TY  - JOUR
AU  - Comin,Diego A.
AU  - Dmitriev,Mikhail
AU  - Rossi-Hansberg,Esteban
TI  - The Spatial Diffusion of Technology
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 18534
PY  - 2012
Y2  - November 2012
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w18534
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w18534.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Diego A. Comin
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
Tel: 617/495-5011
E-Mail: dcomin@hbs.edu

Mikhail Dmitriev
Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA
E-Mail: dmitriev@bc.edu

Esteban Rossi-Hansberg
Princeton University
Department of Economics
Fisher Hall
Princeton, NJ 08544-1021
Tel: 609/2584024
Fax: 650/725-5702
E-Mail: erossi@princeton.edu
AB  - We study empirically technology diffusion across countries and over time. We find significant evidence that technology diffuses slower to locations that are farther away from adoption leaders. This effect is stronger across rich countries and also when measuring distance along the south-north dimension. A simple theory of human interactions can account for these empirical findings. The theory suggests that the effect of distance should vanish over time, a hypothesis that we confirm in the data, and that distinguishes technology from other flows like goods or investments. We then structurally estimate the model. The parameter governing the frequency of interactions is larger for newer and network-based technologies and for the median technology the frequency of interactions decays by 73% every 1000 Kms. Overall, we document the significant role that geography plays in determining technology diffusion across countries.
ER  -