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Semiotica, diritto e mercato. Economia del marchio nel terzo millenio

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  • Ramello, Giovanni B.

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Abstract

This article is aimed at providing an answer from the economics perspective to the puzzling Shakespearean question "What's in a name ?", specifically paying attention to the case of trademark, a commercial device used since antiquity and continuously expanding its boundaries. Its advent is connected with the problem of information asymmetries and the need to provide information for assisting exchanges so as to avert the market failure brought about by adverse selection. However, this information-conveying function has soon been accompanied by a differentiation effect, arising from the peculiar power that signs can exert on individuals' preferences. The pragmatic exploitation of differentiation has today given rise to the practice of branding, which ties markets and consumption to the realms of meaning and experience. Further, branding is so all-pervasive in today's economy as to have somehow transfigured the relationships between signs and goods, to the point that trademark has become a sort of property right over semantic products. On the whole this is opening the door to what could be termed the new economy of signs and meanings that should be still investigated.

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File URL: http://polis.unipmn.it/pubbl/RePEc/uca/ucapdv/ramello112.pdf
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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Institute of Public Policy and Public Choice - POLIS in its series POLIS Working Papers with number 102.

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Length: 20 pages
Date of creation: Mar 2008
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:uca:ucapdv:102

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  1. Cabral, L.M.B., 2000. "Stretching Firm and Brand Reputation," New York University, Leonard N. Stern School Finance Department Working Paper Seires 00-07, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business-.
  2. Eugenia Baroncelli & Carsten Fink & Beata Smarzynska Javorcik, 2005. "The Global Distribution of Trademarks: Some Stylised Facts," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(6), pages 765-782, 06.
  3. Ramello, Giovanni, 2006. "What's in a sign? Trademark law and enconomic theory," POLIS Working Papers 67, Institute of Public Policy and Public Choice - POLIS.
  4. F. M. Scherer, 2004. "A Note on Global Welfare in Pharmaceutical Patenting," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(7), pages 1127-1142, 07.
  5. Ramello, Giovanni B. & Silva, Francesco, 2006. "Appropriating signs and meaning: The elusive economics of trademark," POLIS Working Papers 70, Institute of Public Policy and Public Choice - POLIS.
  6. Akerlof, George A, 1970. "The Market for 'Lemons': Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 84(3), pages 488-500, August.
  7. Lynne M. Pepall, 2002. "The Simple Economics of Brand Stretching," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75(3), pages 535-552, July.
  8. Choi, Jay Pil, 1998. "Brand Extension as Informational Leverage," Review of Economic Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(4), pages 655-69, October.
  9. Klemperer, Paul, 1995. "Competition When Consumers Have Switching Costs: An Overview with Applications to Industrial Organization, Macroeconomics, and International Trade," Review of Economic Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 515-39, October.
  10. De Alessi, Louis & Staaf, Robert J, 1994. "What Does Reputation Really Assure? The Relationship of Trademarks to Expectations and Legal Remedies," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 32(3), pages 477-85, July.
  11. Jarrell, Gregg & Peltzman, Sam, 1985. "The Impact of Product Recalls on the Wealth of Sellers," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(3), pages 512-36, June.
  12. Whinston, Michael D, 1990. "Tying, Foreclosure, and Exclusion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(4), pages 837-59, September.
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Cited by:
  1. Marchese, Carla, 2008. "The limits to growth then and now," POLIS Working Papers 105, Institute of Public Policy and Public Choice - POLIS.
  2. Piero Cavaleri & Michael Keren & Giovanni B. Ramello & Vittorio Valli, 2009. "Publishing an E-Journal on a Shoe String: Is It a Sustainable Project?," Economic Analysis and Policy (EAP), Queensland University of Technology (QUT), School of Economics and Finance, vol. 39(1), pages 89-101, March.

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