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Inventing Prizes: A Historical Perspective on Innovation Awards and Technology Policy

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  • Khan, B. Zorina

Abstract

Prizes for innovations are currently experiencing a renaissance, following their marked decline during the nineteenth century. Debates about such incentive mechanisms tend to employ canonical historical anecdotes to motivate and support the analysis and policy proposals. Daguerre's “patent buyout,” the Longitude Prize, inducement prizes for butter substitutes and billiard balls, the activities of the Royal Society of Arts and other “encouragement” institutions—all comprise potentially misleading case studies. The article surveys and summarizes extensive empirical research using samples drawn from Britain, France, and the United States, including “great inventors” and their ordinary counterparts, and prizes at industrial exhibitions. The results suggest that administered systems of rewards to innovators suffered from a number of disadvantages in design and practice, which might be inherent to their nonmarket orientation.

Suggested Citation

  • Khan, B. Zorina, 2015. "Inventing Prizes: A Historical Perspective on Innovation Awards and Technology Policy," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 89(4), pages 631-660, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:buhirw:v:89:y:2015:i:04:p:631-660_00
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. B. Zorina Khan, 2017. "Designing Women: Consumer Goods Innovations in Britain, France and the United States, 1750-1900," NBER Working Papers 23086, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Li, Yunjian & Chen, Jiawen & Li, Li & Huang, Xiaojun, 2024. "Government innovation awards, innovation funds acquisition and enterprise innovation," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 846-864.
    3. Galasso, Alberto, 2020. "Rewards versus intellectual property rights when commitment is limited," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 397-411.
    4. Danzer, Alexander M. & Danzer, Natalia & Feuerbaum, Carsten, 2023. "Military Spending and Innovation: Learning from 19th Century World Fair Exhibition Data," IZA Discussion Papers 16034, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Domini, Giacomo, 2022. "Patterns of specialization and economic complexity through the lens of universal exhibitions, 1855-1900," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    6. Stephen D Billington & Alan J Hanna, 2021. "That’s classified! Inventing a new patent taxonomy [Text matching to measure patent similarity]," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 30(3), pages 678-705.
    7. François Foret & Jana Vargovčíková, 2021. "The Prize of Governance. How the European Union Uses Symbolic Distinctions to Mobilize Society and Foster Competitiveness," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(5), pages 1033-1050, September.
    8. Antonello Cammarano & Vincenzo Varriale & Francesca Michelino & Mauro Caputo, 2022. "Open and Crowd-Based Platforms: Impact on Organizational and Market Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-26, February.
    9. Akcigit, Ufuk & Abrams, David & Oz, Gokhan & Pearce, Jeremy, 2019. "The Patent Troll: Benign Middleman or Stick-Up Artist?," CEPR Discussion Papers 13620, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Florian Englmaier & Stefan Grimm & Dominik Grothe & David Schindler & Simeon Schudy, 2024. "The Efficacy of Tournaments for Nonroutine Team Tasks," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(4), pages 921-948.
    11. Czarnitzki, Dirk & Hünermund, Paul & Moshgbar, Nima, 2020. "Public Procurement of Innovation: Evidence from a German Legislative Reform," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    12. Saiz, Patricio & Amengual, Rafael, 2016. "Knowledge Disclosure, Patent Management, and the Four-Stroke Engine Business," Working Papers in Economic History 2016/02, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain), Department of Economic Analysis (Economic Theory and Economic History).
    13. B. Zorina Khan, 2017. "Prestige and Profit: The Royal Society of Arts and Incentives for Innovation, 1750-1850," NBER Working Papers 23042, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Aaron Graham, 2020. "Patents and invention in Jamaica and the British Atlantic before 1857," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 73(4), pages 940-963, November.
    15. Kyle, Margaret K., 2022. "Incentives for pharmaceutical innovation: What’s working, what’s lacking," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    16. B. Zorina Khan, 2024. "‘A new way by her invented’: Women inventors and technological innovation in Britain, 1800–1930," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 77(3), pages 928-952, August.
    17. Giacomo Domini, 2019. "Exhibitions, patents, and innovation in the early twentieth century: evidence from the Turin 1911 International Exhibition," LEM Papers Series 2019/04, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.

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