Industrial innovation: Direct evidence from a cluster-oriented policy

Falck, Oliver; Heblich, Stephan und Kipar, Stefan (2010): Industrial innovation: Direct evidence from a cluster-oriented policy. In: Regional Science and Urban Economics, Bd. 40, Nr. 6: S. 574-582

Abstract

Can local industrial policies increase local firm competitiveness? Cluster-oriented policies targeted at selected industries have just such a goal and are very popular among politicians, despite the controversy surrounding these policies in academia. Thus, it would appear useful to discover if cluster-oriented policies are effective. This paper evaluates the cluster-oriented policy introduced in Bavaria, Germany, in 1999. The policy’s goal was to foster innovation and regional competitiveness by stimulating cooperation. Using difference-in-difference-in-differences estimates, we find for different innovation measures that the cluster-oriented policy increased the likelihood of becoming an innovator in the target industries by 4.6 to 5.7 percentage points. At the same time, R\&D expenditures decreased by 19.4\% on average for firms in target industries, while access to external know-how, cooperation with public scientific institutes, and the availability of suitable R\&D personnel increased.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Volkswirtschaft ; Volkswirtschaft > Lehrstühle > CESifo-Professur für Empirische Innovationsökonomik
• Themengebiete: 300 Sozialwissenschaften > 330 Wirtschaft
• Sprache: Englisch