Nottingham Centre for Research on
Globalisation and Economic Policy (GEP)

GEP 11/16: Is the Dragon Learning to Fly? An Analysis of the Chinese Patent Explosion

Summary

In this study we construct a unique dataset for Chinese manufacturing firms, allowing us for the first time to analyse their patenting behaviour both domestically and in the US.

Abstract

This paper analyses characteristics of the recent explosion of patent filings by Chinese firms both domestically and in the United States. We construct a firm-level dataset by matching USPTO and SIPO patents to Chinese manufacturing census data for 1999-2006. Using this integrated dataset we show that the patent explosion is accounted for by a tiny, highly select group of Chinese companies in the ICT equipment industry. Our analysis further suggests that firms patenting in both the US and China are younger, larger and more export-oriented than firms patenting exclusively in China.

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Authors

Markus Eberhardt, Christian Helmers and Zhihong Yu

 

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Posted on Saturday 1st October 2011

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