Centre for Economic and Regional Studies Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre of Excellence

Start: 11/03/2016 14:00

End: 11/03/2016 16:00

Location: MTA KRTK 1112 Budapest Budaörsi út 45. Budapest VIII/807. (conference room)

Description

Tommaso Agasisti  /Politecnico di Milano/
How does knowledge spur economic growth?
The contribution of universities and the importance of geographical space

 

In this paper, we test whether there is a link between the performance of universities and the economic growth where they operate. We specify  a  growth  model  where  the ratio at which universities are able to convert inputs into outputs has been measured  taking  into  account  the  traditional  role  of  universities  (i.e.  teaching  and  research)  as  well  as  the  knowledge transfer through which they interact with the communities. The  model  is  estimated  on panel  data  over  the period 2006  to  2012. The  evidence suggests  that  the presence of universities fosters local development, validating the use of university efficiency  as  an  instrument  able  to  capture  the  impact  on  the  community  of  the  ability  of  universities  of  making  the  most with  the  available  resources;  knowledge  spillovers  occur  between  areas  through    the    geographical    proximity    to    the  efficient    universities,  suggesting    that    the    geography of    production    is    affected, mainly  when all  the  three  mission  of  universities are taken into to account.