University patenting and scientific productivity: a quantitative study of Italian academic inventors

Abstract Based on longitudinal data for a matched sample of 592 Italian academic inventors and controls, the paper explores the impact of patenting on university professors' scientific productivity, as measured by publication and citation counts. Academic inventors, that is, university professors who appear as designated inventors on at least one patent application, publish more and better quality papers than their non‐patenting colleagues, and increase their productivity after patenting. Endogeneity problems are addressed by using instrumental variables and applying inverse probability of treatment weights. The beneficial effect of patenting on publication rates last longer for serial academic inventors. However, the positive effect of patenting on scientific productivity largely differs across scientific fields, being particularly strong only in pharmaceuticals and electronics.