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Value of invention, prolific inventor productivity and mobility : evidence from five countries, 1975-2002

Author

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  • William Latham

    (Department of Economics, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19711, USA)

  • Christian Le Bas

    (Université de Lyon, Lyon, F-69007, France ; CNRS, GATE Lyon St Etienne,F-69130 Ecully, France)

  • Dmitry Volodin

    (Department of Economics, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19711, USA)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to provide new insights into (1) the determinants of the value of inventions and (2) the role that mobility plays in the behavior of prolific inventors, whom we identify based on the number of patents exceeding a threshold of productivity. We examine mobility in two dimensions : from firm to firm (inter-firm) and from one technical field to another. We exploit data on patents filed by inventors from five countries (France, the UK, Germany, the US and Japan) in the US Patent and Trademark office during the period from 1975 to 2002. From our regressions we obtain a rich set of results. In particular we show that : (1) as predicted by evolutionary theory, inventor productivity is a positive determinant of invention value, (2) inter-firm mobility is a consistently positive determinant of productivity and (3) technological mobility is a negative determinant. The last implies that the more specialized an inventor is, the higher his productivity is.

Suggested Citation

  • William Latham & Christian Le Bas & Dmitry Volodin, 2011. "Value of invention, prolific inventor productivity and mobility : evidence from five countries, 1975-2002," Working Papers 1133, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St-Étienne (GATE Lyon St-Étienne), Université de Lyon.
    • Handle: RePEc:gat:wpaper:1133
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Hartwig, Jochen, 2015. "Structural change, aggregate demand and employment dynamics in the OECD, 1970–2010," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 36-45.
    2. William Latham & Christian Le Bas & Dmitry Volodin, 2012. "Mobility, Productivity and Patent Value for Asian Prolific Inventors : China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan, 1975 - 2010," Working Papers halshs-00734980, HAL.
    3. Thomas Bolli & Jörg Schläpfer, 2015. "Job mobility, peer effects, and research productivity in economics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 104(3), pages 629-650, September.
    4. Koski, Heli & Pajarinen, Mika, 2015. "Mobility of ideas for innovation: The role of inventor-specific knowledge flows," ETLA Working Papers 27, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    prolific inventor; mobility; productivity; value of invention;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

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