Spatial Knowledge Spillovers and Regional Productivity Growths in Europe

The aim of this paper is to investigate the effects that technological knowledge spillovers at different spatial levels (that is, local, national, and international), have had on labor productivity dynamics in the manufacturing industries in European regions between 1980 and 1992. In particular, adopting a modified version of a \u2018catching-up\u2019 equation and using an enlarged version of Eurostat\u2019s REGIO database, we empirically assess whether these spatial dimensions are possible explanatory factors for the labor productivity growth of firms located in European regions. We examine eventual trade-offs between local (regarding the transfer of \u2018tacit\u2019 knowledge) and global (regarding the diffusion of fully \u2018codified\u2019 knowledge) pressures as possible determinants of the growth in manufacturing productivity at regional level in Europe between 1980 and 1992