Compulsory Licensing: Evidence from the Trading with the Enemy Act
Abstract
Compulsory licensing allows firms in developing countries to produce foreign-owned inventions without the consent of foreign patent owners. This paper uses an exogenous event of compulsory licensing after World War I under the Trading with the Enemy Act to examine the effects of compulsory licensing on domestic invention. Difference-in-differences analyses of nearly 130,000 chemical inventions suggest that compulsory licensing increased domestic invention by 20 percent. (JEL D45, L24, N42, O31, O34)
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The Moser and Voena (2012) regression corresponds to Regression 1 with some controls.
“This regression corresponds to Regression 1 with some controls.”
From Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects (2020) · cites this paper as Moser and Voena (2012)
In the Moser and Voena (2012) regression equation at the beginning of Section III, the dependent variable is the number of patents by US inventors in patent class c at period t, and the explanatory variables are patent class and time fixed effects, the interaction of period t being after the Trading with the Enemy Act and the number of licensed patents in class c, and controls.
“In the regression equation in the beginning of Section III, the dependent variable is the number of patents by US inventors in patent class c at period t, and the explanatory variables are patent class and time fixed effects, the interaction of period t being after the trading with the enemy act and the number of licensed patents in class c, and some control variables.”
From Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects (2020) · cites this paper as Moser and Voena (2012)
The Moser and Voena (2012) regression is a sharp design.
“This is a sharp design.”
From Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects (2020) · cites this paper as Moser and Voena (2012)
The stable groups assumption is satisfied for the Moser and Voena (2012) regression because there are patent classes where no patent was licensed.
“The stable groups assumption is satisfied: there are patent classes where no patent was licensed.”
From Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects (2020) · cites this paper as Moser and Voena (2012)
Cites
How Much Should We Trust Differences-in-Differences Estimates?
Bertrand, M., Duflo, E., & Mullainathan, S. (2004) · The Quarterly Journal of Economics · doi:10.1162/003355304772839588 · Cited by 10,641 · see citing works
Identification of Causal Effects Using Instrumental Variables
Angrist, J. D., Imbens, G. W., & Rubin, D. B. (1996) · Journal of the American Statistical Association · doi:10.1080/01621459.1996.10476902 · Cited by 4,230 · see citing works
Duflo, E. (2001) · American Economic Review · doi:10.1257/aer.91.4.795 · Cited by 1,940 · see citing works
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Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects
de Chaisemartin, C., & D’Haultfœuille, X. (2020) · American Economic Review · doi:10.1257/aer.20181169 · Cited by 5,031 · see citing works
Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation
Imbens, G. W., & Wooldridge, J. M. (2009) · Journal of Economic Literature · doi:10.1257/jel.47.1.5 · Cited by 4,926 · see citing works
Yang, X., Zhang, J., Ren, S., & Ran, Q. (2021) · Journal of Cleaner Production · doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.125015 · Cited by 264 · see citing works
- Authors
- Moser, P., & Voena, A.
- Affiliations
- National Bureau of Economic Research (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- Venue
- American Economic Review
- Publisher
- American Economic Association
- Published
- 2012-02-01
- Volume
- 102
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 396-427
- ISSN
- 0002-8282 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3121165779
- Cited by
- 527
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 54 · 2025: 78 · 2024: 62 · 2023: 79 · 2022: 69 · 2021: 46 · 2020: 32 · 2019: 24 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 22 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 24.81
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Economic Review (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Management of Technology and Innovation › Intellectual Property and Patents
- Social Sciences › Law › Intellectual Property Law
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › General Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Global trade and economics
- Keywords
- compulsory licensing, Trading with the Enemy Act, World War I, chemical inventions, foreign patents, patent ownership, developing countries, technology transfer, intellectual property
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