Place-Based Policies and Entrepreneurship
Organized by Sabrina T. Howell, Josh Lerner, and David T. Robinson
Supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
December 5, 2025
Royal Sonesta Hotel, Longfellow Room, 40 Edwin H. Land Blvd., Cambridge, MA
Thursday, December 4
6:00 pm
Reception and Group Dinner at the Royal Sonesta Hotel
Friday, December 5
8:30 am
Continental Breakfast
8:55 am
Introductions
9:00 am

New Technologies and the College Premium

Tarek Alexander Hassan, Boston University and NBER
Aakash Kalyani, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
Pascual Restrepo, Yale University and NBER

Discussant:
Lawrence D.W. Schmidt, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
9:50 am

Taxes, Incentives and Entrepreneurship: Evidence from the Universe of U.S. Startups

Robert W. Fairlie, University of California, Los Angeles and NBER
Frank M. Fossen, University of Nevada - Reno
Andrew C. Johnston, University of Texas at Austin and NBER
Ke Lyu, University of Nevada - Reno

Discussant:
Margarita Tsoutsoura, Washington University in St. Louis and NBER
10:40 am
Break
10:55 am

Tax Incentives and Venture Capital Risk-Taking

Murillo Campello, University of Florida and NBER
Guilherme Junqueira, University of Florida

Discussant:
Ting Xu, University of Toronto and NBER
11:45 am
Lunch
12:45 pm
Three 15-minute presentations + 30 minutes total discussion and Q&A

The Impact of Biopharmaceutical Industrial Parks on Pharmaceutical Innovation in China

Menghan Shen, Sun Yat-sen University
Shen Jie Zhong, Sun Yat-sen University
Fangli Geng, Brown University

Technology Diffusion in Emerging Markets: Evidence from China

Danqing Mei, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business
Hongshen Sun, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Tianshu Sun, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business

Fostering Social-Media Entrepreneurs: Evidence from A Field Experiment in China

Fangzhou Lu, The University of Hong Kong (HKU)
Sixuan Li, The University of Hong Kong (HKU)
Yingyan Shi

Discussant:
Lee G. Branstetter, Carnegie Mellon University and NBER
1:45 pm
Break
2:00 pm

Do Technology Clusters Distort Innovation?

Benjamin Balsmeier, ETH Zurich
Gustavo Manso, University of California, Berkeley
Lee Fleming, University of California, Berkeley

Discussant:
Jorge Guzman, Columbia University and NBER
2:50 pm

Public R&D Meets Economic Development: Embrapa and Brazil’s Agricultural Revolution

Ariel Akerman, Inter-American Development Bank
Jacob Moscona, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NBER
Heitor S. Pellegrina, University of Notre Dame
Karthik Sastry, Princeton University and NBER

Discussant:
Shawn Kantor, Florida State University and NBER
3:40 pm
Closing Remarks and Adjourn