BRANSTETTER, Lee

International Economics; Economics of Innovation; Industrial Organization; Technology and Labor Markets; Trade and Investment Policy; Economics of the Digital Economy; Innovation and Public Policy

1996 Ph.D. in Economics, Harvard University
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow
1991 Graduated with departmental honors in Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences and Economics, Northwestern University

2024 - present James M. Walton Professor of Economics and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University
2023 - 2025 Faculty Leadership Committee, Future of Work Initiative, Block Center for Technology and Society, Carnegie Mellon University
2014 - present Professor of Economics and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University
2013 - 2024 Non-resident Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics
2006 - present Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research
2018 - 2023 Director, Future of Work Initiative, Block Center for Technology and Society, Carnegie Mellon University
2006 - 2013 Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy (with tenure), Carnegie Mellon University
2011 - 2012 Senior Economist for International Trade and Investment, Executive Office of the President of the United States
2003 - 2011 Associate Editor, Journal of International Economics
2004 - 2006 Daniel Stanton Associate Professor of Business, Columbia Business School
2002 - 2006 Director, International Business Program, Columbia Business School
2001 - 2006 Associate Professor of Finance and Economics, Columbia Business School
1996 - 2006 Faculty Research Fellow, National Bureau of Economic Research
1999 - 2001 Director, East Asian Studies Program, University of California, Davis
1996 - 2001 Assistant Professor of Economics, University of California, Davis
1996 - 1997 Visiting Assistant Professor, Economics, Dartmouth College

• Branstetter, L., Chen, J. R., Glennon, B., Yang, C. H., and Zolas, N., (2026), “Does Offshoring Production Reduce Innovation? Firm-Level Evidence from Taiwan,” forthcoming in Management Science.
• Branstetter, L. and Li, G., (2024), “Does Made in China 2025 Work for China? Evidence from Chinese Firms,” Research Policy, 53 (6), 105009.
• Branstetter, L., Laverde, R., (2024) “The Dark Side of the Boom: The Impact of Foreign Competition on R&D and Technology Upgrading,” Journal of International Economics 148: 103818
• Branstetter, L., Chatterjee, C., and Higgins, M., “Generic Competition and the Incentives for Early-Stage Pharmaceutical Innovation,” Research Policy vol. 51, no. 10, December 2022, 104595.
• Branstetter, L., Drev., M., and Kwon, N., (2019), “Get with the Program: Software-driven Innovation in Traditional Manufacturing,” Management Science, vol. 62, no. 2, pp. 541-558.
• Arora, A., Branstetter, L., and Drev, M., (2013), "Going Soft: How the Rise of Software-Based Innovation Led to the Decline of Japan's IT Industry and the Resurgence of Silicon Valley." Review of Economics and Statistics, vol. 95, no. 3, pp. 757-775.
• Branstetter, L., (2006),“Is Foreign Direct Investment a Channel of Knowledge Spillovers: Evidence from Japan’s FDI in the United States.” Journal of International Economics, vol. 68, pp. 325-344.
• Branstetter, L., Fisman, R., and Foley, C. F., (2006), “Do Stronger Intellectual Property Rights Increase International Technology Transfer? Empirical Evidence from U.S. Firm-Level Data.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 121, no. 1, pp. 321-349.
• Branstetter, L., and Sakakibara, M., (2002), “When Do Research Consortia Work Well and Why? Evidence from Japanese Panel Data.” American Economic Review, vol. 92, no. 1, pp. 143-159.
• Sakakibara, M., and Branstetter, L., (2001), “Do Stronger Patents Induce More Innovation? Evidence from the 1988 Japanese Patent Law Reforms.” RAND Journal of Economics, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 77-100. Reprinted in R. Towse and R. Holzhauer, (eds.), The Economics of Intellectual Property, Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2001. Reprinted in K. Maskus, (ed.), The WTO, Intellectual Property, and the Knowledge Economy, a forthcoming volume in the series Critical Perspectives on the Global Trading System and the WTO, Edward Elgar Press.