Working Paper: NBER ID: w28152
Authors: Enrico Berkes; Olivier Deschenes; Ruben Gaetani; Jeffrey Lin; Christopher Severen
Abstract: Does social distancing harm innovation? We estimate the effect of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs)—policies that restrict interactions in an attempt to slow the spread of disease—on local invention. We construct a panel of issued patents and NPIs adopted by 50 large US cities during the 1918 flu pandemic. Difference-in-differences estimates show that cities adopting longer NPIs did not experience a decline in patenting during the pandemic relative to short-NPI cities, and recorded higher patenting afterward. Rather than reduce local invention by restricting localized knowledge spillovers, NPIs adopted during the pandemic may have better preserved other inventive factors.
Keywords: non-pharmaceutical interventions; patenting rates; 1918 flu pandemic; innovation
JEL Codes: N92; O31; R11
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) (O35) | patenting rates (O34) |
| long-NPI cities (R12) | patenting rates (O34) |
| short-NPI cities (R12) | patenting rates (O34) |
| longer NPIs (F50) | preservation of inventive factors (O31) |
| longer NPIs (F50) | access to financial resources (O16) |
| longer NPIs (F50) | reduced uncertainty (D80) |
| longer NPIs (F50) | labor inputs (J24) |
| patents with multiple inventors (O36) | patenting rates (O34) |
| patents owned by external assignees (O36) | patenting rates (O34) |