The properties of local knowledge bases and entrepreneurship: Evidence from Italian NUTS 3 regions

Alessandra Colombelli and Francesco Quatraro

No 1303, Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) from Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography

Abstract: This paper investigates the relationship between the creation of new firms and the properties of the local knowledge bases, like coherence, cognitive distance and variety. By combining the literature on the knowledge spillovers of entrepreneurship and that on the recombinant knowledge approach, we posit that locally available knowledge matters to the entrepreneurial process, but the type of knowledge underlying theses dynamics deserve to be analyzed. The analysis is carried out on 104 Italian NUTS 3 regions observed over the time span 1995-2011. The results confirm that local knowledge is important, and suggest that the creation of new firms in Italy is associated to the exploitation of well established technological trajectories grounded on competences accumulated over time, rather than to the commercialization of brand new knowledge.

Keywords: Knowledge Coherence; Variety; Cognitive Distance; Italy; Knowledge-Spillovers Theory of Entrepreneurship; New Firms; Recombinant Knowledge (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L26 M13 O33 R11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2013-03, Revised 2013-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-cse, nep-cwa, nep-ent, nep-geo, nep-ino, nep-knm, nep-sbm and nep-ure
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:egu:wpaper:1303

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