ABSTRACT

The benefits of related variety on regional employment growth have become a prevailing view. However, these remain potential benefits unless channels (e.g. labour flows, inter-firm cooperation) and regional capabilities are in place to convert them into actual growth. This paper focuses on the labour mobility channel and proposes a way to measure the realized part of related variety. It demonstrates that in Sweden, core regions make ten times more use of their related variety potential via labour mobility than small, peripheral regions. Moreover, even in core and large regions only a handful of potential ties are realized. Most firms in small regions must rely on other channels to convert related variety potential into growth. Furthermore, while local labour flows between related industries are associated with higher employment growth, no evidence is found that, on average, other channels bring growth benefits in small regions. Thus, the paper argues that the role of market-mediated knowledge flow channels like labour mobility is underestimated compared to pure spillovers via unintended interactions. Consequently, it is important to go beyond assuming that the benefits of related variety are ‘in the air’ or in local ‘buzz’ and focus on specific channels at work.

摘要

相关品种对区域就业增长的好处已成为主流观点。然而，这些仍有潜力除非渠道（例如劳动力流动、公司间合作）和区域能力到位以将其转化为实际增长。本文着眼于劳动力流动渠道，提出了一种衡量相关品种已实现部分的方法。它表明，在瑞典，核心地区通过劳动力流动对其相关多样性潜力的利用是小外围地区的 10 倍。此外，即使在核心区域和大区域，也只有少数潜在联系得以实现。大多数小区域企业必须依靠其他渠道将相关品种潜力转化为增长。此外，虽然相关行业之间的本地劳动力流动与较高的就业增长相关，但没有证据表明其他渠道平均能在小地区带来增长收益。因此，该论文认为，与通过意外互动产生的纯粹溢出相比，劳动力流动等以市场为中介的知识流动渠道的作用被低估了。因此，重要的是不要假设相关品种的好处是“悬而未决”或在当地“嗡嗡作响”，而是专注于发挥作用的特定渠道。