Research on Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Benefits to Individuals
Research on Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Benefits to Individuals
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Summary
This page highlights some of the key findings from my research into innovation, entrepreneurship, and consumer welfare.
My general goals are to understand the behavior of entrepreneurs and inventors, the impact of intellectual property, and the benefits generated by innovators for individuals (as consumers and as workers).
The research makes use of patent data, detailed demand data, venture capital databases, publicly available survey data, and administrative data.
Research into Intellectual Property
1) How patents are written affects their value and usage (details)
Paper: Crafting Intellectual Property Rights (w/ Xavier Jaravel, AEJ Applied)
Methodology: Bayesian estimation of examiner effects, additional correlational evidence
Implications: patent trolls are particularly sensitive to how patents are written and prefer lightly edited patent claims that are unlikely to hold up in court; they are, at best, incentivizing innovation in a very inefficient manner.
2) Patents claiming abstract ideas implemented on a computer do not facilitate innovation but do lead to more litigation and patent trolling activity
Methodology: difference-in-difference leveraging Supreme Court ruling, some additional evidence
Implications: the Alice v. CLS Bank ruling was an effective targeted intervention that escaped the usual tradeoffs when considering patent reforms
PAEs are significantly more likely to purchase patents with lightly edited claims language.
PAEs are significantly more likely to purchase patents granted before the Alice v. CLS Bank decision
Research into Innovators and Benefits to Individuals
1) Innovators innovate for consumers like them and can be influenced by peers (details)
Paper: Social Push and the Direction of Innovation (w/ Elias Einio and Xavier Jaravel)
Methodology: correlational evidence, peer effects, endogenous growth model
Implications: encouraging more innovators from underrepresented backgrounds (women, low SES individuals) can increase growth and improve welfare for consumers from underrepresented groups. Peer effects evidence suggests that tastes rather than differential ability are driving choice of direction.
Ongoing work
Innovation and benefits
Who benefits from entrepreneurship and trade?
Inventor careers within firms
Who manages inventors?
Google Sites
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