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Publications
Publications
  • winter 2000
  • Article
  • RAND Journal of Economics

Assessing the Impact of Venture Capital to Innovation

By: Samuel Kortum and Josh Lerner
  • Format:Print
  • | Pages:19
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Abstract

We examine the influence of venture capital on patented inventions in the United States across twenty industries over three decades. We address concerns about causality in several ways, including exploiting a 1979 policy shift that spurred venture capital fundraising. We find that increases in venture capital activity in an industry are associated with significantly higher patenting rates. While the ratio of venture capital to R&D averaged less than 3% from 1983-1992, our estimates suggest that venture capital may have accounted for 8% of industrial innovations in that period.

Keywords

Venture Capital; Innovation and Invention

Citation

Kortum, Samuel, and Josh Lerner. "Assessing the Impact of Venture Capital to Innovation." RAND Journal of Economics 31, no. 4 (winter 2000): 674–692. (Supplemental appendix.)
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About The Author

Josh Lerner

Entrepreneurial Management
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More from the Authors
  • The Diffusion of New Technologies By: Aakash Kalyani, Marcela Carvalho, Nicholas Bloom, Tarek Hassan, Josh Lerner and Ahmed Tahoun
  • Private Equity and Workers: Modeling and Measuring Monopsony, Implicit Contracts, and Efficient Reallocation By: Kyle Herkenhoff, Josh Lerner, Gordon M. Phillips, Francisca Rebelo and Benjamin Sampson
  • Impact Investing and Worker Outcomes By: Josh Lerner, Markus Lithell and Gordon M. Phillips
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