哪个因素更能促进城市经济的发展--创意阶层抑或传统因素？

Which Indicators Explain Metropolitan Economic Performance Best? Traditional or Creative Class

问题:理查德·佛罗里达(Richard Florida)关于创意阶层的著作引起了全球范围的关注,并对规划者和地方政府官员产生了影响。相对于已有的经济发展政策,政府开始实施吸引并留住创意阶层人才的政策——这些创意阶层人才更喜好舒适和有吸引力的生活方式。然而,关于创意阶层因素是否和传统上认可的地域和制度因素一样,能有效推动区域增长和发展,尚缺乏有力的证据。目的:本文通过对比区域创造能力指标和传统竞争因素,探讨了创意阶层的存在和区域经济发展之间的关系。方法:考察了理查德·佛罗里达提出的创意阶层指标之间的相互影响,及其与美国大都市区经济发展的一般指标之间的关系;利用多元回归模型,比较了佛罗里达提出的指标和经济竞争力的传统指标对城市就业增长、收入提高和工作不稳定性产生的影响。结果和结论:研究发现佛罗里达提出的各项指标在总体上与大都市区经济表现的变化并不相关。具体来说,在解释大都市区就业、收入增长以及就业不稳定性方面,人力资本和产业结构等指标与人才、包容性以及技术等因素的解释力相似或者更有说服力。对实践的启示:研究发现建立在佛罗里达创意阶层假设上的指标与良好经济绩效之间的相关性并不比传统的竞争力指标更强,因此本文并不提倡采用那些主要为吸引创意阶层的策略去替代传统的经济发展策略。研究也同时表明,那些支持教育、企业创业、产业多样化的规划,更有可能成为促进经济发展的有效政策工具。

Problem： As Richard Florida＇ s writings about the creative class garnered attention across the globe, planners and local government officials responded by enacting policies to attract and retain creative workers, often favoring spending for amenity and lifestyle attractions over more established economic development approaches. It is not clear, however, if the presence of these workers drives regional growth and development as effectively as more traditionally accepted place-based and institutional factors. Purpose： In this article we explore the relationships between the presence of the creative class and regional economic performance, contrasting measures of regional creative capacity with traditional competitiveness factors. Methods： We examine how Florida＇ s creative class measures correlate with each other and with common indicators of economic performance for U.S. metropolitan areas. We also estimate multivariate regression models to compare theiufluence ofFlorida＇ s measures tothos~ of more traditional indicators of economic competitiveness on metropolitan job growth, income growth and job instability. Results and Conclusion： We find that differences in Florida＇ s measures of creativity are not generally associated with differences in melropolitan economic performance. Indicators of human capital and industry composition perform as well or better than talent, tolerance, and technology in explaining metropolitan job and income growth and instability. Takeaway for Praetiee： Since we find measures derived fi＇om Florida＇ s creative class hypotheses to be no more associated with positive economic outcomes than traditional competitiveness measures, we do not advocate replacing traditional economic development strategies with those based primarily on attracting the creative class. Programs supporting education, business creation, and industrial diversity are more likely to be effective tools for promoting economic well-being.