Accelerated green patent examination and innovation benefits: An analysis of private economic value and public environmental benefits

The green patent fast-track (GPFT) system is an improvement of the traditional patent examination system in the field of green innovation. Based on the unique perspective of "private provision of public goods," this paper constructs a framework for the impact of GPFT on the economic value and environmental benefits of green patents. Based on adopting an improved patent renewal model to calculate the economic value of green invention patents, we use a dataset of 278 Chinese cities from 2006 to 2019 and adopt the intensity differences -indifferences model to test the economic and environmental effects of GPFT. Our results suggest that GPFT increases the private economic value of green patents, which is more significant in resource-based and financially developed cities. Furthermore, GPFT improves the economic gains of corporate green patents, but reduces these of public institutions' green patents. Local protectionism cannot be ruled out. The results of the environmental benefits investigation indicate that GPFT suppresses SO2 and CO2 emissions, and the economic effect of GPFT does not crowd out its public environmental benefits; conversely, it has a positive mediating effect in this relationship. This research provides an important reference for other economies to implement or optimize GPFT to stimulate green innovation.