About this event

We examine the careers of female inventors in Germany using unique data that link patent records to social security information. Our analysis reveals substantial gender gaps in patenting outcomes, wages, earnings, labor force participation, and the likelihood of holding managerial positions. Although male and female inventors follow similar early-career trajectories, women are more likely to stop patenting over time and tend to earn lower wages. Industry, occupation and patenting classes at the time of patenting do not account for these disparities. Exploiting within-firm comparisons of inventors listed on the same first patent, we show that female inventors without children experience the same wage growth after their first patent application. The persistence of significant gaps among female inventors with children indicates that parenthood accounts for a big part of the observed disparities.

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This event will take place in SAL 2.04, 2nd Floor Conference Room, Sir Arthur Lewis Building, LSE, 32 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PH.