MESOC Serapeum | Where culture meets AI

Id		188
Author		Backman, M., ; Nilsson, P.,
Title		The role of cultural heritage in attracting skilled individuals
Reference		Backman, M., Nilsson, P. (2016). The role of cultural heritage in attracting skilled individuals. Journal of Cultural Economics, 42: 111‑138.
Keywords		Built heritages; Human capital; Regional growth; Multilevel; Attracting skilled labor
Link to article		https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10824-016-9289-2
Abstract		The purpose of this paper is to examine the role played by built heritages and cultural environments, alongside other locational factors, in explaining the growth of human capital in Sweden. We distinguish between urban, natural and cultural qualities as different sources of regional attractiveness and estimate their influence on the observed growth of individuals with at least three years of higher education during 2001–2010. Neighborhood-level data are used, and unobserved heterogeneity and spatial dependencies are modeled by employing random effects estimations and an instrumental variable approach. Our findings indicate that the local supply of built heritages and cultural environments explain a significant part of human capital growth in Sweden. Results suggest that these types of cultural heritages are important place-based resources with a potential to contribute to improved regional attractiveness and growth.
Metodology		In order to address the role played by cultural heritage in attracting human capital, the empirical approach is to estimate a growth equation with change in the number of highly educated individuals as the dependent variable. In this paper, the authors follow the educational approach and measure human capital in terms of individuals with at least three years of higher education. The authors measure growth in the level of human capital for two different time periods, the change between 2001 and 2006 or 2010. To address effects that are locally bounded, they use neighborhoods (Small Areas for Market Statistics, SAMS) as the unit of analysis. Data from three geocoded databases are used to create measures that reflect educational infrastructure, industrial composition and the supply of different types of amenities at the neighborhood level. The amenity variables in focus are the ones that reflect local supply of cultural heritages and include built heritages and cultural environments. The variable in focus is the total number of registered built heritages and cultural environments in each neighborhood (SAMS) constructed using spatial joins (in ArcView).
Technique		Statistical analysis; Spatial analysis