ECON 340 - Innovation and Patents

Credits: 4
Planned Offering: Spring 2012 and alternate years

Prerequisite: INTR 202. Studying innovation and technological change is extremely important in economics. This course examines the innovation process paying special attention to the role played by patents and patent law. After a brief introduction to patent law and the justification for patent rights, we study issues such as the financial return to patenting, the strategic use of patents in business, knowledge spillovers, and ways in which patents may deter innovation (patent trolls, patent thickets, and the tragedy of the “anti-commons”). A significant part of the course involves hands-on work with patent and financial data using Stata. Marco.