Path Dependence in Spatial Distribution of Economic Activity: Bad News for Empiric Research of Agglomeration Effects

It is considered that concentrations of economic activity in the market economy are formed according to the balance of agglomeration effects. Actually this scientific idealization is far from a reality. Agglomeration effects change much faster, than spatial distribution of economic activity. This phenomenon can be well described by the path dependency theory. Despite such problems it is supposed in empirical papers that concentration of the enterprises or employment is a good proxy variable for agglomeration effects.