Abstract

This paper investigates the local dynamic of technology adoption. Although the positive effects of knowledge spill-overs are well-known in literature, it is assumed that Marshallian externalities can produce side effects so that the capability to adopt technologies located outside the agglomeration space decreases. On the empirical side, technology is broadly assumed to be approximated by one patent and its adoption by a citation of that patent. Data refer to the machinery industry in Emilia-Romagna and include all the patents in the technological fields related to the machinery industry cited between 1981 and 2010 by inventors located in the region. The main explanatory variables concern the intensity of the local productive specialisation expecting that citation lags increase with agglomeration.