HEC Research Papers Series,
HEC Paris

Abstract: Is the Bayh-Dole intellectual property regime associated with more and better academic entrepreneurship than the Professor Privilege regime? The authors examine data on US PhDs in the natural sciences, engineering, and medical fields who became entrepreneurs in 1993–2006 and compare this to similar data from Sweden. They find that, in both countries, those with an academic background have lower rates of entry into entrepreneurship than do those with a non-academic background. The relative rate of academics starting entrepreneurial firms is slightly lower in the United States than in Sweden. Moreover, the mean economic gains from becoming an entrepreneur are negative, both for PhDs originating in academia and non-academic settings in both countries. Analysis indicates that selection into entrepreneurship occurs from the lower part of the ability distribution among academics. The results suggest that policies aimed at supporting entrepreneurial decisions by younger, tenure-track academics may be more effective than general incentives at increasing academic entrepreneurship in general.

Keywords: Academic entrepreneurship; Bayh-Dole; Professor’s Privilege

JEL-codes: J20; L26; N32

9 pages, December 17, 2018

Full text files

papers.cfm?abstract_id=3286994 HTML file Full text

Download statistics

• HEC Paris
• Ordering Working Papers
• Home page for this series

Questions (including download problems) about the papers in this series should be directed to Antoine Haldemann ()
Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson ().

RePEc:ebg:heccah:1323This page generated on 2024-09-13 22:19:53.