The use of the K-functions (Ripley, 1977) has recently become popular in the analysis of the spatial pattern of firms. It was first introduced in the economic literature by Arbia and Espa (1996) and then popularized by Marcon and Puech (2003), Quah and Simpson (2003), Duranton and Overman...

The study of the geographical distribution of firms and of the dynamic pattern of firm entry and firm exits is a particularly relevant issue in regional health economics especially in the view of policy intervention to geographically balance health service supply and demand. The current state of...