IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/upf/upfgen/1520.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Did cheaper flights change the direction of science?

Author

Abstract

We test how a reduction in travel cost affects the rate and direction of scientific research. Using a fine-grained, scientist-level dataset within chemistry (1991-2012), we find that after Southwest Airlines enters a new route, scientific collaboration increases by 50%, an effect that is magnified when weighting output by quality. The benefits from the lower fares, however, are not uniform across scientist types: younger scientists and scientists that are more productive than their local peers respond the most. Thus, cheaper flights, by reducing frictions otherwise induced by geography and allowing for additional face-to-face interactions, seem to enable better matches over distance.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Catalini & Christian Fons-Rosen & Patrick Gaulé, 2016. "Did cheaper flights change the direction of science?," Economics Working Papers 1520, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    • Handle: RePEc:upf:upfgen:1520
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://econ-papers.upf.edu/papers/1520.pdf
    File Function: Whole Paper
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Adams, James D. & Black, Grant C. & Clemmons, J. Roger & Stephan, Paula E., 2005. "Scientific teams and institutional collaborations: Evidence from U.S. universities, 1981-1999," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 259-285, April.
    2. Kim, E. Han & Morse, Adair & Zingales, Luigi, 2009. "Are elite universities losing their competitive edge?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(3), pages 353-381, September.
    3. Ajay Agrawal & Avi Goldfarb, 2008. "Restructuring Research: Communication Costs and the Democratization of University Innovation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(4), pages 1578-1590, September.
    4. Tanya S. Rosenblat & Markus M. Mobius, 2004. "Getting Closer or Drifting Apart?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(3), pages 971-1009.
    5. Gaspar, Jess & Glaeser, Edward L., 1998. "Information Technology and the Future of Cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 136-156, January.
    6. Michael Storper & Anthony J. Venables, 2004. "Buzz: face-to-face contact and the urban economy," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(4), pages 351-370, August.
    7. Austan Goolsbee & Chad Syverson, 2008. "How Do Incumbents Respond to the Threat of Entry? Evidence from the Major Airlines," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(4), pages 1611-1633.
    8. Jacques Mairesse & Laure Turner, 2006. "Measurement and Explanation of the Intensity of Co-publication in Scientific Research: An Analysis at the Laboratory Level," Chapters, in: Cristiano Antonelli & Dominique Foray & Bronwyn H. Hall & W. Edward Steinmueller (ed.), New Frontiers in the Economics of Innovation and New Technology, chapter 10, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Chris Forman & Nicolas van Zeebroeck, 2012. "From Wires to Partners: How the Internet Has Fostered R&D Collaborations Within Firms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(8), pages 1549-1568, August.
    10. Richard B. Freeman & Ina Ganguli & Raviv Murciano-Goroff, 2014. "Why and Wherefore of Increased Scientific Collaboration," NBER Chapters, in: The Changing Frontier: Rethinking Science and Innovation Policy, pages 17-48, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Kevin J. Boudreau & Tom Brady & Ina Ganguli & Patrick Gaule & Eva Guinan & Anthony Hollenberg & Karim R. Lakhani, 2017. "A Field Experiment on Search Costs and the Formation of Scientific Collaborations," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 99(4), pages 565-576, July.
    12. Waverly W. Ding & Sharon G. Levin & Paula E. Stephan & Anne E. Winkler, 2010. "The Impact of Information Technology on Academic Scientists' Productivity and Collaboration Patterns," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(9), pages 1439-1461, September.
    13. Steven A. Morrison, 2001. "Actual, Adjacent, and Potential Competition Estimating the Full Effect of Southwest Airlines," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 35(2), pages 239-256, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Filipe Campante & David Yanagizawa-Drott, 2018. "Long-Range Growth: Economic Development in the Global Network of Air Links," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 133(3), pages 1395-1458.
    2. Dong, Xiaofang & Zheng, Siqi & Kahn, Matthew E., 2020. "The role of transportation speed in facilitating high skilled teamwork across cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    3. Yongqiang Chu & Xuan Tian & Wenyu Wang, 2019. "Corporate Innovation Along the Supply Chain," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(6), pages 2445-2466, June.
    4. Yafei Xu & Guoli Ou, 2022. "Does High-Speed Railway Promote the Level of Human Capital? An Empirical Analysis Based on Three Urban Agglomerations in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-17, October.
    5. Söderlund, Bengt, 2023. "The importance of business travel for trade: Evidence from the liberalization of the Soviet airspace," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    6. Ma, Liya & Niu, Dongxiao & Sun, Weizeng, 2021. "Transportation infrastructure and entrepreneurship: Evidence from high-speed railway in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    7. Söderlund, Bengt, 2020. "The Importance of Business Travel for Trade: Evidence from the Liberalization of the Soviet Airspace," Working Paper Series 1355, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    8. Jian Gao & Bogang Jun & Alex Sandy Pentland & Tao Zhou & Cesar A. Hidalgo, 2017. "Collective Learning in China's Regional Economic Development Formations of Co-Inventors During the Dot-com Bubble in the Research Triangle Region," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1706, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Mar 2017.
    9. Battiston, Diego & Blanes i Vidal, Jordi & Kirchmaier, Thomas, 2017. "Is distance dead? Face-to-face communication and productivity in teams," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 83603, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Xiaofang Dong & Siqi Zheng & Matthew E. Kahn, 2018. "The Role of Transportation Speed in Facilitating High Skilled Teamwork," NBER Working Papers 24539, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Duan, Liaoliao & Sun, Weizeng & Zheng, Siqi, 2020. "Transportation network and venture capital mobility: An analysis of air travel and high-speed rail in China," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    12. Yang, Xuehui & Zhang, Huirong & Li, Yan, 2022. "High-speed railway, factor flow and enterprise innovation efficiency: An empirical analysis on micro data," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 82(PB).
    13. Amarante, Veronica & Zurbrigg, Julieta, 2022. "The marginalization of southern researchers in Development," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 26(C).
    14. Yang, Xuehui & Zhang, Huirong & Lin, Shanlang & Zhang, Jiaping & Zeng, Jianlong, 2021. "Does high-speed railway promote regional innovation growth or innovation convergence?," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    15. Wang, Jiating & Cai, Siyuan, 2020. "The construction of high-speed railway and urban innovation capacity: Based on the perspective of knowledge Spillover," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    16. Lukas Kuld & John O’Hagan, 2018. "Rise of multi-authored papers in economics: Demise of the ‘lone star’ and why?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 114(3), pages 1207-1225, March.
    17. Chao Li & Qian Zhou & Shi Chen, 2022. "Bringing Minds Together: High‐speed Railways, Team Building, and Innovation Collaboration," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 30(6), pages 34-58, November.
    18. Jian Gao & Bogang Jun & Alex Sandy Pentland & Tao Zhou & Cesar A. Hidalgo, 2017. "Collective Learning in China's Regional Economic Development," Papers 1703.01369, arXiv.org.
    19. Lukas Kuld & John O'Hagan, 2017. "Rise of Multi-authored Papers in Economics: Demise of the 'Lone Star' and Why?," Trinity Economics Papers tep0517, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christian Catalini & Christian Fons-Rosen & Patrick Gaulé, 2020. "How Do Travel Costs Shape Collaboration?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(8), pages 3340-3360, August.
    2. Hu, Guangyuan & Ni, Rong & Tang, Li, 2022. "Do international nonstop flights foster influential research? Evidence from Sino-US scientific collaboration," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(4).
    3. Forman, Chris & van Zeebroeck, Nicolas, 2019. "Digital technology adoption and knowledge flows within firms: Can the Internet overcome geographic and technological distance?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(8), pages 1-1.
    4. Carillo, Maria Rosaria & Papagni, Erasmo & Sapio, Alessandro, 2013. "Do collaborations enhance the high-quality output of scientific institutions? Evidence from the Italian Research Assessment Exercise," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 25-36.
    5. Chris Forman, 2013. "How has information technology use shaped the geography of economic activity?," Chapters, in: Frank Giarratani & Geoffrey J.D. Hewings & Philip McCann (ed.), Handbook of Industry Studies and Economic Geography, chapter 10, pages 253-270, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Raquel Campos & Fernanda Leon & Ben McQuillin, 2018. "Lost in the Storm: The Academic Collaborations That Went Missing in Hurricane ISSAC," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(610), pages 995-1018, May.
    7. Yiling Lin & Carl Benedikt Frey & Lingfei Wu, 2022. "Remote Collaboration Fuses Fewer Breakthrough Ideas," Papers 2206.01878, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2023.
    8. Chris Forman & Nicolas van Zeebroeck, 2012. "From Wires to Partners: How the Internet Has Fostered R&D Collaborations Within Firms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(8), pages 1549-1568, August.
    9. Winkler, Anne E. & Glänzel, Wolfgang & Levin, Sharon & Stephan, Paula, 2011. "The Diffusion of Information Technology and the Increased Propensity of Teams to Transcend Institutional and National Borders," IZA Discussion Papers 5857, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Davies, Benjamin & Gush, Jason & Hendy, Shaun C. & Jaffe, Adam B., 2022. "Research funding and collaboration," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(2).
    11. Fabian Waldinger, 2012. "Peer Effects in Science: Evidence from the Dismissal of Scientists in Nazi Germany," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 79(2), pages 838-861.
    12. Bosquet, Clément & Combes, Pierre-Philippe, 2013. "Do large departments make academics more productive? agglomeration and peer effects in research," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 58306, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/5f4gqlbaf382ua75f8et967s6a is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Bosquet, Clément & Combes, Pierre-Philippe, 2017. "Sorting and agglomeration economies in French economics departments," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 27-44.
    15. Ajay Agrawal & John McHale & Alexander Oettl, 2014. "Collaboration, Stars, and the Changing Organization of Science: Evidence from Evolutionary Biology," NBER Chapters, in: The Changing Frontier: Rethinking Science and Innovation Policy, pages 75-102, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. John V. Gray & Enno Siemsen & Gurneeta Vasudeva, 2015. "Colocation Still Matters: Conformance Quality and the Interdependence of R&D and Manufacturing in the Pharmaceutical Industry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(11), pages 2760-2781, November.
    17. Ajay Agrawal & Avi Goldfarb, 2008. "Restructuring Research: Communication Costs and the Democratization of University Innovation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(4), pages 1578-1590, September.
    18. Ding, Waverly W. & Levin, Sharon G. & Stephan, Paula E. & Winkler, Ann E., 2009. "The Impact of Information Technology on Scientists’ Productivity, Quality and Collaboration Patterns," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt80n3512q, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    19. Fauchart, Emmanuelle & Bacache-Beauvallet, Maya & Bourreau, Marc & Moreau, François, 2022. "Do-It-Yourself or Do-It-Together: How digital technologies affect creating alone or with others?," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    20. Christian Catalini, 2018. "Microgeography and the Direction of Inventive Activity," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(9), pages 4348-4364, September.
    21. Moritz Goldbeck, 2022. "Bit by Bit - Colocation and the Death of Distance in Software Developer Networks," ifo Working Paper Series 386, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    scientific collaboration; air travel; temporary co-location; face-to-face meetings.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R4 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics
    • L93 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Air Transportation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:upf:upfgen:1520. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.econ.upf.edu/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.