Recessions, institutions, and regional exploration

Amit Kumar and Elisa Operti

Research Policy, 2025, vol. 54, issue 3

Abstract: This paper investigates how recessions affect regional exploration, defined as innovation in technologies that extend beyond a region's existing knowledge base. By analyzing USPTO patent data from 2002 to 2015 across the United States, we demonstrate that regional exploration is counter-cyclical. We further examine whether changes in regional institutions – specifically, public R&D, university R&D, and banking – partially mediate the effect of recessions on regional exploration. Our results indicate that only the increasing predominance of international banks in regional banking systems serves a partial mediator. These findings broaden our understanding of how business cycles impact innovation, suggesting that recessions may encourage the creation of new technological trajectories within regions. Furthermore, our study identifies which institutional factors during recessions support regional exploration, enhancing a region's potential for future growth and adaptability.

Keywords: Recession; Technological exploration; Regional innovation; Institutions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733325000186
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:respol:v:54:y:2025:i:3:s0048733325000186

DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2025.105189

Access Statistics for this article

Research Policy is currently edited by M. Bell, B. Martin, W.E. Steinmueller, A. Arora, M. Callon, M. Kenney, S. Kuhlmann, Keun Lee and F. Murray

More articles in Research Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().