Where Have All the "Creative Talents" Gone? Employment Dynamics of US Inventors
April 2023
Working Paper Number:
CES-23-17
Abstract
How are inventors allocated in the US economy and does that allocation affect innovative capacity? To answer these questions, we first build a model where an inventor with a new idea has the possibility to work for an entrant or incumbent firm. Strategic considerations encourage the incumbent to hire the inventor, offering higher wages, and then not implement her idea. We then combine data on 760 thousand U.S. inventors with the LEHD data. We find that when an inventor is hired by an incumbent, their earnings increases by 12.6 percent and their innovative output declines by 6 to 11 percent.
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:
estimation,
economist,
estimating,
disclosure,
earnings,
technological,
entrepreneur,
entrepreneurship,
innovation,
inventory,
patent,
innovate,
revenue,
patenting,
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identified to contain references to specific institutions, datasets, and other organizations.
:
Total Factor Productivity,
Longitudinal Business Database,
North American Industry Classification System,
American Community Survey,
Patent and Trademark Office,
Longitudinal Employer Household Dynamics,
LEHD Program,
Census Bureau Disclosure Review Board,
Business Dynamics Statistics,
Census Bureau Business Dynamics Statistics
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