The Geography of Talent: Employment Growth, Spatial Dynamics and the impact of the Public Sector in Denmark

Abstract

The paper analyses the geography of talent and the impact of the public sector. For more than two decades, talent and human capital have increasingly been seen as major source for economic growth in the capitalist knowledge economy. In much of the contemporary literature in urban and regional studies talent and human capital, however, often remain a generic input. This is contrasted by several recent studies that all have pointed to the importance of the diversity of talents in the economy. We provide another dimension to this debate and examine the diversity of talent by dividing between public and private employed talents to understand the spatial dynamics of talents and urban and regional employment growth. Therefore we are in this paper concerned with the spatial division of talent and how locations and concentrations of talent have impact on urban and regional economic growth in terms of job growth. First, we examine what kind of geographies of talent that exists in Denmark to get a better understanding of the spatial dynamics of talent. Secondly, we examine the relationship between growth of talents and total employment growth among Danish municipalities, and thirdly, we examine if there is a bias of talent towards the largest cities and urban landscapes as claimed in the literature. Further, the direct impact of the welfare state is examined in terms of public employed talents to come to a better understanding of how talents and job growth are related. The public sector in Denmark accounts for 30.6 % of total national employment and 43.1 % of the Danish talent in 2006. Thus, the welfare state plays a major role in the Danish economic economy in terms of distributing jobs and job growth and especially job opportunities for talents across space. In this sense, the public sector is an interesting lens to discuss regional development through because of the location dynamics are politically resolved. Thus, this paper answers the following three research questions: (I) What is the geography and impact of talent in the Danish knowledge economy? (II) Does the public sector contribute to less unequal regional growth? (III) Can distinguishing between public and private employed talent contribute to a more differentiated understanding of the regional job growth?