Issues

Interventions Over Predictions: Reframing the Ethical Debate for Actuarial Risk Assessment

Machine learning is now being used in the criminal justice system. Because these systems focus on accuracy of prediction and ignore factors that drive crime, they can exacerbate problems of mass incarceration and inequality.

Are Ideas Getting Harder to Find?

Economic growth arises when people create ideas. Evidence from a wide range of industries, products, and firms shows that while the number of researchers is increasing, their productivity is falling. Large increases in research will offset its declining productivity.

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.

Cost-Plus Patent Damages

Patent holders should not overcharge for their inventions at consumers’ expense. Courts could consider the inventor’s costs and the level of risk undertaken by the inventor in setting the value of patents in disputes.

Inventive Capabilities in the Division of Innovative Labor

Data shows that the availability of external sources of raw knowledge and finished inventions affects firms differently, depending on the firm’s size and technical capabilities.

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.

Running Out of Time: The Impact and Value of Flexibility in On-Demand Crowdwork

Workers in on-demand digital labor markets often have little control over their schedules. Giving workers more control yields more work product without loss of quality. Workers value control of their pace of work.