IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/33578.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The economics of super-diversity: findings from British cities, 2001-2006

Author

Listed:
  • Nathan, Max

Abstract

British cities have a surprisingly long history of cultural diversity. Recently they have become significantly more multicultural, with ‘super-diversity’ emerging in many urban neighbourhoods. Public interest in these changes is high, but there has been little research assessing their impacts. This paper makes two contributions to the field. First, it assembles new data on UK urban areas 2001-6, using an innovative cultural-ethno-linguistic (CEL) measure of cultural diversity alongside more traditional measures. Second, it tests links between diversity, wages and employment rates at the urban level. As suggested by theory and international evidence, I find some positive associations between super-diversity and UK urban economic performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Nathan, Max, 2011. "The economics of super-diversity: findings from British cities, 2001-2006," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 33578, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:33578
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/33578/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elena Bellini & Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano & Dino Pinelli & Giovanni Prarolo, 2013. "Cultural Diversity and Economic Performance: Evidence from European Regions," Advances in Spatial Science, in: Riccardo Crescenzi & Marco Percoco (ed.), Geography, Institutions and Regional Economic Performance, edition 127, pages 121-141, Springer.
    2. Manacorda, Marco & Manning, Alan & Wadsworth, Jonathan, 2006. "The impact of immigration on the structure of male wages: theory and evidence from Britain," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 19797, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Marcus Berliant & Masahisa Fujita, 2008. "Knowledge Creation As A Square Dance On The Hilbert Cube," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 49(4), pages 1251-1295, November.
    4. Jennifer Hunt & Marjolaine Gauthier-Loiselle, 2010. "How Much Does Immigration Boost Innovation?," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 31-56, April.
    5. David Card, 2007. "How Immigration Affects U.S. Cities," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 0711, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    6. Gilles Duranton & Diego Puga, 2001. "Nursery Cities: Urban Diversity, Process Innovation, and the Life Cycle of Products," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1454-1477, December.
    7. David Card & Christian Dustmann & Ian Preston, 2012. "Immigration, Wages, And Compositional Amenities," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 78-119, February.
    8. Hong, Lu & Page, Scott E., 2001. "Problem Solving by Heterogeneous Agents," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 123-163, March.
    9. Giorgio Brunello & Pietro Garibaldi & Etienne Wasmer, 2007. "Education and training in Europe," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03415950, HAL.
    10. Klaus Desmet & Ignacio Ortuño-Ortín & Romain Wacziarg, 2009. "The political economy of ethnolinguistic cleavages," Working Papers 2009-17, Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados (IMDEA) Ciencias Sociales.
    11. Christian Dustmann & Albrecht Glitz & Tommaso Frattini, 2008. "The labour market impact of immigration," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 24(3), pages 478-495, Autumn.
    12. Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano & Giovanni Peri, 2021. "The economic value of cultural diversity: evidence from US cities," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Firms and Workers in a Globalized World Larger Markets, Tougher Competition, chapter 7, pages 187-222, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    13. George J. Borjas, 1994. "The Economics of Immigration," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1667-1717, December.
    14. Teresa Casey & Christian Dustmann, 2010. "Immigrants' Identity, Economic Outcomes and the Transmission of Identity across Generations," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 120(542), pages 31-51, February.
    15. Gustav Ranis, 2009. "Diversity of Communities and Economic Development: An Overview," Working Papers 977, Economic Growth Center, Yale University.
    16. Collier, Paul & Hoeffler, Anke, 1998. "On Economic Causes of Civil War," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 50(4), pages 563-573, October.
    17. Pierre Philippe Combes & Gilles Duranton & Henry G. Overman, 2005. "Agglomeration and the adjustment of the spatial economy§," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 84(3), pages 311-349, August.
    18. William R. Kerr, 2008. "Ethnic Scientific Communities and International Technology Diffusion," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(3), pages 518-537, August.
    19. Ash Amin, 2002. "Ethnicity and the Multicultural City: Living with Diversity," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 34(6), pages 959-980, June.
    20. Duranton, Gilles & Puga, Diego, 2004. "Micro-foundations of urban agglomeration economies," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 48, pages 2063-2117, Elsevier.
    21. Alberto Alesina & Eliana La Ferrara, 2003. "Ethnic Diversity and Economic Performance," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 2028, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    22. Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano & Giovanni Peri, 2021. "Cities and cultures," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Firms and Workers in a Globalized World Larger Markets, Tougher Competition, chapter 6, pages 153-186, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    23. Edward P. Lazear, 2000. "Diversity and Immigration," NBER Chapters, in: Issues in the Economics of Immigration, pages 117-142, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    24. AnnaLee Saxenian & Charles Sabel, 2008. "Roepke Lecture in Economic Geography Venture Capital in the “Periphery”: The New Argonauts, Global Search, and Local Institution Building," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 84(4), pages 379-394, October.
    25. Max Nathan, 2011. "The Long Term Impacts of Migration in British Cities: Diversity, Wages, Employment and Prices," SERC Discussion Papers 0067, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    26. Henry Overman & Patricia Rice, 2008. "Resurgent Cities and Regional Economic Performance," SERC Policy Papers 001, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    27. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/f0uohitsgqh8dhk980ea412b5 is not listed on IDEAS
    28. Nathan, Max, 2011. "The long term impacts of migration in British cities: diversity, wages, employment and prices," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 33577, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    29. Ranis, Gustav, 2009. "Diversity of Communities and Economic Development: An Overview," Center Discussion Papers 54531, Yale University, Economic Growth Center.
    30. Albert Saiz, 2003. "Room in the Kitchen for the Melting Pot: Immigration and Rental Prices," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(3), pages 502-521, August.
    31. Manning, Alan & Roy, Sanchari, 2007. "Culture clash or culture club? The identity and attitudes of immigrants in Britain," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 19729, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    32. Chad Sparber, 2010. "Racial Diversity and Macroeconomic Productivity across US States and Cities," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(1), pages 71-85.
    33. Ranis, Gustav, 2009. "Diversity of Communities and Economic Development: An Overview," Working Papers 69, Yale University, Department of Economics.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Crescenzi, Riccardo & Nathan, Max & Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés, 2016. "Do inventors talk to strangers? On proximity and collaborative knowledge creation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 177-194.
    2. Trax, Michaela & Brunow, Stephan & Suedekum, Jens, 2015. "Cultural diversity and plant-level productivity," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 85-96.
    3. Dimitris Balampanidis, 2017. "Diversity and entrepreneurship in the city of Athens: Different views and ambiguous perceptions of local entrepreneurs," Argomenti, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Department of Economics, Society & Politics, vol. 8(8), pages 1-24, September.
    4. Simonetta Longhi, 2014. "Cultural diversity and subjective well-being," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-19, December.
    5. Amanuel Elias & Yin Paradies, 2016. "The regional impact of cultural diversity on wages: evidence from Australia," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-24, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nathan, Max, 2013. "The Wider Economic Impacts of High-Skilled Migrants: A Survey of the Literature," IZA Discussion Papers 7653, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Nathan, Max, 2011. "The Long Term Impacts of Migration in British Cities: Diversity, Wages, Employment and Prices," MPRA Paper 29465, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Lee, Neil & Nathan, Max, 2011. "Does cultural diversity help innovation in cities: evidence from London firms," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 33579, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Dr Max Nathan, 2013. "The wider economic impacts of high-skilled migrants: a survey of the literature," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 413, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    5. Nathan, Max, 2013. "The Wider Economic Impacts of High-Skilled Migrants: A Survey of the Literature," IZA Discussion Papers 7653, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Max Nathan & Neil Lee, 2013. "Cultural Diversity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship: Firm-level Evidence from London," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 89(4), pages 367-394, October.
    7. Thomas Kemeny, 2013. "Immigrant Diversity and Economic Development in Cities: A Critical Review," SERC Discussion Papers 0149, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    8. Ozbugday, Fatih Cemil, 2019. "Kültür ve Ekonomik Başarı [Culture and Economic Success]," MPRA Paper 96734, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Thomas Kemeny & Abigail Cooke, 2018. "Spillovers from immigrant diversity in cities," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(1), pages 213-245.
    10. Chasapopoulos, Panagiotis, 2018. "The impact of international immigration and cultural diversity on economic performance, public attitudes and political outcomes in European regions," Other publications TiSEM d4a10f2a-c1a2-4edd-9887-2, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    11. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Daniel Hardy, 2015. "Cultural Diversity and Entrepreneurship in England and Wales," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 47(2), pages 392-411, February.
    12. Tom Kemeny & Abigail Cooke, 2017. "Urban Immigrant Diversity and Inclusive Institutions," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 93(3), pages 267-291, May.
    13. Annekatrin Niebuhr, 2010. "Migration and innovation: Does cultural diversity matter for regional R&D activity?," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 89(3), pages 563-585, August.
    14. Cooke, Abigail & Kemeny, Thomas, 2017. "Cities, immigrant diversity, and complex problem solving," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(6), pages 1175-1185.
    15. Ceren Ozgen, 2021. "The economics of diversity: Innovation, productivity and the labour market," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(4), pages 1168-1216, September.
    16. Dirk Dohse & Robert Gold, 2013. "Measuring Cultural Diversity at a Regional Level. WWWforEurope Working Paper No. 10," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 46857, April.
    17. Nathan, Max, 2011. "Ethnic inventors, diversity and innovation in the UK: evidence from patents microdata," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 58329, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Lewis, Ethan & Peri, Giovanni, 2015. "Immigration and the Economy of Cities and Regions," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 625-685, Elsevier.
    19. Philipp Kolo, 2011. "Questioning Ethnic Fragmentation's Exogeneity - Drivers of Changing Ethnic Boundaries," Ibero America Institute for Econ. Research (IAI) Discussion Papers 210, Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research.
    20. Mª Ángeles Caraballo & Eva Mª Buitrago, 2019. "Ethnolinguistic Diversity and Education. A Successful Pairing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-18, November.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:33578. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.