Will attracting the “creative class” boost economic growth in old industrial regions? a case study of scotland

Abstract. Attracting in‐migration of the creative class has been argued by Florida (2002) to be a route to higher economic growth in the era of the knowledge economy. This paper critically evaluates this proposition in relation to old industrial regions using the example of Scotland. The paper presents an assessment of, in the first instance, to what extent there is a shortage of skilled, talented and entrepreneurial individuals and, in the second instance, whether a talent attraction strategy alone can hope to attract such people to Scotland. It is proposed that for most migrants the availability of appropriate economic opportunities is a prerequisite for mobility. However, despite uncertain evidence that place attractiveness is a catalyst to mobility among the so‐called creative class, this is not a reason for dismissing talent attraction programmes. Instead it is argued that talent attraction programmes have the potential to contribute to old industrial economies, but their success will be greatest when talent attraction is carefully targeted and based on economic realities rather than the marketing of ethereal conceptions of place attractiveness.

[1]  G. Borjas.  Friends or Strangers: The Impact of Immigrants on the U , 1990 .

[2]  P. Zak,et al.  Immigration fertility and growth. , 2002 .

[3]  T. Hammar.  Comparing European and North American International Migration , 1989, The International migration review.

[4]  Edward M. Crenshaw,et al.  Population dynamics and economic development : Age-specific population growth rates and economic growth in developing countries, 1965 to 1990 , 1997 .

[5]  A. Stockdale.  The role of a ‘retirement transition’ in the repopulation of rural areas , 2006 .

[6]  P. White,et al.  The Geographical impact of migration , 1980 .

[7]  Maarten van Ham,et al.  Workplace mobility and occupational achievement , 2001 .

[8]  P. Rees,et al.  Creating the UK National Statistics 2001 output area classification , 2007 .

[9]  G. Borjas,et al.  The Economic Consequences of Immigration , 1987, Science.

[10]  A. Green,et al.  Skill Shortages: Local Perspectives from England , 2003 .

[11]  M. Castells.  The rise of the network society , 1996 .

[12]  P. Rosa.  The prevalence of multiple owners and directors in the SME sector: implications for our understanding of start-up and growth , 1999 .

[13]  Y. Hayashi,et al.  The effects of economic restructuring on China’s system for financing transport infrastructure , 1998 .

[14]  Ross Brown,et al.  Growing Global: Foreign Direct Investment and the Internationalization of Local Suppliers in Scotland , 2001 .

[15]  F. Scherer.  New Perspectives on Economic Growth and Technological Innovation , 1999 .

[16]  Tom Wilson,et al.  Why Scotland needs more than just a new migration policy , 2003 .

[17]  R. Florida.  Cities and the Creative Class , 2003 .

[18]  Ross Brown,et al.  ‘Going Grey’: Demographic Change and the Changing Labour Market in Scotland , 2003 .

[19]  R. Jackman,et al.  Regional Migration in Britain: An Analysis of Gross Flows Using NHS Central Register Data , 1992 .

[20]  J. Montgomery.  Beware ‘the Creative Class’. Creativity and Wealth Creation Revisited , 2005 .

[21]  Melinda J. Milligan.  The Individual and City Life: A Commentary on Richard Florida's “Cities and the Creative Class” , 2003 .

[22]  J. Salt,et al.  Work permits and foreign labour in the UK: a statistical review , 2003 .

[23]  M. Abella.  GLOBAL COMPETITION FOR SKILLED WORKERS , 2005 .

[24]  P. Boyle,et al.  Scotland's demographic regime: Population and the politics of devolution , 2003 .

[25]  J. Clarke,et al.  Population matters : the local dimension , 1995 .

[26]  E. A. Wrigley,et al.  Poverty, Progress, and Population , 2004 .

[27]  V. Srinivasan,et al.  Migration: an economic and social analysis. , 2001 .

[28]  Jamie Peck.  Struggling with the Creative Class , 2005 .

[29]  P. Emmenegger.  Uwe Becker, Herman Schwartz (eds.), "Employment Miracles". A Critical Comparison of the Dutch, Scandinavian, Swiss, Australian, and Irish Cases versus Germany and the US, 2005 [Rezension] , 2006 .

[30]  M. Porter.  Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance , 1985 .

[31]  David Canning,et al.  The Demographic Dividend: A New Perspective on the Economic Consequences of Population Change , 2003 .

[32]  Brian Bell,et al.  The Performance of Immigrants in the United Kingdom: Evidence from the GHS , 1997 .

[33]  J. Salt,et al.  International Migration and the United Kingdom: Recent Patterns and Trends , 2001 .

[34]  N. R. Zagha,et al.  Economic growth in the 1990s : learning from a decade of reform , 2005 .

[35]  D. Bell.  The Coming of the Post-Industrial Society , 1973 .

[36]  M. Munday,et al.  Assessing the Impacts of Foreign Manufacturing on Regional Economies: The Cases of Wales, Scotland and the West Midlands , 2000 .

[37]  M. Boyle.  Culture in the rise of tiger economies: Scottish expatriates in Dublin and the creative class thesis , 2006 .

[38]  T. Straubhaar.  Towards a European Migration Policy , 2006 .

[39]  Tony Champion,et al.  The new regional map of Europe , 1996 .

[40]  U. Becker,et al.  Employment 'Miracles' : A Critical Comparison of the Dutch, Scandinavian, Swiss, Australian and Irish Cases versus Germany and the US , 2005 .

[41]  D. E. Clark,et al.  County wide employment and population growth: an analysis of the 1980s. , 1996, Journal of regional science.

[42]  A. Findlay,et al.  The Structuring of Service-class Migration: English Migration to Scottish Cities , 2003 .

[43]  C. Mason,et al.  PROGRESS REPORT ON THE FRESH TALENT INITIATIVE , 2006 .

[44]  L. Pil.  The Rise of the Creative Class , 2004 .

[45]  G. Hugo.  Australian experience in skilled migration , 2006 .

[46]  S. Miles,et al.  Introduction: The Rise and Rise of Culture-led Urban Regeneration , 2005 .

[47]  R. Martin,et al.  Geographies of labour market inequality , 2003 .