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Competition as a Discovery Procedure: Schumpeter Meets Hayek in a Model of Innovation

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  • Pedro Bento

Abstract

I incorporate an insight of Friedrich Hayek—that competition allows a thousand flowers to bloom, and discovers the best among them—into a model of Schumpeterian innovation. Firms face uncertainty about the optimal direction of innovation, so more innovations implies a higher expected value of the "best" innovation. The model accounts for two seemingly contradictory relationships reported in recent empirical studies—a positive relationship between competition and industry-level productivity growth, and an inverted-U relationship between competition and firm-level innovation. Notwithstanding the positive relationship between competition and growth, I find antitrust policy reduces industry-level growth.

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  • Pedro Bento, 2014. "Competition as a Discovery Procedure: Schumpeter Meets Hayek in a Model of Innovation," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(3), pages 124-152, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejmac:v:6:y:2014:i:3:p:124-52
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/mac.6.3.124
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    Cited by:

    1. Keishun Suzuki, 2020. "Competition, patent protection, and innovation with heterogeneous firms in an endogenous market structure," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 22(3), pages 729-750, June.
    2. Bento Pedro, 2021. "Quantifying the Effects of Patent Protection on Innovation, Imitation, Growth, and Aggregate Productivity," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 21(1), pages 1-35, January.
    3. Pedro Bento, 2014. "Competition as a Discovery Procedure: Schumpeter Meets Hayek in a Model of Innovation," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(3), pages 124-152, July.
    4. Bento, Pedro & Restuccia, Diego, 2021. "On average establishment size across sectors and countries," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 220-242.
    5. Pedro Bento, 2020. "Competition, Innovation, and the Number of Firms," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 37, pages 275-298, July.
    6. Fidrmuc, Jarko & Siddiqui, Martin, 2015. "Institutions and Creative Destruction in CEECs: Determinants of Inefficient Use of Assets," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 113201, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    7. Mulier, Klaas & Samarin, Ilia, 2021. "Sector heterogeneity and dynamic effects of innovation subsidies: Evidence from Horizon 2020," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(10).
    8. Pedro Bento, 2013. "Patent Protection as a Tax on Competition and Innovation," Working Papers 13-13, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    9. Suzuki, Keishun, 2017. "Competition, Patent Protection, and Innovation in an Endogenous Market Structure," MPRA Paper 77133, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Stefânia Grezzana & Rafael Vasconcelos, 2016. "Competitive Pressure: A Channel To Reduce The Output Per Worker Gap Between Countries," Anais do XLII Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 42nd Brazilian Economics Meeting] 026, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    11. Baccianti, Claudio & Schenker, Oliver, 2015. "Report on the dynamic efficiency of trade-related climate policy instruments," ZEW Expertises, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, number 148927.
    12. Muhammad Zeeshan Younas & Muhammad Iftikhar Husnain, 2022. "Role of market structure in firm-level innovation: an extended CDM model for a developing economy," DECISION: Official Journal of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Springer;Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, vol. 49(1), pages 91-104, March.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • B52 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Modern Monetary Theory;
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • K21 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Antitrust Law
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L12 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Monopoly; Monopolization Strategies
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

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