Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/89564 
Year of Publication: 
2009
Series/Report no.: 
LEM Working Paper Series No. 2009/05
Publisher: 
Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Pisa
Abstract: 
The economic theory of intellectual property rights is based on a rather narrow view of both competition and technological knowledge. We suggest some ways of enriching this framework with a more empirically grounded view of both and, by means of a simulation model, we analyze the impact of different property right regimes on the dynamics of a complex product industry, that is an industry where products are complex multi-component objects and competition takes place mainly through differentiation and component innovation. We show that, as the complexity of the product spaces increases, stronger patent regimes yield lower rates of innovation, lower product quality and lower consumers' welfare.
Subjects: 
patents
appropriability of innovation
complex product industries
industrial dynamics
JEL: 
O31
O34
L11
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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