This paper reviews and compares patent pools and intellectual property clearinghouses as alternative systems for increasing the efficiency of access to intellectual property. These systems improve economic efficiency in downstream research and development by economizing on search and transaction...

We focus on downstream uses that combine multiple intellectual property rights and examine the effects of introducing an intellectual property clearinghouse that reduces transaction costs associated with licensing. We show that this causes equilibrium royalties to rise in some cases and may harm...

This paper reviews the recent literature on the economics of open source software. Two different sets of issues are addressed. The first looks at the incentives of programmers to participate in open source projects. The second considers the business models used by profit-making firms in the open...

This paper investigates conditions that generate the so-called "waterbed" effect under price regulation. This is the effect whereby regulation of one price of a multiproduct firm causes one or more of its unregulated prices to change as a result of the firm's profit-maximizing behavior. A...

Using data for 134 locations in New Zealand, we study the effects of crime and agglomeration on urban amenity. We find that crime has significant negative effects on the value of urban amenity, with elasticities of approximately ?0.06 for firms and ?0.09 for workers. To put this effect in...