Location Patterns of Creative Capital and Regional Disparities in Spain

Ebru Kerimoglu () and Burhan Karahasan
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Ebru Kerimoglu: Istanbul Technical University, Department of Urban and Regional Planning

No 201202, IREA Working Papers from University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics

Abstract: The ‘creative class’ as a source of growth has been afforded increasing attention in recent years. However, creative people are not distributed evenly across space, tending rather to concentrate in particular locations. The location decisions of these creative people have been forwarded as a significant factor in accounting for regional disparities in growth and development (Florida, 2002; Fritsch and Stuetzer, 2009). Inspired by the ongoing debate surrounding the creative class theory, this study investigates the spatial distribution of creative capital and its links with regional disparities by examining the geographical divergence of provincial income in Spain. Our findings indicate that although provinces with low levels of creative capital around 1996 experienced an increase in their creative employment in the years leading up to 2004, they still lag behind the northern (and, in particular, the north-eastern) provinces of Spain. More interestingly we report strong spillover effects among the leading and lagging provinces. This spatial pattern of creative capital also accounts for the north-south divide in Spain. Thus, our empirical evidence shows that the provinces with high levels of creative capital in northern Spain are more developed in terms of provincial income even when controlling for other determinants of the process, including industrial development, regional spillover effects and human capital development.

Keywords: Creative Capital; Spain; Regional Divergence; Regional Spillover. JEL classification: R11; R12; O10; E24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2012-02, Revised 2012-02
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

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Related works:
Journal Article: LOCATION PATTERNS OF CREATIVE CAPITAL AND REGIONAL DISPARITIES IN SPAIN (2014)
Working Paper: Location Patterns of Creative Capital and Regional Disparities in Spain (2012)
Working Paper: Location Patterns of Creative Capital and Regional Disparities in Spain (2012)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ira:wpaper:201202

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