Foreign Competition and Domestic Innovation: Evidence from U.S. Patents

David Dorn, David Autor, Gordon Hanson, Gary P. Pisano and Pian Shu

No 11664, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: Manufacturing is the locus of U.S. innovation, accounting for more than three quarters of U.S. corporate patents. The rise of import competition from China has represented a major competitive shock to the sector, which in theory could benefit or stifle innovation. In this paper we empirically examine how rising import competition from China has affected U.S. innovation. We confront two empirical challenges in assessing the impact. We map all U.S. utility patents granted by March 2013 to firm-level data using a novel internet-based matching algorithm that corrects for a preponderance of false negatives when using firm names alone. And we contend with the fact that patenting is highly concentrated in certain product categories and that this concentration has been shifting over time. Accounting for secular trends in innovative activities, we find that the impact of the change in import exposure on the change in patents produced is strongly negative. It remains so once we add an extensive set of further industry- and firm-level controls. Rising import exposure also reduces global employment, global sales, and global R&D expenditure at the firm level. It would appear that a simple mechanism in which greater foreign competition induces U.S. manufacturing firms to contract their operations along multiple margins of activity goes a long way toward explaining the response of U.S. innovation to the China trade shock.

Keywords: Innovation; Patents; Trade; Import competition; China; Firms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-com, nep-cse, nep-ino, nep-int, nep-ipr and nep-tid
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (87)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Foreign Competition and Domestic Innovation: Evidence from US Patents (2020)
Working Paper: Foreign Competition and Domestic Innovation: Evidence from U.S. Patents (2019)
Working Paper: Foreign Competition and Domestic Innovation: Evidence from U.S. Patents (2019)
Working Paper: Foreign Competition and Domestic Innovation: Evidence from U.S. Patents (2018)
Working Paper: Foreign Competition and Domestic Innovation: Evidence from U.S. Patents (2016)
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