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Does Intellectual Monopoly Help Innovation

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  • Michele Boldrin
  • David K Levine

Abstract

In this paper, we begin our analysis of copyrights and patents by asking: why should creators have the right to control how purchasers make use of an idea or new good? This gives creators a monopoly over the idea. We refer to this right as "intellectual monopoly," to emphasize that it is this monopoly over all copies of an idea that is controversial, not the right to buy and sell copies. The government does not ordinarily enforce monopolies for producers of other goods. This is because it is widely recognized that monopoly creates many social costs. Intellectual monopoly is no different in this respect. The question we address is whether it also creates social benefits commensurate with these social costs.
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  • Michele Boldrin & David K Levine, 2009. "Does Intellectual Monopoly Help Innovation," Levine's Bibliography 814577000000000423, UCLA Department of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:cla:levrem:814577000000000423
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Joshua Pearce, 2018. "Sponsored Libre Research Agreements to Create Free and Open Source Software and Hardware," Post-Print hal-02111369, HAL.
    3. Klein, Michael A., 2020. "Secrecy, the patent puzzle and endogenous growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    4. Heinrich, Torsten, 2014. "Standard wars, tied standards, and network externality induced path dependence in the ICT sector," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 309-320.
    5. Marchese Carla & Ramello Giovanni B., 2011. "In the Beginning Was the Word. Now is the Copyright," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1), pages 271-289, October.
    6. Domicián Máté, 2015. "An analysis of the determinants of labour productivity in financial sectors in the context of intellectual property rights," Financial and Economic Review, Magyar Nemzeti Bank (Central Bank of Hungary), vol. 14(3), pages 88-105.
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