The partisanship of American inventors

Daniel Fehder, Florenta Teodoridis, Joseph Raffiee and Jino Lu

Research Policy, 2024, vol. 53, issue 7

Abstract: Using panel data on 251,511 patent inventors matched with voter registration records containing partisan affiliation, we provide the first large-scale look into the partisanship of American inventors. We document that the modal inventor is Republican and that the partisan composition of inventors has changed in ways that are not reflective of partisan affiliation trends amongst the broader population. We then show that the partisan affiliation of inventors is associated with technological invention related to guns and climate change, two issue areas associated with partisan divide. These findings suggest that inventor partisanship may have implications for the direction of inventive activity.

Keywords: Inventors; Partisanship; Innovation; Patents; Political ideology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:respol:v:53:y:2024:i:7:s0048733324000830

DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2024.105034

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