Innovation and Industrial Districts: A First Approach to the Measurement and Determinants of the I-District Effect

Abstract

We analyse an exhaustive database of patents granted in Spain between 2001 and 2006 aggregated in a panel of 806 local labour markets classified by seven typologies of local production systems. Our analysis shows that Marshallian industrial districts generate 30% of Spanish patents and an innovative output per capita that is 47% above the national average and 31% larger than the manufacturing production systems of large firms. The econometric estimates of a fixed effects model confirm the existence of an Innovation-district effect (I-district) and its size. The I-district effect is mainly related to the presence of Marshallian localization economies.