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Workplace skills as regional capabilities: relatedness, complexity and industrial diversification of regions

Author

Listed:
  • Duygu Buyukyazici
  • Leonardo Mazzoni
  • Massimo Riccaboni
  • Francesco Serti

Abstract

The literature unanimously agrees that industrial diversification is path dependent: new industries build on the pre-existing capabilities of regions that are partly embodied and reflected in the skills of the region’s workforce. This paper explicitly accounts for regional capabilities as workforce skills to build skill relatedness and skill complexity measures, that is, the skill-spaces, for 107 Italian regions for the period 2013–19. The data-driven techniques we use reveal that skill-spaces form two highly polarised clusters into social–cognitive and technical–physical skills. We find evidence that social–cognitive skills yield the highest probabilities of regional competitive advantage. A comparison with co-location-based measures shows that our measures are able to capture a substantial part of regional capabilities that cannot be measured with previous measures.

Suggested Citation

  • Duygu Buyukyazici & Leonardo Mazzoni & Massimo Riccaboni & Francesco Serti, 2024. "Workplace skills as regional capabilities: relatedness, complexity and industrial diversification of regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(3), pages 469-489, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:regstd:v:58:y:2024:i:3:p:469-489
    DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2023.2206868
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Duygu Buyukyazici, 2022. "Skills for Smart Specialization: Relatedness, Complexity and Evaluation of Priorities," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2218, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Sep 2022.
    2. Milene Tessarin & Ron Boschma & Deyu Li & Sergio Petralia, 2025. "Regional development traps in Europe. A study of occupational trajectories of regions," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2501, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jan 2025.
    3. Nutarelli, Federico & Edet, Samuel & Gnecco, Giorgio & Riccaboni, Massimo, 2025. "Predicting the technological complexity of global cities based on unsupervised and supervised machine learning methods," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    4. Xiaoqi Zhou & Dieter Franz Kogler & Junsong Wang & Jing Chen & Rongjun Ao, 2025. "Creating path breakthroughs with skill endowment and complementarity: evidence from the regional industrial evolution of China, 2000–2015," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-14, December.
    5. Jing Chen & Xiaojing Li & Xiaoqi Zhou & Rongjun Ao, 2025. "Skill capabilities behind the scenes. The role of occupational portfolio in regional industrial evolution," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2508, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Apr 2025.
    6. Buyukyazici, Duygu & Quatraro, Francesco, 2025. "The skill requirements of the circular economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    7. Antonio Russo & Pasquale Scaramozzino & Andrea Zaccaria, 2025. "A job-based assessment of economic complexity: from hidden to revealed," Papers 2507.05846, arXiv.org.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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