主题：Can patents improve a firm’s markup? Evidence from China

主讲：荆然 教授

会议时间：2024年5月28日 13:00-14:30

会议地点：半岛·体育bob官方网站714会议室

内容简介: Rising markups, highly concentrated industries, and soaring share of intangibles in the total assets of large firms has prompted a growing literature. However, few works have paid attention to the role played by the exclusive rights of patents, which are endowed by law. We build a model that characterizes how a firm’s markup, market share and profit change at the different stages of a patent. Our theoretical results show that when the patent protection period is longer than the product technology life, the endowed exclusive right of a patent can maintain markups at a high level, as well as market share and profit. Our empirical analysis shows that when technologies are new, patents increase firms’ sales, market shares, productivity and markups. When technologies become obsolete, but the patents still retain their exclusive rights, patents continue to increase markups significantly. The results remain robust after addressing the endogeneity problem with instrumental variables. Furthermore, as a special type of patents, designs do not have technique merits. But we show that they are also effective in protecting patent holders' market shares and sales. This paper contributes to the literature by distinguishing the two value of patents---technical value and exclusive right value---and demonstrating patents increase markup through both channels.

个人简介：荆然教授，毕业于加拿大英属哥伦比亚大学尚德商学院，现任对外经济贸易大学国际经济贸易学院国际贸易学系主任，教育部国际经济与贸易专业虚拟教研室副主任。主要研究方向为国际贸易和产业组织理论。曾在Journal of International Economics, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Law, Economics and Organization,《经济研究》、《经济学（季刊）》等国内外期刊发表多篇期刊论文，并曾受邀参与Handbook on the Economics of Retailing and Distribution，China's Trade Exchange Rate and Industrial Policy Structure书撰写。荆然教授曾两次荣获“安子介国际贸易研究奖”优秀论文奖。曾主持国家自然科学基金青年项目一项和面上项目两项，自然科学基金项目结项曾获 “特优”评价，还曾主持并完成阿里研究院活水计划项目一项。