About My Research

My main research focuses on incentives and policies for invention and innovation. I try to identify mechanisms that promote advancement in technology, and hence long-run economic growth. Here is the links to resources I use for my research.

• U.S. Patent Data - Available U.S. patent data, both contemporary and historical.
• Industry Classification of Patent Data - How to convert patent data into industrial classification.
• Genealogy and Other U.S. Historical Data - How to construct people's biography and links to other U.S. historical data.
• Student Resources - Links to resources that may be useful to students who want to write a research paper.

Current Projects

• Geography of Invention. This project tries to understand the sources of geographic differences in inventive activity during the Second Industrial Revolution in the U.S., 1870-1920. I am particularly interested in the impact of relocation of production, urbanization, R&D financing, intra-industry spillovers and geographic mobility of inventors on the location of invention.
• Knowledge Diffusion of General Purpose Technologies. (with Shih-tse Lo) This project examines mechanisms that promote diffusion of electrical knowledge to inventive activity in various industries during 1890-1910.
• Patent Regimes. (with Shih-tse Lo) This project examines the impact of various patent regimes on inventive activity of Canada and a number of developing countries during the twentieth century.
• Inventive Activity in the Early Twentieth Century U.S. (with Naomi Lamoreaux) This project examines the reoganization of U.S. inventive activity around 1900-1930.
• Consumption Behaviors. (with Francisco Alvarez-Cuadrado) This project explores factors that may influence household consumption decisions such as habit formation, envy (decision of others), and credit constraints.

Working Papers

• "Location, Location, Location: Why do Inventors Move to Technology Centers?" Mimeo, July 2008. - I am revising the paper. Contact me if you would like the earlier version.
• "Does it Matter Who Has the Right to Patent: First-to-Invent or First-to-File? Lessons from Canada" (with Shih-tse Lo) NBER Working Paper No. 14926, April 2009.
• "The Reorganization of Inventive Activity in the Early Twentieth Century U.S." (with Naomi Lamoreaux and the late Kenneth L. Sokoloff) Mimeo, November 2008.
• "Crossover Inventions and Knowledge Diffusion of General Purpose Technologies? Evidence from the Electrical Technology" (with Shih-tse Lo) NBER Working Paper No. 14043, May 2008.

Publications

• "Learning-by-Producing and the Geographic Links Between Invention and Production: Experience from the Second Industrial Revolution." Journal of Economic History 66, No. 4 (December 2006) - also available as NBER Working Paper No. 12469.
• "The Geography of Invention in High- and Low-Technology Industries: Evidence from the Second Industrial Revolution." Dissertation Summary. Journal of Economic History 66, No. 2 (June 2006): 492-496.
• "Thailand: The Road to Corporate Recovery." (with Nat Chulkarattana, Pongpanu Svetarundra, Chanatip Promphan and Wanchart Kittisuwan) In Asian Corporate Recovery: Findings from Firm-Level Surveys in Five Countries. Washington DC: The World Bank, 2000.