Gender differences among innovators: a patent analysis of stars

IF 3.2 3区经济学 Q1 ECONOMICS

Economics of Innovation and New Technology Pub Date : 2022-04-20 DOI:10.1080/10438599.2022.2065634

Federico Caviggioli, Alessandra Colombelli, Chiara Ravetti

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引用次数: 2

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the gender gap in patenting activities and the predominance of male innovators among outstanding inventors, so-called ‘stars'. In particular, we investigate different metrics of productivity among top inventors, identified employing different definitions with respect to the quantity and quality of output. We distinguish between prolific inventors, with high numbers of patents registered in their name, and high-quality inventors, with portfolios comprising patents with large numbers of citations. Using patent data for more than 600,000 inventors, we find that star inventors differ from the pool of non-star inventors in terms of gender: while for non-star inventors being a woman constitutes a significant disadvantage, for stars it actually presents a positive association both with quantity and quality of innovative outputs. Moreover, career length constitutes a key premium for female inventors’ productivity, but with smaller magnitudes among stars. The only exception where we observe no gender differences is among inventors with large portfolios (more than five patent families): among them, women do not display any significant gap in the quality of outputs, nor does career length provide a gendered premium.

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创新者的性别差异:明星专利分析

摘要本文考察了专利活动中的性别差距，以及男性创新者在杰出发明家（即所谓的“明星”）中的主导地位。特别是，我们调查了顶尖发明家的不同生产力指标，发现他们对产出的数量和质量采用了不同的定义。我们区分了多产的发明家和高质量的发明家，前者拥有大量以其名义注册的专利，后者拥有大量引用的专利。利用60多万名发明家的专利数据，我们发现明星发明家与非明星发明家在性别方面有所不同：对于非明星发明家来说，女性是一个显著的劣势，而对于明星来说，这实际上与创新产出的数量和质量呈正相关。此外，职业生涯长度是女性发明家生产力的一个关键溢价，但在明星中的幅度较小。我们没有观察到性别差异的唯一例外是拥有大量投资组合（超过五个专利家族）的发明人：在他们中，女性在产出质量方面没有表现出任何显著差距，职业生涯长度也没有提供性别溢价。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Economics of Innovation and New Technology ECONOMICS-

CiteScore

7.20

自引率

3.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Economics of Innovation and New Technology is devoted to the theoretical and empirical analysis of the determinants and effects of innovation, new technology and technological knowledge. The journal aims to provide a bridge between different strands of literature and different contributions of economic theory and empirical economics. This bridge is built in two ways. First, by encouraging empirical research (including case studies, econometric work and historical research), evaluating existing economic theory, and suggesting appropriate directions for future effort in theoretical work. Second, by exploring ways of applying and testing existing areas of theory to the economics of innovation and new technology, and ways of using theoretical insights to inform data collection and other empirical research. The journal welcomes contributions across a wide range of issues concerned with innovation, including: the generation of new technological knowledge, innovation in product markets, process innovation, patenting, adoption, diffusion, innovation and technology policy, international competitiveness, standardization and network externalities, innovation and growth, technology transfer, innovation and market structure, innovation and the environment, and across a broad range of economic activity not just in ‘high technology’ areas. The journal is open to a variety of methodological approaches ranging from case studies to econometric exercises with sound theoretical modelling, empirical evidence both longitudinal and cross-sectional about technologies, regions, firms, industries and countries.