Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/264391 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
ZEW Discussion Papers No. 22-034
Publisher: 
ZEW - Leibniz-Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung, Mannheim
Abstract: 
How do intellectual property rights influence academic science? We investigate the consequences of the introduction of software patents in the U.S. on the publications of university researchers in the field of computer science. Difference-in-difference estimations reveal that software scientists at U.S. universities produced fewer publications (both in terms of quantity and quality) than their European counterparts after patent rights for software inventions were introduced. We then introduce a theoretical model that accounts for substitution and complementarity between patenting and publishing as well as for the direction of research. In line with the model's prediction, further results show that the decrease in publications is largest for scientists at the bottom of the ability distribution. Further, we evidence a change in the direction of research following the reform towards more applied research.
Subjects: 
patent rights
publications
economics of science
difference-in-difference estimation
model of science production
JEL: 
I23
O31
O34
O38
L38
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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