Max-Planck-Institut für Innovation und Wettbewerb, München, Raum 313
Given the relevance that governments and public bodies give to the patent system, there is surprisingly little evidence on the actual role played by patent rights in stimulating knowledge diffusion and the generation of follow-on innovations. The main objective of the present paper is to provide new, robust evidence on this research topic. To this aim, we take advantage of a body of United States federal law enacted in 1951 with the objective of preventing disclosure of new inventions that may represent a threat to the national security. Estimation results show a negative and statistically significant relationship between the enforcement of a secrecy order and knowledge diffusion, thus supporting the idea that the patent system is conducive to technology diffusion (joint work with Laurent Bergé and Thorsten Doherr).
Ansprechpartner: Rainer Widmann, Ph.D.