Of Mice and Academics: Examining the Effect of Openness on Innovation

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Murray, Fiona; Aghion, Philippe; Dewatripont, Mathias; Kolev, Julian; Stern, Scott
• 署名单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Harvard University; National Bureau of Economic Research; Universite Libre de Bruxelles; European Central Bank; National Bank of Belgium; Southern Methodist University
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-ECONOMIC POLICY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7731
• DOI: 10.1257/pol.20140062
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 212-252
• 关键词: sequential innovation; cumulative research; transgenic mice; stem-cells; patents; universities; institutions; shoulders; KNOWLEDGE; ECONOMICS

摘要

This paper argues that openness, by lowering costs to access existing research, can enhance both early and late stage innovation through greater exploration of novel research directions. We examine a natural experiment in openness: late-1990s NIH agreements that reduced academics' access costs regarding certain genetically engineered mice. Implementing difference-in-differences estimators, we find that increased openness encourages entry by new researchers and exploration of more diverse research paths, and does not reduce the creation of new genetically engineered mice. Our findings highlight a neglected cost of strong intellectual property restrictions: lower levels of exploration leading to reduced diversity of research output.