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on Intellectual Property Rights |
| By: | Margaret Kyle; Anita McGahan |
| Abstract: | We examine the relationship between patent protection for pharmaceuticals and investment in development of new drugs. Patent protection has increased around the world as a consequence of the TRIPS Agreement, which specifies minimum levels of intellectual property protection for members of the World Trade Organization. It is generally argued that patents are critical for pharmaceutical research efforts, and so greater patent protection in developing and least-developed countries might result in greater effort by pharmaceutical firms to develop drugs that are especially needed in those countries. Since patents also have the potential to reduce access to treatments through higher prices, it is imperative to assess whether the benefits of increased incentives have materialized in research on diseases that particularly affect the poor. We find that patent protection is associated with increases in research and development (R&D) effort when adopted in high income countries. However, the introduction of patents in developing countries has not been followed by greater investment. Particularly for diseases that primarily affect the poorest countries, our results suggest that alternative mechanisms for inducing R&D may be more appropriate than patents. |
| JEL: | F13 I11 L65 O34 |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15468&r=ipr |
| By: | Martinsson, Gustav (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology); Lööf, Hans (CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | Based on data from of 2,700 Swedish manufacturing firms, observed through the period 1997-2005, this paper shows that internal finance resources, measured by cash-flow, affect the propensity to apply for a patent as well as the number of patent applications. From a business cycle perspective, cash-flow only plays a role during and after economic contractions. In periods of economic expansion there is no significant association between internal finance and patent applications. Further, the sensitivity of patent applications to cash-flow is limited to firms with low equity-ratio. Among high equity firms the pattern of patent applications are robust over the business cycle. |
| Keywords: | Financing constraints; Innovation; Intellectual property rights; Firm-level panel data; |
| JEL: | G32 O31 O34 |
| Date: | 2009–10–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0200&r=ipr |
| By: | Vanessa OLTRA (GREThA UMR CNRS 5113); René KEMP (University of Maastrich); Frans P. de VRIES (University of Stirling) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the usefulness of patent analysis for measuring eco-innovation. The overall conclusion is that patents are a useful means for measuring environmentally motivated innovations, such as pollution control technologies and green energy technologies, and for general purpose technologies with environmental benefits. For these types of innovations it is acceptable to use patent analysis, provided they are carefully screened. Patent analysis may be used for measuring five attributes of eco-innovation: (1) eco-inventive activities in specific technology fields, (2) international technological diffusion, (3) research and technical capabilities of companies, (4) institutional knowledge sources of eco-innovation, and (5) technological spillovers and knowledge flows. Up until now it is mainly used for measuring eco-inventive activity. |
| Keywords: | Eco-innovation, patents |
| JEL: | C81 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2009-05&r=ipr |
| By: | Tomás del Barrio-Castro (University of the Balearic Islands); José García-Quevedo (University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | In recent years various studies have examined the factors that may explain academic patents. Existing analyses have also underlined the substantial differences to be found in European countries in the institutional framework that defines property rights for academic patents. The objective of this study is to contribute to the empirical literature on the factors explaining academic patents and to determine whether the incentives that universities offer researchers contribute towards explaining the differences in academic patenting activity. The results of the econometric analysis for the Spanish universities point towards the conclusion that the principal factor determining the patents is funding of R&D while royalty incentives to researchers do not appear to be significant. |
| Keywords: | patents, university, R&D |
| JEL: | O34 O31 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2009/9/doc2009-13&r=ipr |
| By: | Nicolas CARAYOL (GREThA UMR CNRS 5113); Lorenzo CASSI (CES, Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne - CNRS) |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a bayesian methodology to treat the who’s who problem arising in individual level data sets such as patent data. We assess the usefullness of this methodology on the set of all French inventors appearing on EPO applications from 1978 to 2003. |
| Keywords: | Patents, homonymy, Bayes rule |
| JEL: | C81 C88 O30 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2009-07&r=ipr |
| By: | Pierre Azoulay; Joshua S. Graff Zivin; Gustavo Manso |
| Abstract: | Despite its presumed role as an engine of economic growth, we know surprisingly little about the drivers of scientific creativity. In this paper, we exploit key differences across funding streams within the academic life sciences to estimate the impact of incentives on the rate and direction of scientific exploration. Specifically, we study the careers of investigators of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), which tolerates early failure, rewards long-term success, and gives its appointees great freedom to experiment; and grantees from the National Institute of Health, which are subject to short review cycles, pre-defined deliverables, and renewal policies unforgiving of failure. Using a combination of propensity-score weighting and difference-in-differences estimation strategies, we find that HHMI investigators produce high-impact papers at a much higher rate than two control groups of similarly-accomplished NIH-funded scientists. Moreover, the direction of their research changes in ways that suggest the program induces them to explore novel lines of inquiry. |
| JEL: | O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15466&r=ipr |