Location determinants of high-tech firms: an intra-urban approach

This paper analyses location determinants of high-tech firms at the intra-urban level, concretely for neighbourhoods of Barcelona. Mercantile Register data is used to analyse the location of 515 firms between 2011 and 2013 through count data estimations. The identification of the location patterns, followed by a typology of the firms, and the role played by neighbourhood characteristics in attracting them, constitutes a contribution to the empirical literature. Our results help in understanding the entry processes within cities and show that i) there are certain specificities at industry level, ii) that both amenities and economic-oriented neighbourhood characteristics matter, and iii) that spatial spillovers are relevant for some high-tech industries.