The Missing Female Inventors: Family Formation and the Gender Gap in Innovation, with Stefan Obernberger and Arnim Seidlitz

We study how family formation shapes innovation careers and contributes to the gender gap in innovation using linked German administrative and European patent records covering 1.6 million employees in innovation-related jobs. While women account for 36% of innovation workers, they represent only 9% of inventors. We show that this gap emerges around the age of family formation, when women become substantially less likely to transition from innovation work to inventorship. Using a dynamic difference-in-differences design, we find that childbirth causes persistent declines in women's patenting, earnings, and career progression, whereas fatherhood has little effect. Women also anticipate these costs through lower fertility and by delaying childbirth until after their first patent application. Eliminating the realized innovation child penalty would increase the number of female inventors by roughly 30%. Overall, our findings identify family formation as an economically important friction in the accumulation of innovative human capital.

Presentations: American Finance Association (2026), Nova School of Business and Economics, Tsinghua University, WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, University of Vienna, European Economics Association (Scheduled), Verein fuer Socialpolitik (scheduled)

Angels and Demons: The Negative Effect of Employees' Angel Investments on Corporate Innovation, with Santanu Kundu

We link data on angel investors in the US to their employment history and show that employers’ innovation output decreases when their employees personally invest in start-ups. Our evidence is consistent with agency conflicts as the reason for lower innovation output. Angel investors divert time and effort from their employer to their personal investments. The effects are more pronounced when angel investments offer stronger financial incentives. In contrast, start-ups benefit from financing by angel investors employed at public firms. We highlight a trade-off between the benefits of angel investors for start-ups and the costs for their employer.

Presentations: European Finance Association (EFA), Paris Finance December Meeting, Northern Finance Association (NFA), Financial Management Association (FMA), International Corporate Governance Society conference (ICGS), European Financial Management Association (EFMA), Entrepreneurial Finance Conference (ENTFIN), Academy of Management (AOM), French Finance Association (AFFI), Future of Growth Conference, Eastern Finance, Financial Markets and Corporate Governance Conference (FMCG), Southwestern Finance Association (SWFA), Student-led Workshop on Entrepreneurial Finance and Innovation (WEFI), Research on Innovation, Science and Entrepreneurship (RISE3) Workshop

Gender Differences in University Dropout After Failing Math: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design, with Alexandra Niessen-Ruenzi

We analyze how failing the first mathematics exam affects dropping out of university, and show that early academic failure disproportionately raises dropout among male students. We identify causal effects using administrative data and a sharp discontinuity at the exam's passing threshold for 10,400 undergraduate students. Male students who marginally fail are 18 percentage points more likely than female students to leave the university without a degree. We discuss two mechanisms, better outside options for men without a degree and a larger surprise from failing. We add evidence from a survey of a later cohort, to show that male students expect better grades and are more competitive than female students with the same realized grade. Early academic failure thus contributes to a broader pattern of lower male educational attainment, here among male students at the bottom of the grade distribution.

Presentations: Verein für Socialpolitik, European Economic Association