Disrupting disruption : an empirical analysis of patent activities in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina.

2021

t is well established that innovation is one of the key factors to fight climate change.

This thesis explores the reverse relationship between climate change and innovation by

investigating the implication of a natural disaster on patent numbers. In August 2005,

one of the most devastating natural disasters in U.S. history, Hurricane Katrina, struck

the continent causing costly damages and more than 1500 fatalities. This paper uses

patent data on county level covering the years from 2002 to 2008 to investigate the effect

of Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent hurricanes Rita and Wilma on patent activities

in the impacted areas. The patent data have been acquired from PatentsView, while

data concerning the hurricanes are retrieved from The Federal Emergency Management

Agency (FEMA). Previous studies suggest that natural disasters and climate change

have an impact on patent levels which is mainly positive. To the best of my knowledge,

there are no similar studies of the relationship between hurricanes and patents using data

on county level. The econometric analysis is conducted by performing a difference-indifference

regression with fixed effects on the aggregated inventor patent share per 100.000

inhabitants. Patents related to all technologies, climate-change related technologies only,

and construction related technologies only were assessed. The results show no significant

evidence for a relationship between the hurricanes and patent numbers. Given that the

used model is well specified and factors pushing the effects towards zero are absent, this

study implies a non-existing or weak relationship between the hurricanes and average

patent levels in impacted areas.