Premium
MARKET SIZE AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTION *
Author(s) -
Boldrin Michele,
Levine David K.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
international economic review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.658
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1468-2354
pISSN - 0020-6598
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2354.2009.00551.x
Subject(s) - intellectual property , monopoly , market size , industrial organization , business , economics , focus (optics) , international trade , law and economics , microeconomics , international economics , law , political science , physics , optics
Intellectual property (IP) protection involves a trade‐off between the undesirability of monopoly and the desirable encouragement of creation and innovation. Optimal policy depends on the relative strength of these two forces. We give a quantitative assessment of current IP policies. We focus particularly on the scale of the market, showing that as it increases, due either to growth or to the expansion of trade, IP protection should be reduced.