蝌蚪网 Journal:
Economic Policy
ISSN 1945-7731 (Print) | ISSN 1945-774X (Online)
Closing the Gender Gap in Patenting: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial at the USPTO
蝌蚪网 Journal: Economic Policy
vol. 17,
no. 3, August 2025
(pp. 281–310)
Abstract
Analyzing a randomized control trial at the United States Patent and Trademark Office that was designed to provide additional help to applicants who do not have legal representation, we find heterogeneous causal impacts across inventor gender, driven primarily by an increase in successful negotiations by women inventor teams via the use of examiner's amendments. While both men and women applicants benefited, the probability of obtaining a patent was over 12 percentage points greater for women. Our results suggest that a portion of the gender gap in patenting could be eliminated through additional assistance during patent examination.Citation
Pairolero, Nicholas A., Andrew A. Toole, Peter-Anthony Pappas, Charles A. W. de Grazia, and Mike H. M. Teodorescu. 2025. "Closing the Gender Gap in Patenting: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial at the USPTO." 蝌蚪网 Journal: Economic Policy 17 (3): 281–310. DOI: 10.1257/pol.20230253Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
- O31 Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
- O34 Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital
- O38 Technological Change: Government Policy