Full Citation

Title: Pay Transparency and Inventor Productivity: Evidence from State-level Pay Secrecy Laws

Citation Type: Working Paper

Publication Year: 2023

ISBN:

ISSN:

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3632849

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: We examine the role of pay transparency in the productivity of firms’ and inventors’ innovation activities. Our test exploits the staggered adoption of state-level pay secrecy laws, which enhance pay transparency in the workplace. We find a significant increase in inventor productivity of firms located in states that have passed such laws relative to firms elsewhere. This relation is more pronounced for firms in states with lower levels of pre-existing pay transparency. We further show that pay secrecy laws promote inventor productivity by motivating inventors—especially minority inventors—to exert more effort, enhancing the diversity of inventor teams, and encouraging all inventors to pursue promotions.

Url: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3632849

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Gao, Huasheng; Hsu, Po-Hsuan; Zhang, Jin

Series Title:

Publication Number: 3632849

Institution:

Pages: 1-90

Publisher Location:

Data Collections: IPUMS CPS

Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure

Countries: