Trade Secrets Law and Engineer / Scientist Mobility : Evidence from “ Inevitable Disclosure ”

* NUS Business School, National University of Singapore. Ivan Png thanks the Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College, for warmly hosting a visit during which this study began. We thank Jim Pooley, Lu Yi Davin Chor, Lee Fleming, Paul Wolfson as well as other NUS and Dartmouth colleagues, and audiences at Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, Yale Law School, the NBER Productivity Lunch, DRUID 2012 Summer Conference, Academy of Management 2012 Conference, INSEAD, INNO-tec (Ludwig Maximilians University), and the American Economic Association 2013 conference for helpful discussions and advice. We especially thank Qiu-hong Wang, Mark Garmaise, and Paul Wolfson for access to data and computation, and Chong Lee Kee for research assistance. As they change jobs, engineers and scientists carry knowledge from one employer to another. Spillovers of knowledge, and so, innovation and economic growth, depend on institutions that influence professional mobility.