Knowledge spillovers, peer effects, and telecommuting: Evidence from the US Patent Office

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Frakes, Michael D.; Wasserman, Melissa F.
• 署名单位: Duke University; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of Texas System; University of Texas Austin
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2021.104425
• 发表日期: 2021
• 关键词: Patent office; Patent examiners; knowledge spillovers; peer effects; Telecommuting; Teleworking

摘要

We find strong evidence of peer influence in granting behaviors among patent examiners. In the face of a one standard-deviation increase in the inherent grant rate of her peers, an examiner in her first two years at the Patent Office will experience a 0.15 standard-deviation increase in her own grant rate. Moreover, we document a number of markers suggesting that such influences arise, in part, through knowledge spillovers, as distinct from peer-pressure mechanisms. Finally, drawing on variations in peer proximity due to the onset of telecommuting & mdash;both with respect to peer and focal examiner telecommuting experiences & mdash;we document evidence that examiner peer influences and knowledge flows are stronger when examiners work at the Patent Office, as opposed to working from home. (c) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.