Question on patent system

Reference no: EM1371781

Government involvement in general scientific research has been justified on the grounds that advances in knowledge are public goods- once produced, information can be shared at virtually no cost. A new production technology in an industry could be available to all firms, reducing costs of production, driving down price, and benefiting the public. The patent system, however, allows private producers of "new knowledge" to exclude others from enjoying the benefits of that knowledge. Inventors would have little incentive to produce new knowledge if there were no possibility of profiting from their inventions. If one company holds exclusive rights to an advanced production process, it produces at lower cost but can use the exclusion to acquire monopoly power and hold price up.

A) On balance, is the patent system a good or bad thing? Explain.

B) Is government involvement in scientific research a good idea? Discuss.

Reference no: EM1371781

Questions Cloud

Computing quantity-price : Night Timers Co. manufactures glow-in-the dark products in 10 ft. rolls. At present the company's maximum production capacity is 140,000 rolls per year. The cost is stated as: C= $50,000 + 0.25 Q.

Program to find maximum-minimum of sequence of values : Common task which should be done in loop is to find maximum and minimum of sequence of values. File Temps.java contains program which reads in sequence of hourly temperature readings over 24- hour period.

Determining learning rate : A production lot of 25 units required 103.6 hours of effort. Accounting records show that first unit took seven hours. What was the learning rate?

Question about reserve prices and extended warranties : A reserve value is a minimum value set by the auctioneer. If no bidder is willing to pay the reserve price, the item is unsold at a profit of $0 for the auctioneer.

Question on patent system : Government involvement in general scientific research has been justified on the grounds that advances in knowledge are public goods- once produced, information can be shared at virtually no cost.

Determining linear programming-maximizing profits : A manufacturer of outdoor clothing makes wax jackets and trousers. Each jacket requires 1 hour to manufacture, whereas each pair of trousers takes 40 minutes.

Marginal physical product of labor : Use the following information for a company's output at various levels of employment to compute: its marginal physical product of labor schedule; its schedule,

Relationship between ap and mp : Explain the relationship between AP and MP. Be sure to use graphs to help support your answer. Calculate the MP and the AP for each worker

Sketch er diagram to keep track of employees and projects : Sketch ER diagram for the following situation and write any assumptions you think you have to make to develop a complete diagram. Company requires the operational database to keep track of all employees, departments, and projects.

User Account

All Pages