Human capital migration and regional development: some reflections

Webinar "Human capital migration and regional development: some reflections" with Alessandra Faggian (GSSI, Italy)
Friday – November 23, 2018

The analysis of human capital has taken on a progressively more central role in discussions regarding the growth and success of nations and regions. This is primarily because advanced societies have increasingly evolved towards what has been called a “knowledge-based economy”, whereby tertiary level human capital is seen to be a crucial feature of economic growth. However, one of the most uncontroversial results in migration studies is that embodied human capital significantly increases the probability of individuals migrating. The migration of individuals with high ‘embodied human capital’ introduces a complication in the human capital-regional development relationship because the increase in human capital due to education can easily leak out of an area even when produced there (brain drain). This talk will offer an overview on the topic so far, concluding with some reflections on avenues for future research.

Alessandra Faggian is Professor of Applied Economics and Director of Social Sciences at the Gran Sasso Science Institute, L’Aquila, Italy, and co-editor of the journal Papers in Regional Science and Journal of Regional Science. Dr Faggian’s research interests lie in the fields of regional and urban economics, demography, labour economics and economics of education. Her publications cover a wide range of topics including migration, human capital, labour markets, creativity and local innovation and growth. She has co-authored over 80 academic publications. Her articles have appeared in journals such as Oxford Economics Papers, Cambridge Journal of Economics, Feminist Economics, Regional Studies, Papers in Regional Science, Journal of Regional Science and The Journal of Economic Geography. Alessandra is the 2007 recipient of the Moss Madden Memorial Medal by the Regional Science Association International: Irish and British section (RSAIBIS) for the best paper published in the year 2006 and the 2015 recipient of the Geoffrey Hewings Award by The North American Regional Council for outstanding research contribution by a young scholar in the field of regional science.

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