Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/37380 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
Beiträge zur Jahrestagung des Vereins für Socialpolitik 2010: Ökonomie der Familie - Session: Innovation and Productivity No. E16-V2
Publisher: 
Verein für Socialpolitik, Frankfurt a. M.
Abstract: 
Recent empirical studies find vast industry differences in how patent protection influences innovation and growth. An optimization of aggregate growth, therefore, implies the need for a flexible patent regime responding to each industry’s characteristics. In practice, sector-specific modifications of patent strength already exist but lack theoretical foundation. This paper intends to make up for this neglect by scrutinizing in what direction industry characteristics influence optimal patent strength. It is found that patents ought to be weaker, the more intense competition, the higher R&D productivity, and the more intricate reverse engineering are. Unlike similar step-by-step innovation models of economic growth, the model assumes Cournot competition and introduces an empirically substantiated measure of sector differences in the ability to catch up with the technological leader. It is found that for most empirically plausible cases the familiar inverted-U relation between patent length and growth carries over to the Cournot set-up.
Subjects: 
competition
imitation
innovation
Schumpeterian growth
sector-specific patent protection
Supplementary Protection Certificates
JEL: 
O31
O34
L16
Document Type: 
Conference Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.