Closing the Gender Gap in Patenting: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial at the USPTO
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy · 2025 · Nicholas A. Pairolero、Andrew A. Toole、Peter-Anthony Pappas、C. Grazia、Mike Horia Teodorescu
中文摘要
我们分析了在美国专利商标局开展的一项随机对照试验，该试验旨在为没有法律代理的申请人提供额外帮助。我们发现，这项干预的因果效应因发明人性别而异，主要原因是女性发明人团队借助审查员修改而成功协商的情况有所增加。尽管男性和女性申请人均从中受益，但女性获得专利的概率高出12个百分点以上。我们的结果提示，在专利审查过程中提供额外帮助，可能消除专利获取中的部分性别差距。（JEL J16, O31, O34, O38）
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. (JEL J16, O31, O34, O38)