Agglomeration of knowledge intensive activities as driver of high skilled inter-regional migration: A gravity model with Spanish labor mobility data.

Autor/inn/en	Blanco-Álvarez, Jose; González-López, Manuel
Titel	Agglomeration of knowledge intensive activities as driver of high skilled inter-regional migration: A gravity model with Spanish labor mobility data. Gefälligkeitsübersetzung: Die Konzentration wissensintensiver Aktivitäten als Motor für die interregionale Migration hochqualifizierter Arbeitskräfte: Ein Gravitationsmodell auf der Grundlage spanischer Daten zur Arbeitskräftemobilität.
Quelle	In: Papers in regional science, 105 (2026) 3, Art. 100149, 27 S. PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Link als defekt meldenVerfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1435-5957
DOI	10.1016/j.pirs.2026.100149
Schlagwörter	Motivation; Ballungsraum; Binnenwanderung; Kleinstadt; Ländlicher Raum; Region; Regionale Disparität; Regionalplanung; Landflucht; Migration; Wirtschaftsgeografie; Wirtschaftssektor; Arbeitsmigration; Qualifikation; Fachkraft; Brain Drain; Abwanderung; Auswirkung; Regionaler Vergleich; Zuwanderung; Hoch Qualifizierter; Spanien
Abstract	"Human capital is considered one of the main drivers of long-term economic development, justifying large public investments in higher education. However, the existence of externalities in the form of agglomeration economies can induce high-skilled individuals to migrate into a reduced number of dynamic urban areas hosting the lion's share of knowledge-intensive activities. Using rich administrative datasets on labor contracts and business demographic statistics, this work builds a gravity model explaining inter-regional migration by skill level between Spanish regions during the last 22 years (2001-2022). The results indicate that the agglomeration of knowledge-intensive activities, specifically measured as regional specialization in knowledge-intensive business services, is a significant and strong determinant of high-skilled migration. This result poses an important challenge for policymakers, as it implies that efforts to increase educational opportunities in peripheral regions could be seriously undermined by initial differences in economic structures." The study refers to the period 2001-2022 (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2026 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.on behalf of The Regional Science Association International.).
Erfasst von	Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Nürnberg
Update	2026/4