We explore the use of patent citations to measure the "basicness" and appropriability of inventions. We propose that the basicness of research underlying an invention can be characterized by the nature of the previous patents cited by an invention; that the basicness of research outcomes relates to the subsequent patents that cite an invention; and that the fraction of citing patents that are assigned to the same organization as the original invention is a measure of appropriabiity. We test the validity of these presumptions by comparing the value of our measures for university and corporate patents, and find that many of the measures do conform to our a priori belief that university research and research outcomes are more basic and harder to appropriate than those of corporations. We also find some evidence that basicness of outcomes is correlated with basicness of research, and that appropriability is lower for basic outcomes.
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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number
4146.
Length: Date of creation: Aug 1992 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:4146
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References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Zvi Griliches, 1984.
"Market Value, R&D, and Patents,"
NBER Chapters,
in: R & D, Patents, and Productivity, pages 249-252
National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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Cited by: (explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)
Boyan Jovanovic & Yaw Nyarko, 1995.
"Research and Productivity,"
NBER Working Papers
5321, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Jovanovic, B. & Nyarko, Y., 1996.
"Research and Productivity,"
Working Papers
96-27, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University.
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