Working Paper: NBER ID: w24159
Authors: Michael D. Frakes; Melissa F. Wasserman
Abstract: Using application-level data from the Patent Office from 2001 to 2012, merged with personnel data on patent examiners, we explore the extent to which the key decision of examiners—whether to allow a patent—is shaped by the granting styles of her surrounding peers. Taking a number of methodological approaches to dealing with the common obstacles facing peer-effects investigations, we document strong evidence of peer influence. For instance, in the face of a one standard-deviation increase in the grant rate of her peer group, an examiner in her first two years at the Patent Office will experience a 0.15 standard-deviation increase in her own grant rate. Moreover, we document a number of markers suggesting that such influences arise, at least in part, through knowledge spillovers among examiners, as distinct from peer-pressure mechanisms. We even find evidence that some amount of these spillovers may reflect knowledge flows regarding specific pieces of prior art that bear on the patentability of the applications in question, as opposed to just knowledge flows regarding general examination styles. Finally, we find evidence suggesting that the magnitude of these peer examiner influences are just as strong, or stronger, than the influence of the examination styles of supervisors.
Keywords: Peer Effects; Knowledge Spillovers; Patent Examination; Workplace Learning
JEL Codes: J01; M50; O30
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Peer group grant rate increase (H43) | Examiner's own grant rate increase (I23) |
| Peer influences (C92) | Knowledge spillovers (O36) |
| Early career peer influences (C92) | Long-term behaviors (D15) |
| Initial peer interactions (C92) | Lasting effects on practice styles (Z22) |
| Peer examiner influence (C92) | Stronger than supervisor influence (M54) |