Cris Alex

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Laurajane Smith

The Australian National University

Neil Silberman

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Manuelina Maria Duarte Cândido

Universidade Federal de Goiás

Andrei Martínez-Finkelshtein

Baylor University

Francisco J. García Tartera

Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Alonso Castillo-Ramirez

Universidad de Guadalajara

ELIZABETH ALVITES

Universidad Privada del Norte

John Huarilloclla Vasquez

Universidad Andina Nestor Caceres velazques

J. Jardini

Universidade de São Paulo

Osservatorio Indipendente Concorsi Universitari (OICU)

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Papers by Cris Alex

Is the Dragon Learning to Fly? An Analysis of the Chinese Patent Explosion

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2011

This paper analyses characteristics and determinants of the recent explosion of patent filings by... more This paper analyses characteristics and determinants of the recent explosion of patent filings by Chinese firms both in China and the United States. We construct a firm-level dataset by matching USPTO and SIPO patents to Chinese manufacturing census data for the period 1999-2006. Using this integrated firm-level dataset, we show that the patent explosion is accounted for by a tiny, highly select group of Chinese companies in the information & communication technology (ICT) equipment industry. This handful of ICT companies accounts for nearly all Chinese USPTO patent filings as well as the vast majority of domestic SIPO patents despite there being a larger number of Chinese companies distributed across a wider range of industries that seeks patent protection domestically. Our empirical analysis further suggests that firms patenting in both US and China are considerably younger, larger and substantially more export-oriented than firms patenting exclusively in China. Our study contributes to the debate on China's innovative prowess and its potential to transition from an imitator to an innovator economy.