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Do Stronger IPR Incentivize Female Participation in Innovation? Evidence from Chinese AI Patents

Author

Listed:
  • Shubhangi Agrawal
  • Sawan Rathi
  • Chirantan Chatterjee
  • Matthew J. Higgins

Abstract

Do stronger intellectual property rights incentivize female participation in innovation? We provide new evidence on this question using a unique database of artificial intelligence patents publicly shared by the USPTO. Our identification strategy leverages China’s WTO TRIPs accession, which led to stronger intellectual property rights in 2002. We find a significant rise in the number of female inventors and an increase in the number of patents with females on inventor teams vis-a-vis a control group of countries. We also find that after stronger intellectual property rights, the quality of Chinese artificial intelligence patents with female inventors on the team improved. Results are robust controlling for unobserved heterogeneity at the country, technology class, and over time. Additional robustness tests with synthetic controls, coarsened exact matching, randomized inference and alternative control groups support our benchmark findings. Our results highlight that stronger intellectual property rights can be helpful in improving gender division of labor thereby benefiting society and innovation.

Suggested Citation

  • Shubhangi Agrawal & Sawan Rathi & Chirantan Chatterjee & Matthew J. Higgins, 2024. "Do Stronger IPR Incentivize Female Participation in Innovation? Evidence from Chinese AI Patents," NBER Working Papers 32547, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32547
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    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • 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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