Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/icr/wpicer/02-2011.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Property Rights and Externalities: The Uneasy Case of Knowledge

Author

Listed:
  • Giovanni B. Ramello
Abstract
Drawing from Coase’s methodological lesson, this article discusses the specific case of knowledge, which was for a long time chiefly governed by exchange mechanisms lying outside the market, and has only recently been brought into the market. Its recent, heavy “colonization” by the property paradigm has progressively elicited criticism from commentators who, for various reasons, believe that the market can play only a limited role in pursuing efficiency in the knowledge domain. The article agrees with the enounced thesis and tries to provide an explanation of it that relates to the fact that in specific circumstances property-rights can produce distinct market failures that affect the social cost and can consequently prevent attainment of social welfare. In particular, the arguments set forth here concern three distinct externalities that arise when enforcing a property rights system over knowledge. First, the existence of a property right may itself alter individual preferences and social norms, thus causing specific changes in individuals' behaviour. Second, the idiosyncratic nature of knowledge, as a collective and inherently indivisible entity, means that its full propertization can be expected to produce significant harm. Third, property rights can cause endogenous drifts in the market structure arising from the exclusive power granted to the right holder: though generally intended as a necessary mechanism for extracting a price from the consumer, in the knowledge domain property rights can become a device for extracting rents from the market.

Suggested Citation

  • Giovanni B. Ramello, 2011. "Property Rights and Externalities: The Uneasy Case of Knowledge," ICER Working Papers 02-2011, ICER - International Centre for Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:icr:wpicer:02-2011
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.bemservizi.unito.it/repec/icr/wp2011/ICERwp02-11.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Heidi L. Williams, 2013. "Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation: Evidence from the Human Genome," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 121(1), pages 1-27.
    2. Nicita Antonio & Ramello Giovanni B., 2007. "Property, Liability and Market Power: The Antitrust Side of Copyright," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 3(3), pages 767-791, December.
    3. Gary D. Libecap & Dean Lueck, 2009. "The Demarcation of Land and the Role of Coordinating Institutions," NBER Working Papers 14942, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Bart Verspagen, 2006. "University Research, Intellectual Property Rights And European Innovation Systems," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(4), pages 607-632, September.
    5. Edwards, Brian K & Starr, Ross M, 1987. "A Note on Indivisibilities, Specialization, and Economies of Scale," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(1), pages 192-194, March.
    6. R. H. Coase, 2013. "The Problem of Social Cost," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56(4), pages 837-877.
    7. Breschi, Stefano & Lissoni, Francesco, 2001. "Knowledge Spillovers and Local Innovation Systems: A Critical Survey," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 10(4), pages 975-1005, December.
    8. Eric von Hippel, 2006. "Democratizing Innovation," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262720477, April.
    9. Martin L. Weitzman, 1998. "Recombinant Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(2), pages 331-360.
    10. F. M. Scherer, 2005. "The Role of Patents in two US Monopolization Cases," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(3), pages 297-305.
    11. Giovanni B. Ramello, 2005. "Private appropriability and sharing of knowledge: convergence or contradiction? The opposite tragedy of the creative commons," Chapters, in: Lisa N. Takeyama & Wendy J. Gordon & Ruth Towse (ed.), Developments in the Economics of Copyright, chapter 7, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    12. Allen, Robert C., 1983. "Collective invention," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 1-24, March.
    13. Giovanni B. Ramello, 2005. "Property rights, firm boundaries, and the republic of science--A note on Ashish Arora and Robert Merges," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 14(6), pages 1195-1204, December.
    14. Haeussler, Carolin, 2011. "Information-sharing in academia and the industry: A comparative study," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 105-122, February.
    15. Richard R. Nelson, 2006. "The Market Economy and the Scientific Commons," Chapters, in: Birgitte Andersen (ed.), Intellectual Property Rights, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. Gilbert, Richard J & Newbery, David M G, 1982. "Preemptive Patenting and the Persistence of Monopoly," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(3), pages 514-526, June.
    17. James Bessen & Michael J. Meurer, 2009. "Of Patents and Property," Working Papers 0901, Research on Innovation.
    18. Alessandro Nuvolari, 2004. "Collective invention during the British Industrial Revolution: the case of the Cornish pumping engine," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 28(3), pages 347-363, May.
    19. Ramello, Giovanni B., 2010. "Copyright and endogenous market structure: a glimpse from the journal-publishing market," POLIS Working Papers 146, Institute of Public Policy and Public Choice - POLIS.
    20. Ramello, Giovanni B., 2007. "Access to vs. exclusion from knowledge: Intellectual property, efficiency and social justice," POLIS Working Papers 90, Institute of Public Policy and Public Choice - POLIS.
    21. S. J. Liebowitz & Stephen E. Margolis, 1994. "Network Externality: An Uncommon Tragedy," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 8(2), pages 133-150, Spring.
    22. Herbert Scarf, 1994. "The Allocation of Resources in the Presence of Indivisibilities," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 8(4), pages 111-128, Fall.
    23. Simpson, A W Brian, 1996. "Coase v. Pigou Reexamined," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 25(1), pages 53-97, January.
    24. Coase, R H, 1974. "The Lighthouse in Economics," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(2), pages 357-376, October.
    25. Levmore, Saul, 2002. "Two Stories about the Evolution of Property Rights," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(2), pages 421-451, June.
    26. Jon F. Merz & Antigone G. Kriss & Debra G. B. Leonard & Mildred K. Cho, 2002. "Diagnostic testing fails the test," Nature, Nature, vol. 415(6872), pages 577-579, February.
    27. Kira R. Fabrizio, 2007. "University patenting and the pace of industrial innovation," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 16(4), pages 505-534, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Brett M. Frischmann & Alain Marciano & Giovanni Battista Ramello, 2019. "Retrospectives: Tragedy of the Commons after 50 Years," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 33(4), pages 211-228, Fall.
    2. Simplice A. Asongu & Antonio R. Andrés, 2017. "The impact of software piracy on inclusive human development: evidence from Africa," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(5), pages 585-607, September.
    3. Marchese, Carla & Marsiglio, Simone & Privileggi, Fabio & Ramello, Giovanni B., 2019. "Endogenous Recombinant Growth And Intellectual Property Rights," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(5), pages 2035-2067, July.
    4. Marchese Carla & Ramello Giovanni B., 2011. "In the Beginning Was the Word. Now is the Copyright," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1), pages 271-289, October.
    5. Marchese, Carla & Marsiglio, Simone & Privileggi, Fabio & Ramello, Giovanni, 2014. "Endogenous Recombinant Growth through Market Production of Knowledge and Intellectual Property Rights," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201413, University of Turin.
    6. Alberto Cassone & Giovanni Ramello, 2011. "The simple economics of class action: private provision of club and public goods," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 205-224, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marchese, Carla & Marsiglio, Simone & Privileggi, Fabio & Ramello, Giovanni, 2014. "Endogenous Recombinant Growth through Market Production of Knowledge and Intellectual Property Rights," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201413, University of Turin.
    2. Boudreau, Kevin J. & Lakhani, Karim R., 2015. "“Open” disclosure of innovations, incentives and follow-on reuse: Theory on processes of cumulative innovation and a field experiment in computational biology," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 4-19.
    3. Giovanni Dosi & Richard Nelson, 2013. "The Evolution of Technologies: An Assessment of the State-of-the-Art," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 3(1), pages 3-46, June.
    4. Gans, Joshua S. & Murray, Fiona E. & Stern, Scott, 2017. "Contracting over the disclosure of scientific knowledge: Intellectual property and academic publication," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 820-835.
    5. Foray, Dominique & Lissoni, Francesco, 2010. "University Research and Public–Private Interaction," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 275-314, Elsevier.
    6. Pénin, Julien & Wack, Jean-Pierre, 2008. "Research tool patents and free-libre biotechnology: A suggested unified framework," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 1909-1921, December.
    7. Francesco Lissoni & Fabio Montobbio, 2015. "The Ownership of Academic Patents and Their Impact. Evidence from Five European Countries," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 66(1), pages 143-171.
    8. Matteo Migheli & Giovanni Ramello, 2013. "Open access, social norms and publication choice," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 149-167, April.
    9. James Bessen, 2010. "Communicating Technical Knowledge," Working Papers 1001, Research on Innovation.
    10. Petra Moser, 2012. "Innovation without Patents: Evidence from World's Fairs," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 55(1), pages 43-74.
    11. Perkmann, Markus & Schildt, Henri, 2015. "Open data partnerships between firms and universities: The role of boundary organizations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(5), pages 1133-1143.
    12. Ramello, Giovanni B., 2007. "Access to vs. exclusion from knowledge: Intellectual property, efficiency and social justice," POLIS Working Papers 90, Institute of Public Policy and Public Choice - POLIS.
    13. Dosi, Giovanni & Nelson, Richard R., 2010. "Technical Change and Industrial Dynamics as Evolutionary Processes," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 51-127, Elsevier.
    14. Effie Kesidou & Marjolein Caniels & Henny Romijn, 2007. "Mechanisms of Local Knowledge Spillovers: Evidence from the Software Cluster in Uruguay," Working Papers 07-02, Eindhoven Center for Innovation Studies, revised Feb 2007.
    15. Eyüp ÖZVEREN & Erkan GÜRPINAR, 2024. "More a Commons Than a Fictitious Commodity: Tacit Knowledge, Sharing, and Cooperation in Knowledge Governance," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(1), pages 3824-3843, March.
    16. Herbert Hovenkamp, 2011. "Coasean markets," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 63-90, February.
    17. Pénin, Julien, 2011. "Sur les conséquences du brevet d’invention dans la science : résultats d’une enquête auprès des inventeurs académiques français," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 87(2), pages 137-173, juin.
    18. Consoli, Davide & Patrucco, Pierpaolo, 2004. "The Knowledge Trade-Off: Circulation, Growth and the Role of Knowledge-Intensive Business Services in Urban Innovation Systems," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis LEI & BRICK - Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio 200402, University of Turin.
    19. Julien Pénin, 2008. "More open than open innovation? Rethinking the concept of openness in innovation studies," Working Papers of BETA 2008-18, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    20. Julien Pénin, 2009. "On the consequences of university patenting: What can we learn by asking directly to academic inventors?," Working Papers of BETA 2009-04, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    property rights; knowledge; invention; indivisibility; externalities; efficiency;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D23 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights
    • 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
    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:icr:wpicer:02-2011. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Daniele Pennesi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/icerrit.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.