Skill-Relatedness and Resilience: Case Study Saarland

Authors

  • Anne Otto Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Regionales Forschungsnetz, Eschberger Weg 68, 66121, Saarbrücken, Deutschland
  • Ljubica Nedelkoska Zeppelin University, HUGIN Center, Am Seemooser Horn 20, 88045, Friedrichshafen, Deutschland Center for International Development, Harvard University, 79 JFK St., 02138, Cambridge, MA, USA
  • Frank Neffke Center for International Development, Harvard University, 79 JFK St., 02138, Cambridge, MA, USA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1007/s13147-014-0285-8

Keywords:

Skill-relatedness, Resilience, Structural change, Old industrial region, Saarland, Labor mobility

Abstract

The resilience of a region depends crucially on the extent to which industry-specific human capital can be redeployed across regional economy’s industries. To this end, we present a toolbox to analyze a region’s industrial structure, development prospects and economic resilience that highlights the human capital similarities, or skill-relatedness, among industries. The core of these analyses is the so-called industry space, a network that connects industries with similar human capital requirements. In a case study, we use this toolbox to identify the risks and opportunities for the economic perspectives and resilience of Germany’s state Saarland based on the time period 2008 to 2012. This analysis shows that one important concern for this former old-industrial region is that its traditional manufacturing base is almost unconnected in terms of skill-relatedness to the emerging high-technology activities that are central in the region’s innovation agenda.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Becker, G. S. (1962): Investment in Human Capital: A Theoretical Analysis. In: The Journal of Political Economy 70 (5), 9–49.

Bender, S.; Haas, A.; Klose, C. (2000): The IAB Employment Subsample 1975–1995. In: Schmollers Jahrbuch 120 (4), 649–662.

Boschma, R. A.; Frenken, K. (2011): Technological relatedness and regional branching. In: Bathelt, H.; Feldman, M. P.; Kogler, D. F. (Hrsg.): Beyond Territory: Dynamic Geographies of Knowledge Creation, Diffusion, and Innovation. London, New York, 64–81.

Bundesagentur für Arbeit. (2013): Beschäftigtenstatistik. Nürnberg.

Christopherson, S.; Michie, J.; Tyler, P. (2010): Regional Resilience: theoretical and empirical perspectives. In: Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 3 (1), 3–10.

Cohen, W. M.; Levinthal, D. A. (1990): Absorptive capacity: new perspective on learning and innovation. In: Administrative Science Quaterly 35 (1), 128–152.

Cooke, P. H.; Morgan, K. (1998): The Associational Economy. Firms, Regions, and Innovation. Oxford.

Elmas, H.; Wydra-Somaggio, G. (2012): Entwicklungen auf dem Arbeitsmarkt im Saarland vor dem Hintergrund des demografischen Wandels. Nürnberg. = IAB Regional 1/2012.

Frenken, K.; Boschma, R. A. (2007): A theoretical framework for evolutionary economic geography: industrial dynamics and urban growth as a branching process. In: Journal of Economic Geography 7 (5), 635–649.

Frenken, K.; van Oort, F.; Verburg, T. (2007): Related Variety, Unrelated Variety and Regional Economic Growth. In: Regional Studies 41 (5), 685–697.

Glaeser E. L.; Kallal, H. D.; Scheinkman, J. A.; Shleifer, A. (1992): Growth in Cities. In: Journal of Political Economy 100 (6), 1126–1152.

Grabher, G. (1993): The Weakness of Strong Ties: The Lock-in of Regional Development in the Ruhr Area. In: Grabher, G. (Hrsg.): The Embedded Firm. On the Socioeconomics of Industrial Networks. London, New York, 255–277.

Grant, R. M. (1996): Toward a knowledge-based theory of the firm. In: Strategic Management Journal 17, Special Issue, 109–122.

Grant, R. M.; Spender, J.-C. (1996): Knowledge and the firm: overview. In: Strategic Management Journal 17, Special Issue, 5–9.

Hausmann, R.; Hidalgo, C. A.; Bustos, S.; Coscia, M.; Simoes, A.; Yildirim, M. A. (2013): The atlas of economic complexity. Mapping paths to prosperity. Cambridge, MA.

Hausmann, R; Neffke, F.; Otto, A. (2013): The workforce of pioneer plants. Barcelona. = Druid-Conference 2013, Discussion Paper.

Henderson, J. V. (2003): Marshall’s Scale Economies. In: Journal of Urban Economics 53 (1), 1–28.

Henderson, J. V.; Kuncoro, A.; Turner, M. (1995): Industrial development in cities. In: Journal of Political Economy 103 (5), 1067–1090.

Hethey, T.; Schmieder, J. F. (2010): Using worker flows in the analysis of establishment turnover. Evidence from German administrative data. Nürnberg. = FDZ Methodenreport 06/2010.

Leahy, D.; Neary, J. P. (2007): Absorptive capacity, R & D spillovers, and public policy. In: International Journal of Industrial Organization 25 (5), 1089–1108.

Martin, R. (2010): Roepke Lecture in Economic Geography – Rethinking Regional Path Dependence: Beyond Lock-in to Evolution. In: Economic Geography 86 (1), 1–27.

McCann, P.; Ortega-Argilés, R. (2013): Smart specialisation, regional growth and applications to European Union cohesion policy. In: Regional Studies, DOI:10.1080/00343404.2013.799769.

Neal, D. A. (1995): Industry-Specific Human Capital: Evidence from Displaced Workers. In: Journal of Labor Economics 13 (4), 653–677.

Neffke, F.; Henning, M. (2013): Skill-relatedness and firm diversification. In: Strategic Management Journal 34 (3), 297–316.

Neffke, F.; Burger, M.; van Oort, F.; Boschma, R. (2010): De evolutie van skill-gerelateerde bedrijfstakken in de Noordvleugel van de Randstad. Kansen en bedreigingen. Rotterdam. Mimeo.

Neffke, F.; Henning, M.; Boschma, R. (2011): How do regions diversify over time? Industry relatedness and the development of new growth paths in regions. In: Economic Geography 87 (3), 237–265.

Neffke, F.; Hartog, M.; Boschma, R.; Henning, M. (2013): Agents of structural change. Mimeo.

Neffke, F.; Hidalgo, C. A.; Otto, A.; Weyh, A. (2013): Inter-industry labor flows. Mimeo.

Nooteboom, B. (2000): Learning and Innovation in Organizations and Economies. Oxford.

Parent, D. (2000): Industry‐Specific Capital and the Wage Profile: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. In: Journal of Labor Economics 18 (2), 306–323.

Pavan, R. (2011): Career Choice and Wage Growth. In: Journal of Labor Economics 29 (3), 549–587.

Porter, M. E. (1998): Clusters and the New Economics of Competition. In: Harvard Business Review, November-December, 77–90.

Porter, M. (2003): The economic performance of regions. In: Regional Studies 37 (6–7), 549–578.

Rosenthal, S. S.; Strange, W. C. (2003): Geography, Industrial Organization, and Agglomeration. In: The Review of Economics and Statistics 85 (2), 377–393.

Schätzl, L. (2000): Wirtschaftsgeographie 2. Empirie. München.

Simmie, J.; Martin, R. (2010): The economic resilience of regions: towards an evolutionary approach. In: Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 3 (1), 27–43.

Statistisches Bundesamt. (2008): Klassifikation der Wirtschaftszweige mit Erläuterungen. Wiesbaden.

Topel, R. H. (1991): Specific Capital, Mobility, and Wages: Wages Rise with Job Seniority. In: Journal of Political Economy 99 (1), 145–176.

Trippl, M.; Otto, A. (2009): How to turn the fate of old industrial areas. A comparison of cluster-based renewal processes in Styria and the Saarland. In: Environment and Planning A 41 (5), 1217–1233.

Downloads

Published

2014-04-30

Issue

Section

Research Article

How to Cite

1.
Otto A, Nedelkoska L, Neffke F. Skill-Relatedness and Resilience: Case Study Saarland. RuR [Internet]. 2014 Apr. 30 [cited 2026 Sep. 26];72(2):133–151. Available from: https://rur.oekom.de/index.php/rur/article/view/641

Share