We study the impact of social ties on the migration of inventors from East to West Germany, using the fall of the Iron Curtain and German reunification as a natural experiment. We identify East German inventors via their patenting track records prior to 1990 and their social security records in...

We study the impact of social ties on the migration of inventors from East to West Germany, using the fall of the Iron Curtain and German reunification as a natural experiment. We identify East German inventors via their patenting track records prior to 1990 and their social security records in...

"This report describes the generation of a linked employer-inventor data set, the MPI-IC-IAB-Inventor Data 2002 (MIID 2002), using methods of record linkage. The MIID 2002 combines patent register data comprising inventors residing in Germany and who are listed on patent filings with the DPMA in...