About

I am an Associate Professor in the School of Law and Economics at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law. I received my Ph.D. in Economics from Xiamen University and my B.A. in Economics from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

My research interests are economics of innovation, law and economics, and the economics of patents and intellectual property. I study how patent institutions shape innovation incentives, technology disclosure, knowledge diffusion, and follow-on innovation, with a particular focus on China.

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Research

Innovation is cumulative: new ideas build on existing knowledge. Patent protection can encourage invention and disclosure, but it can also create market power and raise the cost of follow-on research. My work examines this trade-off using patent, firm, legal, and policy data, combining institutional analysis with empirical methods.

Current projects study patent invalidation, standards and standard-setting, and examiner-applicant interactions in fast-track patent examination.

Working Papers

1. Patent protection and follow-on innovation: Evidence from patent invalidation decisions
   With Xiaoning Long.
2. Capture by standards? Evidence from China’s standard-setting process
   With Xiaoning Long and Fan Zhang.
3. When goals align: Examiner-applicant interaction and the speed-quality trade-off in fast-track patent applications
   With Rui Liu, Xuezhong Zhu, and Qimeng Jiang.

Selected Research Support

• National Natural Science Foundation of China, Young Scientists Fund (Principal Investigator), 2025-2027.
• China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, Special Funding (19th Batch; Principal Investigator), 2026-2027.
• China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, General Program (76th Batch; Principal Investigator), 2025-2027.

Contact

Email: daisy_zhang0623@foxmail.com
ORCID: 0000-0002-1491-9793