Resilience, Skill Endowment, and Diversity: Evidence from US Metropolitan Areas

Abstract

This article investigates the role of technological, industrial, and human capital composition in shaping short-term regional resilience in the wake of the Great Recession of 2008. Using data on 295 US Metropolitan Statistical Areas over the period 2008–14, we find that the most resilient regions feature a very diversified industrial structure. At the same time, an excess of technological diversity thwarts the ability to absorb external shocks. Lastly, a high endowment of high-level abstract skills is positively correlated with regional resilience, though the moderating effect of technological diversity is negative.