Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 722 W 168th Street, Room 486, New York, NY 10032.
Department of Economics, MIT, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, E52-440, Cambridge, MA 02139.
Am Econ Rev. 2019;109(1):203-36.
We investigate whether patents on human genes have affected follow-on scientific research and product development. Using administrative data on successful and unsuccessful patent applications submitted to the US Patent and Trademark Office, we link the exact gene sequences claimed in each application with data measuring follow-on scientific research and commercial investments. Using these data, we document novel evidence of selection into patenting: patented genes appear more valuable--prior to being patented--than non-patented genes. This evidence of selection motivates two quasi-experimental approaches, both of which suggest that on average gene patents have had no quantitatively important effect on follow-on innovation.
我们研究了人类基因专利是否影响了后续的科学研究和产品开发。我们利用向美国专利商标局提交的成功和不成功专利申请的行政数据，将每份申请中声称的精确基因序列与衡量后续科学研究和商业投资的数据联系起来。利用这些数据，我们提供了选择进入专利的新证据：与非专利基因相比，已获得专利的基因在获得专利之前似乎更有价值。这种选择的证据促使我们采用了两种准实验方法，这两种方法都表明，平均而言，基因专利对后续创新没有产生任何重要的数量影响。
