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Higher Education, Localization and Innovation: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Andersson, Roland

    (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology)

  • John M. Quigley, John M.

    (University of CaliforniaBerkeley, CA, USA)

  • Wilhelmsson, Mats

    (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology)

Abstract

During the past fifteen years, government policy has decentralized post-secondary education in Sweden. We investigate the economic effects of this decentralization policy on the level of innovation and its spatial distribution in the Swedish economy. We rely upon micro data on patent activity over time, which records the home address of each patent awardee during the past eight years. These measures of innovation, together with data documenting the decentralization of university-based researchers and students, permit us to estimate the effects of exogenous changes in educational policy upon the extent and locus of innovative activity. We find important and significant effects of this policy upon the locus of knowledge production, suggesting that the decentralization has affected regional development through local innovation and increased creativity. We also find some evidence that this policy has affected the aggregate output of “knowledge industries.”

Suggested Citation

  • Andersson, Roland & John M. Quigley, John M. & Wilhelmsson, Mats, 2005. "Higher Education, Localization and Innovation: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 26, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0026
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Carlino, Gerald & Kerr, William R., 2015. "Agglomeration and Innovation," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 349-404, Elsevier.
    2. Gerald A. Carlino & Robert M. Hunt, 2009. "What explains the quantity and quality of local inventive activity?," Working Papers 09-12, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    3. Roland Andersson, 2005. "The efficiency of Swedish regional policy," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 39(4), pages 811-832, December.
    4. Carlino, Gerald A. & Chatterjee, Satyajit & Hunt, Robert M., 2007. "Urban density and the rate of invention," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 389-419, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Higher Education; Localization; Innovation; Natural Experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N34 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: 1913-
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

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