Doctoral Dissertation Research: When Technology Spillovers are Localized: Importance of Technological and Regional Attributes

研究和开发活动、创新、随后的技术变革和溢出效应是影响经济发展的重要因素。新增长理论强调技术溢出和随后的规模效应的作用，这导致规模回报和长期增长的增加。然而，研究和开发可能不是区域增长的充分条件。虽然研究与开发一直被认为是技术进步的最重要因素，并通过溢出效应提高生产率，但就区域经济而言，研究与开发本身并不能自动保证区域内的技术溢出，而技术溢出最终会推动区域经济增长。例如，在加利福尼亚引入的一项新创新可以在北卡罗来纳采用并实施，反之亦然。对区域经济来说，可能更重要的是创新活动所产生的外部性在地理边界内本地化的程度。学术文献中有强有力的证据表明，研究和开发活动以及由此产生的新创新是生产率增长的源泉。越来越多的证据表明，处于这一机制核心的技术溢出效应往往是局部的。本博士论文研究项目将研究影响技术溢出的地理定位的技术和区域属性。本文主要研究了何种技术属性和区域属性会影响技术溢出的本地化程度和程度。本研究将使用美国专利商标局的专利引用数据和县域商业模式数据，并将应用联立方程建模技术来解释技术属性和区域属性对技术溢出本地化的相对重要性。该项目将有助于填补关于溢出效应和区域经济发展的文献空白。到目前为止，许多研究者的主要兴趣是表明技术创新往往会溢出空间，这种局部技术溢出会影响一个地区的生产力水平。技术和区域属性对地理技术溢出模式的影响研究相对较少。该项目还将为未来的科技政策制定提供指导。州和地方政府可以设计专门旨在促进影响地理技术溢出模式的重要区域属性的政策工具。如果了解技术属性如何影响溢出效应的局部化，可能会导致更有效的资源配置。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立研究生涯。

Research and development activities, innovations, subsequent technological changes, and spillovers are important factors that influence economic development. New growth theory emphasizes the role of technology spillovers and subsequent scale effects, which lead to increasing returns to scale and long-term growth. Research and development may not be a sufficient condition for regional growth, however. Although research and development has been considered the most important factor contributing to technological progress and hence productivity increase through spillover effects, when it comes to regional economies, research and development itself does not automatically guarantee technology spillovers within regions, which would eventually drive regional economic growth. For example, a new innovation introduced in California can be picked up and implemented in North Carolina, and vice versa. What may be more important to regional economies is the degree to which externalities created by innovative activities are localized within geographical boundaries. Strong evidence has been presented in the scholarly literature that research and development activities and consequent new innovations are the source of productivity growth. Evidence also has mounted that technology spillovers, which lie at the center of this mechanism, often are localized. This doctoral dissertation research project will examine technological and regional attributes that influence the geographic localization of technology spillovers. The study mainly focuses on what kinds of technological and regional attributes affect the degree to which technology spillovers are localized and how much. The study will use U.S. Patent and Trademark Office patent citation data and county business pattern data and will apply simultaneous equation modeling techniques to explain the relative importance of technological and regional attributes to the localization of technology spillovers.This project will help fill gaps in the literature on spillovers and regional economic development. So far, a major interest of many researchers has been to show that technological innovations often spill over space and that such localized technology spillovers affect the productivity level in a region. Relatively few considerations have been given to the influence of technological and regional attributes on geographical technology spillover patterns. The project also will provide guidance for future science and technology policy development. State and local governments can design policy instruments that specifically aim to promote important regional attributes influencing geographical technology spillover patterns. More efficient allocation of resources may result if it is known how technological attributes influence the localization of spillovers. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.