Original title: Racial discrimination and lost innovation: evidence from US inventors, 1895–1925
Authors: Coluccia, D. M. ; Dossi, G. ; Ottinger, Sebastian
Document type: Research reports
Year: 2023
Language: eng
Series: CERGE-EI Working Paper Series, volume: 749
Abstract: 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.
Keywords: discrimination; innovation; lynchings

Institution: Economics Institute AS ČR (web)
Document availability information: Fulltext is available at external website.
External URL: https://www.cerge-ei.cz/pdf/wp/Wp749.pdf
Original record: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0342293

Permalink: http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-521963


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