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Research Proximity and Productivity: Long-Term Evidence from Agriculture

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  • Shawn Kantor
  • Alexander Whalley

Abstract

We use the late nineteenth-century establishment of agricultural experiment stations at preexisting land-grant colleges across the United States to estimate the importance of proximity to research for productivity growth. Our analysis reveals that proximity to newly opened permanent stations affected land productivity for about 20 years and then subsequently declined until becoming largely absent today. We conclude that spatial frictions substantially reduced the rate of return to public research spending in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but such frictions significantly diminished as extension programs, automobiles, and telephones made it easier for discoveries to reach farther farms.

Suggested Citation

  • Shawn Kantor & Alexander Whalley, 2019. "Research Proximity and Productivity: Long-Term Evidence from Agriculture," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(2), pages 819-854.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jpolec:doi:10.1086/701035
    DOI: 10.1086/701035
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    Cited by:

    1. Nina Boberg-Fazlić & Paul Sharp, 2024. "Immigrant Communities and Knowledge Spillovers: Danish Americans and the Development of the Dairy Industry in the United States," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(1), pages 102-146, January.
    2. Luisa Gagliardi & Enrico Moretti & Michel Serafinelli, 2023. "The World’s Rust Belts: The Heterogeneous Effects of Deindustrialization on 1,993 Cities in Six Countries," CESifo Working Paper Series 10826, CESifo.
    3. Valero, Anna & Van Reenen, John, 2019. "The economic impact of universities: Evidence from across the globe," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 53-67.
    4. Michael J. Andrews, 2020. "Local Effects of Land Grant Colleges on Agricultural Innovation and Output," NBER Chapters, in: Economics of Research and Innovation in Agriculture, pages 139-175, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Melissa Rubio-Ramos, 2022. "From Plantations to Prisons: The Race Gap in Incarceration After the Abolition of Slavery in the U.S," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 195, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    6. Toni Ahnert & Sebastian Doerr & Mr. Nicola Pierri & Mr. Yannick Timmer, 2021. "Does IT Help? Information Technology in Banking and Entrepreneurship," IMF Working Papers 2021/214, International Monetary Fund.
    7. Li, Ya-Wei (Jake), 2020. "When Does Critical Habitat Designation Benefit Species Recovery?," Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University 307170, Center for Growth and Opportunity.
    8. Lee, Jongkwan, 2021. "The Role of a University in Cluster Formation: Evidence from a National Institute of Science and Technology in Korea," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    9. Camilo Acosta & Luis Baldomero-Quintana, 2024. "Quality of communications infrastructure, local structural transformation, and inequality," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 24(1), pages 117-144.
    10. Hanlon, W.Walker & Heblich, Stephan, 2022. "History and urban economics," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    11. Brian Lucking & Nicholas Bloom & John Van Reenen, 2019. "Have R&D Spillovers Declined in the 21st Century?," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(4), pages 561-590, December.
    12. Howard, Greg & Weinstein, Russell, 2022. ""Workhorses of Opportunity": Regional Universities Increase Local Social Mobility," IZA Discussion Papers 15622, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Andrews, Michael J. & Whalley, Alexander, 2022. "150 years of the geography of innovation," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    14. Gathmann, Christina & Berlingieri, Francesco & Quinckhardt, Matthias, 2022. "College Openings and Local Economic Development," CEPR Discussion Papers 17374, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. Adalgiso Amendola & Cristian Barra & Roberto Zotti, 2020. "Does graduate human capital production increase local economic development? An instrumental variable approach," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(5), pages 959-994, November.
    16. Barbara Biasi & Song Ma, 2022. "The Education-Innovation Gap," CESifo Working Paper Series 9653, CESifo.
    17. Bird, Samuel S. & Carter, Michael R. & Lybbert, Travis J. & Mathenge, Mary & Njagi, Timothy & Tjernström, Emilia, 2022. "Filling a niche? The maize productivity impacts of adaptive breeding by a local seed company in Kenya," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    18. Luisa Gagliardi & Enrico Moretti & Michel Serafinelli, 2023. "The World’s Rust Belts: The Heterogeneous Effects of Deindustrialization on 1,993 Cities in Six Countries," Working Paper series 23-17, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    19. Luisa Gagliardi,, "undated". "The World’s Rust Belts: The Heterogeneous Effects of Deindustrialization on 1,993 Cities in Six Countries," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 2317, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    20. Chunfang Yang & Hengyuan Zeng & Yifeng Zhang, 2022. "Are Socialized Services of Agricultural Green Production Conducive to the Reduction in Fertilizer Input? Empirical Evidence from Rural China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-16, November.
    21. Amendola, Adalgiso & Barra, Cristian & Zotti, Roberto, 2020. "Human Capital, Good Government and Economic Development: Evidence from Italian Provinces," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 202023, University of Turin.
    22. Petra Moser, 2021. "Economics of Research and Innovation in Agriculture," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number mose-1, March.
    23. Eunhee Sohn, 2021. "How Local Industry R&D Shapes Academic Research: Evidence from the Agricultural Biotechnology Revolution," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(3), pages 675-707, May.
    24. Gagliardi, Luisa & Moretti, Enrico & Serafinelli, Michel, 2023. "The World's Rust Belts: The Heterogeneous Effects of Deindustrialization on 1,993 Cities in Six Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 16648, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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