EC4416 (Provisional may change)
Innovation Economics
LECTURER:
Dr Manfredi La Manna
Candlemas (second) Semester 2015/16
CREDITS: 20
LECTURES:
20 lectures + 1 class test.
1 x 2-hour lecture per week.
Timing of lectures and venue: TBA
TUTORIALS: 5 x 1 hour tutorials TBC
EXAMINATION:
A two-hour examination
Structure TBC.
CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT:
50-minute class test, date TBA.
1500-word essay, to be submitted by TBA.
FINAL GRADE:
Examination 50% weight
Class Test 25% weight
Essay 25% weight
ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS: you must sit
the examination and attend a minimum of 4
tutorials to gain credit for this class.
Brief module outline
Innovation is both a major contributory factor in economic growth and a crucial element of
competitive behaviour and policy. The aim of this module is to introduce students to recent
developments in the economic theory of innovation. The module, which is analytical in nature,
examines the incentives firms have to innovate by the introduction of new products and new
processes and, in particular, how this is affected by strategic competitive conditions.
Learning Outcomes
The objectives of the course are to provide students with:
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an intellectual framework within which they can identify the crucial features
of important problems involving innovation;
an understanding of some of the latest thinking on these key questions;
the ability to use the ideas developed in the course to provide a rigorous analysis of both
some key conceptual and policy issues as well as the more specific issues that arise in
important case studies;
a critical awareness of some of the limitations of our existing understanding and possible
new research areas
Moreover, students will have an improved ‘transferable skills’ set. Please see (a link
here) for a further discussion of these skills.
Course Outline
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The Economics of Knowledge
Economic Models of Research and Development:
The Economics of Patents and Patentability Standards
Other Incentives to Innovation: prizes, contracts, etc.
The Economics of Copyright
Sequential Innovations
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Research Joint Ventures and Other Collaborative Arrangements
The Economics of Standards and Networks
Multi-task Research
Main Reading
Currently there is no textbook covering the economics of innovation, therefore the module’s
reading list consists chiefly of articles and chapters. However, extensive reference will be made
to Suzanne Scotchmer’s excellent monograph Innovations and Incentives, 2004 MIT Press.
Extensive lecture notes will be provided.
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