【主讲】Yibai Yang (University of Nottingham at Ningbo, China)
【主题】On the Optimality of Blocking Patents
【时间】2014年12月15日 (周一) 15：30-17：00
【地点】上海财经大学经济学院楼602室
【语言】英文
【摘要】This paper develops an R&D-based growth model to analyze the optimality and welfare effect of blocking patents in which patent instruments are multiple including patent breadth and the rule of profit division between former and current innovators. Unlike the existing studies on patent and growth with fixed labors and no taxes, we assume that labor supply is elastic and that lump-sum taxes are imposed to finance subsidies to intermediate goods and research. This study gives the following main results. First, we derive the optimal mix of patent instruments and find that subsidies to production of intermediate goods are necessary for the economy to achieve the social optimum. Second, we show that as compared to optimizing both patent instruments, optimizing only the profit-division rule retains the first-best growth rate but it reaches a lower level of welfare. Hence, this study sheds some light on the optimal design for the patent system with multiple dimensionality.
