Essays on the Economics and Geography of Technological Diversification

The thesis explores the diversity-development nexus in different contexts, both from theoretical and empirical points of view. It shows that having access to a diversified knowledge base helps cities and regions to recover from exogenous shocks, and even to reinvent themselves. It describes the fundamental role of diversity in letting economic systems get access to the most sophisticated and valuable productions. However, it also shows the urgency of equipping ourselves with a more in-depth definition of diversity and more reliable instruments to go even deeper into the question and measure the many angles of this faceted concept.