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Exporting ideas: knowledge flows from expanding trade in goods

Philippe Aghion, Antonin Bergeaud, Timothee Gigout, Matthieu Lequien and Marc Malitz


We examine the effect of entry by French firms into a new export market on the dynamics of their patents' citations received from that destination. Applying a difference-in-differences identification strategy with a staggered treatment design, we show that: (i) entering a new foreign market has a significant impact on the long-run flow of citations; (ii) the impact is mostly driven by the extensive margin; (iii) inventors in destination countries patent mostly in products that do not directly compete with those of the exporting firm; (iv) the spillover intensity decreases with the technological distance between the exporting firm and the destination.


15 November 2023     Paper Number CEPDP1960

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This CEP discussion paper is published under the centre's Growth programme.