The Bright Side of Patents
Motivated by concerns that the patent system is hindering innovation, particularly for small inventors, this study investigates the bright side of patents. We examine whether patents help startups grow and [...]
Patents and Innovation in Economic History
A strong tradition in economic history, which primarily relies on qualitative evidence and statistical correlations, has emphasized the importance of patents as a primary driver of innovation. Recent improvements in [...]
Quality Predictability and the Welfare Benefits from New Products: Evidence from the Digitization of Recorded Music
We explore the consequence of quality unpredictability for the welfare benefit of new products, using recent developments in recorded music as our context. Digitization has expanded consumption opportunities by giving [...]
Are Settlements in Patent Litigation Collusive? Evidence from Paragraph IV Challenges
The use of “pay-for-delay” settlements in patent litigation – in which a branded manufacturer and generic entrant settle a Paragraph IV patent challenge and agree to forestall entry – has [...]
Patent Trolls: Evidence from Targeted Firms
We develop a theoretical model of, and provide the first large-sample evidence on, the behavior and impact of non-practicing entities (NPEs) in the intellectual property space. Our model shows that [...]
Do Tax Incentives for Research Increase Firm Innovation? An RD Design for R&D
We present evidence of a causal impact of research and development (R&D) tax incentives on innovation. We exploit a change in the asset-based size thresholds for eligibility for R&D tax [...]
Copyright Enforcement: Evidence from Two Field Experiments
Effective dispute resolution is important for reducing private and social costs. We study how resolution responds to changes in price and communication using a new, extensive dataset of copyright infringement [...]
Innovation Network
Technological progress builds upon itself, with the expansion of invention in one domain propelling future work in linked fields. Our analysis uses 1.8 million U.S. patents and their citation properties [...]
What is a Patent Worth? Evidence from the US Patent “Lottery”
We provide evidence on the value of patents to startups by leveraging the random assignment of applications to examiners with different propensities to grant patents. Using unique data on all [...]
Financial Dependence and Innovation: The Case of Public versus Private Firms
This paper examines the relationship between innovation and firms' dependence on external capital by analyzing the innovation activities of privately-held and publicly-traded firms. We find that public firms in external [...]