DOCSLIB.ORG

This PDF Is a Selection from an Out-Of-Print Volume from the National Bureau of Economic Research

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

This PDF is a selection from an out-of-print volume from the National Bureau of Economic Research Volume Title: The New Realities of the Business Cyde Volume Author/Editor: NBER Volume Publisher: NBER Volume URL: http://www.nber.org/books/unkn73-3 Publication Date: 1973 Chapter Title: Conference Programs Chapter Author: Various Chapter URL: http://www.nber.org/chapters/c4181 Chapter pages in book: (p. 126 - 131) III Conference Programs CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN INCOME AND WEALTH The proceedings of the November 1971 confer- Wisconsin, and Marilyn Manser, State Univer- ence on Measurement of Economic and Social sity of New York, Buffalo Performance are now at the printer; those on Consumption Characteristics bf Housing—Dale Personal Distributions of Income and Wealth W. Jorgenson and Rafael Weston, Harvard are being edited. University A conference on Household Production and Direct Estimates of Performance Characteristics Consumption, under the chairmanship of Nestor of Automobiles—Zvi Griliches, Harvard UniV- E. Terleckyj, will be held on November 30 to versity, and Makoto Ohta December 1,1973,in Washintgon, D.C. The Estimates of Efficiency of Consumption in the following papers are expected to be delivered: Short and Long Run—Robert 1. Michael, Na- tional Bureau of Economic Research Correlation between Health and Schooling— Risk Measurement and Safety Standardsin Michael Grossman, National Bureau of Eco- Consumer Products — Vartkes Broussalian, nomic Research National Bureau of Standards Household Production and the Demand for The Concept and Measurement of Product Qual- Children—Robert J. Willis, City University of ity—E. Scott Maynes, University of Minnesota New York and National Bureau of Economic Research Future conferences are being organized on Estimating the Demand Curve for Day Care Distribution of Economic Well-Being, Price Be- Services—James J. Heckman, Columbia Uni- havior, and Economics of Urban Spatial Struc- versity and National Bureau of Economic Re- ture. search Members of the Executive Committee are Non-Pecuniary Dimensions of Wages—Sherwin Frank de Leeuw (chairman), Robert E. Gallman, Rosen, University of Rochester and National Terry Gigantes, Martin L. Marimont, Geoffrey H. Bureau of Economic Research, and Richard Moore, Joel Popkin, James D. Smith, Eugene Thaler, University of Rochester Smolensky, Nestor E.Terleckyj, Beatrice N. Identifying Distinct Goods—Testing for Exist- Vaccara, and Mildred E. Courtney (secretary). ence of Distinct Components in the Food Mildred E. Courtney Budget—Laurits R. Christensen, University of UNIVERSITIES-NATIONAL BUREAU COMMITTEE FOR ECONOMIC RESEARCH A conference on the Economics of the Environ- cluded Otto Davis and Allen Kneese. ment, co-sponsored with Resources for the The conference volume, International Mobility Future, was held November 10 to 11, 1972, at and Movement of Capital, Fritz Machlup, Walter the Center for Continuing Education, University S.Salarit, and Lone Tarshis, co-editors, was of Chicago. Edwin S. Mills was chairman of the published in November 1972. The proceedings Conference Planning Committee, which also in- of the conference on Secular Inflation, JUrg 126 U Niehans editor, were published as a supplement North Carolina Stanford to the February issue of the Journey of Money, Northwestern Texas Credit and Banking. The papers from the con- Ohio State Toronto ference on Education as an Industry are in the Pennsylvania Vanderbilt hands of the editorial committee. Pittsburgh Virginia The Universities—National Bureau Committee Princeton Washington (Seattle) for Economic Research, at its annual meeting Purdue Washington (St. Louis) held in conjunction with the on Queens Wisconsin on the Rochester Yale subjects for two future conferences. One will be on the Role of Health Insurance Health Other members of the Committee, elected as Services Sector, with Richard M: Rosett as members at large for a 4-year term, July 1, chairman of the Planning Committee, to be held 1970 to June 30, 1974, are Daniel Creamer, May 30, 31, and June 1, 1974. The other con- S. A, Goldberg, George Jaszi, Rudolf R. Rhom- ference will be on the Economic Analysis of berg, Walter S.Salant,Julius Shiskin, and PoliticalBehavior, with Melvin as George J. Stigler. Robert E. Lipsey is the repre- chairman of the Planning Committee. The Com- sentative from the National Bureau of Economic mittee also selected three topics to be consid- Research. ered for future conferences: Economic Deter- The members of the Executive Committee are minants and Effects of Population Gtowth, the Carl F. Christ (chairman), Walter S. Salant (vice Economics of Energy, and the Labor Market for chairman), Moses Abramovitz, James M. Hen- Low-Income Workers. derson, Robert E. Lipsey, Dudley G. Luckett, and The Committee accepted Purdue University David C. Smith. Robert P. Shay is secretary. as a new member, There are now thirty-nine The conference program is assisted by a universities, together with the National Bureau, grant from the National Science Foundation. represented on the Committee. The participating Universities interested in membership on the universities are: Universities—NationalBureauCommitteefor Economic Research should get in touch with Brown Indiana the chairman of the Committee. The criterion Buffalo Iowa State for acceptance of a university as a member of California, Berkeley Johns Hopkins the Committee is the extent and quality of eco- California, Los Massachusetts Institute nomic research carried on at that university. Angeles of Technology Universities wishing to be informed about pro- Carnegie-Mel Ion McGill posals for future Universities—National Bureau Chicago Michigan Committee research conferences, and about the Columbia Michigan State availability of conference papers before publi- Cornell Minnesota cation, should communicate with the secretary Duke New School of the Committee. Harvard for Social Research Illinois New York Robert P. Shay CONFERENCE ON THE COMPUTER IN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH In 1972 the activities of the conference series going basis. The first annual meeting of the expanded greatly. The conference and work- conference membership was held, a constitu- shop series dealing with research in the U.S. tion was written and adopted by the mem- was established on a more permanent and on- bership,and anExecutive Committee was 127 established. The members of the Executive Rod rigo Botero Committee are: Fedesarrollo (Colombia) Alejandro Foxley Elected Members Universidad Catolica (Chile) Charlotte Boschan Eduardo Garcia National Bureau of Economic Research Universidad Catolica (Chile) Gregory Chow Jorge Katz Princeton University Instituto Torcuato di Tella (Argentina) Ivan Fellegi Affonso Celso Pastore Statistics Canada instituto de Pesquisad Economicas (Brazil) Charles Holt J. Dagnino Pastore The Urban Institute Fundacion de Investigaciones Economicas Joel Popkin Latinoamericanas (Argentina) Bureau of Labor Statistics Saul Trejo Richard Ruggles Secretaria de a Presidencia (Mexico) Yale University and National Bureau of M. lshaq Nadiri Economic Research National Bureau of Economic Research James Smith David Kresge Pennsylvania State University National Bureau of Economic Research Harold Watts University of Wisconsin The first workshop of this series was held in Arnold Zellner February in Caracas, and a second workshop University of Chicago is planned for the summer of 1973. A full ac- count of the activities of this workshop series is Appointed Members provided by David Kresge in his report below. M. lshaq Nadiri M. lshaq Nadiri New York University and National Bureau of Economic Research Alexander Morton The Computer in Economic National Bureau of Economic Research and Social Research in the United States David Kresge, Sanford Berg, and Donald Far- The Executive Committee held its first two meet- rar were appointed observers to the Executive ings during 1972 and drew up a program of Committee. Richard Ruggles was elected chair- future workshops and conferences. A list of man of the Executive Committee for 1973. these workshops, together with the names of The conferences that were held during 1972 their respective chairmen, follows this report. and the list of the workshops authorized and Three full-scale conferences were held during planned for 1973 and 1974 are reported below the year. The first of these was the conference by Alexander Morton. on Prices and Consumer Expenditures, organ- The Latin American Workshop series also ized and chaired by Joel Pop kin, Assistant Com- made a very good start. An Executive Commit- missioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This tee composed of Latin American economists conference was concerned with both the theory was formed and held its first meeting in Buenos and practice of measuring prices and consumer Aires in June 1972. The members of the com- expenditures, and the use of these statistics. mittee are: Approximately sixty persons attended this two- Edmon Bacha day conference, held April 6 and 7, 1972, in Facultad de Economia (Brazil) Washington, D.C. Antonio Barrera The second conference, a two-day workshop Fundacion para Ia Educacion el Desarrollo on Stochastic Control Theory and Economic (Colombia) Systems, was held May 5 and 6, 1972, at Prince- 128 ton. The workshop was by the view Topics in Planning Stage that "the development of stochastic dynamic Analysis of Panel Time Series Data economics, using tools related to optimal sto- Herbert Fames and Zvi Griliches chastic control, had reached such a point that Fall 1973 it would be
Recommended publications
  • Fritz Machlup's Construction of a Synthetic Concept

    Fritz Machlup's Construction of a Synthetic Concept

    The Knowledge Economy: Fritz Machlup’s Construction of a Synthetic Concept Benoît Godin 385 rue Sherbrooke Est Montreal, Quebec Canada H2X 1E3 [email protected] Project on the History and Sociology of S&T Statistics Working Paper No. 37 2008 Previous Papers in the Series: 1. B. Godin, Outlines for a History of Science Measurement. 2. B. Godin, The Measure of Science and the Construction of a Statistical Territory: The Case of the National Capital Region (NCR). 3. B. Godin, Measuring Science: Is There Basic Research Without Statistics? 4. B. Godin, Neglected Scientific Activities: The (Non) Measurement of Related Scientific Activities. 5. H. Stead, The Development of S&T Statistics in Canada: An Informal Account. 6. B. Godin, The Disappearance of Statistics on Basic Research in Canada: A Note. 7. B. Godin, Defining R&D: Is Research Always Systematic? 8. B. Godin, The Emergence of Science and Technology Indicators: Why Did Governments Supplement Statistics With Indicators? 9. B. Godin, The Number Makers: A Short History of Official Science and Technology Statistics. 10. B. Godin, Metadata: How Footnotes Make for Doubtful Numbers. 11. B. Godin, Innovation and Tradition: The Historical Contingency of R&D Statistical Classifications. 12. B. Godin, Taking Demand Seriously: OECD and the Role of Users in Science and Technology Statistics. 13. B. Godin, What’s So Difficult About International Statistics? UNESCO and the Measurement of Scientific and Technological Activities. 14. B. Godin, Measuring Output: When Economics Drives Science and Technology Measurements. 15. B. Godin, Highly Qualified Personnel: Should We Really Believe in Shortages? 16. B. Godin, The Rise of Innovation Surveys: Measuring a Fuzzy Concept.
  • Intellectual Property and the Development Divide

    Intellectual Property and the Development Divide

    Seattle University School of Law Digital Commons Faculty Scholarship 1-1-2006 Intellectual Property and the Development Divide Margaret Chon Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/faculty Part of the Intellectual Property Law Commons Recommended Citation Margaret Chon, Intellectual Property and the Development Divide, 27 CARDOZO L. REV. 2821 (2006). https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/faculty/558 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Seattle University School of Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Seattle University School of Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND THE DEVELOPMENT DIVIDE Margaret Chon* "The ends and means of development require examination and scrutiny for a fuller understanding of the development process; it is simply not adequate to take as our basic objective just the maximization of income or wealth, which is, as Aristotle noted, 'merely useful and for the sake of something else.' For the same reason, economic growth cannot sensibly be treated as an end in itself. Development has to be more concerned with enhancing the lives we lead and the freedoms we enjoy." -Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom' " * Professor and Dean's Distinguished Scholar, Seattle University School of Law. This Article was incubated in various venues, including the Pacific Intellectual Property Scholars (PIPS) Conference (2003 and 2005), the
  • How Far Is Vienna from Chicago? an Essay on the Methodology of Two Schools of Dogmatic Liberalism

    How Far Is Vienna from Chicago? an Essay on the Methodology of Two Schools of Dogmatic Liberalism

    A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Paqué, Karl-Heinz Working Paper — Digitized Version How far is Vienna from Chicago? An essay on the methodology of two schools of dogmatic liberalism Kiel Working Paper, No. 209 Provided in Cooperation with: Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) Suggested Citation: Paqué, Karl-Heinz (1984) : How far is Vienna from Chicago? An essay on the methodology of two schools of dogmatic liberalism, Kiel Working Paper, No. 209, Kiel Institute of World Economics (IfW), Kiel This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/46781 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle You are not to copy documents for public or commercial Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. www.econstor.eu Kieler Arbeitspapiere Kiel Working Papers Working Paper No.
  • Book Reviews

    Book Reviews

    Book reviews Foreign High-Tech R&D in China: Risks, which would have been helpful in giving us a Rewards and Implications for US-China Rela- better sense of where and how China was going tions. By Kathleen Walsh, Stimson Center, to make its impact felt. Washington, DC, 2003, xv, 141 pp. pdf file, Walsh makes a major contribution in alerting www.stimson.org observers of the Chinese scene to the rapid growth of foreign R&D in China. While she does note that Engendered by the continued efficacy of globaliza- the growth of foreign R&D in the PRC is not tion as a key enabling factor, China is steadily necessarily unique in the context of larger global emerging as an increasingly key player in the economic and technological trends, she points out international technology system. A combination that there are several unique characteristics to the of steady investment in domestic science and tech- Chinese situation, including the place of Beijing nology modernization and expanded foreign invest- accession to the WTO that has opened the market ment into higher value added manufacturing and and given foreign firms greater confidence in the R&D have clearly enhanced the PRC’s technologi- Chinese situation. All too often, China is seen as cal trajectory. There is little doubt that given the just another developing country or a huge menace size of its domestic market and its steadily improv- and potential international beˆtenoire–whenin ing technological prowess, China will assume a reality the situation is far more complex. Through- critical role in the playing out of global competition out the book, Walsh tries to ground her analysis in and have a substantial impact on the pace and hard data so that the reader can walk away with a direction of international scientific progress.
  • An Interdisciplinary Journal on Greater China

    An Interdisciplinary Journal on Greater China

    The China Review An Interdisciplinary Journal on Greater China Volume 14 Number 2 Fall 2014 Special Issue Doing Sinology in Former Socialist States, Reflections from the Czech Republic, Mongolia, Poland, and Russia: Introduction Chih-yu Shih (Guest Editor) Beyond Academia and Politics: Understanding China and Doing Sinology in Czechoslovakia after World War II Olga Lomová and Anna Zádrapová Surging between China and Russia: Legacies, Politics, and Turns of Sinology in Contemporary Mongolia Enkhchimeg Baatarkhuyag and Chih-yu Shih Volume 14 Number 2 Fall 2014 The Study of China in Poland after World War II: Toward the “New Sinology”? Anna Rudakowska The Lifting of the “Iron Veil” by Russian Sinologists During the Soviet Period (1917–1991) Materials Valentin C. Golovachev Soviet Sinology and Two Approaches to an Understanding of Chinese History An Interdisciplinary Alexander Pisarev Uneven Development vs. Searching for Integrity: Chinese Studies in Post-Soviet Russia Journal on Alexei D. Voskressenski Copyrighted Do We Need to Rethink Sinology? Views from the Eastern Bloc Fabio Lanza Press: Greater China Other Articles Professional Commitment and Job Satisfaction: An Analysis of the Chinese Judicial Reforms from the Perspective of the Criminal Defense University Hong Lu, Bin Liang, Yudu Li, and Ni (Phil) He The Discourse of Political Constitutionalism in Contemporary China: Gao Quanxi’s Studies on China’s Political Constitution Chinese Albert H. Y. Chen The State-of-the-Field Review Special Issue Research on Chinese Investigative Journalism,
  • Routledge Handbook of the Chinese Economy

    Routledge Handbook of the Chinese Economy

    www.ebook3000.com ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF THE CHINESE ECONOMY China’s rapid rise to become the world’s second largest economy has resulted in an unprecedented impact on the global system and an urgent need to understand more about the newest economic superpower. The Routledge Handbook of the Chinese Economy is an advanced-level reference guide which surveys the current economic situation in China and its integration into the global economy. An internationally renowned line-up of scholars contribute chapters on the key components of the contemporary economy and its historical foundations. Topics covered include: • the history of the Chinese economy from ancient times onwards; • economic growth and development; • population, the labor market, income distribution, and poverty; • legal, political, and financial institutions; and • foreign trade and investments. Offering a cutting-edge overview of the Chinese economy, the Handbook is an invaluable resource for academics, researchers, economists, graduate, and undergraduate students studying this ever-evolving field. Gregory C. Chow is Professor of Economics and Class of 1913 Professor of Political Economy, emeritus, at Princeton University, USA and has been on the Princeton faculty since 1970. Dwight H. Perkins is the Harold Hitchings Burbank Professor of Political Economy, emeritus, at Harvard University, USA and has been on the Harvard faculty since 1963. www.ebook3000.com In this volume, Gregory Chow and Dwight Perkins assemble a global array of authors to pro- vide a comprehensive account of China’s economic development both before and after the reform initiatives of the late 1970s. While many of the contributors focus on institutions, poli- cies and outcomes at the national level, detailed accounts by reform participants Wu Jinglian and Yi Gang along with an iconoclastic essay by Lynn White provide readers with unusual insight into the operational mechanisms of China’s political economy.
  • Gottfried Haberler: a Century Appreciation*

    Gottfried Haberler: a Century Appreciation*

    __________________________________________________________________________________________________ Gottfried Haberler: A Century Appreciation* Richard M. Ebeling* _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ During the first week of July in 1936, an inter- work. Indeed, "Haberler-like methods" became a national conference on the "Problems of Economic catch phrase of the entire conference.1 Change" was held in Annecy, France. It brought Haberler had spent two years carefully together such notable economists as Ludwig von researching and consulting on the various Mises, Wilhelm Ropke, Oskar Morgenstern, Bertil competing theories
  • The Reliability of China's Economic Data

    The Reliability of China's Economic Data

    U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission Staff Research Project January 28, 2013 The Reliability of China’s Economic Data: An Analysis of National Output by Iacob N. Koch-Weser USCC Policy Analyst, Economics and Trade Disclaimer: This paper is the product of professional research performed by staff of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, and was prepared at the request of the Commission to support its deliberations. Posting of the report to the Commission’s website is intended to promote greater public understanding of the issues addressed by the Commission in its ongoing assessment of U.S.-China economic relations and their implications for U.S. security, as mandated by Public Law 106-398 and Public Law 108-7. However, the public release of this document does not necessarily imply an endorsement by the Commission, any individual Commissioner, or the Commission’s other professional staff, of the views or conclusions expressed in this staff research report. 1 Table of Contents Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................... 2 Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 6 Section I: The Quality of Statistical Work .....................................................................................
  • Nine Lives of Neoliberalism

    Nine Lives of Neoliberalism

    A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Plehwe, Dieter (Ed.); Slobodian, Quinn (Ed.); Mirowski, Philip (Ed.) Book — Published Version Nine Lives of Neoliberalism Provided in Cooperation with: WZB Berlin Social Science Center Suggested Citation: Plehwe, Dieter (Ed.); Slobodian, Quinn (Ed.); Mirowski, Philip (Ed.) (2020) : Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, ISBN 978-1-78873-255-0, Verso, London, New York, NY, https://www.versobooks.com/books/3075-nine-lives-of-neoliberalism This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/215796 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle You are not to copy documents for public or commercial Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort Content Licence (especially Creative
  • Imperialism, Racism, and Fear of Democracy in Richard Ely's Progressivism

    Imperialism, Racism, and Fear of Democracy in Richard Ely's Progressivism

    The Rot at the Heart of American Progressivism: Imperialism, Racism, and Fear of Democracy in Richard Ely's Progressivism Gerald Friedman Department of Economics University of Massachusetts at Amherst November 8, 2015 This is a sketch of my long overdue intellectual biography of Richard Ely. It has been way too long in the making and I have accumulated many more debts than I can acknowledge here. In particular, I am grateful to Katherine Auspitz, James Boyce, Bruce Laurie, Tami Ohler, and Jean-Christian Vinel, and seminar participants at Bard, Paris IV, Paris VII, and the Five College Social History Workshop. I am grateful for research assistance from Daniel McDonald. James Boyce suggested that if I really wanted to write this book then I would have done it already. And Debbie Jacobson encouraged me to prioritize so that I could get it done. 1 The Ely problem and the problem of American progressivism The problem of American Exceptionalism arose in the puzzle of the American progressive movement.1 In the wake of the Revolution, Civil War, Emancipation, and radical Reconstruction, no one would have characterized the United States as a conservative polity. The new Republican party took the United States through bloody war to establish a national government that distributed property to settlers, established a national fiat currency and banking system, a progressive income tax, extensive program of internal improvements and nationally- funded education, and enacted constitutional amendments establishing national citizenship and voting rights for all men, and the uncompensated emancipation of the slave with the abolition of a social system that had dominated a large part of the country.2 Nor were they done.
  • Department of Economics Newsletter

    Department of Economics Newsletter

    DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS NEWSLETTER Department of Economics Newsletter May 2015 GENERAL DEPARTMENT NEWS The Economics Department at Johns 2016. Professor Quah is an economic Poster for the Richard Ely Distinguished Hopkins has had another busy year with theorist with many major works to his credit Lecture Series 2014-2015: multiple events and many developmentsMay 20and15 is an outstanding addition to the among the faculty and graduate students. Department. This Newsletter will cover many of them but feel free to keep track of all developments as The Department was well represented at the they happen on the department website, AEA Meetings in January, 2015 in Boston. http://www.econ.jhu.edu/. Among the faculty, Chris Carroll, Olivier Jeanne, Ali Khan, Anton Korinek, Robert We welcomed Assistant Professor Ying Chen Moffitt, Nick Papageorge, and Yuya Sasaki to the Department in September. Ying were on the program. The traditional cocktail specializes in Economic Theory and comes party and reception also drew a number of from Southampton and Arizona State and current and former graduate students and received her Ph.D. from Yale. Ying is faculty. We will be having another in January, teaching graduate and undergraduate 2016 in San Francisco. Mark it on your courses in micro theory. calendars. We look forward to the Spring 2016 Ely We are also happy to report that Dr. Robert Our annual Richard T. Ely Lecture this year Lectures as well, which will be given by Barbera, a graduate alumnus from our was given by John Geanakoplos (photo Professor Robert Porter of Northwestern Department, has continued his stepped up below) from Yale University, who gave four University.
  • The (Relatively) Easy Case for Patents on Inventions

    The (Relatively) Easy Case for Patents on Inventions

    Draft for IPSC August 2012 The (Relatively) Easy Case for Patents on Inventions Oskar Liivak Associate Professor Cornell Law School Abstract This article outlines a new theory of patents that differs in kind from existing theories. Existing theories all employ a simple narrative: by setting both the scope and duration of patent law’s powerful and lucrative exclusive rights, the system aims to induce the optimum levels of “progress in the useful arts.” Though simple to state, that narrative is incredibly complex to employ and is fatally flawed requiring unknowable policy inputs and resulting in intractable policy stalemate. We just don’t have (and probably will never have) the information needed to justify that narrative. The system is based on “guesswork” and supported by “faith” alone. And as the dubious activities of patent trolls and the patent arms race loom larger every day, our “faith” in the system is being deeply undermined if not lost all together. This article argues that the problem is the narrative not the system. The article provides an alternative narrative that can justify at least part of the current system. The article develops a narrative that does not require unknowable policy inputs and intractable policy balancing. Instead the narrative designs a system that, as a natural result of the system’s architecture, outputs those optimal levels of innovation. In that narrative, the patent system aims to provide the background support for the market exchange of inventions. Many assume such a narrative is doomed to fail. This article shows that, as to a market for technological ideas or information generally, those suspicions are likely correct, yet, the narrative introduced here focuses on something narrower: the voluntary market exchange of inventions.