WeChat monthly active usersChina resident patent applications
WeChat's monthly active users and Chinese patent applications have grown in such precise lockstep between 2013 and 2021 that one suspects a clause somewhere in the WeChat terms of service requiring users to file at least one patent per quarter.
Both WeChat user growth and Chinese patent application volume are downstream of China's sustained investment in digital infrastructure and innovation policy. Both metrics reflect the same underlying variable: the rapid urbanization and digital adoption of hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens between 2013 and 2021.
When a government decides to become an innovation superpower while also deploying a super-app to a billion people, the resulting data looks like everything is correlated with everything else — because in a centrally coordinated economy, it largely is.
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Want to learn more about why correlations like “WeChat monthly active users” vs “China resident patent applications” don't prove causation? Read our guide to statistical thinking.
