This paper analyzes how the optimal strength of patents on basic inventions is affected by financial constraints on the side of either inventors or developers. The lower the net wealth of a developer is, the more difficult it becomes for an inventor to license her invention to him as she has to...

This paper analyzes the effects of a varying patent strength on the incentives to undertake cost-saving innovations in a product-variety model with hierarchical preferences. If the majority of the agents does not derive profit income from patents, a reduction in patent strength can lead to an...

Within the context of an endogenous growth model with nonhomothetic preferences and income distribution, this paper analyzes whether there might be disagreement between rich and poor consumers about the optimal patent policy. In equilibrium, the poor and the rich differ with respect to the share...