Journal Article
Design versus utility innovation: Is corruption sanding or greasing the wheels of innovation?
Autoren
Erscheinungsdatum
DOI
10.1002/mde.3142
JEL Classification
O31
K42
O51
Innovation und Strukturwandel
This paper studies whether corruption has a greasing or a sanding effect on the production of innovation. The main novelty lies in comparing the relative impacts on design versus utility innovation. On the one hand, corruption can undermine (sand) the expected returns from patents, whereas on the other hand, patent holders might be able to increase (grease) the scope and applicability of their patents. Using U.S. state-level data and controlling for bidirectional causality, results show the sanding effect of corruption with regard to utility patents, with the negative effect on design patents occurring only with a time lag.
