Localized knowledge spillovers: Evidence from the spatial clustering of R&D labs and patent citations

Kristy Buzard, Gerald Carlino, Robert Hunt, Jake K. Carr and Tony E. Smith

Regional Science and Urban Economics, 2020, vol. 81, issue C

Abstract: Buzard et al. (2017) show that American R&D labs are highly spatially concentrated even within a given metropolitan area. We argue that the geography of their clusters is better suited for studying knowledge spillovers than are states, metropolitan areas, or other political or administrative boundaries that have predominantly been used in previous studies. In this paper, we assign patents and citations to these newly defined clusters of R&D labs. Our tests show that the localization of knowledge spillovers, as measured via patent citations, is strongest at small spatial scales and diminishes with distance. On average, patents within a cluster are about two to four times more likely to cite an inventor in the same cluster than one in a control group. Of import, we find that the degree of localization of knowledge spillovers will be understated in samples based on metropolitan area definitions compared to samples based on the R&D clusters. At the same time, the strength of knowledge spillovers varies widely between clusters. The results are robust to the specification of patent technological categories, the method of citation matching, and alternate cluster definitions.

Keywords: Spatial clustering; Geographic concentration; R&D labs; Localized knowledge spillovers; Patent citations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O31 R12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Localized Knowledge Spillovers: Evidence from the Spatial Clustering of R&D Labs and Patent Citations (2017)
Working Paper: Localized Knowledge Spillovers: Evidence from the Spatial Clustering of R&D Labs and Patent Citations (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:regeco:v:81:y:2020:i:c:s0166046217303022

DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2019.103490

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