Do Patents Weaken the Localization of Innovations? Evidence from World's Fairs

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Stanford University; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050711001562
• 发表日期: 2011
• 页码: 363-382
• 关键词: research-and-development; technical knowledge; spillovers; geography; invention; industry; PROPERTY

摘要

This article takes advantage of an exogenous shift towards patenting in chemicals to test whether patents contribute to the geographic diffusion of innovations. Data on U. S. innovations that were exhibited at four world fairs between 1851 and 1915 suggest that innovative activity became less localized after patenting rates increased. These changes cannot be explained by changes in the localization of chemical production or economy-wide changes in the localization of innovations.