About

Lee Branstetter is the James M. Walton Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College, a position he was appointed to in 2024. He has been a faculty member at Heinz College since 2006 and also serves as a faculty leader of the Future of Work Initiative at the Block Center for Technology and Society, where he explores the intersection of technology, society, work, and inequality. Dr. Branstetter's expertise extends beyond academia; from fall 2011 through summer 2012, he served on the staff of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers as the senior economist for international trade and investment, advising on U.S. economic policy. His research focuses on the economics of innovation, the social and economic impacts of new technologies, and the effects of globalization and industrial policy. He has contributed extensively to the field through publications in leading journals and collaborates interdisciplinarily with computer scientists, learning scientists, and information systems experts. Prior to his tenure at Carnegie Mellon, he held the Daniel J. Stanton Associate Professorship of Business at Columbia Business School, directed the International Business Program, and contributed to academic institutions such as the University of California, Davis, and Dartmouth College. Dr. Branstetter earned his Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Statistics
• Mathematics education
• Mathematics
• Public economics
• World Wide Web
• Economic growth
• Psychology
• Labour economics
• Business
• Market economy
• Economics

Selected publications

• Does Offshoring Production Reduce Innovation? Firm-Level Evidence from Taiwan

  Management Science · 2026-03-31

  preprint1st authorCorresponding

  Does the offshoring of production degrade or enhance the innovative capabilities of manufacturing firms? We contribute to this debate with causal evidence that offshoring impacts both the level and nature of innovation. Exploiting a policy shock that differentially affected the ability of Taiwanese firms to offshore production of certain goods to China, we find a decline in innovation levels and a shift from product to process innovation in the technologies directly related to product categories that could be offshored more easily after the policy shock. However, we also find evidence that the policy shock led to a reallocation of research effort within the firm, raising innovative effort in product categories not directly impacted by the shock and shifting them toward product innovation. This paper was accepted by Alfonso Gambardella, business strategy. Funding: This work was supported by the Mack Institute for Innovation Management, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and the National Science Foundation [Grant 1360170] and the Portuguese National Science Foundation. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2024.04944 .

  PublisherDOI

• Human Tutoring Improves the Impact of AI Tutor Use on Learning Outcomes

  Lecture notes in computer science · 2025-01-01 · 2 citations

  book-chapter
  PublisherDOI

• Bridging the Community College Cybersecurity Classroom and Workplace with the CyberSim Lab

  2025-02-12 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Most postsecondary cybersecurity education focuses on technical knowledge and skills without commensurate attention to vital non-technical skills. In this position paper, we argue that cybersecurity education must integrate teaching and practicing of non-technical competencies alongside technical knowledge and skills to ensure that both technical and non-technical skills transfer to cybersecurity workplaces. We identify specific learning outcomes that meet these criteria and suggest research-based pedagogical approaches to support learning and transfer. We present a cybersecurity lab designed to address these learning outcomes through experiential learning, roleplay, collaborative learning, technical simulation and metacognitive engagement. The CyberSim Lab serves as a curricular bridge between the classroom and the workplace.

  PublisherDOI

• Does “Made in China 2025” work for China? Evidence from Chinese listed firms

  Research Policy · 2024-04-27 · 60 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• The Challenges of Chinese Industrial Policy

  Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policy and the Economy · 2024-01-01 · 5 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  This essay presents a historical overview of the extensive evolution of Chinese industrial policy and summarizes the limited yet expanding body of literature on the effectiveness and impact of such policies. In addition, it provides concise descriptions of three industry case studies—shipbuilding, semiconductors, and electric vehicles—that highlight significant trends in recent Chinese industrial policy. The evidence regarding China’s success in this regard is a complex mixture. Our analysis in this essay suggests that as China’s economy continues to mature and the enduring benefits from earlier waves of economic liberalization and demographic dividends gradually diminish, industrial policy will become more challenging. The disparity between policy ambitions and capabilities is expected to widen, and conflicts arising from competing policy objectives are likely to intensify. Moreover, managing the opportunistic responses of regions, companies, and other actors involved in the industrial-policy arena is likely to become increasingly arduous. Finally, the opportunity cost of policy mistakes is poised to grow.

  PublisherDOI

• Improving Student Learning with Hybrid Human-AI Tutoring: A Three-Study Quasi-Experimental Investigation

  2024-03-05 · 44 citations

  preprintOpen access

  Artificial intelligence (AI) applications to support human tutoring have potential to significantly improve learning outcomes, but engagement issues persist, especially among students from low-income backgrounds. We introduce an AI-assisted tutoring model that combines human and AI tutoring and hypothesize this synergy will have positive impacts on learning processes. To investigate this hypothesis, we conduct a three-study quasi-experiment across three urban and low-income middle schools: 1) 125 students in a Pennsylvania school; 2) 385 students (50% Latinx) in a California school, and 3) 75 students (100% Black) in a Pennsylvania charter school, all implementing analogous tutoring models. We compare learning analytics of students engaged in human-AI tutoring compared to students using math software only. We find human-AI tutoring has positive effects, particularly in student’s proficiency and usage, with evidence suggesting lower achieving students may benefit more compared to higher achieving students. We illustrate the use of quasi-experimental methods adapted to the particulars of different schools and data-availability contexts so as to achieve the rapid data-driven iteration needed to guide an inspired creation into effective innovation. Future work focuses on improving the tutor dashboard and optimizing tutor-student ratios, while maintaining annual costs per student of approximately $700 annually.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Who gains and who loses from more information in technology markets? Evidence from the Sunshine Act

  Strategic Management Journal · 2023-05-15 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Research Summary We consider the context of a technology market where participants (in particular, sellers) differ in reputation, and sellers observed participating in the transactions might suffer a reputation loss. Our theoretical model predicts that low‐reputation idea sellers, thanks to the improvement in information disclosure, are more likely to be involved in technology transactions; at the same time, high‐reputation idea sellers, to protect their reputations, might prefer avoiding any transactions. This shift in seller composition might affect the quantity and quality of collaborations. To test our theory, we assess the effect of the Physician Payment Sunshine Act on physician‐firm collaborations. Overall, our findings indicate that while information disclosure might benefit some market participants, it can have unintended negative consequences for others. Managerial Summary In technology markets, more information about market participants generally leads to better outcomes. However, in contexts where sellers suffer a reputation loss if their transactions become known, higher‐reputation sellers may leave the market, affecting the quality of ideas being traded and impacting buyers. On the other hand, lower‐reputation sellers may benefit from increased visibility and share their ideas more frequently. Our research examined these effects in the context of the Physician Payment Sunshine Act, which made physician collaborations with medical device companies visible. The results suggest that the effects of information disclosure are not uniform and that some market participants may benefit while others may suffer losses.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS, FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT

  World Scientific Studies in International Economics · 2023-08-22 · 5 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  This article develops a North–South product cycle model in which innovation, imitation and the flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) are all endogenously determined. In the model, a strengthening of intellectual property right (IPR) protection in the South reduces the rate of imitation and it increases the flow of FDI. Indeed, the increase in FDI more than offsets the decline in the extent of production undertaken by Southern imitators so that the South’s share of the global basket of goods increases. Furthermore, while multinationals charge higher prices than Southern imitators, real wages of Southern workers increase while those of Northern workers fall.

  PublisherDOI

• Picking winners? Government subsidies and firm productivity in China

  Journal of Comparative Economics · 2023 · 97 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Economics
  • Business
  • Labour economics
  PublisherDOI

• Government subsidies don’t boost Chinese firms’ productivity

  2023-09-14 · 1 citations

  report1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Estimating the Impact of Accelerated Generic Entry on Consumer Welfare and Innovation in the Pharmaceutical Industry

  NSF · $307k · 2014–2018

• Collaborative Research: The Globalization of R&D: Evidence from U.S. Multinationals

  NSF · $172k · 2014–2017

Frequent coauthors

• Matthew J. Higgins

  302 shared

• Chirantan Chatterjee

  302 shared

• Kamal Saggi

  92 shared

• Ana Venâncio

  University of Lisbon

  40 shared

• Soon-Gwon Choi

  25 shared

• What Drives

  Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living

  25 shared

• Seung Hwan Kim

  Seoul National University

  25 shared

• Japanese Fdi

  The University of Texas at Arlington

  25 shared

Awards & honors

• James M. Walton Professor of Economics and Public Policy (20…