Does Gender Affect Work? Evidence from U.S. Patent Examination

65 Pages Posted: 1 Apr 2019 Last revised: 31 Mar 2020

See all articles by Deepak Hegde

Deepak Hegde

New York University (NYU) - Leonard N. Stern School of Business

Manav Raj

University of Pennsylvania - Management Department

Date Written: February 21, 2019

Abstract

Does gender affect work quality and quantity? We study this question by leveraging the quasirandom assignment of patent applications to examiners, and micro-data on examiners’ work characteristics at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Under the USPTO’s incentive scheme that primarily rewards examination quantity, we document that female examiners exert more diligence in examining applications, and their average work quality is higher than that of male examiners. Women scrutinize each application more, but examine six percent fewer applications per quarter, and are four percent less likely to be promoted than men. These gender differences grow stronger as examiners become more senior and incentives increasingly reward examination quantity over quality. Additional tests suggest gender-based differences in work preferences, rather than differences in innate ability or discrimination, explain our findings.

Keywords: Gender, Patents, Innovation

JEL Classification: O31, J16

Suggested Citation

Hegde, Deepak and Raj, Manav, Does Gender Affect Work? Evidence from U.S. Patent Examination (February 21, 2019). NYU Stern School of Business, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3339555 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3339555

Deepak Hegde (Contact Author)

New York University (NYU) - Leonard N. Stern School of Business ( email )

44 West 4th Street
Suite 9-160
New York, NY NY 10012
United States

Manav Raj

University of Pennsylvania - Management Department ( email )

The Wharton School
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6370
United States

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