IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ieb/wpaper/doc2011-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Do universities affect firms’ location decisions? Evidence from Spain

Author

Listed:
  • Néstor Duch-Brown

    (University of Barcelona & IEB)

  • Javier García-Estévez

    (University of Barcelona & IEB)

Abstract

Human capital, scientific research, and technology are the three chief mechanisms promoting knowledge spillovers from universities to firms. Based on a study of the impact of Spain’s 1983 University Reform Act (LRU), which opened the door to the foundation of new universities and faculties, this paper examines whether university (or faculty) location affects the creation of new firms within a given province. We conclude that the foundation of science and social science faculties has had a marked impact on the creation of firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Néstor Duch-Brown & Javier García-Estévez, 2011. "Do universities affect firms’ location decisions? Evidence from Spain," Working Papers 2011/7, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    • Handle: RePEc:ieb:wpaper:doc2011-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://ieb.ub.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2011-IEB-WorkingPaper-07.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Woodward, Douglas & Figueiredo, Octavio & Guimaraes, Paulo, 2006. "Beyond the Silicon Valley: University R&D and high-technology location," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 15-32, July.
    2. Keith Head & Thierry Mayer, 2004. "Market Potential and the Location of Japanese Firms in the European Union," Post-Print hal-00267438, HAL.
    3. Joshua Drucker & Harvey Goldstein, 2007. "Assessing the Regional Economic Development Impacts of Universities: A Review of Current Approaches," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 30(1), pages 20-46, January.
    4. Roderik Ponds & Frank van Oort & Koen Frenken, 2010. "Innovation, spillovers and university--industry collaboration: an extended knowledge production function approach," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 10(2), pages 231-255, March.
    5. Stuart S. Rosenthal & William C. Strange, 2003. "Geography, Industrial Organization, and Agglomeration," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(2), pages 377-393, May.
    6. Bruce A. Kirchhoff & Scott L. Newbert & Iftekhar Hasan & Catherine Armington, 2007. "The Influence of University R & D Expenditures on New Business Formations and Employment Growth," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 31(4), pages 543-559, July.
    7. Josep‐Maria Arauzo‐Carod & Daniel Liviano‐Solis & Miguel Manjón‐Antolín, 2010. "Empirical Studies In Industrial Location: An Assessment Of Their Methods And Results," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3), pages 685-711, August.
    8. Adam B. Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg & Rebecca Henderson, 1993. "Geographic Localization of Knowledge Spillovers as Evidenced by Patent Citations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 577-598.
    9. G. M.P. Swann, 2009. "The Economics of Innovation," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13211.
    10. Rosenthal, Stuart S. & Strange, William C., 2001. "The Determinants of Agglomeration," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 191-229, September.
    11. Devereux, Michael P. & Griffith, Rachel & Simpson, Helen, 2004. "The geographic distribution of production activity in the UK," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 533-564, September.
    12. Gilles Duranton & Diego Puga, 2001. "Nursery Cities: Urban Diversity, Process Innovation, and the Life Cycle of Products," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1454-1477, December.
    13. Andersson, Roland & Quigley, John M. & Wilhelmsson, Mats, 2009. "Urbanization, productivity, and innovation: Evidence from investment in higher education," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 2-15, July.
    14. Audretsch, David B & Feldman, Maryann P, 1996. "R&D Spillovers and the Geography of Innovation and Production," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(3), pages 630-640, June.
    15. Audretsch, David B. & Lehmann, Erik E. & Warning, Susanne, 2005. "University spillovers and new firm location," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(7), pages 1113-1122, September.
    16. Krugman, Paul, 1991. "Increasing Returns and Economic Geography," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(3), pages 483-499, June.
    17. Frenette, Marc, 2009. "Do universities benefit local youth? Evidence from the creation of new universities," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 318-328, June.
    18. Manuel Acosta & Daniel Coronado & Esther Flores, 2011. "University spillovers and new business location in high-technology sectors: Spanish evidence," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 365-376, April.
    19. Catherine Armington & Zoltan J. Acs, 2008. "The Determinants of Regional Variation in New Firm Formation," Chapters, in: Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy, chapter 18, pages 224-243, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    20. Bania, Neil & Eberts, Randall W & Fogarty, Michael S, 1993. "Universities and the Startup of New Companies: Can We Generalize from Route 128 and Silicon Valley?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 75(4), pages 761-766, November.
    21. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    22. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/10192 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Ottaviano, Gianmarco I.P. & Pinelli, Dino, 2006. "Market potential and productivity: Evidence from Finnish regions," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 636-657, September.
    24. Attila Varga, 2000. "Local Academic Knowledge Transfers and the Concentration of Economic Activity," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 289-309, May.
    25. Audretsch, David B. & Lehmann, Erik E., 2005. "Does the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship hold for regions?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 1191-1202, October.
    26. Keith Head & Thierry Mayer, 2004. "Market Potential and the Location of Japanese Investment in the European Union," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(4), pages 959-972, November.
    27. Tomas Del Barrio-Castro & Jose Garcia-Quevedo, 2005. "Effects of university research on the geography of innovation," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(9), pages 1217-1229.
    28. Massimo Colombo & Diego D’Adda & Evila Piva, 2010. "The contribution of university research to the growth of academic start-ups: an empirical analysis," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 113-140, February.
    29. David Audretsch & Erik Lehmann & Susanne Warning, 2004. "University Spillovers: Does the Kind of Science Matter?," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(3), pages 193-206.
    30. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/10192 is not listed on IDEAS
    31. Shawn Kantor & Alexander Whalley, 2009. "Do Universities Generate Agglomeration Spillovers? Evidence from Endowment Value Shocks," NBER Working Papers 15299, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    32. Feldman, Maryann P, 2001. "The Entrepreneurial Event Revisited: Firm Formation in a Regional Context," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 10(4), pages 861-891, December.
    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. Jofre-Monseny, Jordi & Silva, José I. & Vázquez-Grenno, Javier, 2020. "Local labor market effects of public employment," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).

    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. Andrea Bonaccorsi & Massimo Colombo & Massimiliano Guerini & Cristina Rossi-Lamastra, 2014. "The impact of local and external university knowledge on the creation of knowledge-intensive firms: evidence from the Italian case," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 261-287, August.
    2. Tobias Schlegel & Uschi Backes-Gellner, 2023. "The role of fields of study for the effects of higher education institutions on regional firm location," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(4), pages 1587-1656, December.
    3. MOTOHASHI Kazuyuki & ZHAO Qiuhan, 2023. "University as a Knowledge Source of Innovation: A spatial analysis of the impact on local high-tech startup creation," Discussion papers 23027, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    4. Elvira Cerver-Romero & João J. Ferreira & Cristina Fernandes, 2020. "A scientometric analysis of knowledge spillover research," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 780-805, June.
    5. Niccolò Ghio & Massimiliano Guerini & Erik Lehmann & Cristina Rossi-Lamastra, 2015. "The emergence of the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 1-18, January.
    6. Shawn Kantor & Alexander Whalley, 2009. "Do Universities Generate Agglomeration Spillovers? Evidence from Endowment Value Shocks," NBER Working Papers 15299, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. 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.
    8. Vasilios Kanellopoulos & Georgios Fotopoulos, 2019. "The effect of knowledge spillovers on regional new firm formation: The Greek manufacturing case," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 51(4), pages 1005-1030, June.
    9. Zoltán J. Ács & Pontus Braunerhjelm & David B. Audretsch & Bo Carlsson, 2015. "The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship," Chapters, in: Global Entrepreneurship, Institutions and Incentives, chapter 7, pages 129-144, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Jofre-Monseny, Jordi & Marín-López, Raquel & Viladecans-Marsal, Elisabet, 2011. "The mechanisms of agglomeration: Evidence from the effect of inter-industry relations on the location of new firms," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 61-74.
    11. Manuel Acosta & Daniel Coronado & Esther Flores, 2011. "University spillovers and new business location in high-technology sectors: Spanish evidence," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 365-376, April.
    12. Michael Fritsch & Ronney Aamoucke, 2017. "Fields of knowledge in higher education institutions, and innovative start-ups: An empirical investigation," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 96, pages 1-27, March.
    13. Edward L. Glaeser & Joshua D. Gottlieb, 2009. "The Wealth of Cities: Agglomeration Economies and Spatial Equilibrium in the United States," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(4), pages 983-1028, December.
    14. Joshua Drucker, 2012. "The Spatial Extent of Agglomeration Economies: Evidence from Three U.S. Manufacturing Industries," Working Papers 12-01, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    15. Andrea Bonaccorsi & Massimo G. Colombo & Massimiliano Guerini & Cristina Rossi Lamastra, 2014. "How universities contribute to the creation of knowledge-intensive firms: detailed evidence on the Italian case," Chapters, in: Andrea Bonaccorsi (ed.), Knowledge, Diversity and Performance in European Higher Education, chapter 7, pages iii-iii, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. Rui Baptista & Joana Mendonça, 2010. "Proximity to knowledge sources and the location of knowledge-based start-ups," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 45(1), pages 5-29, August.
    17. Carlino, Gerald & Kerr, William R., 2015. "Agglomeration and Innovation," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 349-404, Elsevier.
    18. Lawrence A. Plummer & Zoltán J. Ács, 2015. "Localized competition in the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship," Chapters, in: Global Entrepreneurship, Institutions and Incentives, chapter 8, pages 145-160, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    19. Niklas Elert, 2014. "What determines entry? Evidence from Sweden," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 53(1), pages 55-92, August.
    20. Paul A. Coomes & Jose Fernandez & Stephan F. Gohmann, 2013. "The Rate of Proprietorship Among Metropolitan Areas: The Impact of the Local Economic Environment and Capital Resources," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 37(4), pages 745-770, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    universities; firm location; spillovers; poisson regression;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
    • R39 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Other
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

    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:ieb:wpaper:doc2011-7. 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: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iebubes.html .

    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.