Publication Type

Working Paper

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

12-2021

Abstract

Expansion of subway networks helps to enhance connectivity and matches of people by facilitating their mobility. Using rapid expansion of the Beijing subway from 2000 to 2018, we analyze its impact on collaborative matches in innovations. We find that an hour reduction in travel time between a pair of locations in Beijing brought a 15% to 38% increase in collaborated patents. Far-apart location pairs were more affected, and the local average treatment effect is approximately 35% to 82%. Such effect is mainly driven by increased matches among highly productive inventors due to complementarity between inventors’ productivity and travel time. At the same time, we find that the entry of new inventors, relocation of existing inventors, and low productive inventors also contribute to the increase in collaborative matches, especially in the long run

Keywords

innovation; matching; patent collaboration; Beijing subway; transportationinfrastructure

Discipline

Economics | Infrastructure | Technology and Innovation

Research Areas

Applied Microeconomics

First Page

1

Last Page

60

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