High-tech employment and transportation: Evidence from the European regions

Abstract

High technology sectors are typically open to external inputs, resources, and knowledge spillovers. We study the impact of transportation, which is essential for providing external links to regional and global markets, on high- tech employment. We draw on a sample of 182 European regions for the period 2002-2010. By implementing a dynamic panel-data estimator, we find that the density of motorways and the number of air services promote employment growth, yet only the latter remains consistent. Interestingly, network carriers have a greater impact than low cost carriers. In contrast, high-speed rail does not seem to impact on employment.