What Determined the Location of Industry in Belgium, 1896–1961?

Belgium was one of the first continental countries to undergo industrialization and develop an extensive transportation infrastructure during the nineteenth century, completing the integration of its internal market by the early twentieth century. As such, the country is an ideal case study of the driving forces behind the decisions that industries made about where to locate. An analysis of factors embedded in both the Heckscher-Ohlin model and the new economic geography indicates that the main determinant of Belgium’s industrial locational pattern between 1896 and 1961 was proximity to regions with a high market potential.