World Innovation:Evidence from 100 years of Patent Data

We document the evolution of innovation patterns over the last 100 years for over 75 countries as measured by patent filings in these countries. We document how innova- tion has shifted across fields, from mechanical engineering in the beginning of the XXth century, to chemistry and physics in the mid-century, medicine and the digital economy. We also document how different countries have contributed to these shifts at different points in time and how innovation correlates across countries and across fields. Finally, we use the cross-country, cross-sectoral citation patterns to document knowledge link- ages in the innovation process. We leverage on these country-sector linkages to construct an instrument for innovation and assess the impact of innovation on sectoral productiv- ity, absolute and comparative advantage.