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The Creative Class or Human Capital? - explaining regional development in Sweden

Author

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  • Mellander, Charlotta

    (Jönköping International Business School and CESIS)

  • Florida, Richard

    (School of Public Policy, George Mason University)

Abstract

Human capital is observed to be an important contributor to growth but unevenly distributed geographically. While there is consensus on the importance of human capital to economic development, debate takes shape around two central issues. First, there is the question of how best to measure human capital. Second, there is debate over the factors that yield the geographic distribution of human capital in the first place. We find that occupational or “creative class” measures tend to outperform educational measures in accounting for regional development across our sample of Swedish regions. We also find that universities, amenities or service diversity and openness and tolerance affect the distribution of human capital. A key finding is also that each of these factors is associated with a different type of human capital and thus they play complimentary roles in the geographic distribution of talent.

Suggested Citation

  • Mellander, Charlotta & Florida, Richard, 2007. "The Creative Class or Human Capital? - explaining regional development in Sweden," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 79, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0079
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Florida-forskarna försvarar sig
      by bergh in Berghs Betraktelser on 2007-07-06 22:14:40

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    Cited by:

    1. Emanuela Marrocu & Raffaele Paci, 2011. "Education or just Creativity: what matters most for economic performance?," ERSA conference papers ersa11p199, European Regional Science Association.
    2. Brahma, Sanjukta & Gavriilidis, Konstantinos & Kallinterakis, Vasileios & Verousis, Thanos & Zhang, Mengyu, 2023. "LGBTQ and finance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    3. Sara Santos Cruz & Aurora A.C. Teixeira, 2012. "Methodological approaches for measuring the creative employment: a critical appraisal with an application to Portugal," FEP Working Papers 455, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    4. Alessandra Faggian & Mark Partridge & Edward J. Malecki, 2017. "Creating an Environment for Economic Growth: Creativity, Entrepreneurship or Human Capital?," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(6), pages 997-1009, November.
    5. Niclas Berggren & Mikael Elinder, 2012. "Is tolerance good or bad for growth?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 283-308, January.
    6. Angelika Jaeger & Johannes Kopper, 2013. "Measuring the Regional 'Third-Mission-Potential' of Different Types of Universities," ERSA conference papers ersa13p1307, European Regional Science Association.
    7. Sara Cruz & Aurora Teixeira, 2015. "The neglected heterogeneity of spatial agglomeration and co-location patterns of creative employment: evidence from Portugal," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 54(1), pages 143-177, January.
    8. Roberta Comunian & Alessandra Faggian & Sarah Jewell, 2014. "Embedding Arts and Humanities in the Creative Economy: The Role of Graduates in the UK," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 32(3), pages 426-450, June.
    9. Brennan John F. & Paarlberg Laurie & Hoyman Michele, 2013. "Assembling the Puzzle of the Nonprofit-Economic Development Linkage," Nonprofit Policy Forum, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 45-65, October.
    10. Winters, John V., 2014. "STEM graduates, human capital externalities, and wages in the U.S," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 190-198.
    11. Imola Rittgasszer, 2011. "Analysing the Creativity of the Hungarian Micro-regions," ERSA conference papers ersa10p504, European Regional Science Association.
    12. Kamila Borseková & Anna Vaňová & Janka Šúrová & Pavol Kráľ & Kamila Turečková & Jan Nevima & Stanislav Martinát, 2021. "The Nexus between Creative Actors and Regional Development," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-18, March.
    13. Kristina Vaarst Andersen & Høgni Kalsø Hansen & Arne Isaksen & Mika Raunio, 2010. "Nordic City Regions in the Creative Class Debate—Putting the Creative Class Thesis to a Test," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 215-240.
    14. Florida, Richard & Mellander, Charlotta & Qian, Haifeng, 2008. "Creative China? The University, Tolerance and Talent in Chinese Regional Development," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 145, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    15. Roberta Comunian & Alessandra Faggian & Qian Cher Li, 2010. "Unrewarded careers in the creative class: The strange case of bohemian graduates," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 89(2), pages 389-410, June.
    16. Xinxiang Chen & Guanghua Chi & Guangqing Chi, 2018. "Do Airports Boost Economic Development by Attracting Talent? An Empirical Investigation at the Subcounty Level," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 99(1), pages 313-329, March.
    17. Andrey Shcherbak, 2013. "Does Culture Matter? The Impact of Tolerance on Economic Modernization in a Comparative Perspective," HSE Working papers WP BRP 05/SOC/2013, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    18. Xinxiang Chen & Guangqing Chi, 2012. "Natural Beauty, Money, and the Distribution of Talent: A Local-Level Panel Data Analysis," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 31(5), pages 665-681, October.
    19. Wedemeier, Jan, 2009. "Creative cities and the concept of diversity," HWWI Research Papers 1-20, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI).
    20. Möller Joachim & Tubadji Annie, 2009. "The Creative Class, Bohemians and Local Labor Market Performance: A Micro-data Panel Study for Germany 1975–2004," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 229(2-3), pages 270-291, April.
    21. Jose Maria Millan & Emilio Congregado & Concepcion Roman & Mirjam van Praag & Andre van Stel, 2011. "The Value of an Educated Population for an Individual's Entrepreneurship Success," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 11-066/3, Tinbergen Institute, revised 06 May 2014.
    22. Folke Valfrid Snickars & Ulf Karlsson, 2017. "Research infrastructure, networks of science and regional development - the case of Oskarshamn," REGION, European Regional Science Association, vol. 4, pages 119-131.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Creative occupations; Human Capital; Technology; Economic Development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
    • R20 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - General

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