# LI, Yao

**Source**: https://bm.hkust.edu.hk/faculty/li-yao
**Parent**: https://bm.hkust.edu.hk/bizinsight/innovation-and-entrepreneurship

LI, Yao

Associate Professor

Department of Economics

[View Profile](https://econ.hkust.edu.hk/faculty-and-staff/directory/yaoli)

### Recent Activities

[GONG, Robin](https://bm.hkust.edu.hk/faculty/gong-robin)

[LI, Yao](https://bm.hkust.edu.hk/faculty/li-yao)

MANOVA, Kalina

SUN, Stephen Teng

[Tickets to the Global Market:  First US Patents and Chinese Firm Exports](https://bm.hkust.edu.hk/bizinsight/2026/01/tickets-global-market-first-us-patents-and-chinese-firm-exports)

We investigate how international patent activity enables firms from emerging economies to thrive in the global marketplace. We match Chinese customs data to US patent records, and leverage the quasi-random assignment of USPTO patent examiners to identify the causal effect of a US patent grant on the subsequent export performance of Chinese firms. Successful
...
[Read More](https://bm.hkust.edu.hk/bizinsight/2026/01/tickets-global-market-first-us-patents-and-chinese-firm-exports)

[ [Innovation and Entrepreneurship](https://bm.hkust.edu.hk/bizinsight/innovation-and-entrepreneurship "Innovation and Entrepreneurship") ]

[Read Full Paper](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4874407)