Patent Statistics as Economic Indicators: A Survey
I shall try, in this survey, to show why I think patent statistics are interesting in spite of all the difficulties that arise in their use and interpretation. To do [...]
Crowdfunding money for research levels the playing field
Digital crowdfunding platforms that raise money directly from citizens have created an alternative source of research funding. This column analyses data from the largest science crowdfunding platform, Experiment.com. It finds [...]
Missing Novelty in Drug Development
This paper provides evidence that risk aversion leads pharmaceutical firms to underinvest in radical innovation. We define a drug candidate as novel if it is molecularly distinct from prior candidates. [...]
Copyright and Generic Entry in Book Publishing
Taking works off copyright promotes their availability, but it also allows generic entry to dissipate producer surplus. This paper examines the effect of a copyright on the availability and price [...]
Getting it Right: Examining the Local Land Use Entitlement Process in California to Inform Policy and Process
We found that these local governments are imposing discretionary review processes on all residential development projects of five or more units within their borders. [W]hat drives whether and how environmental [...]
An Economic Review of the Patent System
The patent system has, from its inception, involved a basic economic inconsistency. In a free-enterprise economy dedicated to competition, we have chosen, not only to tolerate but to encourage, individual [...]
Patent Renewal Data
In many countries, including recently the United States, holders of patents must pay a renewal fee to keep their patents in force. If that fee is not paid in any [...]
Patents: Recent Trends and Puzzles
Two points will be made: patents are not a constant-yardstick indicator of either inventive input or output; moreover, they are "produced" by a governmental agency, the U.S. Patent Office, that [...]
Patent Theory versus Patent Law
According to the economic theory of patents, patents are needed so that pioneer firm have time to recoup their sunk costs of research and development. The key element in the [...]
The Long Shadow of Patent Expiration. Generic Entry and Rx-to-OTC Switches
In this paper we have reported results of our research examining the “sunset” H2s up to and following their Rx patent expiration, as they encountered cannibalization from their own and [...]