The role of human capital in urban system structure and development: the case of Italy

In the long run wealth derives, through innovations, from the production of knowledge on one hand and from the use of decision-making power on the other. These two features are ensured by strategic activities, which are closely identified with information stocks and flows. Finally, the quality of labour force supply, i.e. the endowment of human capital and entrepreneurship, is crucial to the existence of strategic activities, hence to the ability to generate know-how and power and thus the long run objective of wealth. Not only can the above processes be applied to individual cities and regions as well as to the national system as a whole, but also they have clear spatial implications, especially through cumulative processes of spatial division of labour which structure over time the hierarchy of cities. Adopting a long term viewpoint, the pivotal development factor is the supply one, the identification of the comparative advantage provided by the endowment of human resources. After a review of the literature on the issued sketched above, and a recall of original contributions, this paper presents statistical data supporting the link between human capital endowment and long run development in the Italian urban system.