Benjamin F Jones, Professor of Strategy, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
Benjamin F Jones, Professor of Strategy, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
"University Innovation and the Professor’s Privilege"
"University Innovation and the Professor’s Privilege"
16 Sep 20151:30 PM – 3:00 PM
Faculty and doctoral students only
Location:
Cumnock 230
Organizer:
Policymakers often seek to encourage innovation by university workforces. This paper studies a natural experiment: the end of the “professor’s privilege” in Norway, where university researchers had previously enjoyed full rights to their innovations. Upon the reform, Norway moved toward the U.S. model where majority rights are held by the university. Using comprehensive data on all Norwegian workers, firms, and patents, we find an approximate 50% decline in entrepreneurship and patenting rates by university researchers after the reform. Quality measures for university start-ups and patents also decline. These findings inform literatures on technology policy, innovation incentives, and taxes and entrepreneurship.