Shift and share and the theory of industrial location

‘… the shift and share technique is not a useful framework for regional projection … the competitive component is not associated with the forces others have argued determine a region's competitive position,’ Brown (1969) Chalmers J. A. and Beckhelm T. L. (1976). Shift and share and the theory of industrial location, Reg. Studies, 10, 15–23. The paper challenges the contention that the differential shift is not a useful concept because it cannot be given behavioral content. A set of hypotheses about the determinants of industrial location is presented in the framework of space cost and space revenue surfaces. The model is tested for 23 industries for as many SMSA's as there are disclosed data in the 1963 and 1967 Census of Manufacturers. The results show that the differential shift in many industries in a cross-section of cities can be well-explained by variables that would be expected to affect spatial variations in profits.