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Resilience, Skill Endowment and Diversity: Evidence from US Metropolitan Areas

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  • Fabrizio Fusillo
  • Davide Consoli
  • Francesco Quatraro

Abstract

By adopting the evolutionary approach to resilience, this paper discusses and empirically investigate the determinants of the ability of region to resist, absorb, and react to recessionary shocks. The recent 2008 Great Recession has extremely affected most of the advanced economies all over the World, leading scholars to study in details how different regions responded to the crisis. The aim of the paper is to contribute this literature analyzing the impact of technological, industrial and human capital composition on the short-term resilience. The empirical analysis is conducted on 295 U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas over the period 2008-2014. The main finding is that the most resilient regions are those characterized by a very diversified industrial structure. An excess of technological diversity, on the other hand, seems to thwart the ability to absorb external shocks. Lastly, our results suggest that the local occupational structure matters: a high endowment of high-level abstract skills has a positive correlation with regional resilience, though the moderating effect of technological diversity appears to be negative.

Suggested Citation

  • Fabrizio Fusillo & Davide Consoli & Francesco Quatraro, 2019. "Resilience, Skill Endowment and Diversity: Evidence from US Metropolitan Areas," LEM Papers Series 2019/16, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    • Handle: RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2019/16
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Xin Wen & Fange Meng & Yali Liu, 2025. "Analysis of the evolution of the marginal effect of human capital structure in the process of industrial structure evolution," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, December.
    3. Cottafava, Dario & Gastaldo, Michele & Quatraro, Francesco & Santhiá, Cristina, 2022. "Modeling economic losses and greenhouse gas emissions reduction during the COVID-19 pandemic: Past, present, and future scenarios for Italy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    4. Ahmed, Fatma, 2026. "Towards an equitable transition: Renewable energy effect on educational outcomes in Canadian communities," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(PE).
    5. Tu, Minghui & Wang, Yuyan, 2025. "Density as defense: Product space relatedness and export resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    6. Zhao, Lijuan & Shi, Junhong & Tao, Ya, 2025. "The impact and mechanism of digital finance on urban economic resilience," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    7. Silke Hamann & Annekatrin Niebuhr & Duncan Roth & Georg Sieglen, 2023. "How does the Covid‐19 pandemic affect regional labor markets and why do large cities suffer most?," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(5), pages 1228-1250, November.
    8. repec:osf:socarx:b759j_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Kitsos, Anastasios & Grabner, Simone Maria & Incera, Andre Carrascal, 2022. "The role of embeddedness in regional economic resistance," SocArXiv b759j, Center for Open Science.
    10. Fusillo, Fabrizio, 2023. "Green Technologies and diversity in the knowledge search and output phases: Evidence from European Patents," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(4).

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