following Bena and Simintzi (2019)
This dataset provides an updated data series for process innovation claims for all patents granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) between 1976 and June 2021 following the methodology of Bena and Simintzi (2019): “Machines Could Not Compete with Chinese Labor. Evidence from U.S. Firms’ Innovation,” available at https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2613248.
Data description:
File “process20211101.csv” includes the following variables:
| Variable name | Definition |
| nr_pt | Patent number |
| date_app | Filing date of patent application (yyyy-mm-dd) |
| date_grant | Date the patent was granted (yyyy-mm-dd) |
| cl_N | Number of claims per patent |
| cl_process_N | Number of process claims per patent |
Contact:
Please contact Jan Bena (jan.bena@sauder.ubc.ca) or Elena Simintzi (elena_simintzi@kenan-flagler.unc.edu) for any questions regarding the data.
The data have been used in the following papers:
Bena and Simintzi (2019): “Machines Could Not Compete with Chinese Labor. Evidence from U.S. Firms’ Innovation,” available at https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2613248.
Bena, Ortiz-Molina, and Simintzi (2021): “Shielding Firm Value: Employment Protection and Process Innovation,” Journal of Financial Economics, forthcoming, available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2021.10.005.
Please see these papers for more information on the data. If you use these data, please CITE one of these papers as the data source.