Peter R Herman
About: I am a Lead International Economist in the Research Division of the Office of Economics at the U.S. International Trade Commission. My research interests are international trade, gravity modeling, non-tariff measures, and network models. I earned my B.A. from Westminster College in Salt Lake City, UT, and my M.A. and Ph.D. at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN.
CV: PDF (Sept. 2021)
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=8R0efgIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra
Github: https://github.com/peter-herman
Contact Information:
500 E Street, SW, Washington, DC 20436
peter.herman[at]usitc.gov
Recent work:
"Foreign technological entry, intellectual property rights, and technology diffusion: Evidence from patent filings at the USPTO" (2024) Working Paper, with Charles de Grazia and Hwansung Ju.
Abstract: Technology diffusion and spillovers are key drivers of both innovation and economic growth. This paper examines the role of obtaining initial intellectual property rights on international knowledge flows, specifically through new technological entrants into the United States. We find causal evidence that a foreign technological entrant's initial patent grant in the host country (the United States) increases the likelihood and frequency of international knowledge flows to local U.S. firms and other patenting entities by 29.4 and 6.9 percent, respectively, as measured using forward patent citations. An initial patent grant also leads to a 29.7 percent increase in the probability that an entrant files at least one subsequent patent application within 5 years, suggesting the significant role that an initial grant can have in a firm's sustained technological presence in the host country. Overall, initial intellectual property rights appear to mitigate impediments to cross-border knowledge flows and the benefits of this outweigh frictions arising from the exclusionary nature of the patents.
"The Domestic and International Common Language (DICL) Database" (2024) Working Paper, with Tamara Gurevich, Farid Toubal, and Yoto Yotov.
Abstract: We construct a new global database on common language. The data cover 242 countries and territories and are based on information about the speakers of 6,674 languages. We provide 8 bilateral measures reflecting different dimensions of linguistic connections, including common official languages, common native and acquired languages, and linguistic proximity across different languages. A key novelty of the dataset is that it includes consistently defined information on linguistic relationships not only between different countries but within the administrative borders of countries as well.
Database reporitory: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/8WGJTL
Abstract: This paper assess the impact of internet connectivity and digital trade policies on trade and welfare. Using new measures of internet connectivity, we find a significant positive relationship between internet use and bandwidth capacity, and trade. The positive relationship between internet use and trade is present for international and domestic trade, goods and services, high- and low-income exporters, and at the intensive and extensive margin. We also find that digital trade facilitation provisions in trade agreements have significantly increased trade for high-income exporters, especially for services trade. Informed by these findings, we use a general equilibrium model of trade to assess the trade and welfare impacts of increased internet connectivity and digital trade policies for developing countries. Increasing internet connectivity can have large positive welfare impacts on poorly connected countries, but these results also highlight the dangers of developing countries falling behind if they are not able to improve internet infrastructure. Introducing digital trade provisions into an existing trade agreement between high- and low-income countries can facilitate growth in trade in services for both members.