Replication data for: The Paper Trail of Knowledge Spillovers: Evidence from Patent Interferences

We show evidence of localized knowledge spillovers using a new database of US patent interferences terminated between 1998 and 2014. Interferences resulted when two or more independent parties submitted identical claims of invention nearly simultaneously. Following the idea that inventors of identical inventions share common knowledge inputs, interferences provide a new method for measuring knowledge spillovers. Interfering inventors are 1.4 to 4.0 times more likely to live in the same local area than matched control pairs of inventors. They are also more geographically concentrated than citation-linked inventors. Our results emphasize geographic distance as a barrier to tacit knowledge flows.

我们基于1998年至2014年间审结的美国专利抵触程序（patent interference）全新数据库，为本地化知识溢出（knowledge spillovers）效应提供了实证证据。当两名或多名独立主体几乎同时提交内容完全一致的发明权利要求时，即会触发专利抵触程序。鉴于就相同发明提出申请的发明人共享共同知识投入这一逻辑，专利抵触程序为衡量知识溢出效应提供了全新的研究方法。相较于经匹配得到的对照发明人对，涉抵触程序的发明人居住在同一地域的概率要高出1.4至4.0倍。同时，相较于引用关联发明人（citation-linked inventors），涉抵触程序的发明人在地理分布上更为集聚。本研究结果凸显了地理距离作为隐性知识（tacit knowledge）流动壁垒的重要性。