Empirical studies of innovation have found that end users frequently develop important product and process innovations. Defying conventional wisdom on the negative effects of uncompensated spillovers, innovative users also often openly reveal their innovations to competing users and to...

The literature on new goods and social welfare generally assumes thatmanufacturers develop innovations. But innovation by users has been foundto also be an important part of innovative activity in the economy. In this Paperwe explore the impact of users as a source of innovation on product...