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on Intellectual Property Rights |
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Issue of 2015‒06‒13
eleven papers chosen by Giovanni Ramello Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale “Amedeo Avogadro” |
| By: | Sanatkhani, Mahboobeh; Vasaf, Esmaeil |
| Abstract: | Abstract One of the most important problems in innovation arguments is how to identify and measure innovation. In industry sector, the available measurements to identify innovation activities are number of patents, R&D expenditure and share of R&D workers. Unfortunately these measurements for service sector especially financial sector are problematic and not readily available. This paper, following Bos et al. (2009), proposes changes of Technology Gap Ratio (TGR) as innovation activity in banking system and investigates it for the US commercial banks in years 2000-2013. For this purpose, at first step, the annual cost frontier functions (as representative of technology set for each year) are estimated by applying Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA). Consequently, the efficiency scores for each year are calculated for banks which operate under the same frontier functions. Then, the meta-frontier analysis is employed to estimate the potentially available cost function for the whole period. In next step, the TGR which indicates the relative distance of annual cost frontier function to the most efficient cost function (meta-frontier cost function) for the whole period is calculated. Finally, changes of TGR as a proxy of financial innovation during the time are illustrated by proper Salter curves. Results show that the average of TGR for the period 2000 to 2011 was associated with 2.88% annual growth rate. In other words, commercial banks in this period demonstrated an increasing level of innovation in their activities including financial products and services. In contrast, the results show that in last two years (2012 and 2013) this ratio had a considerable reduction, even less than the initial year. Thus, it seems that they have been less involved in innovation activities during the recent years. |
| Keywords: | Technology Gap Ratio (TGR), Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA), Meta-frontier cost function, banking system, Efficiency. |
| JEL: | G21 |
| Date: | 2014–10–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:64840&r=ipr |
| By: | Fassio, Claudio; Montobbio, Fabio; Venturini, Alessandra (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses the French and the UK Labour Force Surveys and German Microcensus to estimate the effects of the different components of the labour force on innovation at the sectoral level between 1994 and 2005, focusing in particular on the contribution of migrant workers. We adopt a production function approach in which we control for the usual determinants of innovation, such as R&D investments, stock of patents and openness to trade. To address for the possible endogeneity of migrants we implement instrumental variable strategies using both two-stage least squares with external instruments and GMM-SYS with internal ones. In addition we also account for the possible endogeneity of native workers and instrument them accordingly. Our results show that highly educated migrants have a positive effect on innovation even if the effect is smaller relative to the one of the educated natives. Moreover this positive effect seems to be confined to the high tech sectors and among highly educated migrants from other European countries. |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:201520&r=ipr |
| By: | De Simone, Lisa (Stanford University); Sansing, Richard (Dartmouth College and CentER, Tilburg University) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates three mechanisms used by multinational corporations (MNCs) to shift valuable intellectual property (IP) offshore to low-tax foreign jurisdictions. We identify two major effects that determine the optimal mechanism: the divergence from arm's length effect and the marketing intangible effect. First, if the MNC can understate the fair market value of IP, it prefers to sell domestically developed IP to a foreign subsidiary, which in turn will develop the IP; if the tax authority can overstate the value by imposing retroactive revaluations of the IP, the MNC prefers to develop the IP domestically. Second, we find that using a cost sharing arrangement (CSA) to develop the IP enables the MNC to shift income to low-tax foreign jurisdictions when the MNC has valuable domestic marketing intangibles, such as a global brand. |
| JEL: | D23 H25 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:stabus:3265&r=ipr |
| By: | Martin Davies |
| Abstract: | Costless technology transfer is a standard assumption in the international trade literature, however by some estimates the average technology transfer cost is nearly 20% of total project costs (Teece, 1977). This analysis examines the conditions under which the advanced country gains when the transfer of technology from the advanced North to the less advanced South incurs resource costs. Results are derived for the effect on production, wages, prices and welfare of lower transmission and absorption costs, and productivity and population shocks. The framework is extended to examine the implications of an improvement in the enforcement of international intellectual property rights. |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:camaaa:2015-18&r=ipr |
| By: | Heidi L. Williams |
| Abstract: | A long theoretical literature has analyzed optimal patent policy design, yet there is very little empirical evidence on a key parameter needed to apply these models in practice: the relationship between patent strength and research investments. I argue that the dearth of empirical evidence on this question reflects two key challenges: the difficulty of measuring specific research investments, and the fact that finding variation in patent protection is difficult. I then summarize the findings of two recent studies which have made progress in starting to overcome these empirical challenges by combining new datasets measuring biomedical research investments with novel sources of variation in the effective intellectual property protection provided to different inventions. The first study, Budish, Roin, and Williams (forthcoming), documents evidence consistent with patents affecting the rate and direction of research investments in the context of cancer drug development. The second study, Williams (2013), documents evidence that one form of intellectual property rights on the human genome had quantitatively important impacts on follow-on scientific research and commercial development. I discuss the relevance of both studies for patent policy, and discuss directions for future research. |
| JEL: | I1 O3 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21246&r=ipr |
| By: | Philippe Aghion; Ufuk Akcigit; Antonin Bergeaud; Richard Blundell; David Hémous |
| Abstract: | In this paper we use cross-state panel data to show a positive and significant correlation between various measures of innovativeness and top income inequality in the United States over the past decades. Two distinct instrumentation strategies suggest that this correlation (partly) reflects a causality from innovativeness to top income inequality, and the effect is significant: for example, when measured by the number of patent per capita, innovativeness accounts on average across US states for around 17% of the total increase in the top 1% income share between 1975 and 2010. Yet, innovation does not appear to increase other measures of inequality which do not focus on top incomes. Next, we show that the positive effects of innovation on the top 1% income share are dampened in states with higher lobbying intensity. Finally, from cross-section regressions performed at the commuting zone (CZ) level, we find that: (i) innovativeness is positively correlated with upward social mobility; (ii) the positive correlation between innovativeness and social mobility, is driven mainly by entrant innovators and less so by incumbent innovators, and it is dampened in states with higher lobbying intensity. Overall, our findings vindicate the Schumpeterian view whereby the rise in top income shares is partly related to innovation-led growth, where innovation itself fosters social mobility at the top through creative destruction. |
| JEL: | D63 J14 J15 O30 O31 O33 O34 O40 O43 O47 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21247&r=ipr |
| By: | Huergo, Elena; Moreno, Lourdes |
| Abstract: | The objective of this study is to compare the effect of different types of public support for R&D projects on firms’ technological capabilities. We distinguish be-tween low-interest loans and subsidies and between national and European sup-port. Using data on 4,407 Spanish firms during the period 2002-2005, we estimate a multivariate probit to analyse the determinants of firms’ participation in public R&D programmes and, later, the impact of this participation on firms’ technologi-cal capabilities using different indicators. The results provide evidence of the ef-fectiveness of all treatments for improving firms’ innovative performance. With respect to innovation outputs, apart from the indirect effect of public support by stimulating R&D intensity, we also find evidence of a direct effect of participation in the CDTI credit system and in the European subsidy programme on the probability of obtaining innovations and applying for patents. |
| Keywords: | Soft loans, R&D subsidies, impact assessment |
| JEL: | H81 L2 L52 O3 |
| Date: | 2014–03–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:64926&r=ipr |
| By: | Ahmed, Jubayer |
| Abstract: | The main objective of this study is to analyze the impact of individual’s self-concept in consumption pattern. Consumers intentionally or unintentionally consume different products and services during their lifetime and their consumption pattern or preferences are closely associated with their sense of self. Similarly, consumers tend to avoid commodities or services that contradict with their self-image. A number of empirical studies have been analyzed further to investigate the influence of self- concept on brand or product selection. |
| Keywords: | Consumer, Brand, Product, Self-concept and image |
| JEL: | M31 M37 |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:64806&r=ipr |
| By: | Cong Pan |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses brand firms' endogenous timing problem when facing nonbrand firms under quantity competition. We study a market comprising brand and nonbrand products. There exist heterogeneous consumer groups-one group buys only brand products while the other one cares little about the brand. These two consumer groups constitute the high-@and low-end markets respectively. The brand firms' moving order is endogenized, whereas the nonbrand firms are restricted to move in a later period. We show that if the low-end market is of an intermediate size, the leader-follower equilibrium outcome occurs, and the follower obtains second mover advantage which diminishes when the number of nonbrand firms increases. These results follow from the fact that each brand firm's best response function has an upward jump if the rival's output exceeds a particular level. Thus, the leader's profit function has a downward jump at some particular point while the follower's profit does not. |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpr:wpaper:0938&r=ipr |
| By: | Kurt R. Brekke (Department of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics); Chiara Canta (Department of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics); Odd Rune Straume (Universidade do Minho - NIPE) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we study the impact of reference pricing (RP) on entry of generic firms in the pharmaceutical market. For given prices, RP increases generic firms' expected profit, but since RP also stimulates price competition, the impact on generic entry is theoretically ambiguous. In order to empirically test the effects of RP, we exploit a policy reform in Norway in 2005 that exposed a subset of drugs to RP. Having detailed product-level data for a wide set of substances from 2003 to 2013, we find that RP increased the number of generic drugs. We also find that RP increased market shares of generic drugs, reduced the prices of both branded and generic drugs, and led to a (weakly significant) decrease in total drug expenditures. The reduction in total expenditures was relatively smaller than the reduction in average prices, reflecting the fact that lower prices stimulated total demand. |
| Keywords: | Pharmaceuticals; Reference pricing; Generic entry |
| JEL: | I11 I18 L13 L65 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nip:nipewp:06/2015&r=ipr |
| By: | Czarnitzki, Dirk; Delanote, Julie |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the current focus of EU policy makers on small and medium-sized, young independent firms in high-tech sectors. Therefore, the effect of subsidies on both R&D input and R&D output is compared between independent high-tech young firms (NTBFs), independent low-tech young firms (LTBFs) and their non-independent counterparts. A treatment effects analysis reveals that full crowding-out with regard to public funding is rejected for all firm types. However, the treatment effect is highest for independent high-tech firms. The indirect effect of subsidies on R&D output is evaluated within a patent production framework. These results show that independent high-tech firms have no lower output effects than other firms and thus suggest that the current policy focus on certain firm types is not ineffective. |
| Keywords: | R&D,subsidies,NTBFs,policy evaluation,treatment effects,patents |
| JEL: | H25 M13 O31 O38 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:15032&r=ipr |