Charlotta Mellander

Purpose: – This paper aims to marry Michael Porter’s industrial cluster theory of traded and local clusters to Richard Florida’s occupational approach of creative and routine workers to gain a better understanding of the process of economic development.Design/methodology/approach: – Combining these two approaches, four major industrial-occupational categories are identified. The shares of US employment in each – creative-in-traded, creative-in-local, routine-in-traded and routine-in-local – are calculated, and a correlation analysis is used to examine the relationship of each to regional economic development indicators.Findings: – Economic growth and development is positively related to employment in the creative-in-traded category. While metros with a higher share of creative-in-traded employment enjoy higher wages and incomes overall, these benefits are not experienced by all worker categories. The share of creative-in-traded employment is also positively and significantly associated with higher inequality. After accounting for higher median housing costs, routine workers in both traded and local industries are found to be relatively worse off in metros with high shares of creative-in-traded employment, on average.Social implications: – This work points to the imperative for the US Government and industry to upgrade routine jobs, which make up the majority of all employment, by increasing the creative content of this work.Originality/value: – The research is among the first to systematically marry the industry and occupational approaches to clusters and economic development.

This article reviews the broad and expanding field of creative cities, urban and regional creativity and the creative class. It begins by discussing the theories that have shaped and influenced writing on creative cities and the creative class including the work of Jane Jacobs and others on urbanism, theories of clustering and agglomeration, and concepts of the innovation, human capital, and the knowledge economy. It discusses the debate over creative cities and the creative class. It also outlines the implications of creative city and creative class theory for understanding inequality and class divides and their implications for cities and urban and regional development.

Florida R., Mellander C. and Rentfrow P. J. The happiness of cities, Regional Studies. This research examines the factors that shape the happiness of cities, whereas much of the existent literature has focused on the happiness of nations. It is argued that in addition to income, which has been found to shape national-level happiness, human capital levels will play an important role in the happiness of cities. Metropolitan-level data from the 2009 Gallup–Healthways Survey are used to examine the effects of human capital on city happiness, controlling for other factors. The findings suggest that human capital plays the central role in the happiness of cities, outperforming income and every other variable. Florida R., Mellander C. and Rentfrow P. J. 城市幸福感，区域研究。多数研究集中于讨论与国家幸福感相关的问题，本研究则关注构成城市幸福感的因素。研究认为，就城市层面而言，除了收入这一同样包含在国家层面的幸福感中的要素外，人力资本水平也将成为城市幸福感的重要影响因素。研究采用 2009 年 Gallup-Healthways 调研中大都市层面的数据，在控制其他影响变量的基础上考察了人力资本对城市幸福感的影响。研究表明，人力资本对于城市幸福感的形成发挥着中心作用，超过了收入以及其他变量的影响力。 幸福感 福利 人力资本 收入 城市 Florida R., Mellander C. et Rentfrow P. J. Le bonheur des grandes villes, Regional Studies. Cette recherche examine les facteurs qui influencent le bonheur des grandes villes, tandis que beaucoup de la documentation actuelle porte sur le bonheur de la nation. On affirme que le capital humain joue un rôle important dans le bonheur des grandes villes en plus du revenu, qui s'avère influencer le bonheur au niveau national. On emploie des données auprès des zones métropolitaines et qui proviennent de l'enquête Gallup–Healthways de 2009 pour examiner les effets du capital humain sur le bonheur des grandes villes, tout en tenant compte d'autres facteurs. Les résultats laissent supposer que le capital humain joue le rôle central quant au bonheur des grandes villes, dépassant celui du revenu et de tout autre variable. Bonheur Bien-être Capital humain Revenu Grandes villes Florida R., Mellander C. und Rentfrow P. J. Das Glück von Städten, Regional Studies. In diesem Beitrag untersuchen wir die Faktoren, die sich auf das Glück von Städten auswirken, während sich ein Großteil der vorhandenen Literatur auf das Glück von Nationen konzentriert hat. Wir argumentieren, dass zusätzlich zum Einkommen, das den Ergebnissen zufolge das Glück auf nationaler Ebene prägt, für das Glück von Städten das Niveau von Humankapital eine wichtige Rolle spielt. Mit Hilfe von Daten der Gallup–Healthways-Erhebung von 2009 auf Metropolitan-Ebene untersuchen wir die Auswirkungen von Humankapital auf das Glück von Städten unter Berücksichtigung von anderen Faktoren. Die Ergebnisse lassen darauf schließen, dass das Humankapital für das Glück von Städten eine entscheidende Rolle spielt und eine wichtigere Bedeutung als das Einkommen und jede andere Variable besitzt. Glück Wohlbefinden Humankapital Einkommen Städte Florida R., Mellander C. y Rentfrow P. J. La felicidad de las ciudades, Regional Studies. En este estudio examinamos qué factores repercuten en la felicidad de las ciudades, mientras que en la mayoría de la bibliografía existente se ha prestado más atención a la felicidad de las naciones. Sostenemos que además de los ingresos, que se ha observado que determinan la felicidad a nivel nacional, los niveles de capital humano desempeñan un importante papel en la felicidad de las ciudades. Utilizamos datos recabados en una encuesta realizada por Gallup–Healthways en 2009 en un marco metropolitano para examinar los efectos del capital humano en la felicidad de las ciudades, considerando también otros factores. Los resultados indican que el capital humano desempeña una función central en la felicidad de las ciudades, superando a los ingresos y todas las otras variables. Felicidad Bienestar Capital humano Ingresos Ciudades

China is currently seeking to transform its economic structure from a traditional industrial to a more innovative, human-capital driven, and knowledge-based economy. Our research examines the effects of three key factors on Chinese regional development in an attempt to gauge to what degree China has transformed from an industrial to a knowledge-based economy, based on higher levels of (1) technology and innovation, (2) human capital and knowledge/professional/creative occupations, and (3) factors like tolerance, universities, and amenities which act on the flow of the first two. We employ structural equation models to gauge the effects of these factors on the economic performance of Chinese regions. Our research generates four key findings. First, the distribution of talent (measured both as human capital and as knowledge–professional and creative occupations) is considerably more concentrated than in the US or other advanced economies. Second, universities are the key factor in shaping the distribution both of talent and of technological innovation. Third, tolerance also plays a role in shaping the distribution of talent and technology across Chinese regions. Fourth, and perhaps most strikingly, we find that neither talent nor technology is associated with the economic performance of Chinese regions. This stands in sharp contrast to the pattern in advanced economies and suggests that the Chinese economic model, at least at the time of data collection, appears to be far less driven by the human capital or technology factors that propel more advanced economies. This, in turn, suggests that China is likely to face substantial obstacles in moving from its current industrial stage of development to a more knowledge-based economy.

This research examines the effect of skills in cities on regional wages. We use cluster analysis to identify three broad skill types—analytical, social intelligence and physical skills from 87 occupational skills. We examine how each skill contributes to regional wages and how they are related to regional size, using data from 1999 and 2008. We find that analytical and social intelligence skills have a significant positive effect on regional wages, while physical skills have a negative effect. Analytical skills are also somewhat more closely associated with regional wages than social intelligence skills, after controlling for education, industry, immigration and regional size. Furthermore, wage return to analytical and social intelligence skills has increased over time, and the return to physical skills has declined significantly. We also show that larger cities reward analytical and social intelligence skills to a higher degree, whereas smaller cities rely more on physical skills.

Why do some people stay in locations while others move? While most research has examined the factors which encourage people to move to new locations, we focus our research on the effects of satisfaction with individuals' current location on the decision to stay. To do so, we examine the relative effects of three kinds of factors: (1) satisfaction with community or place-based factors such as aesthetic appeal, outdoor space and recreational amenities, artistic and cultural amenities, the ability to meet people and make friends; (2) community economic conditions; and (3) individual-level demographic factors such as income, human capital, and age. Our findings indicate that place-based factors, in particular the beauty and physical appeal of the current location and the ability to meet people and make friends, explain more of the desire to stay than do community economic conditions or individual demographic characteristics. J'y suis, j'y reste—Effet de la satisfaction au niveau de la communauté sur la décision de rester Résumé Pourquoi certaines personnes restent-elles au même endroit, alors que d'autres se déplacent? Tandis que la plupart des travaux de recherche se sont penchés sur les facteurs encourageant les gens à changer d'endroit, nous nous concentrons sur les effets du degré de satisfaction des particuliers avec l'endroit où ils résident sur leur décision de rester. Pour ceci, nous examinons les effets relatifs de trois types de facteurs: (1) la satisfaction avec la communauté ou avec des facteurs propres à l'endroit, par exemple l'esthétique du lieu, les espaces au grand air et les aménagements de loisirs, artistiques et culturels, la capacité de rencontrer des gens, de nouer des liens d'amitié; (2) des conditions économiques propres à la communauté; et (3) des facteurs démographiques au niveau personnel: revenus, capital humain, âge, entre autres. Nos conclusions indiquent que des facteurs basés sur les lieux, notamment la beauté et l'attrait physique du lieu, et la capacité de rencontrer des gens et de nouer des liens d'amitié, expliquent le désir de rester sur place plutôt que des conditions économiques propres à la communauté ou des facteurs démographiques. La decisión de afincarse—Los efectos de la satisfacción de la comunidad sobre la decisión de afincarse Résumén ¿Por qué algunas personas se afincan en un lugar mientras que otras se mudan? Aunque en la mayoría de los estudios se han analizado los factores que motivan a las personas a mudarse a otros lugares, centramos nuestro estudio en los efectos de la satisfacción con el lugar actual del individuo sobre su decisión de afincarse. Para hacer esto, analizamos los efectos relativos de tres tipos de factores: (1) la satisfacción con la comunidad o factores basados en el lugar por ejemplo, la estética del lugar, el espacio exterior y los servicios recreativos, las prestaciones a artísticas y culturales, la posibilidad de reunirse con la gente y hacer amigos; (2) las condiciones económicas de la comunidad; y (3) los factores demográficos a nivel individual, por ejemplo, los ingresos, el capital humano y la edad. Nuestras conclusiones indican que los factores basados en el lugar, en especial la belleza y el aspecto físico del lugar actual y la posibilidad de reunirse con gente y hacer amigos, explican mejor el deseo de afincarse que las condiciones económicas de la comunidad o las características demográficas individuales.

The geographic clustering of economic activity has long been understood in terms of economies of scale across space. This paper introduces the construct of geographies of scope, which we argue is driven by substantial, large-scale geographic concentrations of related skills, inputs and capabilities. We examine this through an empirical analysis of the entertainment industry across US metropolitan areas from 1970 to 2000. Our findings indicate that geographies of scope (or collocation among key related entertainment subsectors and inputs) explain much of the economic geography of entertainment even when scale is controlled for, though our regressions over time suggest the role of scope is decreasing. Furthermore, we find that the entertainment sector as a whole and its key subsectors are significantly concentrated in two superstar cities—New York and Los Angeles—far beyond what their population size (or scale effects) can account for, while the pattern falls off dramatically for other large regions.

This article examines the factors that shape economic development in Canadian regions. It employs path analysis and structural equation models to isolate the effects of technology, human capital and/or the creative class, universities, the diversity of service industries and openness to immigrants, minorities and gay and lesbian populations on regional income. It also examines the effects of several broad occupations groups—business and finance, management, science, arts and culture, education and health care—on regional income. The findings indicate that both human capital and the creative class have a direct effect on regional income. Openness and tolerance also have a significant effect on regional development in Canada. Openness towards the gay and lesbian population has a direct effect on both human capital and the creative class, while tolerance towards immigrants and visible minorities is directly associated with higher regional incomes. The university has a relatively weak effect on regional incomes and on technology as well. Management, business and finance and science occupations have a sizeable effect on regional income; arts and culture occupations have a significant effect on technology; health and education occupations have no effect on regional income.

Where do musicians locate, and why do creative industries such as music continue to cluster? This paper analyzes the economic geography of musicians and the recording industry in the US from 1970 to 2000, to shed light on the locational dynamics of music and creative industries more broadly. We examine the role of scale and scope economies in shaping the clustering and concentration of musicians and music industry firms. We argue that these two forces are bringing about a transformation in the geography of both musicians and music industry firms, evidenced in a shift away from regionally clustered, genre-specific music scenes, such as Memphis or Detroit, toward larger regional centers such as New York City and Los Angeles, which offer large markets for music employment and concentrations of other artistic and cultural endeavors that increase demand for musicians. We use population and income to probe for scale effects and look at concentrations of other creative and artistic industries to test for scope effects, while including a range of control variables in our analysis. We use lagged variables to determine whether certain places are consistently more successful at fostering concentrations of musicians and the music industry and to test for path dependency. We find some role for scale and scope effects and that both musicians and the music industry are concentrating in a relatively small number of large regional centers.