This paper deals with the identification of spatial agglomerations in the German food processing industry, using the Cluster Index developed by Sternberg and Litzenberger. Previous studies have analyzed this industry as one of several others utilizing highly aggregated data. The results of these studies mostly indicate a lack of agglomerations for the German food industry. Given the very heterogeneous character of this branch, an analysis at such an aggregated level might provide flawed results. Therefore, the following study analyzes German industry sectors for the first time at a highly disaggregated spatial (429 districts) and sectoral (23 subsectors of food processing industry) level. Results show that spatial agglomerations exist for several... |