Working Paper: NBER ID: w16331
Authors: Lisa D. Cook; Chaleampong Kongcharoen
Abstract: Previous studies have found large gender and racial differences in commercialization of invention. Using novel data that permit enhanced identification of women and African American inventors, we find that gender and racial differences in commercial activity related to invention are lower than once thought. This is despite relatively lower patent activity among women and African Americans. Further, among determinants of commercialization, the evidence suggests that advanced training in engineering is correlated with better commercialization outcomes for women and African Americans than for U.S. inventors as a whole, for whom advanced training in life sciences is more important.
Keywords: gender differences; racial differences; commercialization; patenting; inventors
JEL Codes: O30; J15; J16
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| advanced training in engineering (M53) | better commercialization outcomes for women and African Americans (J79) |
| advanced training in life sciences (Y80) | better commercialization outcomes for overall U.S. inventor population (O36) |
| commercialization gap closing (O36) | women and African American inventors commercializing 79% and 77% of their inventions (O31) |
| mixed-gender patent teams (O36) | better commercialization than all-male or all-female teams (D29) |
| increases in citations received (A14) | patents assigned for women (J16) |
| all-male and all-female patent teams (J16) | less effective commercialization than mixed-gender teams for African Americans (J79) |
| female and African American patents (J79) | lower probability of assignment to firms (C78) |