Cultural and Creative Industries and Regional Diversification. Does Size Matter?

This article aims at analyzing how the presence of workers employed in cultural and creative industries (CCIs) is related to regional specialized diversification. From a theoretical perspective, CCIs drive economic development and local innovative capacity by facilitating processes of cross‐fertilization of ideas. This study estimates an entry model analyzing the ability of Italian provinces to successfully create new sectoral specializations. The results indicate that the relationship between the share of employees in CCIs and the probability of creating new sectoral specializations is non‐linear, highlighting the need for CCIs‐led policies to achieve a certain level of critical mass to be successful.