Tetsu Kawakami, Eri Yamada (p), Jiro Nemoto

Jan Kinne

See extended abstract

Johann Eppelsheimer (p)

Eri Yamada

Scholars find clear evidence that high-skilled workers increase the productivity of surrounding workers through externalities. In this paper I estimate the geographic reach and attenuation of these human capital externalities with precisely geocoded German register data. The rich panel data set allows me to disentangle human capital externalities from neoclassical supply effects. Furthermore, I account for sorting of high-skilled workers in high-wages areas via the inclusion of various time-varying fixed effects.

Christian Rammer, Jan Kinne (p), Knut Blind

Johann Eppelsheimer

Previous research has stressed the prominent role of cities and urban agglomeration as places for innovation. This paper attempts to explore the micro-geographic bases of this link. Using address data of a comprehensive, representative panel sample of manufacturing and service firms in Berlin, we investigate the micro-location pattern and the local environment of innovative firms. We find product innovators and R&D performing firms to be located closer to research infrastructures, start-ups and other firms from the same industry. They tend to prefer neighbourhoods with a high firm dynamic and avoid very densely populated areas. For process innovators, no significant differences from non-process innovators are found. Firms are more likely to introduce new-to-market innovations if other firms in their direct neighbourhood had introduced such innovations in the previous period. The ‘creative urban environment’ of a firm in terms of bars, cafes, clubs, leisure facilities or cultural locations does not seem to be linked to the innovative activity of firms. Our results suggest that the contribution of urban agglomeration for innovation takes place at a very local scale.