IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cen/wpaper/25-31.html

Property Rights, Firm Size and Investments in Innovation: Evidence from the America Invents Act

Author

Listed:
  • James Driver

Abstract

I analyze whether a change in patent systems differentially affects firm-level innovation investments at patent-valuing firms of different sizes. Using legally required, economically representative, U.S. Census Bureau microdata, I separate firms into groups based on a firm’s response to a question asking it to rank the degree of patent importance to its business and firm-size. I then measure how firms’ innovation inputs/outputs respond to the America Invents Act (AIA). Results show the AIA reduced innovation investments at smaller, patent-valuing firms while increasing innovation investments at larger, patent-valuing firms, highlighting differential firm-size effects of patent policy and policy’s importance to investments.

Suggested Citation

  • James Driver, 2025. "Property Rights, Firm Size and Investments in Innovation: Evidence from the America Invents Act," Working Papers 25-31, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    • Handle: RePEc:cen:wpaper:25-31
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www2.census.gov/library/working-papers/2025/adrm/ces/CES-WP-25-31.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2025
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daron Acemoglu & Amy Finkelstein, 2008. "Input and Technology Choices in Regulated Industries: Evidence from the Health Care Sector," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(5), pages 837-880, October.
    2. Josh Lerner & Amit Seru, 2017. "The Use and Misuse of Patent Data: Issues for Corporate Finance and Beyond," NBER Working Papers 24053, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Galasso, Alberto & Schankerman, Mark, 2015. "Patents Rights, Innovation and Firm Exit," CEPR Discussion Papers 10968, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    4. Mark Schankerman, 2015. "Patents Rights and Innovation by Small and Large Firms," STICERD - Economics of Industry Papers 54, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
    5. John Haltiwanger & Ron S. Jarmin & Javier Miranda, 2013. "Who Creates Jobs? Small versus Large versus Young," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(2), pages 347-361, May.
    6. Bronwyn Hall & Christian Helmers & Mark Rogers & Vania Sena, 2014. "The Choice between Formal and Informal Intellectual Property: A Review," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 52(2), pages 375-423, June.
    7. Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), 2010. "Handbook of the Economics of Innovation," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    8. Kaz Miyagiwa, 2015. "The 2011 America Invents Act: Does it Undermine Innovation?," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 211-227, June.
    9. Filippo Mezzanotti & Timothy Simcoe, 2022. "Innovation and Appropriability: Revisiting the Role of Intellectual Property," Working Papers 22-09, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    10. Shai Bernstein, 2015. "Does Going Public Affect Innovation?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(4), pages 1365-1403, August.
    11. Hall, Bronwyn H. & Helmers, Christian, 2019. "The impact of international patent systems: Evidence from accession to the European Patent Convention," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(9), pages 1-1.
    12. Enrique Schroth & Dezsö Szalay, 2010. "Cash Breeds Success: The Role of Financing Constraints in Patent Races," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 14(1), pages 73-118.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gustaf Bellstam & Sanjai Bhagat & J. Anthony Cookson, 2021. "A Text-Based Analysis of Corporate Innovation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(7), pages 4004-4031, July.
    2. Filippo Mezzanotti, 2021. "Roadblock to Innovation: The Role of Patent Litigation in Corporate R&D," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(12), pages 7362-7390, December.
    3. Laura Magazzini & Sara Amoroso & Randolph Luca Bruno, 2022. "Exploring the nexus between appropriability and productivity in highly innovative and globalized companies," Economics Virtual Symposium 2022 03, Stata Users Group.
    4. Grashuis Jasper & Dary Stanley, 2019. "Patented Innovation and Firm Value in the U.S. Food and Drink Industry: The Economic Importance of High-Quality Product Innovation," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 17(2), pages 1-14, November.
    5. Griffin, Paul A. & Hong, Hyun A. & Ryou, Ji Woo, 2018. "Corporate innovative efficiency: Evidence of effects on credit ratings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 352-373.
    6. Filippo Mezzanotti & Timothy Simcoe, 2023. "Research and/or Development? Financial Frictions and Innovation Investment," Working Papers 23-39, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    7. Ching-Hung Chang & Qingqing Wu, 2021. "Board Networks and Corporate Innovation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(6), pages 3618-3654, June.
    8. Oana Peia & Davide Romelli, 2019. "Did bank lending stifle innovation in Europe during the Great Recession?," Working Papers 201926, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    9. Jaan Masso & Amaresh K Tiwari, 2021. "Productivity Implications Of R&D, Innovation And Capital Accumulation For Incumbents And Entrants: The Case Of Estonia," University of Tartu - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Working Paper Series 130, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Tartu (Estonia).
    10. Tania Babina & Sabrina T. Howell, 2018. "Entrepreneurial Spillovers from Corporate R&D," NBER Working Papers 25360, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Takahashi, Hidenori & Yamada, Kazuo, 2015. "IPOs, growth, and the impact of relaxing listing requirements," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 505-519.
    12. Dinopoulos, Elias & Grieben, Wolf-Heimo & Şener, Fuat, 2023. "A Policy Conundrum: Schumpeterian Growth or Job Creation?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    13. Tania Babina & Paige Ouimet & Rebecca Zarutskie, 2017. "Going Entrepreneurial? IPOs and New Firm Creation," Working Papers 17-18, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    14. Chu-hsuan Chang & Woan-lih Liang & Yanzhi Wang, 2024. "Trade secret laws and initial public offering underpricing," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 63(1), pages 325-353, July.
    15. Ugur, Mehment & Vivarelli, Marco, 2020. "The role of innovation in industrial dynamics and productivity growth: a survey of the literature," GLO Discussion Paper Series 648, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    16. Melnik, Walter & Smyth, Andrew, 2024. "R&D tax credits and innovation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    17. Drivas, Kyriakos & Economidou, Claire & Gounopoulos, Dimitrios & Konstantios, Dimitrios & Tsiritakis, Emmanuel, 2026. "The role of trademarks in going public," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 58(3).
    18. Mariana Mazzucato & Caetano C.R. Penna, 2016. "Beyond market failures: the market creating and shaping roles of state investment banks," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 19(4), pages 305-326, October.
    19. Yoshiki Ando, 2026. "Dynamics of High‐Growth Young Firms and the Role of Venture Capitalists," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 67(3), pages 779-798, August.
    20. James Harrigan & Ariell Reshef & Farid Toubal, 2018. "Techies, Trade, and Skill-Biased Productivity," NBER Working Papers 25295, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights
    • O51 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - U.S.; Canada

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cen:wpaper:25-31. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dawn Anderson (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesgvus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.