Types of patents and driving forces behind the patent growth in China

Zhiyuan Chen and Jie Zhang

Economic Modelling, 2019, vol. 80, issue C, 294-302

Abstract: As a developing economy, China's unprecedented patenting surge is puzzling. We study China's patent surge and its driving forces using a novel and comprehensive merged dataset on patent applications filed by Chinese firms. We find that R&D investment, FDI, and patent subsidy have different effects on different types of patents. First, R&D investment has a positive and significant impact on patenting activities for all types of patents under different model specifications. Second, the stimulating effect of foreign direct investment on patent applications is only robust for utility model patents and design patents. Third, the patent subsidy only has a positive impact on design patents. The results imply that FDI and patent subsidy may disproportionately spur low-quality patents.

Keywords: Patent types; R&D; Foreign direct investment; Patent subsidies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (25)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:80:y:2019:i:c:p:294-302

DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2018.11.015

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