Project on Experimental Tests of Patent Law and Economics

The project utilizes the techniques of experimental economics to explore propositions about the role of patents and patent law in encouraging investment in R&D and commercialization of technologies. The propositions are drawn from formal, game-theoretic models; from behavioral economics; from assertions in articles or cases; and from claims made by industry participants. The experiments are carefully drawn so as to focus, as much as possible, only on the propositions under review. In this way we can observe causal effects.

The project’s faculty participants are:

  • Elizabeth Hoffman
    Professor of Economics, Iowa State University
  • David L. Schwartz
    Professor of Law, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
  • Matthew L. Spitzer
    Howard and Elizabeth Chapman Professor, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
    Director, Northwestern University Center on Law, Business, and Economics
  • Eric L. Talley
    Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law, Columbia Law School

Published Paper

Patently Risky: Framing, Innovation and Entrepreneurial Preference, 34 Harv. J. of Law & Tech 192 (2020).