Presenter: Associate Professor Lu Angdi (School of Applied Economics, Renmin University of China)
Host: Xie Mingjia, Assistant Professor (Li Anmin Institute of Economics, Liaoning University)
Guest Introduction: Assistant Professor Liu Renliang (Li Anmin Institute of Economics, Liaoning University)
Date: April 14, 2025 (Monday) 9:30 - 11:00 (Beijing Time)
Location: Conference Room on the First Floor of Wuzhouyuan, Chongshan Campus, Liaoning University
Online address: Tencent Meeting 846-7809-5157
Language: Chinese/English
Abstract:Innovation is a process that often involves interaction and communication among people with diverse attributes, even food preferences. This paper investigates the relation between food cultural diversity and innovation activities in terms of differentiated geographic units. We conduct textual analysis using millions of cookbooks and online restaurant reviews from Dianping.com and construct food cultural differences across regions in China. Our city-level econometric analysis reveals that food cultural diversity enhances collaborative innovation. Furthermore, city-pair analysis shows that food cultural similarity would boost collaborative innovation. The historical spreading routes of a New World vegetable, chili pepper, are adopted as instrumental variables to alleviate endogeneity. We also unpack the crucial role of communication costs in altering the culture-innovation relationship. To reconcile the above empirical findings, we propose an innovation production model featured with geographic distance and idea diversity to show that the geographic unit size matters in shaping the culture-innovation relation.
Speaker's Profile:
Lu Angdi, Ph.D. in Economics, is an associate professor at the School of Applied Economics, Renmin University of China, and a master's supervisor. Her research fields are regional economy and international trade. She has published over ten academic papers in both Chinese and English journals such as "China Economic Review", "World Economy", "Accounting Research", and "Geographical Research". She has also led several projects including the National Natural Science Foundation of China for Young Scholars, the General Project of Beijing Social Science Foundation, and the Peking University-Lincoln Institute Annual Research Fund.
