Industry Networks and the Geography of Firm Behavior
用网络方法估计同行效应，发现企业投资行为受地理邻居显著影响，且主要通过产品市场和供应链网络传播，这有助于解释硅谷等产业集聚现象。
Using a network approach that circumvents well-known challenges in estimating peer effects, we show that interactions with a firm’s geographic neighbors play a significant causal role in corporate investment behavior and a modest role in financial policies and firm performance. Moreover, these geography network effects are almost entirely driven by propagation effects through product market and supply chain networks. We corroborate our findings in a quasi-experimental framework that allows for spillovers in treatment effects. Our findings help rationalize industrial clusters (e.g., Silicon Valley), as they illustrate that agglomeration economies are substantial and operate predominantly within industry boundaries. This paper was accepted by David Simchi-Levi, finance.