Has EU Accession Boosted Patent Performance in the EU-13? A Critical Evaluation Using Causal Impact Analysis with Bayesian Structural Time-Series Models

Abstract

This paper provides new insights into the causal effects of the enlargement of the European Union (EU) on patent performance. The study focuses on the new EU member states (EU-13) and accession is considered as an intervention whose causal effect is estimated by the causal impact method using a Bayesian structural time-series model (proposed by Google). The empirical results based on data collected from the OECD database from 1985–2017 point towards a conclusion that joining the EU has had a significant impact on patent performance in Romania, Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Croatia and Lithuania, although in the latter two countries, the impact was negative. For the rest of the EU-13 countries, there is no significant effect on patent performance. Whether the EU accession effect is significant or not, the EU-13 are far behind the EU-15 (countries which entered the EU before 2004) in terms of patent performance. The majority of patents (98.66%) are assigned to the EU-15, with just 1.34% of assignees belonging to the EU-13.