Firm growth and the spatial impact of geolocated external factors

This paper studies the relationship between firm growth and external factors. Externalities from related economic, public research and higher educational activities are traced back to specific locations in space. The spatial characteristics of their impact are examined within a distance-based, micro-founded approach. Applying quantile regression techniques on a large sample of German firms, we empirically disentangle the complex interplay between internal factors (firm size), external factors and their spatial extent. In particular, we find that the larger firms are, the more diverse are the activities they benefit from and that the geographical meaning of "nearby" depends on the kind of activity.