We model spatial clusters of similar firms. Our model highlights how agglomerative forces lead to localized, individual connections among firms, while interaction costs generate a defined distance over which attraction forces operate. Overlapping firm interactions yield agglomeration clusters...

The economic value of upstream research outcomes has raised increasing attention. Not only are these outcomes central to the development of many innovations, but they are also the object of many transactions in technology. This note discusses a few representative papers that try to better...

Why are some places more entrepreneurial than others? We use Census Bureau data to study local determinants of manufacturing startups across cities and industries. Demographics have limited explanatory power. Overall levels of local customers and suppliers are only modestly important, but new...

Why are some places more entrepreneurial than others? We use Census Bureau data to study local determinants of manufacturing startups across cities and industries. Demo- graphics have limited explanatory power. Overall levels of local customers and suppliers are only modestly important, but new...

Die Analyse der Patentanmeldungen deutscher Unternehmen am Europäischen Patentamt zeigt: Die Unternehmen lenken ihre Forschungsaktivitäten im Ausland vor allem in die Hochtechnologiebereiche, in denen sie seit langem besonders intensiv forschen. Dies sind die Elektrotechnik, Steuerungstechnik,...

This paper explores a new dataset of transfers of patents recorded at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The aim of the paper is twofold. First, a number of patterns are presented. For instance, the probability of a patent being traded monotonically decreases as a function of its age...

Under continual innovation, greater patent strength expands innovating firms’ profit against imitation, but also shifts profit from current to past innovators. We show how the impact of patents on innovation, as determined by these two opposing effects, varies with industry characteristics....

We study optimal patent design, contrasting the case that two or more innovations are needed to operate a new technology with the traditional case that a single innovation is directly commercialisable. The major finding is that with complementary innovations the patentability requirements should...