State of Innovation

Patents and Innovation Economics

Scarcity and Intellectual Property: Empirical Evidence of Adoption/Distribution of Technology

A number of scholars[1] have suggested that the logical basis for property rights is scarcity.  Property rights efficiently allocate these resources and avoid conflicts.  These scholars argue that ideas and inventions are not subject to scarcity and therefore intellectual property rights should not exist.  These arguments seem to be particularly prevalent among Libertarians, including the Cato Institute and Von Mises Institute, and the open source community.  Read more »

June 25, 2009 Posted by dbhalling | -Economics, -Legal, -Philosophy, Innovation, Patents | , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Scarcity and Intellectual Property: Empirical Evidence for Inventions

A number of scholars[1] have suggested that the logical basis for property rights is scarcity.  Property rights efficiently allocate these resources and avoid conflicts.  These scholars argue that ideas and inventions are not subject to scarcity and therefore intellectual property rights should not exist.  These arguments seem to be particularly prevalent among Libertarians, including the Cato Institute and Von Mises Institute, and the open source community.  In this article we will examine whether there is a lack of scarcity in the creation of ideas. Read more »

June 25, 2009 Posted by dbhalling | -Economics, -Law, -Philosophy, Innovation, Patents | Leave a Comment