Selection bias in innovation studies: A simple test

Gaétan de Rassenfosse, Anja Schoen and Annelies Wastyn

Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2014, vol. 81, issue C, 287-299

Abstract: The study of the innovative output of organizations often relies on a count of patents filed at one single office of reference such as the European Patent Office (EPO). Yet, not all organizations file their patents at the EPO, raising the specter of a selection bias. Using novel datasets of the whole population of patents by Belgian firms and German universities, we show that the single-office count results in a selection bias that affects econometric estimates of invention production functions. We propose an easy-to-implement methodology to evaluate whether estimates that rely on the single-office count are affected by a selection bias.

Keywords: Knowledge production function; Patent count; R&D; Selection bias (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C18 C52 C81 O31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Working Paper: Selection Bias in Innovation Studies. A Simple Test (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:81:y:2014:i:c:p:287-299

DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2013.02.012

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