Reversed Citations and the Localization of Knowledge Spillovers

Ashish Arora (), Sharon Belenzon and Honggi Lee

No 23036, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Spillover of knowledge is considered to be an important cause of agglomeration of inventive activity. Many studies argue that knowledge spillovers are localized based on the observation that patents tend to cite nearby patents disproportionately. Specifically, patent citations are interpreted as mapping the transmission of knowledge from the cited invention to the citing invention. The localization of patent citations is therefore taken as evidence that such knowledge transmission is also localized. Localization of knowledge transmission, however, may not be the only reason for why patent citations are localized. Using a set of citations that are unlikely to be associated with knowledge transmission from the cited to the citing invention, we present evidence that challenges the view that localization of citations is driven by localized knowledge transmission. Though localized knowledge transmission may well exist, it is unlikely to be captured by patent citations

JEL-codes: O32 O34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ino, nep-ipr, nep-knm, nep-sbm, nep-tid and nep-ure
Note: PR
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published as Ashish Arora & Sharon Belenzon & Honggi Lee, 2018. "Reversed citations and the localization of knowledge spillovers," Journal of Economic Geography, vol 18(3), pages 495-521.

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Journal Article: Reversed citations and the localization of knowledge spillovers (2018)
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