Capitale umano e distretti industriali: istruzione ed esperienza lavorativa in Lombardia e in Italia

The authors examine the role of human capital and education in the development of industrial districts. On the basis of conceptualization schemes of learning processes and the distinction between codified and tacit knowledge, the paper considers the interaction between formal education and work experience for employability. This relationship is empirically tested on firms in Lombardy and in Italy through econometric analysis using the Excelsior database. Findings show relevant differences between the demand for tacit knowledge, typical of districts and SMEs, and the demand for codified knowledge, typical of large firms. More specifically, the analysis demonstrates that the level of codified knowledge, related to formal education, demanded by firms depends on the size of the company and the degree of the province’s economic development. Moreover, while in the rest of Italy a firm belonging to an industrial district has a lower demand of highly educated workers, for firms in Lombardy to belong to a district does not change the decision to hire workers with highly codified knowledge.