Following Bergeaud et al. (2022), we construct a new measure of proximity between industrial sectors and public research laboratories. Using this measure, we explore the underlying network of knowledge linkages between scientific fields and industrial sectors in France. We show empirically that there exists a significant negative correlation between the geographical distance between firms and laboratories and their scientific proximity, suggesting strongly localized spillovers. Moreover, we uncover some important differences by field, stronger than when using standard patent-based measures of proximity.

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1 March 2024

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Annals of Economics and Statistics 153, pp.105-134, 2024

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DOI: 10.2307/48767562

https://www.jstor.org/stable/48767562?seq=1

This Journal article is published under the centre's Growth programme.