The creative class theory is developed in United States context in which the number of cities that people can move between is much higher, the intercity competition on the national level is much more intense than in the majority of Korean regions. Fo...
The creative class theory is developed in United States context in which the number of cities that people can move between is much higher, the intercity competition on the national level is much more intense than in the majority of Korean regions. For these reasons, the approach had to be verified to suit Korean conditions.
The purpose of this thesis analyzes the regional distribution and economic effect of people in creative occupations in more than 254 regions in Korea and compare the results with 500 regions in six European countries. It focuses on three research questions: (i) How big are the differences of the share of the creative class across Korean regions, and how concentrated is the regional distribution? (ii) What are the of determinants of the share of the creative population in a regions? (iii) And how does the creative class affect regional growth? Because of the data limitations, the analysis of the effects of the creative class on regional development could be conducted in only some Korean regions.
The analysis provides strong empirical evidence that the geographic distribution of the creative class is highly uneven across Korean regions. It clearly shows that a regional climate of tolerance and openness has a positive effect on the regional share of the creative class. The results suggest that this cultural effect is more important than the urban climate. The effect of regional job opportunities on the creative class is also large. Some evidence was also found for a positive relationship among creative class occupation, employment growth at the regional level in a number of Korean regions.
[Keyword] Creative Class, Creative Population, 3T, Richard Florida, Creative Occupation, Urban Climate