Knowledge spillovers and total factor productivity. Evidence using a spatial panel data model
Manfred Fischer,
Thomas Scherngell and
Martin Reismann
MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany
Abstract:
This article investigates the impact of knowledge capital stocks on total factor productivity (TFP) through the lens of the knowledge capital model proposed by Griliches (1979), augmented with a spatially discounted cross‐region knowledge spillover pool variable. The objective is to shift attention from firms and industries to regions and to estimate the impact of cross‐region knowledge spillovers on TFP in Europe. The dependent variable is the region‐level TFP, measured in terms of the superlative TFP index suggested by Caves, Christensen, and Diewert (1982). This index describes how efficiently each region transforms physical capital and labor into output. The explanatory variables are internal and out‐of‐region stocks of knowledge, the latter capturing the contribution of cross‐region knowledge spillovers. We construct patent stocks to proxy annual regional knowledge capital stocks for N=203 regions during 1997–2002. In estimating the effects, we implement a spatial panel data model that controls for spatial autocorrelation as well as individual heterogeneity across regions. The findings provide a fairly remarkable confirmation of the role of knowledge capital contributing to productivity differences among regions and add an important spatial dimension to discussions in the literature by showing that productivity effects of knowledge spillovers increase with geographic proximity.
Keywords: C23; O49; O52; R15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C23 O49 O52 R15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (51)
Published in Geographical Analysis 2.41(2009): pp. 204-220
Downloads: (external link)
https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/107663/1/MPRA_paper_107663.pdf original version (application/pdf)
Related works:
Working Paper: Knowledge spillovers and total factor productivity. Evidence using a spatial panel data model (2008) 
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:pra:mprapa:107663
Access Statistics for this paper
More papers in MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany Ludwigstraße 33, D-80539 Munich, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Joachim Winter ().