Geography of talent for understanding regional disparities in Spain

Abstract

Tentative empirical evidence suggests that the agglomeration of talent contributes to regional development. However, given that talented people are not evenly distributed across regions, this paper seeks to determine the role of talent for furthering our understanding of regional disparities in Spain. Here, we empirically evaluate the effects of the distribution of talent on regional differences by means of a detailed analysis of the 17 Autonomous Communities of Spain between 1996 and 2004. The static and non-spatial panel data models are constructed. The unit of analysis is NUTS2. Our findings confirm that the economic performance indicators point to the significant positive impact of talent on regional economic activity. The concentration of talent plays a crucial role in accounting for regional differences. Based on a preliminary analysis of the dispersion in employment and production figures among the Autonomous Communities, the performance of Spain’s outperformers and underperformers is clearly not uniform.