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Distance (Still) Hampers Diffusion of Innovations

Author

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  • Georg von Graevenitz

    (School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University of London.)

  • Stuart J.H. Graham

    (Georgia Institute of Technology)

  • Amanda Myers

    (United States Patent & Trademark Office.)

Abstract

This paper introduces a new innovation data source to re-examine how spatial distance affects the diffusion of ideas and innovations in an economy. We exploit the descriptions of products and services contained in U.S. trademark registrations during 1980-2012 to identify terms (tokens) not previously used by firms to describe products and services. From these we select tokens frequently re-used by follower firms. By linking the new tokens to the business addresses of innovator and follower firms, our data encompass all instances in which innovations captured by trademark tokens arise within and diffuse across the United States. We aggregate innovations at the year and ZIP code level and estimate Poisson models of the likelihood and intensity of diffusion between locations. After endogenising the creation of new diffusion links between ZIP codes, our results show that spatial distance no longer affects the creation of diffusion links within the US after 1996. However, contingent on previous diffusion from a sending to a receiving ZIP code, we find persistent, strong and negative effects of greater spatial distance on the intensity (extent) of diffusion for existing transfer links between locations within the US.

Suggested Citation

  • Georg von Graevenitz & Stuart J.H. Graham & Amanda Myers, 2019. "Distance (Still) Hampers Diffusion of Innovations," Working Papers 98, Queen Mary, University of London, School of Business and Management, Centre for Globalisation Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:cgs:wpaper:98
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    File URL: http://cgr.sbm.qmul.ac.uk/CGRWP98.pdf
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    2. Carolina Castaldi, 2024. "The geography of urban innovation beyond patents only: New evidence on large and secondary cities in the United States," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 61(7), pages 1248-1272, May.
    3. Carolina Castaldi, 2023. "Off the mark? What we (should) know about the bright and dark sides of corporate trademark practices," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 32(5), pages 1046-1062.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Innovation; Diffusion; Rate of Diffusion; Distance; Innovation Index; Trademarks; Patents;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights
    • O51 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - U.S.; Canada
    • R1 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics
    • 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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