Abstract
This chapter offers an initial historical context for the interest in talent as drivers of economic growth and their relationship with urban environments. It is important to position the emergence and growth of academic research and policy interest on talent both geographically and historically. Here, we summarise some of the research that shaped our initial understanding of the roles that geography and spatial dependence play in the location choices of talent and how those factors influence urban productivity and growth over time. In the chapter, we consider why cities have become the engine of wealth generation and why and how the presence of talent increases productivity and the role that universities, knowledge institutions and other amenities play in talent attraction and retention locally. We conclude by reflecting on what happens when the city/talent powerhouse has to face moment of crisis, such as in the case of the global financial crisis of 2008 and the recent Covid-19 pandemic which began in 2020.
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Comunian, R., England, L., Faggian, A., Mellander, C. (2021). Positioning Talent: History, Cities and the Growing Importance of Talent. In: The Economics of Talent. SpringerBriefs in Regional Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95124-9_3
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