Research Dissemination, Distance and Borders

This paper examines the existence of gravity and border effects in the dissemination of knowledge in economics research. We apply a gravity model framework to novel data on domestic and international citation flows between... [ view full abstract ]

This paper examines the existence of gravity and border effects in the dissemination of knowledge in economics research. We apply a gravity model framework to novel data on domestic and international citation flows between 1970 and 2016 as well as indicators for geographic and cultural distance measures with a special focus on novel indicators for English as well as virtual proximity. Our results show that (i) citation patterns follow the law of gravity; (ii) citations in economics exhibit a strong and significant home bias by an overall factor of 1.9 for the twenty leading source countries of economic research (a 90\% higher propensity to cite domestic articles); (iii) bilaterally low levels of English proficiency are associated with transactions cost of up to 30\%, while similarity in English proficiency is insignificant for the total sample if language similarity is included; (iv) countries with closer internet ties as early as 1998 have significantly higher shares of bilateral citations of up to .25\% for a 1\% increase in internet hyperlinks; (v) the estimates' magnitude for the home bias as well as geographic and cultural distance measures decline over time but remain significant