Estructura económica y crecimiento local, Ecuador: 1980-2010

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the influence of the local economic structure formed by agglomeration externalities: specialization, diversity, average firm size and density on employment growth, used as a proxy of local growth. This also implies to determine the existence of urbanization and localization economies in the context of analysis, which includes manufacturing sector and services sector in Ecuador, at the cantonal level. The official databases used correspond to the 1980 and 2010 Economic Census. According to the obtained results in this research it is possible to emphasize that the local economic structure has a different effect depending on the analytical sector. In addition we can conclude that the most important determinant for local growth corresponds to the industrial diversity for both the manufacturing sector and the service sector, therefore evidence of urbanization economies in both sectors is given, while rule out the presence of localization economies or specialization, which negatively affect local growth. Key words: Ecuador, economic structure, local growth.