Progress in many areas of economics is often limited by the lack of empirical counterparts to
the theoretical constructs that we believe to be important. This problem is particularly severe …

This paper is an attempt to quantify key aspects of innovations,'basicness' and
appropriability, and explore the linkages between them. We rely on detailed patent data …

Economists recently saw the point in using all the detailed information encompassed in
patent documents in order to understand the origin, the nature and the value of …

Our understanding of the generation of new technological knowledge, one of the most funda-
mental processes of economic growth, has been vastly expanded over the last 40 years …

Innovation and technological change, long recognized as the main drivers of long-term
economic growth, are elusive notions that are difficult to conceptualize and even harder to …

How much inventive activity is occurring in California, compared to other high-technology
states? How can we assess the quality of the inventive activity? And what are the changes in …

We compare patenting motives of individual inventors, small firms, and universities to those
of large firms. We use data from a survey (641 responses) among applicants at the …

Many studies rely on patent citations to measure intellectual heritage and impact. In this
article, we show that the nature of patent citations has changed dramatically in recent years …

Innovation is central to economic growth. 1 Arguably, the most valuable innovations have
been embodied in technologies that perform work, such as the provision of energy or health …

Patents, as one of the few quantifiable outputs of research, are increasingly being used as
an indicator of the less quantifiable—innovation, and the competitiveness that is assumed to …