Recombinant Innovation, Novel Ideas, and the Start of Nobel Prize-Winning Work

John Ham, Brian Quistorff and Bruce A. Weinberg

No 33579, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We draw on a recombinant view of innovation, where being in a new location and/or multiple locations leads to exposure to novel combinations of ideas that increase the creativity of top scientists. Using a rich, unique dataset we helped assemble, we estimate the empirical relationship between being in a new location and/or multiple locations and the expected interval before an eventual Nobel laureate (ENL) commences their prize-winning work. We find that being in a new location and in multiple locations are substantially and significantly associated with a shorter expected interval before ENLs commence their prize-winning work.

JEL-codes: C41 O31 O38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ino, nep-sbm and nep-tid
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Published as John C. Ham & Brian Quistorff & Bruce A. Weinberg, 2025. "Recombinant Innovation, Novel Ideas, and the Start of Nobel Prize–Winning Work," International Economic Review, vol 66(2), pages 965-979.

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