Examining Patent Examiners: Present Bias, Procrastination and Task Performance

This paper explores the unproductive procrastination behavior of patent examiners, probes whether such behavior is caused by present-biased preferences, and estimates the magnitude. We set out a quasihyperbolic discounting model where a patent examiner is assigned a biweekly quota of patent applicat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIDEAS Working Paper Series from RePEc
Main Authors Nakajima, Ryo, Sasaki, Michitaka, Tamura, Ryuichi
Format Paper
LanguageEnglish
Published St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 01.01.2020
Subjects
Bias
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Summary:This paper explores the unproductive procrastination behavior of patent examiners, probes whether such behavior is caused by present-biased preferences, and estimates the magnitude. We set out a quasihyperbolic discounting model where a patent examiner is assigned a biweekly quota of patent application reviews and determines the level of effort by the deadline. We estimate the present-bias factor of each patent examiner based on patent prosecution data in the U.S. and find that the proportion of present-biased individuals exceeds the majority. We demonstrate that the job separation rate is higher for less present-biased patent examiners, and a fragmented work quota can improve patent examination quality and timeliness.