Patents: Recent Trends and Puzzles / Zvi Griliches.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Griliches, Zvi.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w2922.

NBER working paper series no. w2922

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Labor productivity.

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Patents

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1989.

Cambridge, Mass : National Bureau of Economic Research, 1989.

Summary:

This paper reviews the historical data on patenting in the United States with special reference to the last 20 years and their potential relation, if any, to the recent productivity slowdown. Two Points are made: Patents are not a "constant-yardstick" indicator of either inventive input or output. Moreover, they are "produced" by a governmental agency which goes through its own budgetary and inefficiency cycles. The paper shows that the appearance of an absolute decline in patenting in the 1970's is an artifact of such a cycle. This leaves us still with the longer run puzzle of a slower growth in patenting, especially by U.S. residents, relative to R&D expenditures. It is conjectured that this reflects more the changing character of patents and R&D than an indication of diminishing returns to R&D and an exhaustion of technological opportunities.

Notes:

Print version record

April 1989.