ABSTRACT
This chapter describes that industry clustering patterns provide the starting point for the research. The research had two main objectives: to estimate a basic economic model of the factors that contribute to the growth of industry clusters and then to demonstrate the use of the results in assessing the economic development status of a given metropolitan area. The industry clusters used in this analysis are based on the results obtained by O hUallachain for the 150 largest metropolitan areas in the United States in 1986. Underlying the analysis of clusters is the notion that urban areas with a relatively large proportion of employment in one industry in a cluster will tend to have relatively large employment proportions for the other industries in that cluster. Once clusters had been identified, the next step in the research was to develop a basic model of the growth of a local industry cluster. The most important deviation was to define a single manufacturing cluster.
