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Industries, Skills, and Human Capital: How Does Regional Size Affect Uneven Development?

Author

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  • Rikard H Eriksson

    (Department of Geography and Economic History, Umeå University, SE-90187 Umeå, Sweden)

  • Høgni Kalsø Hansen

    (Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade10, DK-1350 Copenhagen, Denmark)

Abstract

This paper addresses how the composition of industry structures, skills, and human capital is related to regional development in peripheral and central locations. We do this by means of ordinary least squares models to analyse the relationship between growth in purchasing power and employment growth between 2001 and 2008 as well as a selection of variables constructed via register data of the total population in Sweden. The analysis demonstrates an evident spatial division of postindustrial development that larger regions benefit relatively more from than smaller regions do. The empirical findings indicate that a transition towards more knowledge-intensive sectors and a higher educated labour force has the strongest impact on development in the largest Swedish regions, while a transition from manual skills towards more creative skills shows a positive relationship only with development in medium-sized regions. Consequently, the paper argues that the recent appraisal of the knowledge-based economy benefits mainly the largest urban regions, meaning that regional size is an important parameter when discussing trajectories of regional development and the adaption to contemporary economic development paths.

Suggested Citation

  • Rikard H Eriksson & Høgni Kalsø Hansen, 2013. "Industries, Skills, and Human Capital: How Does Regional Size Affect Uneven Development?," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(3), pages 593-613, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:45:y:2013:i:3:p:593-613
    DOI: 10.1068/a45186
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    1. Markus Grillitsch & Mikhail Martynovich & Rune Dahl Fitjar & Silje Haus-Reve, 2021. "The black box of regional growth," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 425-464, July.
    2. Rikard H. Eriksson & Emelie Hane-Weijman, 2015. "How do regional economies respond to crises? The geography of job creation and destruction in Sweden (1990-2010)," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1511, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised May 2015.
    3. Emelie Hane-Weijman & Rikard H. Eriksson & Martin Henning, 2018. "Returning to work: regional determinants of re-employment after major redundancies," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(6), pages 768-780, June.
    4. Alvaro von Borries & Markus Grillitsch & Karl-Johan Lundquist, 2024. "Structural transformation, the knowledge economy, and the geography of low-income work," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 24(2), pages 285-308.
    5. von Borries, Alvaro & Grillitsch, Markus & Lundquist, Karl-Johan, 2022. "Geographies of Low-Income Jobs: The concentration of low-income jobs, the knowledge economy and labor market polarization in Sweden, 1990-2018," Papers in Innovation Studies 2022/4, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.

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