Should the government protect its basic research?

Guido Cozzi and Silvia Galli ()

Economics Letters, 2017, vol. 157, issue C, 122-124

Abstract: Basic research is mainly performed publicly. Yet in the US public research findings were not patentable until 1980, and in other countries are not yet patentable. Patentability renders public research more directed, with less potential waste, but it also restricts private applied research. This paper shows, by means of a multi-stage Schumpeterian growth model, that in the long run the first effect is bound to dominate.

Keywords: R&D and growth; Sequential innovation; Public R&D; Patent laws (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O30 O40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:157:y:2017:i:c:p:122-124

DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2017.06.017

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