Creativity and the Family Tree: Human Capital Endowments and the Propensity of Entrepreneurs to Patent

11 Pages Posted: 23 Sep 2011 Last revised: 27 Feb 2022

See all articles by Albert Link

Albert Link

University of North Carolina (UNC) at Greensboro - Department of Economics

Christopher J. Ruhm

University of Virginia - Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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Date Written: September 2011

Abstract

In this paper we show that the patenting behavior of creative entrepreneurs is correlated with the patenting behavior of their fathers, which we refer to as a source of the entrepreneurs' human capital endowments. Our argument for this relationship follows from established theories of developmental creativity, and our empirical analysis is based on survey data collected from MIT's Technology Review winners.

Suggested Citation

Link, Albert N. and Ruhm, Christopher J., Creativity and the Family Tree: Human Capital Endowments and the Propensity of Entrepreneurs to Patent (September 2011). NBER Working Paper No. w17441, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1932572

Albert N. Link (Contact Author)

University of North Carolina (UNC) at Greensboro - Department of Economics ( email )

Greensboro, NC 27402-6165
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Christopher J. Ruhm

University of Virginia - Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy ( email )

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IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

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