Issues

Remedies for Robots

Robots will sometimes harm others. Legal remedies for harm compensate an injured party or punish wrong-doing. But robots are complex, and cannot be deterred from wrongdoing as humans are.

Rendering Sensible Salient 

Technological changes threaten democracy, producing polarization and fragmentation. Deliberative conventions of ordinary citizens could help restore a common understanding of issues.

Intellectual Contract and Intellectual Law

Technological change is increasing the importance of intangible assets. A new legal concept, the “Intellectual Contract” (IC), would better support innovation, as current Intellectual property (IP) rules are limited.

Stepwise Innovation by an Oligopoly

Antitrust authorities assess the effect of mergers on innovation. Sometimes, different economic models yield different predictions about the effects of competition on innovation.

Licensing and Innovation with Imperfect Contract Enforcement

Weak enforcement of patent license terms might discourage licensor innovation, but encourages licensors to offer lower royalties, lowering consumer prices and promoting innovation by downstream producers.

Innovation, Openness, and Platform Control

This paper asks why some products, like Microsoft’s Windows, are made to work with those produced by others.

Growth Through Heterogeneous Innovations

A firm’s size affects its choice of innovation strategy. A new economic model of innovation helps explain the tendency of new entrants and incumbent producers to innovate differently, and their differing effects of economic growth.

Cyber-Attacks–Prevention-Reactions: The Role of States and Private Actors

Cyber-attacks are a growing threat to peace and security. Private actors play a leading role in ensuring that digital technologies are secure from cyber-attacks.

Scale Effects in Web Search

This study considers how learning affects competition between search engines. As learning proceeds, it tends to slow down. Could a new search engine with a better algorithm overcome a large search engine with more data?

Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future

Successful new firms like Facebook reflect the changing balance between human minds and machines, between traditional products and platforms, and between experts and crowds. People skills will become more important.