Closing the Gender Gap in Patenting: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial at the USPTO

Nicholas A. Pairolero, Andrew A. Toole, Peter-Anthony Pappas, Charles A. W. de Grazia and Mike H. M. Teodorescu

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2025, vol. 17, issue 3, 281-310

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-codes: J16 O31 O34 O38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1257/pol.20230253

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