Job Market Paper

How does firms’ technical knowledge translate into regulatory influence? I study more than 21,000 firm comments submitted to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rulemakings from 2006 to 2024, linking comment text to patents, firm characteristics, lobbying, and EPA responses. Firms with greater technical expertise are more likely to influence final rules, particularly when that expertise is environmentally relevant. Beyond underlying expertise, technical disclosure provides a distinct channel of influence, especially when firms draw on their own technologies and operational experience. This informational channel is particularly important for startups, which more strongly convert their expertise into frontier technical disclosure and receive greater regulatory returns from doing so.

Academy of Management Proceedings, NBER Working Paper No.35637, Under Review at Management Science

How do entrepreneurs shape public policy when they hold political office themselves? We study this question using a novel dataset linking state legislators’ financial disclosures to bill sponsorship across 26 U.S. states from 2009 to 2023. Using bill text, we classify legislation into pro-business and pro-entry categories. Entrepreneurs account for over 40 percent of state legislators. While they do not sponsor more legislation overall or act as generic advocates for business, they are more likely to take the lead in sponsoring bills and selectively advance pro-entry policies, particularly those related to deregulation and innovation. The findings reveal an important channel through which entrepreneurs shape the policy environment from within political institutions.

Available at SSRN, New Version Coming Soon

How does corporate science shape startup performance? This paper studies startups whose technologies build on scientific knowledge produced by corporations. Using sharp declines in scientific publications of public firms, we find that corporate science contributes to startup invention but does not significantly affect startups’ commercial outcomes. The effect is not explained by common technological shocks or by access to published scientific papers alone. Qualitative evidence points instead to informal channels of knowledge transfer, highlighting the importance of tacit scientific knowledge in connecting corporate research to entrepreneurial innovation.

Draft Available Upon Request

How does immigration policy shape firms’ decisions to organize innovation activities? This project examines the annual cap on H-1B visas and asks whether constraints on access to highly skilled foreign talent lead federal contractors to outsource innovative activities through subcontracting. We construct a novel dataset linking federal contracts and subcontracts to firm-level H-1B petitions, visa lottery outcomes, and patenting activity. The project investigates which activities firms contract out when skilled talent becomes scarce, whether recipient firms rely more heavily on highly skilled workers, and how immigration policy ultimately affects firm boundaries and innovation performance.