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Many economists disagree, as there is no reason why companies should not share intellectual property when it is profitable for them to do so, e.g. https://johnh
by jsmith99 8y ago
Many economists disagree, as there is no reason why companies should not share intellectual property when it is profitable for them to do so, e.g. https://johnhcochrane.blogspot.com/2018/08/intellectual-property-and-china.html?m=1 https://johnhcochrane.blogspot.com/2018/08/intellectual-prop...
- gmueckl 8y agoThis argument as presented in the blog post seems incoherent and poorly thought through to me. Companies innovate because this gives them a competitive advantage in a market that has strong protections for trade secrets and patents. This is essential for all kinds of tech companies to survive in healthy, competitive markets. Thr flaw in the argument is that China essentially does not honor these protections. So if a foreign company invents something and wxports this knowledge to China, a purely Chinese run company will soon after build an essentially equal product without having to spend mony on any of the expensive R&D to actually develop that tech. This potentially ruinous asymmetry is not accounted for at all.