In Europe and in Japan, patent applications are publicly disclosed after 18 months from the filing date regardless of whether a patent has been or will be registered. In the U.S. in contrast, patent applications are publicly disclosed only when a patent is granted. In this paper we examine the...

One of the most significant and robust characteristics of decision making is persistence. An example of this is brand loyalty -- the repeat purchase of new products of the same brand. This paper attempts to show that previous explanations of this phenomenon (switching costs, habit and unobserved...