In an earlier comment on Boldrin and Levines 2003 lecture on patents and their effect on technology, we observed that their account of James Watts influence on the progress of steam technology contained factual errors which tended to exaggerate the negative consequences of Watts patent. We concluded that it was far from obvious that a corrected account would support Boldrin and Levines bold conjectures. While Boldrin and Levines 2008 Against Intellectual Monopoly begins with a new version of Watts story that claims to take our earlier criticisms into account, here we assess that version and conclude that it shares many of the shortcomings of the original.

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Watt, Again? Boldrin and Levine Still Exaggerate the Adverse Effect of Patents on the Progress of Steam Power
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1Terry College of Business, University of Georgia
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Citation Information: Review of Law & Economics. Volume 5, Issue 3, Pages 1101–1113, ISSN (Online) 1555-5879, DOI: 10.2202/1555-5879.1432, December 2009
Publication History:
- Published Online:
- 2009-12-31


















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