The distribution of skilled individuals in the metropolitan regions in Brazil: the influence of bohemia and population diversity

Abstract

This paper is based theoretically on the discussion presented by Florida, in particular two of his hypotheses. The first one states that the concentration of bohemians in an area signals an environment that attracts talented people. The second emphasizes that more tolerant societies are also more attractive to creative people. Firstly, I analyzed the distribution of skilled individuals in all metropolitan regions in Brazil. Moreover, I studied empirically these two hypotheses with the use of panel analyses. Levels of Bohemia, which were used as a proxi for the first hypothesis, were positively correlated with the proportion of skilled individuals in the locality. However, I did not observe any significant correlation between population diversity, the proxy for the second hypothesis, and local levels of skills. Lastly, I classified the metropolitan regions in Brazil with the use of cluster analyses in similar groups.

skills; bohemia; gays; regional development