[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/31428.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Innovation and Appropriability: Revisiting the Role of Intellectual Property

Author

Listed:
  • Filippo Mezzanotti
  • Timothy Simcoe
Abstract
It is more than 25 years since the authors of the Yale and Carnegie surveys studied how firms seek to protect the rents from innovation. In this paper, we revisit that question using a nationally representative sample of firms over the period 2008-2015, with the goal of updating and extending a set of stylized facts that has been influential for our understanding of the economics of innovation. There are five main findings. First, while patenting firms are relatively uncommon in the economy, they account for an overwhelming share of R&D spending. Second, firms consider utility patents less important on average than other forms of IP protection, like trade secrets, trademarks, and copyrights. Third, industry differences explain a great deal of the level of firms’ engagement with IP, with high-tech firms on average being more active on all forms of IP. Fourth, we find no significant differences in the use of IP strategies across firms at different points of their life cycle. Lastly, unlike age, firms of different size appear to manage IP significantly differently. On average, larger firms tend to engage much more extensively in the protection of IP, and this pattern cannot be easily explained by differences in the type of R&D or innovation produced by a firm. We also discuss the implications of these findings for innovation research and policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Filippo Mezzanotti & Timothy Simcoe, 2023. "Innovation and Appropriability: Revisiting the Role of Intellectual Property," NBER Working Papers 31428, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31428
    Note: PR
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w31428.pdf
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text is generally limited to series subscribers, however if the top level domain of the client browser is in a developing country or transition economy free access is provided. More information about subscriptions and free access is available at http://www.nber.org/wwphelp.html. Free access is also available to older working papers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kilian Huber, 2018. "Disentangling the Effects of a Banking Crisis: Evidence from German Firms and Counties," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(3), pages 868-898, March.
    2. James Driver & Adam Kolasinski & Jared Stanfield, 2020. "R&D or R vs. D? Firm Innovation Strategy and Equity Ownership," Working Papers 20-14, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    3. Petra Moser & Alessandra Voena & Fabian Waldinger, 2014. "German Jewish ?migr?s and US Invention," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(10), pages 3222-3255, October.
    4. Enrico Moretti & Claudia Steinwender & John Van Reenen, 2019. "The intellectual spoils of war? Defense R&D, productivity and international spillovers," CEP Discussion Papers dp1662, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    5. Seru, Amit, 2014. "Firm boundaries matter: Evidence from conglomerates and R&D activity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(2), pages 381-405.
    6. William R. Kerr & William F. Lincoln, 2010. "The Supply Side of Innovation: H-1B Visa Reforms and U.S. Ethnic Invention," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 28(3), pages 473-508, July.
    7. Ashish Arora & Sharon Belenzon & Andrea Patacconi, 2018. "The decline of science in corporate R&D," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 3-32, January.
    8. Philippe Aghion & Nick Bloom & Richard Blundell & Rachel Griffith & Peter Howitt, 2005. "Competition and Innovation: an Inverted-U Relationship," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(2), pages 701-728.
    9. Lucia Foster & Cheryl Grim & Nikolas Zolas, 2020. "A portrait of U.S. firms that invest in R&D," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(1), pages 89-111, January.
    10. Ufuk Akcigit & John Grigsby & Tom Nicholas, 2017. "Immigration and the Rise of American Ingenuity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(5), pages 327-331, May.
    11. John (Jianqiu) Bai & Daniel Carvalho & Gordon M. Phillips, 2018. "The Impact of Bank Credit on Labor Reallocation and Aggregate Industry Productivity," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 73(6), pages 2787-2836, December.
    12. Richard C. Levin & Alvin K. Klevorick & Richard R. Nelson & Sidney G. Winter, 1987. "Appropriating the Returns from Industrial Research and Development," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 18(3, Specia), pages 783-832.
    13. David Argente & Salomé Baslandze & Douglas Hanley & Sara Moreira, 2020. "Patents to Products: Product Innovation and Firm Dynamics," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2020-4, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    14. Alex Bell & Raj Chetty & Xavier Jaravel & Neviana Petkova & John Van Reenen, 2019. "Who Becomes an Inventor in America? The Importance of Exposure to Innovation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(2), pages 647-713.
    15. Bhaven N. Sampat, 2018. "A Survey of Empirical Evidence on Patents and Innovation," NBER Working Papers 25383, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Ashish Arora & Sharon Belenzon & Lia Sheer, 2021. "Knowledge Spillovers and Corporate Investment in Scientific Research," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(3), pages 871-898, March.
    17. David Dreisigmeyer & Nathan Goldschlag & Marina Krylova & Wei Ouyang & Elisabeth Perlman, 2018. "Building a Better Bridge: Improving Patent Assignee-Firm Links," CES Technical Notes Series 18-01, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    18. Daniel P. Gross & Bhaven N. Sampat, 2023. "America, Jump-Started: World War II R&D and the Takeoff of the US Innovation System," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 113(12), pages 3323-3356, December.
    19. Wesley M. Cohen & Richard R. Nelson & John P. Walsh, 2000. "Protecting Their Intellectual Assets: Appropriability Conditions and Why U.S. Manufacturing Firms Patent (or Not)," NBER Working Papers 7552, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Edwin Mansfield, 1986. "Patents and Innovation: An Empirical Study," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(2), pages 173-181, February.
    21. Nicolas Crouzet & Janice C. Eberly, 2019. "Understanding Weak Capital Investment: the Role of Market Concentration and Intangibles," NBER Working Papers 25869, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. Nicholas, Tom, 2011. "Did R&D Firms Used to Patent? Evidence from the First Innovation Surveys," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 71(4), pages 1032-1059, December.
    23. John Haltiwanger & Ron S. Jarmin & Javier Miranda, 2013. "Who Creates Jobs? Small versus Large versus Young," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(2), pages 347-361, May.
    24. Mezzanotti, Filippo & Simcoe, Timothy, 2019. "Patent policy and American innovation after eBay: An empirical examination," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(5), pages 1271-1281.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Alexander Cuntz & Carsten Fink & Hansueli Stamm, 2024. "Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property : An Economic Perspective," WIPO Economic Research Working Papers 77, World Intellectual Property Organization - Economics and Statistics Division.
    2. Yoshiki Ando, 2024. "Dynamics of High-Growth Young Firms and the Role of Venture Capitalists," PIER Working Paper Archive 24-012, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania.
    3. Filippo Mezzanotti & Timothy Simcoe, 2023. "Research and/or Development? Financial Frictions and Innovation Investment," Working Papers 23-39, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Filippo Mezzanotti & Timothy Simcoe, 2023. "Research and/or Development? Financial Frictions and Innovation Investment," Working Papers 23-39, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    2. Dosi, Giovanni & Palagi, Elisa & Roventini, Andrea & Russo, Emanuele, 2023. "Do patents really foster innovation in the pharmaceutical sector? Results from an evolutionary, agent-based model," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 564-589.
    3. Benjamin F. Jones, 2021. "Where Innovation Happens, and Where It Does Not," NBER Chapters, in: The Role of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Economic Growth, pages 577-601, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Fontana, Roberto & Nuvolari, Alessandro & Shimizu, Hiroshi & Vezzulli, Andrea, 2013. "Reassessing patent propensity: Evidence from a dataset of R&D awards, 1977–2004," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(10), pages 1780-1792.
    5. Nicholas Bloom & John Van Reenen & Heidi Williams, 2019. "A toolkit of policies to promote innovation," Voprosy Ekonomiki, NP Voprosy Ekonomiki, issue 10.
    6. Kong, Dongmin & Zhang, Bohui & Zhang, Jian, 2022. "Higher education and corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    7. Andrews, Michael J. & Whalley, Alexander, 2022. "150 years of the geography of innovation," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    8. Junghee Han & Almas Heshmati, 2021. "Innovation and SMEs patent propensity in Korea," International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 42(1/2), pages 51-68.
    9. Olena Ivus & Alireza Naghavi & Larry D. Qiu, 2023. "Migration and Imitation," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 90(357), pages 212-239, January.
    10. Arora, Ashish & Cohen, Wesley & Lee, Honggi & Sebastian, Divya, 2023. "Invention value, inventive capability and the large firm advantage," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(1).
    11. Blanco, Iván & Wehrheim, David, 2017. "The bright side of financial derivatives: Options trading and firm innovation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(1), pages 99-119.
    12. Andreas Teichgraeber & John Van Reenen, 2022. "A policy toolkit to increase research and innovation in the European Union," POID Working Papers 025, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    13. Dosi, Giovanni & Marengo, Luigi & Staccioli, Jacopo & Virgillito, Maria Enrica, 2023. "Big Pharma and monopoly capitalism: A long-term view," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 15-35.
    14. Baten, Joerg & Bianchi, Nicola & Moser, Petra, 2017. "Compulsory licensing and innovation – Historical evidence from German patents after WWI," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 231-242.
    15. Cohen, Wesley M., 2010. "Fifty Years of Empirical Studies of Innovative Activity and Performance," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 129-213, Elsevier.
    16. Barge-Gil, Andrés & López, Alberto, 2014. "R&D determinants: Accounting for the differences between research and development," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(9), pages 1634-1648.
    17. Sternitzke, Christian, 2013. "An exploratory analysis of patent fencing in pharmaceuticals: The case of PDE5 inhibitors," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 542-551.
    18. Penin, Julien, 2005. "Patents versus ex post rewards: A new look," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 641-656, June.
    19. Bernhard Ganglmair & Imke Reimers, 2019. "Visibility of Technology and Cumulative Innovation: Evidence from Trade Secrets Laws," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2019_119v1, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    20. Eric Budish & Benjamin Roin & Heidi Williams, 2013. "Do fixed patent terms distort innovation? Evidence from cancer clinical trials," Discussion Papers 13-001, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D2 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31428. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.