When Working From Home Matters

This paper investigates how the large increase in remote work that began during the COVID-19 pandemic impacted corporate innovation. Utilizing within firm variation, I find that after the start of the pandemic, offices located in counties with high support for Donald Trump have higher visit rates to the office. Using all firms in my sample along with this variation in local political attitudes as an instrument for visits to the office, I find that increased intensity of work from home does not significantly impact patenting productivity. When limiting to the offices of firms who are highly innovative, operate in rapidly evolving areas of technology, or are large, I find a negative effect of working from home on patenting productivity.