NICHOLAS, TOM - In: The Journal of Economic History 71 (2011) 04, pp. 1032-1059
Matching 2,777 R&D firms in surveys conducted by the National Research Council between 1921 and 1938 with U.S. patents reveals that 59 percent of all firms and 88 percent of publicly traded firms patented. These shares are much higher than those observed for modern R&D firms. Industry, firm size...