Patent Statistics as Economic Indicators: A Survey

Zvi Griliches

No 3301, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This survey reviews the growing use of patent data in economic analysis. After describing some of the main characteristics of patents and patent data, it focuses on the use of patents as an indicator of technological change. Cross-sectional and time-series studies of the relationship of patents to R&D expenditures are reviewed, as well as scattered estimates of the distribution of patent values and the value of patent rights, the latter being based on recent analyses of European patent renewal data. Time-series trends of patents granted in the U.S. are examined and their decline in the 1970s is found to be an artifact of the budget stringencies at the Patent Office. The longer run downward trend in patents per R&D dollar is interpreted not as an indication of diminishing returns but rather as a reflection of the changing meaning of such data over time. The conclusion is reached that, in spite of many difficulties and reservations, patent data remain a unique resource for the study of technical change.

Date: 1990-03
Note: PR
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Published as "Patent Statistics as Economic Indicators: A Survey." Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. XXVIII, pp. 1661-1707, (December 1990).
Published as Patent Statistics as Economic Indicators: A Survey , Zvi Griliches. in R&D and Productivity: The Econometric Evidence , Griliches. 1998

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Related works:
Chapter: Patent Statistics as Economic Indicators: A Survey (1998)
Journal Article: Patent Statistics as Economic Indicators: A Survey (1990)
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