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Economic crisis and innovation capacity of Japan: Evidence from cross-country patent citations

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  • Yamashita, Nobuaki

Abstract

By comparing the cross-country citation performance of patents registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), this paper investigates how the economic crisis that Japan faced in the early 1990s altered the innovation capacity of the nation once regarded as a technological powerhouse. The following main findings are reported based on a difference-in-differences framework. First, overall, Japan performed poorly in terms of citations received for its patents compared to control patents in the post-crisis period. This corroborates with the common finding that Japan suffered a marked decline in research performance compared to international standards in the 1990s and 2000s. Second, the crisis exerted prolonged adverse effects on the citation performance of Japanese patents, even 10 years after the crisis. In particular, it caused a permanent drop in non–US citations of Japanese patents. This reduction in citations offset the superior performance of Japanese patents in the pre-crisis period.

Suggested Citation

  • Yamashita, Nobuaki, 2021. "Economic crisis and innovation capacity of Japan: Evidence from cross-country patent citations," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:techno:v:101:y:2021:i:c:s0166497220300808
    DOI: 10.1016/j.technovation.2020.102208
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Naudé, Wim & Nagler, Paula, 2022. "The Ossified Economy: The Case of Germany, 1870-2020," IZA Discussion Papers 15607, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Svetlana Ratner & Konstantin Gomonov & Svetlana Revinova, 2023. "Public Funding for Energy Innovation and Decarbonization Goals: A Coherence Challenge," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 13(4), pages 40-45, July.
    3. Torsten Heinrich & Jangho Yang, 2022. "Innovation in times of Covid-19," Papers 2212.14159, arXiv.org.
    4. Ai Linh Nguyen & Wenyuan Liu & Khiam Aik Khor & Andrea Nanetti & Siew Ann Cheong, 2022. "Strategic differences between regional investments into graphene technology and how corporations and universities manage patent portfolios," Papers 2208.03719, arXiv.org.
    5. Heinrich, Torsten & Yang, Jangho, 2022. "Innovation in times of Covid-19," MPRA Paper 115809, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Yang, Guancan & Lu, Guoxuan & Xu, Shuo & Chen, Liang & Wen, Yuxin, 2023. "Which type of dynamic indicators should be preferred to predict patent commercial potential?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    7. Torsten Heinrich & Jangho Yang, 2022. "Innovation in times of Covid-19," Chemnitz Economic Papers 058, Department of Economics, Chemnitz University of Technology.

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