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Workplace Skills as Regional Capabilities: Relatedness, Complexity and Industrial Diversification of Regions

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

Abstract

The literature reaches a unanimous agreement that industrial diversification is path-dependent because new industries build on preexisting capabilities of regions that are partly embodied and reflected in the skills of regions’ workforce. This paper explicitly accounts for regional capabilities as workforce skills to build skill relatedness and complexity measures, skill-spaces, for 107 Italian regions for the period 2013-2019. Data-driven techniques we use reveal that skill-spaces form two highly polarised clusters into social-cognitive and technical-physical skills. We show that industries have a higher (lower) probability of developing comparative advantage if their required skill set is (not) similar to those available in the region regardless of the skill type. We find evidence that similarity to technical-physical skills and higher complexity in social cognitive skills yields the highest probabilities of regional competitive advantage.

Suggested Citation

  • Duygu Buyukyazici & Leonardo Mazzoni & Massimo Riccaboni & Francesco Serti, 2022. "Workplace Skills as Regional Capabilities: Relatedness, Complexity and Industrial Diversification of Regions," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2210, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jun 2022.
    • Handle: RePEc:egu:wpaper:2210
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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. Duygu Buyukyazici & Francesco Quatraro, 2024. "The Skill Requirements of the Circular Economy," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2411, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Apr 2024.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Skill relatedness; Economic complexity; Industrial specialisation; Regional capabilities; Regional diversification.;
    All these keywords.

    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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