Paid Family Leave, Inventor Mobility, and Firm Innovation

40 Pages Posted: 28 Jul 2021 Last revised: 26 Mar 2024

See all articles by Yaling Jin

Yaling Jin

Southwestern University of Finance and Economics

Qifei Zhu

Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University

Date Written: July 27, 2021

Abstract

We use the adoption of US state-level Paid Family Leave (PFL) laws to examine the effect of family-friendly policies on firm innovation. We find that PFL policies increase the innovation outputs for firms employing workers in PFL states. We investigate three potential channels: inventor productivity, inventor mobility, and inventor career longevity. PFL policies attract female inventors from out-of-state and help firms retain their current employees. In addition, female inventors are less likely to drop out of their patenting careers after states adopt PFL policies. Overall, inventor relocation and career lengthening contribute to the innovation gains in states with PFL policies.

Keywords: Paid Family Leave, Gender, Innovation, Labor Mobility, Patent Citation

JEL Classification: G38, J13, J24, O31

Suggested Citation

Jin, Yaling and Zhu, Qifei, Paid Family Leave, Inventor Mobility, and Firm Innovation (July 27, 2021). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3894180 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3894180

Yaling Jin

Southwestern University of Finance and Economics ( email )

Chengdu
China

Qifei Zhu (Contact Author)

Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University ( email )

Singapore, 639798
Singapore

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