Innovation Economics Flashcards
What is the role of the government?
Fixing market failures the government should intervene when there are externalities
Why is the government not innovating?
Because lack of incentives, lousy at picking winners, and unclear if voters want innovation
Why the innovator can be a monopolist?
- Because the innovation is drastic
- because is the only using the process innovation
- because others are restricted to use it because of patents.
What happened to marginal costs with R&D spillovers
Get reduced
Beta for R&D spillovers
If B=1, benefits completely on the others investment in R&D
If B=0, there are no spillovers
If B is small, R&D investments are complimentary, the more firm 1 does the more firm 2 will do.
When B is large, R&D investments are substitutes, the more firm 1 does the less firm 2 will do. (Freeriding)
Nash equilibrium
Is an optimal outcome without unilateral deviation. Individual players have no incentive to deviate from the initial strategy.
On what depends the outcome of non cooperative R&D
Spillovers
The two types of R&D corporation
- do R&D independently put coordinated
- Do R&D together as one firm, but also continue to maintain product market competition.
What’s happens when firms do R&D independently but coordinated.
When there are high spill overs, the free riding problem is no longer an issue and firms do more R&D.
But in the case of Low spillovers, there is no longer fear of being left behind so firms do less R&D . this means that costs and prices are higher than without corporation.
What happens when firms do R&D together as one firm, but also continue to maintain product market competition.
B=1, more R&D is done which leads to lower cost and higher profits, but this may cause monopoly.
What is the impact of spillovers geographically according to Keller’s paper?
They las until 2000 km and it shouldn’t be overlooked.
What is the primary purpose of copyrights?
Foster creation and dissemination of intellectual works .
What are within group network effects?
Also called the direct network effects. users have utility not only from a product, but from the interaction with each other. Social media for example. Social norms, languages, fashion, phone, Google Docs, Waze, phone calls.
What happens if there are positive direct network effects?
The more activity level of the group, the more attractive it becomes for members to have more activity level. Also called attraction loops.
These may lead to coordination of joining a single platform, creating a winner takes all situation.
What happens if there are positive direct network effects?
The more activity level of the group, the more attractive it becomes for members to have more activity level. Also called attraction loops.
These may lead to coordination of joining a single platform, creating a winner takes all situation.
What are cross Group network effects?
Also called indirect network effects. Agents can be sorted by their role or their benefit from attraction and they belong to different groups.
Like trading places, matching apps (positive) and Ad-financed content platforms (negative).
What is the attraction spiral in cross group network effects?
The more activity in one group makes it more attractive to other groups to increase their activity and vice versa.
What is the attraction / repulsion pendulum in cross network effects?
One group may be attracted by the other, but these other group may react with repulsion or indifference. (Ad-financed media or virus producers)
What is the attraction spillover in cross network effects?
When group is attracted while the other doesn’t care.
For example: amateurs versus professionals, or early and late users
What is the purpose of patent policy?
Balance demands of allocational and dynamic efficiency to incentive generation of ideas, information and innovation.
Patent may be used to protect innovators and make the economy more dynamically efficient.
Key factors in a competitive industry illustrated by the Nordahaus Model
- The optimal length of a patent is positive but finite.
- Is shorter the more elastic is the demand.
- Shorter the lower the cost of R&D
On what depends the length of a patent protection
On how broad is it.
If patents are broad it should be shorter. If not it would confer too much monopoly power.
What is the general goal with the design of a patent?
Choose the design that minimizes the welfare loss per dollar of monopoly profit subject to achieving the profit needed to ensue the right innovative effort.
What are the Denicolo’s arguments about the optimal length and breadth of patents?
Denicolo says that the optimal length and breadth of patents depends on market conditions.
- long but narrow are appropriate for competitive industries
- short but broad are for olipolistic and monopolistic industries.
What tells me if m enter at innovation?
The probability of success, measures the likelihood that a desire outcome occurs, calculating the odds.
What are sleeping patents?
Patents that aren’t used because fore the monopolist is more worthy to make sure that the rival doesn’t enter than accept the entrance as a duopolist.
What is patent licensing?
When the owner of a patent grants the right to use the innovation for a payment or fee.
On what depends the profitability of patent licensing?
- The nature f competition
- Drastic vs. non drastic innovation
(In Bertrand there is no incentive to license)
Why te requieres rate of return of the investor in r&d may be so high?
- Asymmetric information between the innovator and the investor
- Moral hazard by the innovator from separation of ownership
- Tax considerations crate a wedge between external finance and retained earnings financement.
What’s an automation?
A technological application that requieres minimum human intervention.
- robotization
- machine learning and AI
Why automation is gaining ground in non routine tasks?
- Robot prices have fallen 10% annually.
- Big data is providing enough info to automate non routine tasks.
- Human cognitive biases (judges etc)
What is moral hazard?
When one agent in a transaction has the opportunity to take risks because they don’t bear the full consequences of those risks, often due to asymmetric information.
Example: la Isa se porta mal porque las consecuencias las pago yo, yo no puedo controlar si ella se porta bien o no. This leads to suboptimal outcomes.
What is asymmetric information?
When one agent has more or better information than the other, producing an imbalance of power in the transaction.