Discussion on the dispersion & agglomeration of aircraft industry

The aircraft industry is crucial to the economy and security of a nation. In this paper,the spatial characteristics and patterns of the aircraft industry are analyzed on different spatial scales. It is found that there is a ’Matthew effect’ in the global aircraft industry and the spatial evolution of the industry is consistent with the industrialization process of the whole country. It is also revealed that the spatial evolution of the country is driven by both the centripetal forces including capital,talents,technology and agglomeration economies and the centrifugal forces including the comparative advantage,cost & risk sharing,emerging markets,development policy for less-developed regions and the military imperative. These forces have both market-stabilizing and market-disrupting effects on the spatial evolution of the aircraft industry. The study suggests that lessons drawn from the experiences in the United States and France are expected to be conducive to the rise of China’s aircraft industry in the future.