Transport accessibility, wholesale trade and spatial development

Sammanfattning: This thesis comprises four independent papers, which all explore some aspect of the relationship between accessibility and spatial development. The central question I pose is how improved accessibility to transportation services, human capital, jobs, or the market contributes to the spatial variation in economic development. Empirical data and estimations are utilized in all chapters.The first paper (co-authored with Johan Klaesson) explores how a regional accessibility model can be used to analyze the growth of knowledge-intensive industries on a detailed geographical scale compared to a broader definition.In the second paper (co-authored with Maria Börjesson and Christer Anderstig), a refined accessibility measure is used to estimate the magnitude of the causal effect of transport system investments on the unemployment rate, and whether the effect differs for people with different levels of education.The third paper addresses the role that access to transportation services plays for wholesale start-ups, particularly in regions lacking in local demand.The analysis in paper number four covers the same time period as the advancement of the Internet, which greatly reduced transaction costs. The paper examines the importance of access to human capital for the spatial reorganization and growth of wholesale industries during this time period.