We trace the geographic and intellectual heritage of the early entrants into the US tire industry in Ohio, the industry's historical center. We test a model in which the supply of capable entrants, localized knowledge, and production externalities influence where entrants originated and located....

Beginning in 1922, the rate of exit of US tire producers increased sharply and the industry began a severe and protracted shakeout. Just 5 years earlier, the tire industry experienced a surge in entry that led to a rise of over 80% in the number of producers. We propose an explanation for this...

Summary We trace individual-level learning and knowledge transfer in public research by matching about 5,000 doctoral dissertations and their advisors over the full history of German laser research. We study the number of laser-related dissertations per advisor, publication and patent outputs of...