Patent counts are very imperfect measures of innovative output. This paper discusses how additional data-the number of years a patent is renewed and the number of countries in which protection for the same invention is sought - can be used to improve on counts in studies which require a measure...

Poverty rates calculated on the basis of different definitions of consumption may reveal substantial biases, but under certain conditions robust comparisons are possible. Nonfood spending is often thought to be especially poorly measured, but the more comprehensive is the measure of consumption...

We analyse the determinants of the decline in measured research productivity (the patent/Ramp;D ratio)using panel data on manufacturing firms in the U.S. for the period 1980-93. We focus on three factors: the level of demand, the quality of patents, and technological exhaustion. We first develop...