This paper considers the drivers of the structure and evolution of the life sciences innovation system, a remarkable success story for public support of science. The growth and performance of this system reflect the interaction between abundant scientific and technological opportunity, a...

Considering that the last decade has witnessed a dramatic rise in the level of venture financing provided to technology-oriented start-ups in the United States, it is important to investigate the economic drivers of the commercialization path of these firms. A simple theoretical model is...

Recent work linking the adoption of key organizational practices to productivity raises an important question: if adoption increases productivity so dramatically, why does adoption across an industry take so long? This paper explores this question in the context of one particularly interesting...

Entrepreneurs must choose between alternative strategies for bringing their idea to market. They face uncertainty regarding both the quality of their idea as well as the efficacy of each strategy. While entrepreneurs can reduce this uncertainty by conducting tests, any single test conflates the...

The appropriability of innovation depends not only on the instruments available to an innovator to protect private returns, but how those instruments interact with each other as part of the firm's entrepreneurial strategy. We consider the interplay between two appropriability mechanisms...