Nicholas A. Pairolero

I’m a Senior Research 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 the objective of helping organizations improve operational processes and implement efficient policies. My work utilizes foundational and leading edge statistical and econometric techniques, including those from causal inference (randomized control trials and quasi-experimental methods) and data science (machine learning, natural language processing, etc.). I lead teams deploying these methods with widely used statistical and computational tools, like Python, R, Stata, SQL, and many others.

My projects have informed USPTO leadership and the U.S. Congress on a range of central issues, including the factors affecting the operational tradeoff between patent quality and the length of examination. In 2019, this work informed discussions during the U.S. Senate hearing “Promoting the Useful Arts: How can Congress Prevent the Issuance of Low Quality Patents?” In addition, I’m responsible for the team that created and updates the Artificial Intelligence Patent Dataset (AIPD), which has been downloaded over 5,000 times and relied upon by over 100 scientific articles. The AIPD has been critical in our ability to participate in AI policy discussions, for example, through the USPTO’s AI/ET strategic partnership and the agency’s 2022 report to Congress on patent subject matter eligibility. 

My research has appeared in leading scientific journals, like the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy (forthcoming), Research Policy and Nature Biotechnology. In addition, my work 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, The Wall Street Journal, 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