Extract

9 Technology, talent and tolerance and interregional migration in Canada Karen M. King INTRODUCTION In The Rise of the Creative Class, Richard Florida (2002) introduces the creative class theoretical framework and with it the occupational groupings of creative, service and working classes. Since its introduction, the creative class theory has been increasingly put into practice to encourage regional development and competitiveness. Florida (2002) argues that a region’s ability to attract the creative class in turn encourages innovative development and knowledge-based economic growth. The creative class consists of individuals employed in occupations whose economic value is the creation of new ideas and forms and is comprised of two groups: the ‘super-creative core’ and ‘creative professionals’. The concentration and diversity of the creative class and their creative capital can then be translated into innovations which drive economies forward. Therefore, those regions that are best able to attract and retain the creative class have the highest potential for economic growth in a knowledge economy. Florida (2002) found his ‘high-tech index’ to be strongly associated with the location of the creative class while his ‘melting pot’, ‘gay’ and ‘bohemian’ indices are strongly associated with the high-tech index for metropolitan areas in the United States in 2000, with similar findings in the Canadian context (Gertler et al., 2002). Although the majority of attention has focused on the creative class, the service and working classes also play important roles in the economy. While traditional measures of human capital use education, creative capital attempts to improve on...