Abstract
Research on talent or human capital generally focuses on the metro level and neglects the relative effects of its distribution between center cities and their surrounding suburbs. This research examines the connection between human capital in urban centers (defined here as principal cities) versus suburbs on the economic performance of US metropolitan areas. The findings indicate that this distribution of human capital has significant connection to metro economic performance, with suburban human capital being more strongly related to performance than human capital in the principal city. This result also varies by metro size.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barro RJ (1991) Economic growth in a cross section of countries. Q J Econ 106(2):407–443
Barro RJ (1997) Determinants of economic growth: a cross-country empirical study. The MIT Press, Cambridge
Berry CR, Glaeser EL (2005) The divergence of human capital levels across cities. NBER working paper no. 11617, Sept 2005
Clark T (2003) Urban amenties: lakes, opera and juice bard do they drive development? In: Clark TN (ed) The city as an entertainment machine, Research in urban policy, vol 9. Elsevier, Oxford, pp 103–140
Cooke P (2002) Knowledge economics: clusters, learning and cooperative advantage. Routledge, London
Cortright J (2009) Walking the walk: how walkability raises home values in U.S. cities, CEO for Cities Report. http://blog.walkscore.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/WalkingTheWalk_CEOsforCities.pdf
Cortright J (2015) Surging city center job growth. City report, Feb 2015. http://cityobservatory.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Surging-City-Center-Jobs.pdf
Couture V, Handbury J (2015) Urban revival in America, 2000 to 2010. Paper presented at the American Economic Association annual meeting. https://www.dropbox.com/s/hlmnbjsx32eaafb/UrbanizationPatterns_vCurrentPublic.pdf?dl=0
Diamond R (2012) The determinants of welfare implications of US workers’ diverging location choices by skill. Harvard University, Dec 2012
Edlund L, Machado C, Sviatchi M (2015) Bright minds, big rent: gentrification and the rising returns to skills. NBER working paper 21729. http://www.nber.org/papers/w21729
Ehrenhalt A (2013) The great inversion and the future of the American city. Random House, New York
Frey WH (2012) Demographic reversal: cities thrive, suburbs sputter, The Brookings Institution, 29 June 2012. http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2012/06/29-cities-suburbs-frey
Frey WH (2014) Will this be the decade of big city growth? The Brookings Institution, 23 May 2014. http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2014/05/23-decade-of-big-city-growth-frey
Florida R (2002a) The rise of the creative class. Basic Books, New York
Florida R (2002b) The economic geography of talent. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 92(4):743–755
Florida R (2002c) Bohemia and economic geography. J Econ Geogr 2:55–71
Florida R (2014) Startup city: the urban shift in venture capital and high technology, Martin Prosperity Institute report. http://martinprosperity.org/media/Startup%20City_14-03-14.pdf
Florida R, Mellander C (2010) There goes the metro: how and why artists, bohemians and gays affect housing values. J Econ Geogr 2:167–188
Florida R, Mellander C, Stolarick K (2008) Inside the black box of regional development. J Econ Geogr 8:615–649
Glaeser EL (2000) The new economics of urban and regional growth. In: Gordon C, Meric G, Feldman M (eds) The Oxford handbook of economic geography. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 83–98
Glaeser E (2011) Triumph of the city: how our greatest invention makes US richer, smarter, greener, healthier and happier. Pan Macmillan, London
Glaeser E, Gyourko J (2002) The impact of zoning on housing affordability. NBER working paper 8835. http://www.nber.org/papers/w8835
Glaeser EL, Saiz A (2003) The rise of the skilled city. NBER working papers no. 10191, National Bureau of Economic Research
Glaeser EL, Kolko J, Saiz A (2001) Consumer city. J Econ Geogr 1:27–50
Gyourko J, Mayer C, Sinai T (2006) Superstar cities. NBER working paper no. 12355, July 2006
Gyourko J, Saiz A, Summers A (2008) A new measure of the local regulatory environment for housing markets: The Wharton Residential Land Use Regulatory Index. Urban Stud 45(3):693–729
Hsieh C-T, Moretti E (2015) Why do cities matter? Local growth and aggregate growth. NBER working paper 21154. http://www.nber.org/papers/w21154
Jacobs J (1969) The economies of cities. Random House, New York
Kolenda R, Liu CY (2012) Are central cities more creative? The intrametropolitan geography of creative industries. J Urban Aff 34(5):487–512
Kolko J (2015) How suburban are big american cities. FiveThirtyEight Blog. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-suburban-are-big-american-cities/
Kolko J (2016) City limits: how real is the urban jobs comback? http://jedkolko.com/2016/01/19/city-limits-how-real-is-the-urban-jobs-comeback/
Krugman P (1990) Increasing returns and economic geography. NBER 3275. http://www.nber.org/papers/w3275
Lee S (2010) Ability sorting and consumer city. J Urban Econ 68(1):20–33
Lucas R (1988) On the mechanics of economic development. J Monet Econ 22:3–42
Marshall A (1890) Principles of political economy. Macmilan, New York
Malecki EJ (1991) Technology and economic development: the dynamics of local, and national change. Longman, Harlow
Mathur VK (1999) Human capital-based strategy for regional economic development. Econ Dev Q 13(3):203–216
Muth RF (1961) The spatial structure of the housing market. Pap Reg Sci 7(1):207–220
Porter ME (1990) The competitive advantage of nations. The Free Press, New York
Porter ME (2003) The economic performance of regions. Reg Stud 37(6–7):545–546
Rauch J (1993) Productivity gains from geographic concentration of human capital: evidence from the cities. J Urban Econ 34:380–400
Rosenthal SS, Strange WC (2008) The attenuation of human capital. J Urban Econ 64(2):373–389
Saiz A (2010) The geographic determinants of housing supply. Q J Econ 125(3):1253–1296
Samuelson PA, Nordhaus WD (2004) Economics, 18th edn. McGrawHill, New York
Shapiro JM (2006) Smart cities: quality of life, productivity, and the growth effects of human capital. Rev Econ Stat 88(2):324–335
Simon C (1998) Human capital and metropolitan employment growth. J Urban Econ 43:223–243
Simon C, Nardinelli C (1996) The talk of the town: human capital, information and the growth of English cities, 1861–1961. Explor Econ Hist 33(3):384–413
Tiebout CM (1956) A pure theory of local expenditures. J Polit Econ 64(2):416–424
Ullman EL (1958) Regional development and the geography of concentration. Pap Proc Reg Sci Assoc 4:179–198
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix
Appendix
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Florida, R., Mellander, C. & Stolarick, K. Human capital in cities and suburbs. Ann Reg Sci 57, 91–123 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00168-016-0763-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00168-016-0763-8