Název:
Racial discrimination and lost innovation: evidence from US inventors, 1895–1925
Autoři:
Coluccia, D. M. ; Dossi, G. ; Ottinger, Sebastian Typ dokumentu: Výzkumné zprávy
Rok:
2023
Jazyk:
eng
Edice: CERGE-EI Working Paper Series, svazek: 749
Abstrakt: How can racial discrimination harm innovation? We study this question using data on US inventors linked to population censuses in 1895-1925. Our novel identification strategy leverages plausibly exogenous variation in the timing of lynchings and the name of the victims. We find an immediate and persistent decrease in patents granted to inventors who share their names with the victims of lynchings, but only when victims are Black. We hypothesize that lynchings accentuate the racial content of the victim’s name to patent examiners, who do not observe inventor race from patent applications. We interpret these findings as evidence of discrimination by patent examiners and provide evidence against alternative mechanisms.
Klíčová slova:
discrimination; innovation; lynchings