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The Economic Complexity of US Metropolitan Areas

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  • Fritz, Benedikt
  • Manduca, Robert

Abstract

Regional Studies, Forthcoming. This is the last draft version (the version submitted to the journal before acceptance) | We calculate measures of economic complexity for US metropolitan areas for the years 1998-2015 based on employment data. We show that the concept translates well to the regional setting and to local and traded industries. Large cities and the Northeast have the highest complexity, while most traded industries are more complex than most local ones. In cross-section, metropolitan complexity is associated with higher incomes, though to a lesser extent recently than in the past. However, within-city increases in complexity are associated with income decreases. Our findings highlight the need for caution when interpreting the relationship between complexity and socioeconomic outcomes.

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  • Fritz, Benedikt & Manduca, Robert, 2021. "The Economic Complexity of US Metropolitan Areas," SocArXiv 2gw9c, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:2gw9c
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/2gw9c
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    Cited by:

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    2. Ben-Hur Francisco Cardoso & Eva Yamila da Silva Catela & Guilherme Viegas & Fl'avio L. Pinheiro & Dominik Hartmann, 2023. "Export complexity, industrial complexity and regional economic growth in Brazil," Papers 2312.07469, arXiv.org.
    3. Sabrina Aufiero & Giordano De Marzo & Angelica Sbardella & Andrea Zaccaria, 2023. "Mapping job complexity and skills into wages," Papers 2304.05251, arXiv.org.
    4. Ibolya Török & József Benedek & Manuel Gómez-Zaldívar, 2022. "Quantifying Subnational Economic Complexity: Evidence from Romania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-22, August.
    5. Hidalgo, César A., 2023. "The policy implications of economic complexity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(9).
    6. C'esar A. Hidalgo, 2022. "The Policy Implications of Economic Complexity," Papers 2205.02164, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2023.

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