Creditor rights and innovation: Evidence from patent collateral

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Mann, William
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Los Angeles
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-405X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2018.07.001
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: 25-47
• 关键词: Patents; INNOVATION; Corporate investment; law and finance

摘要

I show that patents are pledged as collateral to raise significant debt financing, and that the pledgeability of patents contributes to the financing of innovation. In 2013, 38% of US patenting firms had previously pledged patents as collateral, and these firms performed 20% of research and development expense and patenting in Compustat. Employing court decisions as a source of exogenous variation in creditor rights, I show that patenting companies raised more debt, and spent more on R&D, when creditor rights to patents strengthened. Subsequently, these companies exhibited a gradual increase in patenting output and the use of patents as collateral. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.