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Disclosure and Subsequent Innovation: Evidence From the Patent Depository Library Program

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Listed:
  • Furman, Jeffrey L.

    (Boston University Questrom School of Business)

  • Nagler, Markus

    (LMU Munich)

  • Watzinger, Martin

    (LMU Munich)

Abstract

How important is information disclosure through patents for subsequent innovation? To answer this question, we examine the expansion of the USPTO Patent Library system after 1975. Before the Internet, patent libraries gave inventors access to patent documents. We find that after patent library opening, local patenting increases by 17% relative to control regions. Additional analyses suggest that the disclosure of technical information is the mechanism underlying this effect: inventors start to cite more distant prior art and the effect ceases after the introduction of the Internet. Our analyses thus provide evidence that disclosure plays an important role in cumulative innovation.

Suggested Citation

  • Furman, Jeffrey L. & Nagler, Markus & Watzinger, Martin, 2019. "Disclosure and Subsequent Innovation: Evidence From the Patent Depository Library Program," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 136, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    • Handle: RePEc:rco:dpaper:136
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • K11 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Property Law
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

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