Table 1. Descriptive statistics and definition of variables.
| Variable | Obs. (countries) |
Mean (SD) |
SD between, SD within |
Min., Max. |
Description | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dependent variables: | ||||||
| Patent applicationst+2 (ln) | 18,212 (157) |
1.908 (3.206) |
2.634, 1.840 |
0.000, 14.138 |
Number of patent applications referring to invention patents per country/year. | PATSTAT |
| Forward citationst+5 (ln) | 17,741 (157) |
0.440 (1.633) |
1.145, 1.168 |
0.000, 14.129 |
Number of forward citations that all patent documents (applications and granted patents) received from all patent documents (applications and granted patents) of every origin within 3 years from the date of the deposit (per country/year). | PATSTAT |
| Independent variable | ||||||
| Academic freedom (z) | 12,706 (157) |
0.000 (1.000) |
0.811, 0.624 |
-1.620, 1.476 |
Degree of academic freedom per country/year. | V-Dem |
| Instruments | ||||||
| Democracyt-5 (z) | 15,002 (157) |
0.000 (1.000) |
0.800, 0.607 |
-0.986, 2.546 |
Degree to which the ideal of liberal democracy achieved per country/year. | V-Dem |
| Democracy stockt-10 (z) | 14,081 (157) |
0.000 (1.000) |
0.835, 0.575 |
-1.006, 2.534 |
Stock variable that captures the degree to which the ideal of liberal democracy achieved per country/year over the previous 10 years with a deprecation rate of 1%. | V-Dem |
| AF stockt-10 (z) | 11,071 (156) |
0.000 (1.000) |
0.848, 0.590 |
-1.634, 1.522 |
Stock variable that captures the degree of academic freedom per country/year over the previous 10 years with a deprecation rate of 1%. | V-Dem |
| Variables used in robustness checks | ||||||
| GDP per capita | 13,859 (156) |
8.655 (12.524) |
11.350, 7.762 |
0.286, 156.628 |
Gross domestic product on a per capita basis per country/year. | V-Dem |
| Population (ln) | 10,200 (150) |
8.759 (1.721) |
1.668, 0.444 |
3.174, 14.156 |
Total population per country/year. | UN |
| Migration rate | 10,200 (150) |
0.526 (14.835) |
7.227, 12.969 |
-526.323, 415.239 |
Net migration rate (per 1,000 population) per country/year | UN |
| AF: de jure | 10,571 (156) |
0.000 (1.000) |
0.795, 0.638 |
0.752, 1.329 |
Dummy that captures whether constitutional provisions for the protection of academic freedom exist. | V-Dem |
| AF: freedom to research and teach (z) | 12,701 (157) |
0.000 (1.000) |
0.804, 0.640 |
-2.563, 2.060 |
Degree to which scholars are free to develop and pursue their own research and teaching agendas without interference. | V-Dem |
| AF: freedom of academic exchange and dissemination (z) | 12,701 (157) |
0.000 (1.000) |
0.802, 0.632 |
-2.508, 1.909 |
Degree to which are scholars free to exchange and communicate research ideas and findings | V-Dem |
| AF: institutional autonomy (z) | 12,762 (157) |
0.000 (1.000) |
0.813, 0.644 |
-2.604, 2.064 |
Degree to which universities exercise institutional autonomy in practice. | V-Dem |
| AF: campus integrity (z) | 12,708 (157) |
0.000 (1.000) |
0.820, 0.605 |
-2.352, 1.958 |
Degree to which campuses are free from politically motivated surveillance or security infringements. | V-Dem |
| AF: freedom of academic and cultural expression (z) | 16,105 (157) |
0.000 (1.000) |
0.731, 0.695 |
-2.201, 2.252 |
Degree to which scholars and university students publicly criticize government policies. | V-Dem |
Notes: SD = standard deviation, (ln) = variable is log-transformed. (z) = variable is z-standardized. Sources: PATSTAT = PATSTAT database by the European Patent Office (2019 autumn edition, for further information, see https://www.epo.org/searching-for-patents/business/patstat.html, last accessed: 6 February 2024), V-Dem = Varieties of Democracy dataset (version: 12, available at: https://v-dem.net/data/dataset-archive/, last accessed: 6 February 2024), UN = United Nations World Population Prospects 2022 (version: July 2022, available at https://population.un.org/wpp/, last accessed: 6 February 2024). The number of observations used in the multivariate analyses varies based on the availability of data per country/year.