The RES is pleased to announce that the 2021 Austin Robinson Memorial Prize has been awarded to Enrico Berkes and Ruben Gaetani for their article ‘The Geography of Unconventional Innovation'.
The Austin Robinson Memorial Prize is awarded annually for the best paper published in the Economic Journal by authors who are within five years of receiving their PhDs. The prize is awarded by the Managing Editors of the Economic Journal.
The paper was published in the May issue of The Economic Journal. You can read the full article here.
The prize was awarded for the paper for a number of reasons. These were for:
- Creating a better understanding of where innovation and modern growth comes from as a key part of economics and society in general.
- Demonstrating a combination of new, interesting facts with a rigorous spatial model.
Providing evidence that unconventional ideas and insight arise serendipitously, and that these unusual combinations are more likely in urban environments.
