What is the optimal form of firm organization during "bad times"? Using two large micro datasets on firm decentralization from US administrative data and 10 OECD countries, we find that firms that delegated more power from the Central Headquarters to local plant managers prior to the Great...

What is the optimal form of firm organization during "bad times"? Using two large micro datasets on firm decentralization from US administrative data and 10 OECD countries, we find that firms that delegated more power from the Central Headquarters to local plant managers prior to the Great...

Patent data provide a rich set of information which can be used for comparative studies and trend analysis. The paper presents a systematic overview of the most appropriate tools methodologies that are available for determining the technological specialization of countries. Such analysis...

At a time when the high-tech industry has increasingly demanded harmonized standards, China has signaled its intention to follow a different direction. China's recent actions seeking to set its own unique standards instead of adopting international standards shifts focus to the impact on...

Concerns have been raised that the upsurge of 3D printing technology would disrupt the patent system. The central question the present paper aims to address is whether and to what extent the emergence of 3D printing technology indeed urges us to rethink patent law. The paper splits up this...

In the past three decades, the seed sector has experienced, and is now again experiencing, corporate concentration trends. The fallout of this consolidation is the subject of numerous concerns. However, the seed sector is rather poorly understood. Thus, it is useful to understand it better and...

The purpose of this study is to present a unique database on commercialized patents and to illustrate how it can be used to analyze the commercialization process of patents. The dataset is based on a survey of Swedish patents owned by inventors and small firms with a remarkably high response...

The traditional practice of intercepting posts and telegrams was extended to telephony, both wire-tapping and call-logging, at a time of little regard for privacy and with minimal transparency. It was the introduction of competition, particularly non-state operators, that required codification...

This paper examines how strategic alliances to create and use standards affect economic growth and development. The explanation of the link from standards to economic growth and development is through the effects of standards on the incentives to perform industrial research and development...

This is an introduction to a new development in the international arena that poses a threat to the ability of countries to tailor patent and regulatory laws to promote access to medicine. Basically, certain international agreements permit foreign companies to sue a country for compensation if...