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How Do Universities Contribute to Employment Growth? The Role of Human Capital and Knowledge Bases

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  • Rikard H. Eriksson
  • Fredrik Forslund

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse whether employment growth is faster in regions housing a university compared to non-university regions. We argue that universities per se are less likely to trigger externalities that facilitate employment growth. Instead, we propose that it depends on the concentration of different skills in that particular region. This is analysed by running a number of ordinary least squares regressions, based on official data on a municipal level from Statistics Sweden, on how concentrations of human capital, analytic, synthetic and symbolic knowledge bases in Swedish university regions influence employment growth in 2002-2008. The results indicate that the presence of universities per se does not influence employment growth. However, the findings suggest that university regions with high concentrations of human capital and, in particular, with employees characterized by the synthetic knowledge base, show higher growth rates. This implies that the influence of universities on employment is greatest in regions with high concentrations of skills able to apply the knowledge created in universities. Consequently, the regional composition of skills needs to match the knowledge produced by universities for significant university-induced spillovers to occur.

Suggested Citation

  • Rikard H. Eriksson & Fredrik Forslund, 2014. "How Do Universities Contribute to Employment Growth? The Role of Human Capital and Knowledge Bases," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(12), pages 2584-2604, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:eurpls:v:22:y:2014:i:12:p:2584-2604
    DOI: 10.1080/09654313.2013.849227
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    Cited by:

    1. MOTOHASHI Kazuyuki & ZHAO Qiuhan, 2023. "University as a Knowledge Source of Innovation: A spatial analysis of the impact on local high-tech startup creation," Discussion papers 23027, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    2. Thomas Brekke, 2021. "What Do We Know about the University Contribution to Regional Economic Development? A Conceptual Framework," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 44(2), pages 229-261, March.
    3. Agasisti, Tommaso & Bertoletti, Alice, 2022. "Higher education and economic growth: A longitudinal study of European regions 2000–2017," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).

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