Cluster policy, innovation, and firm productivity. An econometric assessment of the Flemish Spearhead Cluster program

Pierluigi Angelino, Dirk Czarnitzki and Astrid Volckaert

No 741800, Working Papers of VIVES - Research Centre for Regional Economics from KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), VIVES - Research Centre for Regional Economics

Abstract: The Flemish government launched its Spearhead Cluster (SHC) policy in 2017. The aim is to boost strategic sectors by setting up cluster initiatives which coordinate collaborative R&D initiatives. In this paper, we analyze whether becoming a member of such a cluster initiative has an impact on the Total Factor Productivity (TFP) of the firm. We exploit firm-level data between 2013 and 2020 to estimate TFP and apply a difference-in-differences approach to assess the programs’ treatment effects. We find that becoming a member of a cluster has an average positive impact on firmlevel TFP of between 1 to 4.4 percent, depending on the econometric specification. These results are the first to provide an insight into the impact of the Flemish SHC policy on productivity.

Keywords: cluster associations; cluster policy; innovation policy; total factor productivity; conditional difference-in-difference (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35
Date: 2024-05-22
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eec, nep-eff and nep-sbm
Note: paper number MSI_2404
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Published in FEB Research Report MSI_2404, pages 1-35

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Working Paper: Cluster policy, innovation, and firm productivity. An econometric assessment of the Flemish Spearhead Cluster program (2024)
Working Paper: Cluster policy, innovation, and firm productivity: An econometric assessment of the Flemish Spearhead Cluster Program (2024)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ete:vivwps:741800

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