Political Segregation in Innovation Collaboration: Evidence from the 2016 Presidential Election

Ting Chen, Robin Kaiji Gong

Research output: Working paper

Abstract

Innovation collaboration in the United States has become increasingly partisan over the past decade. Using merged inventor and voter registration data, we document an abrupt and substantial decrease in cross-party collaboration among patent inventors after the 2016 presidential election. Our analysis reveals that Democratic inventors in more Republican-leaning counties became less likely to collaborate with Republican inventors following the election, leading to diminished innovation productivity. Furthermore, this decline in bipartisan collaboration adversely affects the quality of collaborators for Democratic inventors. Collectively, our findings highlight a crucial connection between polarization in the local political environment and segregation in innovation collaboration.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusSubmitted - Jun 2025

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