Are Patents with Female Inventors Under-Cited? Evidence from Text Estimation

Male-equivalent patents receive 12% more citations than otherwise identical female-invented patents.

Yael Hochberg, Ali Kakhbod, Peiyao Li, Kunal Sachdeva

Journal of Financial Economics 183 (2026): 104307 · NBER Working Paper No. 31592

Male-equivalent patents receive 12% more citations than otherwise identical female-invented patents.

We document systematic undercitation of women inventors in the patent system. Using causal text estimation, we find that male equivalents of female-invented patents receive 12% more citations and are 16% more likely to become top-decile patents.

Awards: AI Institutes at Michigan, Empowering Research with AI Award, 2026

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