Innovation is of critical value in the modern global economy, as it performs several important economic functions. The first is related to supporting the sustainability of socio-economic systems, preventing the emergence of crises and, if they do occur, providing solutions to overcome their...

The incentive thesis supplies the primary rationale for the patent system: without an exclusionary right, firms will decline to invest in innovations that are subject to expropriation. Empirical inquiry into the incentive thesis’ scope of application has yielded complex results, which are...