{"title":"Inventor Mobility After the Fall of the Berlin Wall","authors":"Paul Hünermund, Ann Hipp","doi":"arxiv-2409.01861","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This study examines the inter-organizational and spatial mobility patterns of\nEast German inventors following the fall of the Berlin Wall. Existing research\noften overlooks the role of informal institutions in the mobility decisions of\ninventors, particularly regarding access to and transfer of knowledge. To\naddress this gap, we investigate the unique circumstances surrounding the\ndissolution of the German Democratic Republic, which caused a significant shock\nto establishment closures and prompted many inventors to change their jobs and\nlocations. Our sample comprises over 25,000 East German inventors, whose\npatenting careers in reunified Germany post-1990 are traced using a novel\ndisambiguation and matching procedure. Our findings reveal that East German\ninventors in technological fields where access to Western knowledge was\nfacilitated by industrial espionage were more likely to pursue\ninter-organizational mobility and continue their inventive activities in\nreunified Germany. Additionally, inventors from communities with strong\npolitical support for the ruling socialist party encountered difficulties in\nsourcing knowledge through weak ties, resulting in a lower likelihood of\ncontinuing to patent. However, those who overcame these obstacles and continued\nto produce inventions were more likely to relocate to West Germany, leaving\ntheir original social contexts behind.","PeriodicalId":501273,"journal":{"name":"arXiv - ECON - General Economics","volume":"143 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"arXiv - ECON - General Economics","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/arxiv-2409.01861","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This study examines the inter-organizational and spatial mobility patterns of
East German inventors following the fall of the Berlin Wall. Existing research
often overlooks the role of informal institutions in the mobility decisions of
inventors, particularly regarding access to and transfer of knowledge. To
address this gap, we investigate the unique circumstances surrounding the
dissolution of the German Democratic Republic, which caused a significant shock
to establishment closures and prompted many inventors to change their jobs and
locations. Our sample comprises over 25,000 East German inventors, whose
patenting careers in reunified Germany post-1990 are traced using a novel
disambiguation and matching procedure. Our findings reveal that East German
inventors in technological fields where access to Western knowledge was
facilitated by industrial espionage were more likely to pursue
inter-organizational mobility and continue their inventive activities in
reunified Germany. Additionally, inventors from communities with strong
political support for the ruling socialist party encountered difficulties in
sourcing knowledge through weak ties, resulting in a lower likelihood of
continuing to patent. However, those who overcame these obstacles and continued
to produce inventions were more likely to relocate to West Germany, leaving
their original social contexts behind.