This paper analyzes the optimal protection strategy for an innovator of a complex innovation who faces the risk of … imitation by a competitor. We suppose that the innovation can be continuously fragmented into sub-innovations. We characterize … the optimal mix of patent and trade secrets when the innovator faces a strict novelty requirement and can only patent a …

This paper analyzes the setting of national patent policies in the global economy. In the standard model with free … induce individual countries to select patent strengths that are weaker than is optimal from a global perspective. The paper … considerations in setting patent policies. The first two features (trade barriers interacting with firm heterogeneity) tend to reduce …

own innovation. The analysis predicts that the willingness to enforce IPR is U-shaped in a country GDP: small … enforcement of IPR yields a higher level of innovation and global welfare only if the developing country does not innovate. A …

We develop a theory of innovation for entry and sale into oligopoly, and show that inventions of higher quality are … entrepreneurial effort allocated to high-quality invention projects. Using data on patents granted to small firms and individuals, we …

By merging individual data on valuable patents granted in Prussia in the late nineteenth century with county level … causal effect of human capital on income, net of the innovation channel. …