Political Sentiment and Innovation : Evidence from Patenters

We document political sentiment effects on inventors in the US. Democrat patenters are more likely to patent (relative to Republicans) after the election of Barack Obama but less likely to patent following the election of Donald Trump. These effects are 2-3 times as strong among active partisans (those that vote and donate), are present even within firms over time, and are detectable up to six years post election. We also find a large drop in patenting by immigrant inventors (relative to non-immigrants) following the election of Trump. Finally, we show partisan concentration by technology class and firm. For example, Republicans outnumber Democrats 3-to-1 in weapons patenting, but are outnumbered by Democrats 5-to-1 at Google