Search Results
The Impact of Tax Differences on Intrafirm Patent Transactions
An analysis of global patent transfers found that international tax differences impact patent transactions between parent companies and foreign subsidiaries.
Transfer Pricing of Intangible Assets: Evidence from Patent Data
To reduce their tax exposure, multinationals may seek to shift profits to countries with lower tax rates. Do patents play a role in this strategy?
Working Paper
The Paper Trail of Knowledge Spillovers: Evidence from Patent Interferences [REVISED]
REVISED 9/2019: We show evidence of localized knowledge spillovers using a new database of multiple invention from U.S. patent interferences terminated between 1998 and 2014. Patent interferences resulted when two or more independent parties simultaneously submitted identical claims of invention to the U.S. Patent Office. Following the idea that inventors of identical inventions share common knowledge inputs, interferences provide a new method for measuring spillovers of tacit knowledge compared with existing (and noisy) measures such as citation links. Using matched pairs of inventors to ...
Working Paper
Barriers to Creative Destruction: Large Firms and Nonproductive Strategies
This working paper reviews recent empirical evidence on large firms and nonproductivestrategies that hinder creative destruction and reallocation. The focus is on three types ofnonproductive strategies: political connections, nonproductive patenting, and anticompetitiveacquisitions. Across different contexts using granular micro data sets, we overwhelmingly see that asfirms gain market share, they increasingly rely on nonproductive strategies but reduce theirproductive, innovation-based strategies. I also discuss theoretical channels, aggregate implications,and potentials for some policies.
Journal Article
The Innovation Puzzle: Patents and Productivity Growth
Understanding the pace and nature of technological progress is key for evaluating innovation policy and projecting economic growth.
Journal Article
The Rise of Asia as a Destination for U.S. Patenting
China has become one of the main destinations where U.S. inventors seek to protect their intellectual property.
The Rise of Cross-Border Patenting: Trends and Implications
Excluding China, foreign patent applications have narrowed the gap with domestic patent applications, suggesting a global trend toward cross-border patenting.
From Partner to Rival: Understanding China’s Technological Rise through Patent Data
A new measure of patent similarity shows China shifting its international patents toward technology-intensive industries traditionally dominated by developed nations.
Working Paper
The Impact of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on U.S. Multinationals’ Intangible Assets
This paper investigates the impact of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) on U.S. multinationals’ intangibles. We develop a theoretical model that incorporates key provisions of the TCJA—the Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income (GILTI) and the Foreign-Derived Intangible Income (FDII)—and derive testable implications for changes in licensing and patent transfer patterns. Using data on international royalty flows and patent assignments, we test the model’s predictions. Our findings suggest that the TCJA may have impacted profit shifting strategies through intangibles, aligning with our ...
Profit Shifting in the 21st Century: Multinationals’ Use of Intrafirm Patent Transfers
An analysis indicates that a high percentage of U.S. patents that shifted to tax havens like Bermuda are intrafirm transfers. Such transfers may be a tax avoidance strategy by multinationals.