Nicholas focuses his research on the areas of intellectual property, economic growth, venture capital, and agriculture. He joined the USPTO in 2019 from the Economic Research Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where he researched the nexus of science policy, food security, and total factor productivity (TFP) in rapidly emerging agricultural competitors Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, and China. Nicholas started his career by receiving a B.S. in Economics and an M.S. in Agricultural Economics from West Virginia University, and a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Oregon State University.
Selected publications
Where are U.S. women patentees? Assessing three decades of growth (With M. Saksena and L. Cook) IP Data Highlights Number 6, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), 2022. Available at https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/oce-women-patentees-report.pdf
Intellectual property and the U.S. economy: Third edition (With A.A. Toole and R. Miller) IP Economic Report, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), 2022. Available at https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/uspto-ip-us-economy-third-edition.pdf
Accounting for climatic effects in measuring U.S. field crop farm productivity (With S.L. Wang, R. Williams, and D. Newton) Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy 44(4): 1975-1994, 2022. Available at https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/aepp.13289
Disequilibrium effects from misallocated markets: An application to agriculture (With F. Badau) Agricultural Economics 53(4): 592-604, 2021. Available at: https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/agec.12691
Productive efficiency and farm size in East Africa (With J. Julien and B. Bravo-Ureta) Agrekon 60(3): 153-164, 2021. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03031853.2021.1960176?journalCode=ragr20
Evaluating Agricultural Productivity and Policy in Russia (With W. Liefert and O. Liefert), Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2021. Available online at https://doi.org/10.1111/1477-9552.12338
New Perspectives on Farm Size and Productivity (With K. Fuglie), Food Policy 84 147-152, 2019. Available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2018.03.015
Agricultural Productivity Growth in Brazil: Large and Small Farms Excel (With S. Helfand and M. Magalhães) Food Policy 84 176-185, 2019. Available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2018.03.014
Assessing Farm Performance by Size in Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda (With J. Julien and B. Bravo-Ureta) Food Policy 84 153-164, 2019. Available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2018.03.016
Evaluating Research and Education Performance in Indian Agricultural Development (With D. Schimmelpfennig), Agricultural Economics 49(3) 395-406, 2018. Available at https://doi.org/10.1111/agec.12424
Brazilian Agriculture: Is it all about the Large Farms? (With S. Helfand and M. Magalhães) EuroChoices 16(1) 17-22, 2017. Available at https://doi.org/10.1111/1746-692X.12145
India’s Post-Green Revolution Agricultural Performance: What is Driving Growth? Agricultural Economics 47(3) 341-350, 2016. Available at https://doi.org/10.1111/agec.12234
Subsidy or Market Reform? Rethinking China’s Farm Consolidation Strategy (With C. Wang and L. Qin) Food Policy 57 93-103, 2015. Available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2015.10.002
Impacts of Migration on Household Production Choices: Evidence from China (With C. Wang, L. Qin, and S. Pan) Journal of Development Studies 50(3) 413-425, 2014. Available at https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2013.866221
Assessing Brazil’s Cerrado Agricultural Miracle. Food Policy 38 146-155, 2013. Available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2012.11.002
Hired-Labor Demand on Chinese Household Farms (With C. Wang and L. Qin) Journal of Agribusiness in Developing & Emerging Economies 2(2) 115-129, 2012. Available at https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/20440831211272580/full/html
Agricultural Policy and Productivity: Evidence from Brazilian Censuses (With S. Buccola). Agricultural Economics 43(4) 353-365, 2012. Available at https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1574-0862.2012.00588.x
Government Policy and Agricultural Productivity in Indonesia (With S. Buccola and K. Fuglie). American Journal of Agricultural Economics 93(3) 863-880, 2011. Available at https://doi.org/10.1093/ajae/aar004