Despite the expanding role of services in the global economy, economic history has paid lit-tle attention to their geographic localization. This paper provides a description of the increasing specialization and localization patterns of services across US counties compared to other sectors from 1930 to 2010. It stresses that market potential influences most of these changes. I use cen-sus employment data by sector to re-examine the debate of comparative advantage vs. economic geography on county location coeycients for services. The interaction between county and indus-try characteristics shows that the geography of services has been influenced by market potential since 1980. OLS and 2SLS results suggest a cumulative effect of increasing returns to scale that enhanced the agglomeration of services through linkages with other services and manufacturing firms. This provides a complementary view on the rise and transformation of the Manufacturing Belt as the cradle of the service economy. (Less)

中文翻译：

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二十世纪服务本地化的驱动力：来自美国的证据

尽管服务在全球经济中发挥着越来越重要的作用，但经济历史一直对其服务的地理定位不加关注。本文描述了从1930年到2010年，与其他行业相比，美国各县服务业的专业化和本地化模式在不断增长。它强调市场潜力会影响其中的大多数变化。我使用了按部门划分的人口普查就业数据来重新检验关于县级服务业经济学家相对优势与经济地理的争论。县与行业特征之间的相互作用表明，服务的地理位置自1980年以来就受到市场潜力的影响。OLS和2SLS的结果表明规模收益的累积效应通过与其他服务和制造公司的联系而增强了服务的集聚。这为制造业带作为服务经济的摇篮的崛起和转型提供了补充视图。（减）