Nicholas A. Pairolero

I’m an economist in the Office of the Chief Economist at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. My interests are in evidence based policy and decision making, with research in the economics of innovation. At the core of my research is an attempt to understand the relationships between intellectual property, invention and innovation using applied microeconomic and computational techniques, like causal inference, machine learning and natural language processing. 

My research has appeared in academic journals, like Research Policy and Nature Biotechnology. In 2019 and 2020, my work was used to inform discussions during the U.S. Senate hearing “Promoting the Useful Arts: How can Congress Prevent the Issuance of Low Quality Patents?” and U.S. House of Representatives hearing titled “Enhancing Patent Diversity for America’s Innovators.” In addition, my research has received professional and academic awards, including the Department of Commerce Gold Medal for scientific/engineering achievement, and has been featured in the media (for example, Scientific American, Axios, VentureBeat and Forbes).

Prior to joining the United States Patent and Trademark Office, I earned my Ph.D. and M.A. in Economics at Indiana University Bloomington. While at Indiana University, I also taught undergraduate microeconomics and won the W. Phillip Saunders Award for Best Economics Associate Instructor in 2014. Before my Ph.D., I earned a B.B.A. in Economics and Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire.

The thoughts and views expressed here are my own, and do not represent the United States Government or the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Contact: nicholas.a.pairolero@gmail.com