Content introduction：

No.E2021001

Could government lead the way? Evaluation of China's patent subsidy policy on patent quality

 

Jia Lin^a , Ho-Mou Wu^b , and Howei Wu^a

 ^aChina Europe International Business School (CEIBS)

^bChina Europe International Business School (CEIBS), National School of

Development and Institute of New Structural Economics, Peking University

 

Abstract:

As China aimed to transform her growth into an innovation-driven model, we study the impact of China's effort to promote technology inventions. By linking to Google Patents, we compile a comprehensive set of patent quality indicators. Based on Chinese provincial panel data from 1995 to 2010, we find that the effect of the implemented patent subsidy policies on quantity, as well as various quality metrics of patents, was significantly positive. Moreover, the explanation power of subsidy policies on both patent quantity and quality diminished as time goes by. We also find that the effect of these policies depended on the growth rate of experienced innovators rather than entrants. Since the implemented policies we study in this paper were designed to focus on subsidizing expenses incurred during the patenting process, our results show that the provided partial funding led the way for improving China's patent quality.

 

JEL classification: O31, O34, O38.

 

Keywords: Patent quality; Patent subsidy policy; Innovation; China

 

本工作论文系列是新结构经济学最新的尚未在学术期刊发表的研究成果，目的在于学术讨论与评论，并不代表北京大学新结构经济学研究院的官方意见。