Special industrial/technology zones/parks

[Beet]

Does the US need more clustered investment centers that receive special tax breaks and expedited regulatory processes for technology parks? Some economic research suggests that clustering of similar industries in a close geographical proximity could allow them to take advantage of market externalities, path dependency, etc. etc. etc.

[Ban my account ffs!]

My city has both a fairly large industrial park and a newer, smaller technology park.  Both are attracting new businesses at a good clip.

[phk]

Does the US need more clustered investment centers that receive special tax breaks and expedited regulatory processes for technology parks? Some economic research suggests that clustering of similar industries in a close geographical proximity could allow them to take advantage of market externalities, path dependency, etc. etc. etc.

A whole region like Bangalore and Shenzen?

[Beet]

Does the US need more clustered investment centers that receive special tax breaks and expedited regulatory processes for technology parks? Some economic research suggests that clustering of similar industries in a close geographical proximity could allow them to take advantage of market externalities, path dependency, etc. etc. etc.

A whole region like Bangalore and Shenzen?

Yes, larger than the thing in Snowguy's back yard or the so called "I-270 technology corridor" in my backyard.

More like Silicon Valley or Bangalore or Shenzen, a multi decade commitment.

Something that eventually becomes a shining beacon of free market success, but that will require massive federal investment at the outset for a decade or so.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Depends what the point of them would be.

[2952-0-0]

Many local governments have been bending over backwards in order to attract one large corporation to set up shop for 10 years; not only do they get exploited as much as possible, those large firms often don't create the undergrowth in the local community. It's simply a matter of importing inputs, adding the local workforce, and then exporting the output, while local firms rarely see the externalities those factories bring.

If governments want to develop clusters, they will have to encourage undergrowth in small firms, especially in liberal democracies.

[Free Trade is managed by the invisible hand.]

does anyone know about the technology district in japan?

[opebo]

For sure clusters of smaller companies are superior both in terms of potential growth and in terms of bargaining power relative to local governments.. however they are also somewhat difficult to attract.  They tend to be less concerned with costs and more concerned with proximity to whatever it is they wish to be proximal to - thus you can't lure 'high tech' to, for example, Mississippi.

Probably the best way to support improvements is for the government to radically increase funding for universities.

[phk]

I dunno... They should have been planning these out in Asia like crazy during the last decade.

There's been a rise in smaller developments  in North India (in comparison to Chennai and Bangalore), an example of which would be Nano City which is being run by Sabeer Bhatia of Hotmail fame and in Haryana.  

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

What often happens in this country is that some dumb community gets a company to open a new center in exchange for no taxes for 3 years. When 3 years are up they find another community to sucker.