名师大讲堂202407期 | Social Ties and Collaborative Innovation


时间:2024年12月5日10:00—12:00

地点:科研楼1115室

主讲人:周羿,北京大学

题目:Social Ties and Collaborative Innovation

主讲人简介:周羿,北京大学社会研究中心长聘副教授、加州大学伯克利分校人口统计学博士。研究领域包括人口经济学、人口统计学和定量社会科学。在PNAS、Review of Economics and Statistics、Population and Development Review、Journal of Peace Research、《经济研究》、《经济学(季刊)》、《中国工业经济》和《世界经济与政治》等国内外期刊发表论文30余篇,并曾获得第十八届安子介国际贸易研究奖优秀论文奖。



Abstract: This study examines the impact of China’s Third Front Construction (TFC) on inter-regional collaborative innovation. During the 1960s and 1970s, the TFC program relocated factories from Eastern to Western cities for national security, creating exogenous social ties. Using patent data and historical records, we find that these ties significantly increased both the quantity and quality of collaborative patents between connected cities from 1985 to 2019. The effect is particularly strong when Western cities lead patent applications and among city pairs with larger cultural or economic disparities. Robustness checks confirm that these results are not driven by industrial linkages or other concurrent policies. Further analysis shows that enduring social ties, reflected in migration patterns and cultural affinity, play a crucial role in fostering collaboration. This study contributes to the literature on innovation and social networks, demonstrating how state-led industrialization policies can have long-term, noneconomic benefits in promoting technological advancement.