Of Mice and Academics: Examining the Effect of Openness on Innovation

Philippe Aghion (1, 2, 3, 4) , Mathias Dewatripont (5) , Julian Kolev (3) , Fiona Murray (6) , Scott Stern (6)

1 PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques
2 PSE - Paris School of Economics
3 Department of Economics, Harvard University
4 Collège de France - Chaire Economie des institutions, de l'innovation et de la croissance
5 ULB - Université libre de Bruxelles
6 MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology

This paper argues that openness, by lowering costs to access existing research, can enhance both early and late stage innovation through greater exploration of novel research directions. We examine a natural experiment in openness: late-1990s NIH agreements that reduced academics' access costs regarding certain genetically engineered mice. Implementing difference-in-differences estimators, we find that increased openness encourages entry by new researchers and exploration of more diverse research paths, and does not reduce the creation of new genetically engineered mice. Our findings highlight a neglected cost of strong intellectual property restrictions: lower levels of exploration leading to reduced diversity of research output.

Mots clés: Innovation

Domaines: Economies et finances

Philippe Aghion, Mathias Dewatripont, Julian Kolev, Fiona Murray, Scott Stern. Of Mice and Academics: Examining the Effect of Openness on Innovation. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2016, 8 (1), pp.212-252. ⟨10.1257/pol.20140062⟩. ⟨halshs-01496928⟩