News

According to the study, enterprising regions are associated with higher levels of productivity and/or per capita income.

Roanoke is an ‘enterprising region’ – a region where there is high knowledge in commerce and information technology – according to a new study in Urban Studies Journal aiming to classify metros in US and Canada according to the types of knowledge of their workers. 

The study sought to determine knowledge profiles for a set of metros across the US and Canada and then use statistical methods to determine whether certain knowledge profiles were more strongly associated with measures of economic development than others.  The study classified metros according to the following set of classifications:

• Enterprising regions – high knowledge about commerce and IT
• Comforting regions – high knowledge of mental health; low knowledge of engineering and production
• Working regions – low knowledge in regards to IT and commerce with no particular specialization
• Thinking regions – high knowledge about arts, humanities, IT and commerce; low knowledge about manufacturing
• Building regions – very high knowledge about construction and transportation
• Innovating regions – very high knowledge about IT, arts, commerce, and engineering; low knowledge about manufacturing
• Making regions – very high knowledge about manufacturing; very low knowledge of commerce and humanities
• Teaching regions – very high knowledge about humanities and science; very low knowledge about manufacturing
• Farming regions – very high knowledge about food production and manufacturing; very low knowledge of the arts and humanities
• Understanding regions – very high knowledge about arts and sciences humanities and IT; very low knowledge about manufacturing
• Engineering regions – very high knowledge about engineering, IT, and commerce; low knowledge about physical and mental health.

The study found that ‘enterprising’, ‘making’, ‘engineering’, and ‘building’ regions are associated with higher levels of productivity and/or per capita income after controlling for factors such as educational attainment and population size; however, those regions specializing in ‘teaching’, ‘understanding’, ‘working’, and ‘comforting’ have lower levels of economic development when compared to cities of a similar educational attainment and size.

The study would seem to suggest that Roanoke’s knowledge in commerce, with its relatively high concentration of headquarters and regional operations in management and insurance,  is a significant factor in its ongoing prosperity.  As we’ve blogged in the past, per capita personal income grew in the Roanoke MSA at a faster rate than the state and nation between 2006 and 2010.  It is also true that research from the Bureau of Economic Analysis into price parities shows that Roanoke’s per capita personal income is roughly equal with Virginia’s and higher than the national figure once cost differences are considered.