The phantom of the opera: Cultural amenities, human capital, and regional economic growth

Oliver Falck, Michael Fritsch () and Stephan Heblich

Labour Economics, 2011, vol. 18, issue 6, 755-766

Abstract: We analyze the extent to which endogenous cultural amenities affect the spatial equilibrium share of high-human-capital employees. To overcome endogeneity, we draw on a quasi-natural experiment in German history and exploit the exogenous spatial distribution of baroque opera houses built as a part of rulers' competition for prestigious cultural sights. Robustness tests confirm our strategy and strengthen the finding that proximity to a baroque opera house significantly affects the spatial equilibrium share of high-human-capital employees. A cross-region growth regression shows that these employees induce local knowledge spillovers and shift a location to a higher growth path.

Keywords: Cultural amenities; Regional economic growth; Human capital; Bohemians (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H41 J24 R11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (81)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927537111000650
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
Working Paper: The phantom of the opera: Cultural amenities, human capital, and regional economic growth (2011)
Working Paper: The Phantom of the Opera: Cultural Amenities, Human Capital, and Regional Economic Growth (2010)
Working Paper: The Phantom of the Opera: Cultural Amenities, Human Capital, and Regional Economic Growth (2010)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:labeco:v:18:y:2011:i:6:p:755-766

DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2011.06.004

Access Statistics for this article

Labour Economics is currently edited by A. Ichino

More articles in Labour Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().