Reversed Citations and the Localization of Knowledge Spillovers

48 Pages Posted: 17 Jan 2017 Last revised: 11 Dec 2024

See all articles by Ashish Arora

Ashish Arora

Duke University - Fuqua School of Business; National Bureau of Economics Research; Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative

Sharon Belenzon

Duke University; NBER; Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative

Honggi Lee

University of New Hampshire - Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics

Date Written: January 2017

Abstract

Spillover of knowledge is considered to be an important cause of agglomeration of inventive activity. Many studies argue that knowledge spillovers are localized based on the observation that patents tend to cite nearby patents disproportionately. Specifically, patent citations are interpreted as mapping the transmission of knowledge from the cited invention to the citing invention. The localization of patent citations is therefore taken as evidence that such knowledge transmission is also localized. Localization of knowledge transmission, however, may not be the only reason for why patent citations are localized. Using a set of citations that are unlikely to be associated with knowledge transmission from the cited to the citing invention, we present evidence that challenges the view that localization of citations is driven by localized knowledge transmission. Though localized knowledge transmission may well exist, it is unlikely to be captured by patent citations

Suggested Citation

Arora, Ashish and Belenzon, Sharon and Lee, Honggi, Reversed Citations and the Localization of Knowledge Spillovers (January 2017). NBER Working Paper No. w23036, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2900041

Ashish Arora (Contact Author)

Duke University - Fuqua School of Business ( email )

Box 90120
Durham, NC 27708-0120
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National Bureau of Economics Research

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Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative ( email )

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Sharon Belenzon

Duke University ( email )

100 Fuqua Drive
Durham, NC 27708-0204
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NBER ( email )

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Cambridge, MA 02138
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(1) 617 588 1484 (Phone)

Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative ( email )

215 Morris St., Suite 300
Durham, NC 27701
United States

Honggi Lee

University of New Hampshire - Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics ( email )

Durham, NH
United States

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