Why has collaboration become increasingly central to technological progress? We document the role of lowered travel costs by combining patent data with the rollout of the Swedish railroad network in the 19th and early-20th century. Inventors that gain access to the network are more likely to produce collaborative patents, which is partly driven by long-distance collaborations with other inventors residing along the emerging railroad network. These results suggest that the declining costs of interacting with others is fundamental to account for the long-term increase in inventive collaboration.

中文翻译：

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协作和连接：专利记录的历史证据

为什么协作对于技术进步变得越来越重要？我们将专利数据与 19 世纪和 20 世纪初瑞典铁路网络的推出相结合，记录了降低旅行成本的作用。进入该网络的发明人更有可能产生合作专利，这在一定程度上是由于与居住在新兴铁路网络沿线的其他发明人的远距离合作所推动的。这些结果表明，与他人互动的成本下降对于创造性合作的长期增长至关重要。