Industrial Districts in History and the Developing World

EditorsTomoko Hashino is a professor of economic history at Kobe University. Her research interests are in the evolutionary process of the textile industry in Japan as well as the development history of weaving districts in modern Japan. Her recent articles have appeared in the Economic History Review, Business History Review, Australian Economic History Review, and Journal of the Japanese and International Economies. Professor Hashino received her Ph.D. in economics from Hitotsubashi University in 2003. She has been a visiting fellow at the University of New South Wales, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and George Washington University.Keijiro Otsuka is a professor of development economics at the Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University. After receiving a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago in 1979, he served as an associate professor and a professor of economics at Tokyo Metropolitan University until 2001, when he joined GRIPS, where he was professor until March 2014. He has been working extensively on the Green Revolution, land tenancy, property rights and natural resource management, cluster-based industrial development, and poverty dynamics. His studies are primarily survey-based with comparative perspectives between Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.He received the Purple Ribbon Medal from the Japanese government in 2010 and was selected as an Honorary Life Member of the International Association of Agricultural Economists in 2012, Fellow of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (formerly the American Agricultural Economics Association) in 2013, and a Distinguished Fellow of the African Association of Agricultural Economists in 2013.  He is the coauthor or coeditor of 23 books.

“Nine papers examine the development of industrial districts, exploring the role of such districts in the historical development of manufacturing industries in Europe and Japan and the current development in emerging East Asian economies and low income countries in sub Saharan Africa. Papers consider whether Marshallian agglomeration economics can explain the development patterns of industrial districts and investigate common key factors that support sustainable development.” (Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 55 (3), September, 2017)

• Part I Introduction.- 1 Beyond Marshallian Agglomeration Economies.- 2 Toward a New Paradigm of the Long-Term Development of Industrial Districts.- Part II Pivotal Role of Technology Transfer.- 3 Technology Transfer and the Early Development of the Cotton Textile Industry in 19th Century Spain.- 4 Contrasting Development Paths of Silk-Weaving Districts in Modern Japan.- 5 Emergence and Subsequent Development of Garment Clusters in Bangladesh and Tanzania.- Part III Central Role of Producer Cooperatives.- 6 Trade Association and Economic Regulation in the Lyons Fabrique: From the 1860s to the 1920s.- 7 Development of High-Value Agricultural Districts: The Role of Producer Cooperatives in Japan and Developing Countries.- Part IV Supporting Role of Local Government.- 8 Industrial Districts in Europe: Policy Lessons for Developing Countries?.- 9 Promotion of the Weaving Districts in Modern Japan.- 10 Low-Quality Crisis and Quality Upgrading: The Case of Industrial Clusters in Zhejiang Province.