1. Productivity of Research Scientists Jinyoung Kim, Sangjoon John Lee, Gerald Marschke Thoughts from Alex Bryson Policy Studies Institute SEWP Research Conference, NBER 19 TH -20 TH October 2005

2. Patents as Productivity ‘To patent or not to patent’ –Not all innovations are patented Depends on rents to be earned (James Bessen) All patents are not the same –Weighting by ‘value’ –‘typically assigned’ WHOSE patent? If worker’s then raises market value. If firm’s raises their market value. Important to use ‘assignee type’ and explain institutional context % of ‘semi-conductor’ and ‘pharmaceutical’ inventors patenting outside of these two industries

3. Patent-Inventor Ratio by Foreign- Experience Gives 2 reasons on page 19: –Causal impact of foreign experience –Migration of more productive inventors to the US 3 rd possibility –Foreign experience proxies some other productivity enhancing factor, eg. Age which is associated with accumulated human capital –Test in multivariate framework Increase in relative productivity of current US residents with foreign experience since 1993 coincides with decline in their relative numbers –Suggests possible selection effect Expected to see Figure V-1 for the two industries that are central to the rest of the paper

4. Determinants of citation to foreign- assigned patents Clear effect of inventor foreign experience (‘knowledge spillover’) Split this dummy by whether current foreign resident or ex- foreign resident –Direct test of whether increase in use of foreign resident inventors is having positive spillovers for firms If extended analysis by pooling years interact these two dummies with time to see if these returns have risen –Might explain why we see increase in foreign resident inventors Some puzzling results that need further investigation –Difference in firm age effects across 2 sectors

5. Data issues Meticulous data construction – exemplary Addresses and animal rights Degree/higher degree rates seem low –How complete are the 1k universities –Foreign qualifications beyond US/Europe Multiple patent assignments each year –Whose employee? Industry dynamics –Semicon firms smaller throughout but increase in N employees per firm whereas fall in N employees per firm in phara –Increase in sales and R&D in both industries but faster in semiconductors –Implications if any? Four pharmaceutical firms missing from Table II_6a

6. Implications of Compact as Firm Universe Don’t know % all patents covered –>=$5m assets, 500+ shareholders –SIC only in Compact data? –Lots of innovation below this Some firms with very low N employees (Table II-6) –How so? Subsidiaries of larger firms? Fall in % of firms reporting employment in both sectors over time (Table II-1). Not true of sales/r&d. –Why? –Any bias introduced?

7. Why Do Foreign Inventors Remain Home-based? No need to move –Telecom improvements (authors suggest) Implies codification of ‘tacit’ knowledge –Cheap flights Demand outstripping supply –May explain why trends so pronounced in industries identified. Could do more to elaborate on market context –Laboratories abroad (authors suggest) But why? Labour cost reduction? Tax breaks/burdens Changes in nature of collaboration –N inventors per patent –Increased specialisation in contribution of inventors –Increased ability to codify