Lamoreaux N R, Sokoloff K L
Department of Economics, University of California, Los Angeles 90095, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1996 Nov 12;93(23):12686-92. doi: 10.1073/pnas.93.23.12686.
Relying on a quantitative analysis of the patenting and assignment behavior of inventors, we highlight the evolution of institutions that encouraged trade in technology and a growing division of labor between those who invented new technologies and those who exploited them commercially over the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. At the heart of this change in the organization of inventive activity was a set of familiar developments which had significant consequences for the supply and demand of inventions. On the supply side, the growing complexity and capital intensity of technology raised the amount of human and physical capital required for effective invention, making it increasingly desirable for individuals involved in this activity to specialize. On the demand side, the growing competitiveness of product markets induced firms to purchase or otherwise obtain the rights to technologies developed by others. These increasing incentives to differentiate the task of invention from that of commercializing new technologies depended for their realization upon the development of markets and other types of organizational supports for trade in technology. The evidence suggests that the necessary institutions evolved first in those regions of the country where early patenting activity had already been concentrated. A self-reinforcing process whereby high rates of inventive activity encouraged the evolution of a market for technology, which in turn encouraged greater specialization and productivity at invention as individuals found it increasingly feasible to sell and license their discoveries, appears to have been operating. This market trade in technological information was an important contributor to the achievement of a high level of specialization at invention well before the rise of large-scale research laboratories in the twentieth century.
通过对发明家的专利申请和转让行为进行定量分析，我们着重阐述了19世纪和20世纪初鼓励技术交易的制度演变，以及新技术发明者与商业开发者之间日益细化的分工。发明活动组织方式的这种变化，其核心是一系列为人熟知的发展态势，这些态势对发明的供求产生了重大影响。在供给方面，技术日益复杂且资本密集，这增加了有效发明所需的人力和物力资本，使得参与这项活动的个人越来越倾向于专业化。在需求方面，产品市场竞争日益激烈，促使企业购买或以其他方式获取他人开发的技术的权利。将发明任务与新技术商业化任务区分开来的激励因素不断增加，其实现依赖于技术交易市场及其他组织支持的发展。证据表明，必要的制度首先在该国早期专利活动已经集中的地区演变而来。一种自我强化的过程似乎一直在发挥作用，即高发明率促使技术市场的演变，这反过来又鼓励了发明方面更大程度的专业化和更高的生产率，因为个人发现出售和授权其发明越来越可行。在20世纪大规模研究实验室兴起之前，这种技术信息的市场交易对实现高水平的发明专业化起到了重要作用。
