Innovation and Incentives

How to promote innovation is a vitally important question facing modern economies, and Suzanne Scotchmer is one of our leading thinkers on the subject. Here she provides a masterly synthesis of her own work and that of others.

Eric S. Maskin, A.O. Hirschman Professor of Social Science, Institute for Advanced Study

Written by one of the foremost experts on innovation, this fascinating book is sprinkled with illustrations, rich with institutional detail, and grounded in solid theory. It provides an accessible and comprehensive picture of our profession's knowledge about intellectual property, and should be required reading for all students, researchers and policymakers interested in the economics of innovation and innovation policy.

Jean Tirole, Institut d'Economie Industrielle, Toulouse

This book, by one of the nation's leading students of patent law, is a wide-ranging, rigorous, and lucid synthesis of the economics of innovation and the law of intellectual property. It is packed with useful information, penetrating critique, and concrete, practical, and important proposals for legal reform.

Richard A. Posner, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and University of Chicago Law School

Innovation and Incentives covers the entire waterfront of intellectual property. Not only does it outline the core economic theories of information, but it's chock full of facts as well. We learn why new ideas are a scarce commodity and why patent pools can sometimes lower prices. Scotchmer is an excellent writer who jams interesting anecdotes into every nook and cranny of this book.

Ian Ayres, Townsend Professor, Yale Law School, and author of Why Not? How to Use Everyday Ingenuity to Solve Problems Big and Small