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Journal Article
The Rise of Asia as a Destination for U.S. Patenting
China has become one of the main destinations where U.S. inventors seek to protect their intellectual property.
The Rise of Cross-Border Patenting: Trends and Implications
Excluding China, foreign patent applications have narrowed the gap with domestic patent applications, suggesting a global trend toward cross-border patenting.
From Partner to Rival: Understanding China’s Technological Rise through Patent Data
A new measure of patent similarity shows China shifting its international patents toward technology-intensive industries traditionally dominated by developed nations.
The Impact of Tax Differences on Intrafirm Patent Transactions
An analysis of global patent transfers found that international tax differences impact patent transactions between parent companies and foreign subsidiaries.
Journal Article
The Impact of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on U.S. Multinationals' Intangible Assets
This article investigates the impact of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) on the intangibles of U.S. multinationals. We develop a theoretical model that incorporates key provisions of the TCJA—Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income (GILTI) and Foreign-Derived Intangible Income (FDII)—and derive testable implications for changes in licensing and patent transfer patterns. Using data on international royalty flows and patent assignments, we test the model’s predictions. Our findings suggest that the TCJA may have impacted profit-shifting strategies through intangibles, aligning with our ...
Transfer Pricing of Intangible Assets: Evidence from Patent Data
To reduce their tax exposure, multinationals may seek to shift profits to countries with lower tax rates. Do patents play a role in this strategy?
Working Paper
The Paper Trail of Knowledge Spillovers: Evidence from Patent Interferences [REVISED]
REVISED 9/2019: We show evidence of localized knowledge spillovers using a new database of multiple invention from U.S. patent interferences terminated between 1998 and 2014. Patent interferences resulted when two or more independent parties simultaneously submitted identical claims of invention to the U.S. Patent Office. Following the idea that inventors of identical inventions share common knowledge inputs, interferences provide a new method for measuring spillovers of tacit knowledge compared with existing (and noisy) measures such as citation links. Using matched pairs of inventors to ...
Working Paper
Barriers to Creative Destruction: Large Firms and Nonproductive Strategies
This working paper reviews recent empirical evidence on large firms and nonproductivestrategies that hinder creative destruction and reallocation. The focus is on three types ofnonproductive strategies: political connections, nonproductive patenting, and anticompetitiveacquisitions. Across different contexts using granular micro data sets, we overwhelmingly see that asfirms gain market share, they increasingly rely on nonproductive strategies but reduce theirproductive, innovation-based strategies. I also discuss theoretical channels, aggregate implications,and potentials for some policies.
East Asia Outpaces Other Regions in International Patenting
As foreign patenting continues to grow, East Asia has become both the main origin of innovations and the main destination for patent protection.
Working Paper
Lockdowns and Innovation: Evidence from the 1918 Flu Pandemic
Does social distancing harm innovation? We estimate the effect of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs)—policies that restrict interactions in an attempt to slow the spread of disease—on local invention. We construct a panel of issued patents and NPIs adopted by 50 large US cities during the 1918 flu pandemic. Difference-in-differences estimates show that cities adopting longer NPIs did not experience a decline in patenting during the pandemic relative to short-NPI cities, and recorded higher patenting afterward. Rather than reduce local invention by restricting localized knowledge ...