PhD candidate @StanfordEcon with joint JD @StanfordLaw (@KnightHennessy) working on labor and IO topics. Formerly @MiddEcon. She/her.
Stanford, CA
Joined June 2022
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🚨 JMP: How do firm promotion policies shape gender promotion gaps?
In large law firms, we find that:
1. Part-time work is stickier for women and explains much of the status quo promotion gap.
2. Policy changes can narrow the gap, but with varying effects on firm productivity.
Kate Reinmuth retweeted
Noncompetes cover roughly a third or more of US private-sector workers. Advocates argue they encourage innovation. We asked @KateReinmuth of @Stanford and @EmmaJRockall of @IMFNews what the evidence shows. #ResearchHighlight aeaweb.org/innovation-invent…
Link to draft: bit.ly/4hKVWls
➡️ One key result: accounting for part-time work when measuring performance can cut the promotion gap in half, with weakly positive effects on firm productivity.
Kate Reinmuth retweeted
New research by @KateReinmuth and @EmmaJRockall challenges the claim that non-compete agreements protect innovation. Instead, they find that stronger enforcement has historically led to significant declines in U.S. patenting and productivity.
The study in @ProMarket_org shows these declines happen because non-competes severely restrict labor mobility, preventing inventors from carrying tacit knowledge between firms. When talent stays locked in one place, knowledge spillovers dry up and companies become more inward-looking.
The impact is harshest in young, high-growth sectors and venture-backed firms, where experimentation is crucial. Ultimately, legal rules that fracture professional networks by restricting movement end up weakening the entire innovation economy.
promarket.org/2026/02/13/how…
Excited to announce that my paper with @EmmaJRockall on inventor mobility and innovation is forthcoming in AEJ Applied!
This project started as a second-year paper, and we learned so much through the process of writing it. Thanks to everyone who provided comments along the way!
Forthcoming in AEJ: Applied Economics: "Innovation through Inventor Mobility: Evidence from Non-Compete Agreements" by Kate Reinmuth and Emma Rockall. aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.12…
Kate Reinmuth retweeted
In a Note, @KateReinmuth (SLS ’25) examines how incomplete contracting between merchants can harm third-party consumers, such as by reducing patients’ ability to access essential drugs. stanfordlawreview.org/print/…
Kate Reinmuth retweeted
Trump's most recent hires confirms my earlier post. This time around, he's focused on demonstrated loyalty first. As @KateReinmuth and I showed, he was less successful at this during his first term, primarily because he had not cultivated a political network. #TrumpAppointments
Kate Reinmuth retweeted
The high rate of turnover in Trump's first WH is often blamed on his hiring based on loyalty rather than competence. But as @KateReinmuth and I show, that wasn't the case. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/… #TrumpWhiteHouse
Kate Reinmuth retweeted
Greater enforceability of non-compete agreements significantly reduces innovation and inventor mobility.
An average-sized increase in enforceability leads to a 13% decrease in patenting accompanied by a 22% decrease in inventor mobility.
conference.nber.org/conf_pap…
Kate Reinmuth retweeted
This coming Tuesday and Wednesday (July 16-17), Adam Jaffe, @bfjo and I are co-organizing the @nberpubs Summer Institute Productivity/Innovation meeting: nber.org/conferences/si-2024…
All of the talks will be live-streamed here: youtube.com/nbervideos
Kate Reinmuth retweeted
People want to move & so do their ideas, according to research from @Stanford Economics PhD students @KateReinmuth (2022 cohort) and @EmmaJRockall.
How things are about to change for the vast majority of workers under the @FTC's new rule: knight-hennessy.stanford.edu…
I'm thrilled to see innovation cited as one of the key reasons behind the FTC's vote to ban non-compete agreements earlier today. It's inspiring to see research impacting policy -- and I'm honored to see my WP with @EmmaJRockall discussed alongside other exciting academic work.
FTC final rule: ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov…
Our working paper: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.…
Excited to see @evanpstarr’s recent survey of work on non-competes, including my WP with @emmajrockall on the role of labor mobility in innovation.
Our work so far shows that the local average treatment effect of stronger non-compete enforceability on innovation is negative.
This statistically and economically significant effect is not explained by changes in firm entry. Instead, it is paralleled by effects on inventor mobility. Therefore, we suggest knowledge diffusion across firms is a key channel of innovation that depends on labor mobility.
