THE ECONOMIC IMPACTS AND MIGRATION PATTERNS OF THE "CREATIVE CLASS": EVIDENCE FROM 330 METROPOLITAN STATISTICAL AREAS IN THE U.S. DURING AN AFTER-RECESSION PERIOD (2010 TO 2015)

Abstract

This thesis starts with the concept of the Creative Class proposed by Richard Florida in his book The Rise of the Creative Class, and examines two issues relevant to his theory: (1) the efficacy of occupational-based Creative Class to account for regional wage growth rates during the after-recession period; (2) the factors that affect the inter-region growth rates of the Creative Class for the same period. The empirical data applied in this thesis are based on the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in the United States. Two compound hypotheses are built to examine the issues with two Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression models respectively. The T-test and F-test results from the OLS models jointly show that the factors proposed by Florida to account for the wage growth rates and the growth rates of the Creative Class in MSAs are less effective than they are expected in Florida’s theory. In contrast, the general education attainment and regional economic characteristics advocated by other researchers are more important to be considered for the two growth issues.