Inventor Returns and Mobility

Dietmar Harhoff, David Heller and Paul Momtaz

No 19681, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: We show that firm and industry, rather than inventor and invention factors, explain more than half of the variation in inventor returns in administrative employer-inventor-patent-linked data from Germany. Between-firm variation in inventive rents is strongly associated with inventor mobility. Inventors are more likely to make a move just before a patent is filed than shortly thereafter and benefit from their move through a mobility-related marginal inventor return. Employers that pay inventor returns in excess of the expected return gain a favorable position in the market for inventive labor with subsequent increases in patent quality and quantity. Consistent with theoretical arguments, effect sizes also depend on employer-inventor technological complementarity, degree of competition, and invention quality.

JEL-codes: J24 J62 O31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-11
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