SERVICE SECTOR GROWTH AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE UNITED STATES: A SPATIAL PERSPECTIVE.

摘要

This dissertation examines the spatial structure of the U.S. service sector, service sector growth over the period 1958-1977, and the role of services in contemporary regional economic development. These topics are investigated through an analysis of an extensive data set gathered for a sample of places from the different regions of the U.S. The sample contains 12 metropolitan areas and 12 nonmetropolitan counties from each of the four census regions. Data include employment by industry for a large number of detailed industries and other economic and demographic variables for the economic census years 1958, 1967 and 1977. All analyses were conducted over the two time periods 1958-1967 and 1967-1977.;A hierarchical location pattern was found to be a key feature of the spatial pattern of service industries, primarily because of the concentration of specialized producer services in large places. During the period 1958-1977 a number of highly urbanized producer services decentralized somewhat, increasing the availability of many services in small metropolitan and nonmetropolitan places. There were significant regional differences in the share of total employment accounted for by business, professional and financial services. The northeast had the highest concentration of these services, while over the period 1958-1977 the northcentral region replaced the south as the most poorly endowed region. During the period 1958-1977 the differences between the service structures of the four census regions and of places of different size diminished somewhat.;The study findings support the hypothesis that services play a significant role in regional economic development. The downfiltering of business and professional services has contributed to the slowing of growth in many large places and the rapid growth of the south and many smaller places. The findings suggest that understanding the role services is important if we are to better understand contemporary regional economic development.;The analysis of the spatial structure of services and service growth patterns was made using a variety of descriptive statistics and clustering techniques. Partial correlation analysis and a multi-equation model of regional growth were used to analyze the role of services in regional economic development.