Erschienen in:Max Planck Institute for Innovation & Competition Research Paper ; No. 21-19
Umfang:
1 Online-Ressource (108 p)
Sprache:
Englisch
DOI:
10.2139/ssrn.3912401
Identifikator:
Entstehung:
Anmerkungen:
Nach Informationen von SSRN wurde die ursprüngliche Fassung des Dokuments August 29, 2021 erstellt
Beschreibung:
We establish the importance of physical capital in knowledge production. To this end, we exploit adverse events (explosions, fires, floods, etc.) at research institutions as exogenous physical capital shocks. Scientists experience a substantial and persistent reduction in research output if they lose specialized physical capital, that is, equipment and material they created over time for a particular research purpose. In contrast, they quickly recover if they only lose generic physical capital. Affected scientists in older laboratories, which presumably lose more obsolete physical capital, are more likely to change their direction of research and recover in scientific productivity. These findings suggest that a scientist's investments into their own physical capital yield lasting returns but also create path dependence in relation to research direction