The theoretical discussion concerning the question whether the incumbent or the (potential) entrant invests more into R&D has attracted considerable interest. This paper reports the results of an empirical study on this question using data of about 3500 German firms over the years 1992 to 1995....

While patent systems have been widely used both historically and internationally, there is nonetheless a tremendous amount of controversy over whether patent systems - in practice - improve the alignment between private returns and social contributions. In this paper, I describe three parameters...

Although patent systems have been widely used both historically and internationally, there is nonetheless a tremendous amount of controversy over whether patent systems, in practice, improve the alignment between private returns and social contributions. In this article, I describe three...