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Home > AEA Research Highlights > Ep. 71: The roots of US innovation clusters
Podcast: AEA Research Highlights
Episode:

Ep. 71: The roots of US innovation clusters
Category: Science & Medicine
Duration: 00:24:34
Publish Date: 2024-02-14 07:00:00
Description:

Before Silicon Valley became a byword for innovation, Route 128, outside of Boston, was America's technology highway, connecting the country’s premier technology companies and research facilities. However, this first American high-tech cluster likely would not have developed as it did without one of the biggest shocks to federal R&D funding in US economic history.

In a paper in the American Economic Review, authors Daniel P. Gross and Bhaven N. Sampat explain how a World War II research effort jump-started innovation hubs like Route 128 across the United States. Gross and Sampat recently spoke with Tyler Smith about the history of R&D funding in the United States, and the lessons policymakers can take from it.
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