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Property rights and innovation dynamism: the role of women inventors

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  • Gozen, Ruveyda Nur

Abstract

How do stronger property rights for disadvantaged groups affect innovation? I investigate the impact of strengthened property rights for women on U.S. innovation by analyzing the Married Women's Property Acts, which granted equal property rights to women starting in 1845 in New York State. I examine the universe of granted patents from 1790 until 1901, exploiting the staggered adoption of the laws over time across states. The strengthening of women's property rights led to a 40% increase in patenting activity among women in the long run, with effects peaking about a decade after the laws were introduced. Importantly, women's innovations were not of lower quality (as measured by a novelty index based on patent text analysis) and did not generate negative effects on male innovation. Finally, I show that the main mechanism was through higher human capital accumulation among women inventors and innovation incentives, rather than an increase in participation in STEM fields, labor force participation, or relieving financial frictions.

Suggested Citation

  • Gozen, Ruveyda Nur, 2024. "Property rights and innovation dynamism: the role of women inventors," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 126790, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:126790
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/126790/
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    innovations; gender; property rights; economic development; Ruveyda Nur Gozen;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • N00 - Economic History - - General - - - General
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital
    • P14 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Property Rights

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