This dissertation addresses the two questions of how economic activity is distributed across space, and what are the factors that determine this distribution. The introductory chapter sets the scene. This is followed by three substantive chapters which cover three different aspects of economic location: the size distribution of cities, factor endowments, and political economy. A final chapter concludes. Chapter 2 assesses the empirical validity of Zipf's Law for cities, which states that the size distribution of cities follows a Pareto distribution with shape parameter equal to 1. New data on 73 countries is used. We reject Zipf's Law far more often than we would expect based on random chance. Variations in the value of the Pareto exponent are better explained by political economy variables than by economic geography variables. Chapter 3 explores the relationship between factor endowments, technology, and the location of industrial production, using a panel dataset on Indian industries across states and over time. Factor endowments and technology play important roles in explaining the share of an industry in GDP. This finding is robust to the inclusion of controls for the policy environment and market access. The liberalisation of the economy beginning in 1985 and 1991 represents a clear structural break in the relationship between industry share, factor endowments, and technology. Chapter 4 develops and tests a political economy model of campaign contributions and electoral competition, extended to consider the implications for factor mobility and hence the structure of production. There are two main predictions. First, countries with more capital stock tend to implement more pro-capital policies. Second, the more different are countries' policies, the more different will be the set of goods which they produce. These predictions are confirmed using panel data on cross-state differences in policies and economic outcomes in India.

The term ‘de-industrialization’ stands for an element of structural change, indicating some form of decline within the secondary sector of a national economy. Sociologists use relative decline of manufacturing as their standard definition while economists often consider re-ductions in sectoral output as equally or even more important. There is a variety of other current descriptions. As a key element of this thesis, rigid definitions were constituted and utilized in two complementary models of de-industrialization. These were tested by macro-economic data for 12 mature and 25 emerging countries, covering the years 1973-2008 with successive 15 + 5 +15-year sub-periods. Productivity was identified as the key driver and indicator for success of the manufac-turing sector. It was found that the country-specific maximum in relative employment in manufacturing is reached at a threshold productivity that can be calculated by two linear functions of productivity over time, related to mature and emerging economies, respec-tively. On the basis of the model-based findings and additional socio-economic analyses, differ-ent paths of industrial development were distinguished for mature economies (i.e. fully industrialized states beyond their maximum relative employment in manufacturing) and emerging economies (i.e. states that have not yet industrialized to their full potential) with regard to their final outcome, i.e. the sectoral parameters and the resulting GDP per capita, employment and trade. From these findings, lessons to be learnt for policy makers were derived.

Dans un cadre géographique limité, celui de la vallée du Rimbach, cette thèse étudie de façon exhaustive tous les aspects d’une évolution économique et sociale marquée par le phénomène de l’industrialisation du XVIIIe siècle à nos jours. Cette thèse a donc permis de connaître un espace régional d’industrialisation qui renforce la diversité du développement économique de la France. Cette recherche se limite au vallon du Rimbach mais, en nous préoccupant de replacer le territoire dans l’ensemble alsacien, nous apportons des informations nouvelles concernant la pré-industrialisation, le processus d’industrialisation et sa spécificité par rapport à la grande industrie haut-rhinoise, l’évolution économique face aux problèmes de frontière de par leurs déplacements en 1870, 1919, 1939 et 1945, la grande mutation industrielle depuis 1945 mais aussi les bouleversements sociaux, les conséquences politiques et l’impact environnemental. La vallée du Rimbach, à une échelle réduite, a été le théâtre de toutes ces évolutions. Cette thèse apporte l’implacable démonstration qu’un microcosme à tel point miniaturisé se montre le reflet des tribulations de l’industrialisation. Les apports de cette thèse sont donc indéniables dans la connaissance plus fine de l’économie d’une vallée sous-vosgienne aux spécificités bien réelles. Du point de vue de l’histoire économique elle met en lumière des modalités de pérennité productives à une échelle micro locale, qui prouvent des capacités de territorialité d’action souvent masquées par des tendances globalisantes. Enfin, elle casse cette vision monolithique et linéaire d’une Europe qui s’industrialise, se désindustrialise et se réindustrialise sur de nouvelles formes en montrant l’importance des transitions.La vallée de Rimbach a donc sa place dans cette grande histoire industrielle européenne, une place particulière à certains égards. / Within a restricted geographical setting, the Rimbach valley, this doctoral thesis studies in an exhaustive way all the aspects of an economic and social evolution, marked by the phenomenon of industrialization, from the 18th century to our days.This thesis has thus permitted to discover a local area of industrialization which reinforces the diversity of the French economic development. This research is restricted to the Rimbach valley, but by replacing this area within the whole Alsatian area, we can bring new information about pre-industrialization, the process of industrialization and its specificity in relation to the great industry in Haut-Rhin, the economic evolution confronted to the problem of borders (because of their changes in 1870, 1919, 1939 and 1945), the great industrial transformation since 1945, but also confronted to the social disruptions, the political consequences and the environmental impact. The Rimbach valley, to a small scale, has been the scene of all these evolutions. This thesis brings the irrefutable evidence that such a tiny microcosm is the perfect reflection of the varying fortunes of industrialization. The contribution brought in this thesis is therefore indisputable in a more accurate knowledge of a Vosges valley with its true specificities. From the economic history point of view, it highlights methods of productive continuity to a local scale, which show with evidence that there are capacities of local action often hidden by more all-embracing tendencies. Finally, it destroys the monolithic and linear vision of an industrializing, de-industrializing and re-industrializing Europe, on new grounds, showing the significance of transitions. Therefore, the Rimbach valley deserves its true place in the great European industrial story, and a really particular place in certain respects.