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Isolating Personal Knowledge Spillovers: Coinventor Deaths and Spatial Citation Differentials

Author

Listed:
  • Benjamin Balsmeier
  • Lee Fleming
  • Sonja Lück

Abstract

We propose a new method to estimate and isolate the localization of knowledge spillovers due to the physical presence of a person, using after-application but pre-grant deaths of differently located coinventors of the same patent. The approach estimates the differences in local citations between the deceased and still-living inventors at increasingly distant radii. Patents receive 26 percent fewer citations from within a radius of 20 miles around the deceased, relative to still-living coinventors. Differences attenuate with time and distance, are stronger when still-living coinventors live farther from the deceased, and hold for a subsample of possibly premature deaths.

Suggested Citation

  • Benjamin Balsmeier & Lee Fleming & Sonja Lück, 2023. "Isolating Personal Knowledge Spillovers: Coinventor Deaths and Spatial Citation Differentials," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 21-34, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aerins:v:5:y:2023:i:1:p:21-34
    DOI: 10.1257/aeri.20210275
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Balsmeier, B. & Lück, S. & Fleming, L., 2025. "Science knowledge localizes," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(10).
    2. Bahar, Dany & Choudhury, Prithwiraj & Miguelez, Ernest & Signorelli, Sara, 2024. "Global Mobile Inventors," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    3. Giebel, Marek & Rösner, Anja, 2025. "Reaching for the society: The commercialization effects of NASA technology licensing," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(10).
    4. Anisfeld, Ari & Rosenthal-Kay, Jordan, 2025. "How local is local development? Evidence from casinos," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    5. Lindquist, Matthew & Patacchini, Eleonora & Vlassopoulos, Michael & Zenou, Yves, 2024. "Spillovers in Criminal Networks: Evidence from Co-Offender Deaths," CEPR Discussion Papers 19159, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    6. Felix Poege & Fabian Gaessler & Karin Hoisl & Dietmar Harhoff & Matthias Dorner, 2026. "Filling the Gap: The Consequences of Collaborator Loss in Corporate R&D," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 72(2), pages 1616-1635, February.
    7. Edilberto Almeida & Raul da Mota Silveira Neto & Roberta de Moraes Rocha, 2026. "The spatial extent of human capital spillovers: evidence from the Brazilian labor market," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 75(1), pages 1-41, March.
    8. Astorne, Carmen & Lee, Joonhyung, 2025. "Tacit knowledge in management roles: Evidence from the use of expatriates in South Korean MNCs," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 237(C).
    9. Rongxin Xu & Yibai Yang & Zhijie Zheng, 2024. "Intellectual property rights, taxation, and firms’ innovation: theory and evidence from China," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 142(1), pages 81-109, June.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital
    • R32 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Other Spatial Production and Pricing Analysis

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