The Geography of Inventors and Local Knowledge Spillovers in R&D
October 2024
Working Paper Number:
CES-24-59
Abstract
I causally estimate local knowledge spillovers in R&D and quantify their importance when implementing R&D policies. Using a new administrative panel on German inventors, I estimate these spillovers by isolating quasi-exogenous variation from the arrival of East German inventors across West Germany after the Reunification of Germany in 1990. Increasing the number of inventors by 1% increases inventor productivity by 0.4%. I build a spatial model of innovation, and show that these spillovers are crucial when reducing migration costs for inventors or implementing R&D subsidies to promote economic activity.
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estimation,
investment,
endogeneity,
estimating,
industrial,
growth,
technological,
invention,
specialization,
innovation,
inventory,
patent,
subsidy,
unobserved,
spillover,
patenting,
externality,
prospect
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