Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/173935 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Series/Report no.: 
IFS Working Papers No. W16/02
Publisher: 
Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), London
Abstract: 
We analyze the effect of patent thickets on entry into technology areas by firms in the UK. We present a model that describes incentives to enter technology areas characterized by varying technological opportunity, complexity of technology, and the potential for hold-up in patent thickets. We show empirically that our measure of patent thickets is associated with a reduction of first time patenting in a given technology area controlling for the level of technological complexity and opportunity. Technological areas characterized by more technological complexity and opportunity, in contrast, see more entry. Our evidence indicates that patent thickets raise entry costs, which leads to less entry into technologies regardless of a firm's size.
Subjects: 
IPR
patents
entry
technological opportunity
technological complexity
hold‐up
JEL: 
O34
O31
L20
K11
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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