IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/iecepo/v12y2015i2p221-237.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Trade in ideas: outsourcing and knowledge spillovers

Author

Listed:
  • Sebastian Benz
  • Mario Larch
  • Markus Zimmer

Abstract

Inspired by the theory of variety-expanding product innovation we derive a testable relationship of outsourcing on the growth rate of knowledge. We estimate this relationship with a firm-level dataset, which is a unique match of PATSTAT patent data and the Amadeus dataset. We find evidence that forward spillovers are stronger than backward spillovers, where forward spillovers are defined as spillovers going down the value chain from producers to users of intermediate inputs. Moreover, we conclude that inter-industry spillovers are stronger than intra-industry spillovers. This holds when considering only the more important forward spillovers as well as when considering both directions of knowledge flows. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Sebastian Benz & Mario Larch & Markus Zimmer, 2015. "Trade in ideas: outsourcing and knowledge spillovers," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 221-237, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:iecepo:v:12:y:2015:i:2:p:221-237
    DOI: 10.1007/s10368-014-0271-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10368-014-0271-1
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10368-014-0271-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Philippe Aghion & Diego Comin & Peter Howitt & Isabel Tecu, 2016. "When Does Domestic Savings Matter for Economic Growth?," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 64(3), pages 381-407, August.
    2. de Rassenfosse, Gaetan & van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie, Bruno, 2009. "A policy insight into the R&D-patent relationship," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 779-792, June.
    3. Zvi Griliches, 1998. "Productivity and R&D at the Firm Level," NBER Chapters, in: R&D and Productivity: The Econometric Evidence, pages 100-133, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Zvi Griliches, 1984. "R&D, Patents, and Productivity," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number gril84-1.
    5. Coe, David T. & Helpman, Elhanan, 1995. "International R&D spillovers," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 859-887, May.
    6. Pol Antras & Elhanan Helpman, 2004. "Global Sourcing," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(3), pages 552-580, June.
    7. repec:fth:harver:1473 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Rosina Moreno & Raffaele Paci & Stefano Usai, 2005. "Spatial Spillovers and Innovation Activity in European Regions," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 37(10), pages 1793-1812, October.
    9. Keller, Wolfgang, 1998. "Are international R&D spillovers trade-related?: Analyzing spillovers among randomly matched trade partners," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(8), pages 1469-1481, September.
    10. Philippe Aghion & Peter Howitt, 2009. "The Economics of Growth," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262012634, April.
    11. Zvi Griliches, 1998. "Patent Statistics as Economic Indicators: A Survey," NBER Chapters, in: R&D and Productivity: The Econometric Evidence, pages 287-343, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Murray Brown, 1967. "The Theory and Empirical Analysis of Production," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number brow67-1.
    13. Zoltan J. Acs & Luc Anselin & Attila Varga, 2008. "Patents and Innovation Counts as Measures of Regional Production of New Knowledge," Chapters, in: Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy, chapter 11, pages 135-151, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    14. Jaffe, Adam B, 1989. "Real Effects of Academic Research," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(5), pages 957-970, December.
    15. Harald Badinger & Peter Egger, 2008. "Intra- and Inter-Industry Productivity Spillovers in OECD Manufacturing: A Spatial Econometric Perspective," CESifo Working Paper Series 2181, CESifo.
    16. Zoltan J. Acs & David B. Audretsch & Maryann P. Feldman, 2008. "Real Effects of Academic Research: Comment," Chapters, in: Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy, chapter 7, pages 83-87, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    17. Romer, Paul M, 1990. "Endogenous Technological Change," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 71-102, October.
    18. Eaton, Jonathan & Kortum, Samuel, 1996. "Trade in ideas Patenting and productivity in the OECD," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(3-4), pages 251-278, May.
    19. repec:hrv:faseco:4784029 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Bottazzi, Laura & Peri, Giovanni, 2003. "Innovation and spillovers in regions: Evidence from European patent data," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 687-710, August.
    21. Mercedes Gumbau-Albert & Joaquin Maudos, 2009. "Patents, technological inputs and spillovers among regions," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(12), pages 1473-1486.
    22. Romer, Paul M, 1987. "Growth Based on Increasing Returns Due to Specialization," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(2), pages 56-62, May.
    23. Beata Smarzynska Javorcik, 2004. "Does Foreign Direct Investment Increase the Productivity of Domestic Firms? In Search of Spillovers Through Backward Linkages," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 605-627, June.
    24. Zucker, Lynne G. & Darby, Michael R. & Furner, Jonathan & Liu, Robert C. & Ma, Hongyan, 2007. "Minerva unbound: Knowledge stocks, knowledge flows and new knowledge production," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 850-863, July.
    25. Basberg, Bjorn L., 1987. "Patents and the measurement of technological change: A survey of the literature," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 16(2-4), pages 131-141, August.
    26. Christine Greenhalgh & Mark Rogers, 2010. "Innovation, Intellectual Property, and Economic Growth," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, volume 0, number 9221.
    27. Ariel Pakes & Zvi Griliches, 1984. "Patents and R&D at the Firm Level: A First Look," NBER Chapters, in: R&D, Patents, and Productivity, pages 55-72, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    28. Young, Allyn A., 1928. "Increasing Returns and Economic Progress," History of Economic Thought Articles, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, vol. 38, pages 527-542.
    29. Gene M. Grossman & Elhanan Helpman, 2002. "Integration versus Outsourcing in Industry Equilibrium," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(1), pages 85-120.
    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. Timo Mitze & Teemu Makkonen, 2020. "When interaction matters: the contingent effects of spatial knowledge spillovers and internal R&I on firm productivity," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(4), pages 1088-1120, August.
    2. Monica Laura Zlati & Romeo Victor Ionescu & Valentin Marian Antohi & Veronica Grosu, 2022. "Growth and integration's impact under a new dynamic approach," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(5), pages 7057-7092, May.
    3. Charles Ackah & Holger Görg & Aoife Hanley & Cecilia Hornok, 2024. "Africa’s businesswomen – underfunded or underperforming?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 62(3), pages 1051-1074, March.
    4. Nenci, Silvia & Fusacchia, Ilaria & Giunta, Anna & Montalbano, Pierluigi & Pietrobelli, Carlo, 2022. "Mapping global value chain participation and positioning in agriculture and food: stylised facts, empirical evidence and critical issues," Bio-based and Applied Economics Journal, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA), vol. 11(2), July.
    5. Victor Kummritz, 2015. "Global Value Chains: Benefiting the Domestic Economy?," IHEID Working Papers 02-2015, Economics Section, The Graduate Institute of International Studies.
    6. Kailan Tian & Erik Dietzenbacher & Richard Jong‐A‐Pin, 2022. "Global value chain participation and its impact on industrial upgrading," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(5), pages 1362-1385, May.
    7. Victor Kummritz, 2016. "Do Global Value Chains Cause Industrial Development?," CTEI Working Papers series 01-2016, Centre for Trade and Economic Integration, The Graduate Institute.
    8. Krantz, Sebastian, 2024. "Patterns of Global and Regional Integration in the East African Community," Kiel Working Papers 2245, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), revised 2024.

    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. Cabrer-Borras, Bernardi & Serrano-Domingo, Guadalupe, 2007. "Innovation and R&D spillover effects in Spanish regions: A spatial approach," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 1357-1371, November.
    2. Neves, Pedro Cunha & Sequeira, Tiago Neves, 2018. "Spillovers in the production of knowledge: A meta-regression analysis," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 750-767.
    3. David Audretsch & Marcel Hülsbeck & Erik Lehmann, 2012. "Regional competitiveness, university spillovers, and entrepreneurial activity," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(3), pages 587-601, October.
    4. Paola Cardamone, 2018. "Firm innovation and spillovers in Italy: Does geographical proximity matter?," Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 1-16, March.
    5. James B. Ang & Jakob B. Madsen, 2013. "International R&D Spillovers And Productivity Trends In The Asian Miracle Economies," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 51(2), pages 1523-1541, April.
    6. Mercedes Gumbau-Albert & Joaquin Maudos, 2009. "Patents, technological inputs and spillovers among regions," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(12), pages 1473-1486.
    7. Peri, Giovanni, 2003. "Knowledge Flows, R&D Spillovers and Innovation," ZEW Discussion Papers 03-40, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    8. Cristian Barra & Roberto Zotti, 2018. "The contribution of university, private and public sector resources to Italian regional innovation system (in)efficiency," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 432-457, April.
    9. Kleoniki Kalapouti & Konstantinos Petridis & Chrisovalantis Malesios & Prasanta Kumar Dey, 2020. "Measuring efficiency of innovation using combined Data Envelopment Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling: empirical study in EU regions," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 294(1), pages 297-320, November.
    10. Cohen, Wesley M., 2010. "Fifty Years of Empirical Studies of Innovative Activity and Performance," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 129-213, Elsevier.
    11. 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.
    12. de Rassenfosse, Gaétan & Schoen, Anja & Wastyn, Annelies, 2014. "Selection bias in innovation studies: A simple test," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 287-299.
    13. Karine Pellier, 2007. "Convergence, Patenting Activity and Geographic Spillovers: A Spatial Econometric Analysis for European Regions," Working Papers 07-14, LAMETA, Universtiy of Montpellier, revised Dec 2007.
    14. Feldman, Maryann P. & Kogler, Dieter F., 2010. "Stylized Facts in the Geography of Innovation," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 381-410, Elsevier.
    15. Maria Luisa Mancusi, 2004. "International Spillovers and Absorptive Capacity: A cross-country, cross-sector analysis based on European patents and citations," STICERD - Economics of Industry Papers 35, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
    16. Hall, Bronwyn H. & Mairesse, Jacques & Mohnen, Pierre, 2010. "Measuring the Returns to R&D," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1033-1082, Elsevier.
    17. Verdolini, Elena & Galeotti, Marzio, 2011. "At home and abroad: An empirical analysis of innovation and diffusion in energy technologies," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 119-134, March.
    18. Marios Zachariadis, 2003. "R&D, innovation, and technological progress: a test of the Schumpeterian framework without scale effects," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 36(3), pages 566-586, August.
    19. Karlsson, Charlie & Warda, Peter & Gråsjö, Urban, 2012. "Spatial Knowledge Spillovers in Europe: A Meta-Analysis," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 280, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    20. Keller, Wolfgang, 2010. "International Trade, Foreign Direct Investment, and Technology Spillovers," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 793-829, Elsevier.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Outsourcing; Knowledge spillovers; Patents; C21; F14; O30; O52;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General
    • O52 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Europe

    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:kap:iecepo:v:12:y:2015:i:2:p:221-237. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.