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Which Types of Relatedness Matter in Regional Growth? -industry, occupation and education

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  • Sofia Wixe
  • Martin Andersson

Abstract

This paper provides a conceptual discussion of relatedness, which suggests a focus on individuals as a complement to firms and industries. The empirical relevance of the main arguments are tested by estimating the effects of related and unrelated variety in education and occupation among employees, as well as in industries, on regional growth. We show that for regional productivity growth, occupational and educational related variety matter over and above industry relatedness. This supports the conceptual discussion put forward. The potential of productive interactions between employees in a region is thus greater when there is related variety in their ‘knowledge base’. We also find that related variety in industries is positive for employment growth but negative for productivity growth.

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  • Sofia Wixe & Martin Andersson, 2013. "Which Types of Relatedness Matter in Regional Growth? -industry, occupation and education," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1326, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Dec 2013.
    • Handle: RePEc:egu:wpaper:1326
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    Keywords

    Relatedness; variety; occupation; education; regional growth;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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