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We compare the geographic location of patent citations with that of the cited patents, as evidence of the extent to which knowledge spillovers are geographically localized. We find that citations to domestic patents are more likely to be domestic, and more likely to come from the same state and SMSA as the cited patents, compared with a 'control frequency' reflecting the pre-existing concentration of related research activity. These effects are particularly significant at the local (SMSA) level. Localization fades over time, but only very slowly. There is no evidence that more 'basic' inventions diffuse more rapidly than others., The last decade has seen the development of a significant body of empirical research on R&D spillovers.(1) Generally speaking, this research has shown that the productivity of firms or industries [...]

We develop a methodology for testing Hicks's induced innovation hypothesis by estimating a product-characteristics model of energy-using consumer durables, augmenting the hypothesis to allow for the influence of government regulations. For the products we explored, the evidence suggests that (i) the rate of overall innovation was independent of energy prices and regulations; (ii) the direction of innovation was responsive to energy price changes for some products but not for others; (iii) energy price changes induced changes in the subset of technically feasible models that were offered for sale; (iv) this responsiveness increased substantially during the period after energy-efficiency product labeling was required; and (v) nonetheless, a sizable portion of efficiency improvements were autonomous., I. INTRODUCTION There is currently much interest in the potential for public policies to reduce energy consumption because of concerns about global climate change linked with the combustion of fossil [...]

Despite their magnitude and potential impact, federal R&D expenditures outside of research universities have attracted little economic scrutiny. We examine the initiatives since 1980 to encourage patenting and technology transfer [...]

The last 2 decades have witnessed a dramatic increase in the use of patent citation data in social science research. Facilitated by digitization of the patent data and increasing computing power, a community of practice has grown up that has developed methods for using these data to: measure attributes of innovations such as impact and originality; to trace flows of knowledge across individuals, institutions and regions; and to map innovation networks. The objective of this article is threefold. First, it takes stock of these main uses. Second, it discusses 4 pitfalls associated with patent citation data, related to office, time and technology, examiner, and strategic effects. Third, it highlights gaps in our understanding and offers directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is wide agreement that the high social rate of return to research and innovation justifies government support for research. There is, however, only limited evidence on the effectiveness of different public research programmes. Reliable measurement of programme effectiveness is hampered by the ‘selectivity’ problem (public funding goes to proposals judged in advance to be likely to succeed) and the question of ‘additivity’ (whether public funding increases total spending on research or merely displaces funding from other sources). The selectivity problem can be mitigated by building evaluation into programme design, either by partial randomization of the grant process, or by recording the rankings used in grant evaluation and making this information available to researchers. The additivity question reflects the more fundamental problem that the ultimate objective of these programmes is to have long‐term effects that are inherently very difficult to measure and attribute to particular programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In a 1991 essay in Scientific American, Michael Porter suggested that environmental regulation may have a positive effect on the performance of domestic firms relative to their foreign competitors by stimulating domestic innovation. We examine the stylized facts regarding environmental expenditures and innovation in a panel of manufacturing industries. We find that lagged environmental compliance expenditures have a significant positive effect on R&D expenditures when we control for unobserved industry-specific effects. We find little evidence, however, that industries' inventive output (as measured by successful patent applications) is related to compliance costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract--The effects of technological opportunity, market demand and R&D spillovers on R&D intensity and productivity growth are quantified. It is shown that all three factors have significant effects on R&D demand; with respect to productivity growth, it is not possible to distinguish demand and technological opportunity effects, but spillovers are important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]