In a model with moral hazard and asymmetric information, we show that it can be welfare improving to differentiate patent lives when firms have different R&D productivities. A uniform patent life provides too much R&D incentive to low-productivity firms and too little to high-productivity ones....

We show that economic incentives affect the number and commercial value of inventions generated in universities. Using panel data for 102 U.S. universities during the period 1991-1999, we find that universities which give higher royalty shares to academic scientists generate more inventions and...

Economic incentives affect the number and commercialvalue of inventions generated in universities. Controlling for factorssuch as university size and research funding, an analysis of panel datacollected between 1991 and 1999 for 102 universities in the United Statesreveals that universities...