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Creativity, Clusters and the Competitive Advantage of Cities

Author

Listed:
  • Martin, Roger

    (Martin Prosperity Institute & University of Toronto)

  • Florida, Richard

    (Martin Prosperity Institute & University of Toronto)

  • Pogue, Melissa

    (Martin Prosperity Institute & University of Toronto)

  • Mellander, Charlotta

    (Jönköping International Business School, & Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies)

Abstract

Purpose – The article marries Michael Porter’s industrial cluster theory of traded and local clusters to Richard Florida’s occupational approach of creative and routine workers to gain a better understanding of the process of economic development. By combining these two approaches, four major industrial-occupational categories are identified. The shares of U.S. Employment in each – creative-in-traded, creative-in-local, routine-in-traded and routine-in-local – are calculated and a correlation analysis is used to examine the relationship of each to regional economic development indicators. Our findings show that economic growth and development is positively related to employment in the creative-in-traded category. While metros with a higher share of creative-in-traded employment enjoy higher wages and incomes overall, these benefits are not experienced by all worker categories. The share of creative-in-traded employment is also positively and significantly associated with higher inequality. After accounting for higher median housing costs, routine workers in both traded and local industries are found to be relatively worse off in metros with high shares of creative-in-traded employment, on average.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin, Roger & Florida, Richard & Pogue, Melissa & Mellander, Charlotta, 2015. "Creativity, Clusters and the Competitive Advantage of Cities," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 412, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0412
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard Florida & Charlotta Mellander & Kevin Stolarick, 2008. "Inside the black box of regional development: human capital, the creative class and tolerance," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 8(5), pages 615-649, September.
    2. Daron Acemoglu, 1998. "Why Do New Technologies Complement Skills? Directed Technical Change and Wage Inequality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 113(4), pages 1055-1089.
    3. Maarten Goos & Alan Manning & Anna Salomons, 2009. "Job Polarization in Europe," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(2), pages 58-63, May.
    4. Michael Porter, 2003. "The Economic Performance of Regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(6-7), pages 549-578.
    5. Rebecca Diamond, 2016. "The Determinants and Welfare Implications of US Workers' Diverging Location Choices by Skill: 1980-2000," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(3), pages 479-524, March.
    6. David H. Autor & Frank Levy & Richard J. Murnane, 2003. "The skill content of recent technological change: an empirical exploration," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue Nov.
    7. Maarten Goos & Alan Manning, 2007. "Lousy and Lovely Jobs: The Rising Polarization of Work in Britain," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(1), pages 118-133, February.
    8. David H. Autor & Lawrence F. Katz & Alan B. Krueger, 1998. "Computing Inequality: Have Computers Changed the Labor Market?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 113(4), pages 1169-1213.
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    Cited by:

    1. Iván Boal-San Miguel & Luis César Herrero-Prieto, 2020. "Reliability of Creative Composite Indicators with Territorial Specification in the EU," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-27, April.
    2. Niusha Esmaeilpoorarabi & Tan Yigitcanlar & Mirko Guaralda, 2016. "Place quality and urban competitiveness symbiosis? A position paper," International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 7(1), pages 4-21.
    3. Deepak Chandrashekar & M. H. Bala Subrahmanya & Kshitija Joshi & Tathagat Priyadarshi, 2019. "Effect of Innovation on Firm Performance — The Case of a Technology Intensive Manufacturing Cluster in India," International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management (IJITM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 16(07), pages 1-31, November.
    4. Esmaeilpoorarabi, Niusha & Yigitcanlar, Tan & Guaralda, Mirko & Kamruzzaman, Md., 2018. "Does place quality matter for innovation districts? Determining the essential place characteristics from Brisbane’s knowledge precincts," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 734-747.
    5. Qi, Jiaqi & Zheng, Xiaoyong & Guo, Hongdong, 2019. "The formation of Taobao villages in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 106-127.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Creativity; clusters; cities; metros; occupations; regional development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General

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