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Competition Laws and Corporate Innovation

Author

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  • Ross Levine
  • Chen Lin
  • Lai Wei
  • Wensi Xie

Abstract

A central debate in economics concerns the relationship between competition and innovation, with some stressing that competition discourages innovation by reducing post-innovation rents and others emphasizing that more contestable markets spur currently dominant and other firms to invest more in innovation. We examine the impact of competition laws on innovation. We create a unique firm-level dataset on patenting activities that includes over 1.4 million firm-year observations, across 68 countries, from 1991 through 2015. Using a new, comprehensive dataset on competition laws, we find that more stringent competition laws are associated with increases in firms’ number of self-generated patents and the citation-impact and explorative nature of those patents. We also conduct the first examination of the relationship between competition laws and firms’ acquisition of patents from other firms. We find that competition increases patent acquisitions but lowers the ratio of acquired to self-generated patents. The results hold when using country-industry data on 186 countries over the 1888-2015 period.

Suggested Citation

  • Ross Levine & Chen Lin & Lai Wei & Wensi Xie, 2020. "Competition Laws and Corporate Innovation," NBER Working Papers 27253, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27253
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    Cited by:

    1. Fernández-Rodríguez, Elena & García-Fernández, Roberto & Martínez-Arias, Antonio, 2023. "Institutional determinants of the effective tax rate in G7 and BRIC countries," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 47(2).
    2. Wong, Raymond M.K. & Dak-Adzaklo, Cephas Simon Peter & Lo, Agnes W.Y., 2024. "Debt choice in the regulated competition era," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    3. Xede, James & Simon Peter Dak-Adzaklo, Cephas & Ofosu, Emmanuel & Wise Dodzidenu Adza, Solomon, 2023. "Competition laws, external financing and investment," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    4. Kim, Incheol & Lee, Suin & Sharma, Bina, 2023. "Competition law reform and firm performance: Evidence from developing countries," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    5. Christian Reiner & Maximilian Benner, 2022. "Cooperation bias in regional policy: Is competition neglected?," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 69(1), pages 187-221, August.

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    JEL classification:

    • K21 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Antitrust Law
    • L4 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies
    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights

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