Patents and Research Investments: Assessing the Empirical Evidence
- 1 May 2016
- journal article
- Published by American Economic Association in The American Economic Review
- Vol. 106 (5), 183-187
- https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.p20161091
Abstract
A well-developed theoretical literature--dating back at least to Nordhaus (1969)--has analyzed optimal patent policy design. We re-present the core trade-off of the Nordhaus model and highlight an empirical question which emerges from the Nordhaus framework as a key input into optimal patent policy design: namely, what is the elasticity of R&D investment with respect to the patent term? We then review the--surprisingly small--body of empirical evidence that has been developed on this question over the nearly half century since the publication of Nordhaus's book.Keywords
This publication has 6 references indexed in Scilit:
- Do Firms Underinvest in Long-Term Research? Evidence from Cancer Clinical TrialsAmerican Economic Review, 2015
- The Empirical Impact of Intellectual Property Rights on Innovation: Puzzles and CluesAmerican Economic Review, 2009
- Do Stronger Patents Induce More Innovation? Evidence from the 1988 Japanese Patent Law ReformsThe RAND Journal of Economics, 2001
- How Broad Should the Scope of Patent Protection Be?The RAND Journal of Economics, 1990
- Optimal Patent Length and BreadthThe RAND Journal of Economics, 1990
- Patents and Innovation: An Empirical StudyManagement Science, 1986