Economics of Innovation

Overview

This unit aims to introduce students to economic perspectives on innovation including fundamental market failures and policy and organisational responses to these. In a world of finite physical inputs, innovation is the only sustainable source of growth in production and rising living standards. Themes and issues will be covered with reference to seminal literature and key surveys. Students will be introduced to a number of important datasets (using STATA), while developing a robust quantitative toolkit to become proficient at understanding and developing strategy and policy.

Learning outcomes

Teaching methods

Hawthorn

Assessment

Content

• How economies grow and reasons rich countries grow richer
• Role of innovation in firm performance
• Suboptimal socially optimal investment in knowledge with free markets
• Policy and organisational responses to market failures
• Mechanisms in which intellectual property enhances innovation
• Costs and Benefts associated with intellectual property rights
• Factors contributing to scientific progress
• Role of universities and public research in the national innovation system
• Relationship between science and technology
• Spatial concentration of inovation and how it relates to agglomeration forces