What Attracts Knowledge Workers? The Role of Space and Social Networks

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to identify the determinants of the geographical mobility of skilled individuals, such as inventors, across European regions. Among a large number of variables, we focus on the role of social proximity between inventors' communities. We use a control function approach to address the endogenous nature of networks, and zero-inflated negative binomial models to accommodate our estimations to the count nature of the dependent variable and the high number of zeros it contains. Our results highlight the importance of physical proximity, job opportunities, social networks, as well as other relational variables in mediating this phenomenon.

Taxation and the International Mobility of Inventors

“…Indeed, oversea diasporas have been studied as important determinants of knowledge flows (Foley and Kerr 2013). Inventor migration and the formation of geographical knowledge clusters and their spillovers have also received attention (Miguélez 2016;Breschi, Lissoni, and Tarasconi forthcoming;Miguélez and Moreno 2014, and the references therein).…”

Interregional mobility of talent in Spain: The role of job opportunities and qualities of places during the recent economic crisis

“…Despite the emphasis placed on the attraction and retention of talent processes, little evidence is available as yet (Storper and Scott, 2009;Miguélez and Moreno, 2014). This fact increases the interest of new longitudinal microdata, as the CWHS used in this study, to study patterns and drivers of talent mobility.…”

“…Previous evidence suggests that job opportunities, as well as personal and social networks, could be the most important factor for attracting talented individuals, while soft factors seem to be more significant when it comes to retaining them (Musterd and Murie, 2010;Miguélez and Moreno, 2014). In fact, the existence of certain types of job opportunities at some specific places is crucial in the initial 'escalator' hypothesis of Fielding (1992).…”

“…A third group, more connected with the attraction of workers, relates to 'soft conditions'. Some of these are concerned in the ongoing debate about the role of qualities of places and urban amenities (recent good reviews of the topic can be found for example in Miguélez and Moreno, 2014;Bontje et al, 2017). As part of the main two approaches, Glaeser (2005) underlines the role of public and social services and the vibrant cultural and historical scene; while Florida (2005) highlights tolerance, openness and diversity of population, including the presence of talented workers, as well as seeking certain values of 'distinctiveness' and 'authenticity' in neighbourhoods.…”

What Drives Migration Moves Across Urban Areas in Spain? Evidence from the Great Recession

“…We aggregate individual decisions at a macro level following the works of Santos, Silva, and Tenreyro (2006) and Miguélez and Moreno (2014), and we define a dummy variable that takes the value 1 when equation (2) is met at period t and 0, otherwise.…”