relation: http://eprints.imtlucca.it/3971/
title: The Long Run Effects of R&D Place-based Policies: Evidence from Russian Science Cities
creator: Schweiger, Helena
creator: Stepanov, Alexander
creator: Zacchia, Paolo
subject: HB Economic Theory
subject: HD28 Management. Industrial Management
description: We study the long run effects of a unique historical place-based policies targeting R&D: the  creation of “Science Cities” in former Soviet Russia. The establishment of Science Cities and  the criteria for selecting their location were largely guided by political and military-strategic  considerations. We compare current demographic and economic characteristics of Science  Cities to those of appropriately matched localities that were similar to them at the time of  their establishment. We find that in the modern Russian economy, despite the massive cuts  of governmental support to R&D that followed the dissolution of the USSR, Science Cities  host more high-skilled workers and more developed R&D and ICT sectors; are the origin of  more international patents; and generally appear to be more productive and economically  developed. Within a spatial equilibrium framework, we interpret these findings as the result  of the interaction between persistence and agglomeration forces. Furthermore, we rule out  alternative explanations that have to do with the differential use of public resources, and  we find limited support for a case of equilibrium reversion. Finally, by analyzing firm-level  data we obtain evidence in favor of spillover effects with a wide spatial breadth.
date: 2018
type: Working Paper
type: NonPeerReviewed
format: application/pdf
language: en
rights: cc_by_nc_nd
identifier: http://eprints.imtlucca.it/3971/1/Naukograds_Paper_Text%2Bappendices.pdf
identifier:   Schweiger, Helena and Stepanov, Alexander and Zacchia, Paolo  The Long Run Effects of R&D Place-based Policies: Evidence from Russian Science Cities.  Working Paper       (Submitted)