The Role of Immigrants, Emigrants, and Locals in the Historical Formation of European Knowledge Agglomerations

TL;DR

This study analyzes how immigrant and emigrant knowledge contributions influenced the development of European regional specializations in arts, sciences, and other fields from 1000 to 2000, highlighting the significant role of migrants.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence that immigrant knowledge significantly impacts regional specialization, unlike local knowledge, using extensive historical data and fixed-effects models.

Findings

Immigrants' knowledge correlates with regional specialization growth.

Local knowledge shows no robust effect on specialization changes.

Migration patterns significantly influence the emergence of European knowledge hubs.

Abstract

Did migrants make Paris a Mecca for the arts and Vienna a beacon of classical music? Or was their rise a pure consequence of local actors? Here, we use data on more than 22,000 historical individuals born between the years 1000 and 2000 to estimate the contribution of famous immigrants, emigrants, and locals to the knowledge specializations of European regions. We find that the probability that a region develops or keeps specialization in an activity (based on the birth of famous physicists, painters, etc.) grows with both, the presence of immigrants with knowledge on that activity and immigrants with knowledge in related activities. In contrast, we do not find robust evidence that the presence of locals with related knowledge explains entries and/or exits. We address some endogeneity concerns using fixed-effects models considering any location-period-activity specific factors (e.g. the presence of a new university attracting scientists).