Location patterns of creative capital and regional disparities in Spain

Abstract

The 'creative class' as a source for regional growth has been afforded increasing attention in recent years. Likewise the location decisions of creative people have been forwarded as an important factor for understanding regional disparities. Yet, creative people are not distributed evenly across space, tending rather to concentrate in particular locations. Inspired by these ongoing discussions surrounding the creative capital theory, this study investigates the location patterns of creative capital and its impact on regional differences in Spain. Our preliminary set of results indicates that between 1996 and 2004 there is a general tendency regarding the increase in the spatial dependency of the creative capital in Spain. Moreover a more careful observation of these spatial interactions confirms that locations share common patterns concerning the creative capital and income differences at local level. Finally our final set of evidence suggest that creative capital and more importantly its local spillover is affecting the regional income gaps in Spain even once other factors such as human capital and physical capital accumulation are controlled for.