Government Transparency and Innovation: Evidence from Wireless Products
General Economics
2025-12-02 v2 Economics
Abstract
Does government transparency affect innovation? I evaluate the launch of a government database with detailed technical information on the universe of wireless-enabled products on the U.S. market (N 347 thousand). The results show the launch approximately doubled the use of new technologies in the following ten years, an indicator of follow-on innovation. The increase affected both products in the same and new product classes, suggesting novelty; waned over several years, potentially due to an increase in secrecy and patenting; and boosted foreign more than U.S. domestic competitors. These results highlight the importance of information for private sector innovation.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2510.19377,
title = {Government Transparency and Innovation: Evidence from Wireless Products},
author = {Šimon Trlifaj},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.19377},
year = {2025}
}