This article aims at estimating the optimal profile of renewal fees patent offices should implement. It is at the crossroad of two strands of literature. The first strand is the theoretical literature analysing renewal fees as an optimal revelation mechanism. The second strand is the econometric...

Public authorities often invoke the precautionary principle to ban or postpone the development of innovative projects with uncertain but potentially harmful irreversible impacts on the environment or health. As stated in the Rio declaration, the precautionary principle suggests balancing costs...