How does municipal governance structure affect innovation and knowledge diffusion? Evidence from U.S. metro areas

Gary A. Wagner () and Timothy M. Komarek ()
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Gary A. Wagner: University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Timothy M. Komarek: Old Dominion University

Economics of Governance, 2023, vol. 24, issue 3, No 3, 287-330

Abstract: Abstract As declining state and federal aid forces regional governments to become more self-reliant, there is new interest in understanding factors that support regional resilience to economic and natural disasters. Using a sample of 365 metropolitan statistical areas, we examine one such factor: how regional government fragmentation shapes patented innovation, a known mechanism for bolstering resilience. While we find no evidence that the number of general-purpose governments (per capita) impact regional innovation, we do find that regions with a higher density of special-purpose governments have less inclusive innovation. This is true in terms both of who does the inventing and what is invented. Previous research links higher numbers of special-purpose government units to weaker economic performance; our results suggest higher numbers may also hinder regions’ abilities to adapt to disruptions.

Keywords: Fragmentation; Polycentricity; Regional resilience; Innovation; Economic development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H1 H77 O3 R5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10101-022-00286-x

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