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Technological Diversity and Jacobs' Externality Hypothesis Revisited

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  • OLOF EJERMO

Abstract

Recent empirical evidence strongly supports Jacobs's (1969) externality hypothesis that urban diversity provides a more favorable environment for economic development than urban specialization. In order to correctly gauge Jacobs's hypothesis, economic development should be understood as a result of innovations. Furthermore, a relevant diversity measure should take into account the degree of diversity of the inherent classes (e.g. pharmaceuticals are closer to chemicals than to forestry). These ideas are tested using regionally classified Swedish patent application data as a measure of innovativeness. Patent data are also used to reflect technological diversity. The results show that the number of patent applications in Swedish regions is highly and positively dependent on regional technological specialization, quite the opposite of Jacobs's prediction. This paper raises general questions about earlier empirical results. It is concluded that the size of regions is an important factor to consider, since this in itself may affect patenting intensity and technological diversity. Copyright 2005 Blackwell Publishing Ltd..

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File URL: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1468-2257.2005.00273.x
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Article provided by Wiley Blackwell in its journal Growth and Change.

Volume (Year): 36 (2005)
Issue (Month): 2 ()
Pages: 167-195

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Handle: RePEc:bla:growch:v:36:y:2005:i:2:p:167-195
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Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
  • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
  • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General
  • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

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Cited by:

  1. Matthias Firgo & Peter Mayerhofer, 2016. "(Un-)Related Variety and Employment Growth at the Sub-Regional Level," WIFO Working Papers 511, WIFO.
  2. Arauzo Carod, Josep Maria & Faggian, Alessandra & Mañé Vernet, Ferran, 2010. "Internal and External Determinants of Radical and incremental Innovation in SMEs: the case of Catalonia," Working Papers 2072/179605, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.
  3. Annapoornima M. Subramanian & Young Rok Choi & Soo-Hoon Lee & Chang-Chieh Hang, 2016. "Linking technological and educational level diversities to innovation performance," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 182-204, April.
  4. Matthias Firgo & Peter Mayerhofer, 2015. "Wissens-Spillovers und regionale Entwicklung - welche strukturpolitische Ausrichtung optimiert des Wachstum?," Working Paper Reihe der AK Wien - Materialien zu Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft 144, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik.
  5. Wixe, Sofia & Andersson, Martin, 2013. "Which Types of Relatedness Matter in Regional Growth? - Industry, occupation and education," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 332, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
  6. Feldman , Maryann P. & Tavassoli , Sam, 2015. "Something New: Where do new industries come from?," Papers in Innovation Studies 2015/49, Lund University, CIRCLE - Center for Innovation, Research and Competences in the Learning Economy.
  7. Livanis, Grigorios & Lamin, Anna, 2016. "Knowledge, Proximity and R&D Exodus," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 8-26.
  8. Andrea Morescalchi & Sjoerd Hardeman, 2015. "Technological diversity and the impact of regional innovation: evidence for the EU," ERSA conference papers ersa15p1250, European Regional Science Association.
  9. Tavassoli, Sam & Carbonara , Nunzia, 2013. "The Role of Knowledge Variety and Intensity for Regional Innovative Capability," Papers in Innovation Studies 2013/34, Lund University, CIRCLE - Center for Innovation, Research and Competences in the Learning Economy.
  10. Carolina Castaldi & Koen Frenken & Bart Los, 2013. "Related Variety, Unrelated Variety and Technological Breakthroughs: an analysis of U.S. state-level patenting," Working Papers 13-03, Eindhoven Center for Innovation Studies, revised Feb 2013.
  11. Ning, Lutao & Wang, Fan & Li, Jian, 2016. "Urban innovation, regional externalities of foreign direct investment and industrial agglomeration: Evidence from Chinese cities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 830-843.
  12. Ron Boschma & Pierre-Alexandre Balland & Dieter Franz Kogler, 2015. "Relatedness and technological change in cities: the rise and fall of technological knowledge in US metropolitan areas from 1981 to 2010," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press, vol. 24(1), pages 223-250.

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