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Invention and the Life Course: Age Differences in Patenting

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  • Mary Kaltenberg
  • Adam B. Jaffe
  • Margie E. Lachman

Abstract

Previous research suggests creative ability peaks in the age decades of the 30s and early 40s, and declines thereafter, with some variation across fields. Building from the cognitive aging literature, we expect differences in the rate of creation and qualitative nature of creative works by age. Cognitive processes show aging-related changes with increases in experience-based knowledge (pragmatics or crystallized abilities) and decreases in the ability to process novel information quickly and efficiently (mechanics or fluid abilities). We describe a new database created by combining the publicly available patent data with information on inventor ages scraped from directory websites on the web for approximately 1.2 million U.S.-resident inventors patenting between 1976 and 2017. Our results suggest that cross-sectional and within-inventor patenting rates are similar, peaking at around the early 40s for both women and men. We find varying results for attributes of patents in relation to age, some of which are consistent with cognitive aging theory. For solo inventors, backward citations and originality, which are connected to experience, were found to increase with age. Forward citations, number of claims, and generality measures, as well as a citation-based measure of disruptiveness decline on average with inventor age. A similar pattern was found for performance in teams based on the average age of inventors in the team. Exploration of age diversity showed that teams with a wider age range had patents that are slightly more important (i.e., with more forward citations). The findings have the potential to advance scholarship on the life course of innovation with implications for workplace policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Mary Kaltenberg & Adam B. Jaffe & Margie E. Lachman, 2021. "Invention and the Life Course: Age Differences in Patenting," NBER Working Papers 28769, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28769
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    1. EFI - Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation (ed.), 2023. "Report on research, innovation and technological performance in Germany 2023," Reports on Research, Innovation and Technological Performance in Germany, Expertenkommission Forschung und Innovation (EFI) - Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation, Berlin, volume 127, number 2023e, June.
    2. Gaia Dossi & Marta Morando, 2023. "Political ideology and innovation," CEP Discussion Papers dp1969, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    3. Macher, Jeffrey T. & Rutzer, Christian & Weder, Rolf, 2024. "Is there a secular decline in disruptive patents? Correcting for measurement bias," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(5).
    4. EFI - Expertenkommission Forschung und Innovation (ed.), 2023. "Gutachten zu Forschung, Innovation und technologischer Leistungsfähigkeit Deutschlands 2023," Reports on Research, Innovation and Technological Performance in Germany, Expertenkommission Forschung und Innovation (EFI) - Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation, Berlin, volume 127, number 2023, June.
    5. Yihui Lan & Kenneth W. Clements & Zong Ken Chai, 2023. "How Productive Are Economics and Finance PhDs?," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 56(4), pages 442-461, December.
    6. Jeffrey T. Macher & Christian Rutzer & Rolf Weder, 2023. "The Illusive Slump of Disruptive Patents," Papers 2306.10774, arXiv.org.
    7. Cristelli, Gabriele & Lissoni, Francesco, 2020. "Free movement of inventors: open-border policy and innovation in Switzerland," MPRA Paper 120099, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Jan 2024.
    8. Yuyan Jiang & Xueli Liu, 2023. "A construction and empirical research of the journal disruption index based on open citation data," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(7), pages 3935-3958, July.
    9. He, Chaocheng & Liu, Fuzhen & Dong, Ke & Wu, Jiang & Zhang, Qingpeng, 2023. "Research on the formation mechanism of research leadership relations: An exponential random graph model analysis approach," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2).
    10. Murmann, Martin & Salmivaara, Virva & Kibler, Ewald, 2023. "How does late-career entrepreneurship relate to innovation?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(6).

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    More about this item

    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
    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital

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