SMU SOE Online Seminar (Oct 26, 2022, 9am-10.30am): Demand Shocks, Procurement Policies, and the Nature of Medical Innovation: Evidence from Wartime Prosthetic Device Patents

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TOPIC:

DEMAND SHOCKS, PROCUREMENT POLICIES, AND THE NATURE OF MEDICAL INNOVATION: EVIDENCE FROM WARTIME PROSTHETIC DEVICE PATENTS

ABSTRACT We analyze wartime prosthetic device patents to investigate how demand shocks and procurement environments can shape medical innovation. We use machine learning tools to develop new data describing the aspects of medical and mechanical innovations that are emphasized in patent documents. Our analysis of historical patents yields three primary facts. First, we find that the U.S. Civil War and World War I led to substantial increases in the quantity of prosthetic device patenting relative to patenting in other medical and mechanical technology classes. Second, we find that the Civil War led inventors to increase their focus on reducing cost, while World War I did not. The Civil War era emphasis on cost is consistent with a role for that period’s cost-conscious procurement model. Third, we find that inventors emphasized dimensions of product quality (e.g., a prosthetic limb’s comfort or facilitation of employment) that aligned with differences in buyers’ preferences across wars. We conclude that procurement environments can significantly shape the dimensions of the technical frontier with which inventors engage. JEL Codes: H57, I1, O31 Click here to view the paper. Click here to view the CV.		This seminar will be held virtually via Zoom. A confirmation email with the Zoom details will be sent to the registered email by 25 October 2022.
		PRESENTER Jeffrey Clemens University of California, San Diego
		RESEARCH FIELDS Public Finance Health Labor
		DATE: 26 October 2022 (Wednesday)
		TIME: 9.00am - 10.30am

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