TY  - JOUR
AU  - Branstetter,Lee
TI  - Are Knowledge Spillovers International or Intranational in Scope? Microeconometric Evidence from the Japan and the United States
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 5800
PY  - 1996
Y2  - October 1996
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5800
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5800.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Lee G. Branstetter
Heinz College
School of Public Policy and Management
Department of Social and Decision Sciences
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA  15213
Tel: 412/268-4649
E-Mail: branstet@andrew.cmu.edu
AB  - In a number of theoretical models, it has been shown that technological externalities can generate multiple equilibria in the global pattern of specialization and trade, with different consequences for the relative welfare of the trading countries. In such models, temporary government policies can have lasting effects by pushing the global economy into a particular equilibrium.  However, the prediction of multiple equilibria generally hinges on the assumption that the technological externalities are intranational rather than international in scope. In this paper, I point out important shortcomings in previous attempts to estimate the effects of intranational and international knowledge spillovers. Then, I provide new estimates of the relative impact of intranational and international knowledge spillovers on innovation and productivity at the firm level, using previously unexploited panel data from the U.S. and Japan which provide a rich description of the firms' technological activities and allow for potentially much more accurate measurement of spillover effects. My estimates indicate that knowledge spillovers are primarily intranational in scope, providing empirical confirmation of a crucial assumption in much of the theoretical literature. This finding has important implications for the theoretical literature and the public debate on policy.
ER  -