We study how firm-specific complementary assets and intellectual property rights affect the management of knowledge workers. The main results show when a firm will wish to sue workers that leave with innovative ideas, and the effects of complementary assets on wages and on worker initiative. We...

We study how firm-specific complementary assets and intellectual property rights affect the management of knowledge workers. The main results show when a firm will wish to sue workers who leave with innovative ideas and the effects of complementary assets on wages and on worker initiative. We...

National policies take varied approaches to encouraging university-based innovation. This paper studies a natural experiment: the end of the “professor's privilege” in Norway, where university researchers previously enjoyed full rights to their innovations. Upon the reform, Norway moved...