Endowment, market potential, and spatial dynamics of industrial locations: Evidence from global shipbuilding

Abstract

We compile a novel panel dataset of ship orders across 30 countries from 1896 to 2020 to examine the evolution of the global shipbuilding industry across time and space. We document a transition in the shipbuilding production location from European countries to Asian countries over the sample period. We further apply a panel error-correction model (ECM) to show that both relative capital endowment and market potential account for this transition in the long run, while market potential exerts a more significant influence on ship production in the short run.