We provide causal evidence of the effects of patent scope and review times on startups and externalities on their rivals. We leverage the quasi-random assignment of patent applications to examiners and unique data on all first-time applications filed at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office since...

Does gender affect work quality and quantity? We study this question by leveraging the quasirandom assignment of patent applications to examiners, and micro-data on examiners' work characteristics at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Under the USPTO's incentive scheme that primarily...

We provide evidence on the value of patents to startups by leveraging the quasi-random assignment of applications to examiners with different propensities to grant patents. Using unique data on all first-time applications filed at the U.S. Patent Office since 2001, we find that startups that win...

We provide evidence on the value of patents to startups by leveraging the random assignment of applications to examiners with different propensities to grant patents. Using unique data on all first-time applications filed at the U.S. Patent Office since 2001, we find that startups that win the...

Motivated by concerns that the patent system is hindering innovation, particularly for small inventors, this study investigates the bright side of patents. We examine whether patents help startups grow and succeed using detailed micro data on all patent applications filed by startups at the U.S....

Motivated by concerns that the patent system is hindering innovation, particularly for small inventors, this study investigates the bright side of patents. We examine whether patents help startups grow and succeed using detailed micro data on all patent applications filed by startups at the U.S....

We provide evidence on the value of patents to startups by leveraging the quasi-random assignment of applications to examiners with different propensities to grant patents. Using unique data on all first-time applications filed at the U.S. Patent Office since 2001, we find that startups that win...

The article investigates the relationship between the USPTO's performance, in terms of the speed and quality of its patent examination, and the resources allocated to the Agency through the annual Congressional appropriations process. I find that average patent pendency at the USPTO nearly...

How does the publication of patents affect innovation? We answer this question by exploiting a large-scale natural experiment--the passage of the American Inventor's Protection Act of 1999 (AIPA)--that accelerated the public disclosure of most U.S. patents by two years. We obtain causal...