The Political Economy of Skill Formation in European Cross-Border Regions

Cross-border regions represent a central feature of Europe. A key example is the trinational German-French-Swiss Upper Rhine region – one of Europe's most dynamic cross-border industry clusters, which is well-known especially for its chemical, pharmaceutical, and life sciences industries. Importantly, each of the three bordering countries displays a specific mode of regulation with regard to its national model of capitalism and skill formation system. How do public and private actors govern skill formation in this industry cluster in which national political-administrative units do not overlap with the functional needs of employers and (future) employees? This comparative-institutional analysis brings together the literatures on varieties of capitalism, local production systems, skill formation and migration. It finds two main mechanisms through which cross-border skill formation is institutionalized: (a) the strategic utilization of complementarities between distinct educational institutions in each part of the cluster and (b) the construction of cross-border collective competition goods in the form of joint transnational educational institutions. Through these mechanisms, actors in cross-border clusters are in a position to enlarge the scope and capacities of their skill regime far beyond national borders.