Racial discrimination and lost innovation: evidence from US inventors, 1895–1925

0584779 - NHU-C 2024 CZ eng V - Výzkumná zpráva
Coluccia, D. M. - Dossi, G. - Ottinger, Sebastian
Racial discrimination and lost innovation: evidence from US inventors, 1895–1925.
Prague: CERGE-EI, 2023. 71 s. CERGE-EI Working Paper Series, 749. ISSN 2788-0443
Grant ostatní: Univerzita Karlova(CZ) UNCE/HUM/035
Institucionální podpora: Cooperatio-COOP
Klíčová slova: discrimination * innovation * lynchings
Obor OECD: Applied Economics, Econometrics
https://www.cerge-ei.cz/pdf/wp/Wp749.pdf

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.
Trvalý link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0352626