This paper investigates the influence of country-specific factors on the degree of reliance on public knowledge among innovators. Using backward citations as our dependent variable we find that national characteristics indicative of the quality of the innovation system generally have a positive...

Resumen - Las referencias bibliográficas contenidas en los documentos de patente son una fuente de información sobre el acceso al conocimiento público con que se justifica o ataca la novedad de la invención. En vez de la distinción habitual entre referencias por tipo de literatura citada,...

The geography of knowledge flows has shown that the probability of a patent applicant rather than the examiner originating a citation depends on differences between citing and cited countries. How the characteristics of the citing country affect that probability has received less attention....