Files / Working Papers

This special issue publishes some of the interesting work that is going on within the creative economy research field. This concept of the creative economy has been the focus of our own
research for more than a decade. The most fundamental level building block of the creative economy is, of course, creative individuals. Richard Florida’s The Rise of the Creative Class
(2002) illustrated that every single human being has creative potential, and discussed the economic value of such creative individuals for innovation in industry. At the industry level,
“creative industries” has been the terminology to describe industries where individual creativity is systematically harnessed to achieve high levels of innovation, namely, high-tech industries with a high R&D or programming component, as well as cultural industries such as
entertainment or design (Caves, 2000; Throsby, 2001; Hesmondhalgh, 2002).

This article written by Richard Florida,
Charlotta Mellander and Kevin Stolarick examines the effects of this intra‐metropolitan distribution on economic
performance. The findings indicate that this distribution matters significantly to US regional performance. Suburban human capital matters more than center city human capital.

This article written by Richard Florida, Charlotta Mellander and Jason Rentfrow examines the role of post-industrial structures and values on happiness across the nations of the world. They argue that these structures and values shape happiness in ways
that go beyond the previously examined effects of income.

In this paper, Richard Florida, Charlotta Mellander and Kevin Stolarick examine the effects of satisfaction with individuals’ current location on the decision to stay.

In this paper Richard Florida, Robert Wuebker and Zoltan Acs examine recent patterns of venture capital investment which suggest that the venture capital industry is in the early stages of a profound transformation catalyzed in
part by the globalization of igh-impact entrepreneurship. This change in the allocation of early-stage venture investment has important implications for the financing of young firms, the speed of innovation and technological
transformation, and the locus of long-term economic growth.

In this Chapter of Daniel Araya’s and Michael A. Peter’s book, Education in the Creative Economy, Richard Florida, Brian Knudsen,and Kevin Stolarick argue that the university’s increasing role in economic growth stems from
deeper and more fundamental forces. The university’s role in these forces goes
beyond technology to both talent and tolerance.

This research examines the effect of skill
in cities on regional wages. In place of the extant literature’s focus on human
capital or knowledge-based or creative
occupations, we focus our analysis on actual skills.

Richard Florida and Charlotta Mellander find that occupational or “creative class” measures tend to outperform educational measures in accounting for regional wages per capita across their sample of Swedish regions.

Richard Florida, Charlotta Mellander and Peter J. Rentfrow examine the role of post-industrial structures and values on happiness across the nations of the world. They argue that these structures and values shape happiness in ways that go beyond the previously examined effects of income.

This study by Richard Florida and Charlotta Mellander examines the effects of post-industrial economic structures and values on smoking and obesity.