determinants and the possibility for induced ones in response to the advantages and positive spin-offs that clustering in various industries provides. The investigation of the spatial distribution of firms has thus always been of interest for economists and policy makers. Research in this area starts from identifying certain spatial patterns to providing a range of rationalizations on their determinants or implications, which helps uncovering what is hindered beyond the development of cities among other assorted economic and social phenomena. Such studies are still preliminary when it comes to Cultural & Creative industries, the field in which the interest in has been growing in the last decade. An opening argument states that firms in CCIs locate in metropolitan areas with urban preference or smaller regions that specialize in a certain relevant sector. The purpose of this study is to identify the spatial distribution preference and clustering, if any, of firms in CCIs from a general perspective and then at industry level, in Catalonia. Subsequently, determinants of the spatial patterns and possible clusters uncovered will be analyzed. Probable determinants of such clusters can be access to other firms on industry level, consumer demand, agglomeration economies, or human capital. The study uses firms’ data from Mercantile Register (SABI), and makes use of SatScan method for clusters' identification. As well, count-data (CD) models will be used in order to identify location determinants of CCIs firms.