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To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2004.08.011 Byline: Benjamin Gomes-Casseres (a), John Hagedoorn (b), Adam B. Jaffe (a) Keywords: Alliances; Technology transfer; Patents; Knowledge; Multinational companies Abstract: We explore the role of interfirm alliances as a mechanism for sharing technological knowledge. We argue that knowledge flows between alliance partners will be greater than flows between pairs of nonallied firms, and less than flows between units within single firms. Using patent citations as a proxy for knowledge flows, we find results that are consistent with these expectations. We then explore how firm characteristics affect knowledge flows within alliances and find positive effects due to technological, geographic, and business similarities between partners. We use alliance data from MERIT, patent data from the USPTO, and firm data from Compustat. Author Affiliation: (a) Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02454, USA (b) University of Maastricht, The Netherlands Article History: Received 2 October 2003; Revised 19 July 2004; Accepted 30 August 2004 Article Note: (footnote) [star] We thank Megan MacGarvie and Mehmet Beceren for research assistance, and attendees at the NBER 2002 Alliance Conference, the Academy of International Business 2002 and 2003 Annual Meetings, and two anonymous referees for their suggestions.

Research have been performed to determine the employment of patents and patent citations as indicators of the economic aspects of technological developments. These include research on the application of patent citations to determine basic inventions and the utilization of citations to determine how technological knowledge affects nearby areas. The transfer of technological knowledge across countries has also been investigated., Economists accept that technological change contributes powerfully to long-run improvements in living standards. Yet, we know surprisingly little about the determinants of technological change, including the relative contributions of different [...]

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) issuance of RM95-3 and RM 95-4 regarding changes in natural gas pipeline regulation raised questions on the possible violation of contract confidentiality between natural gas pipelines and its customers. The FERC has applied the principle of public policy in defending its moves to make public its analysis of said contracts. To solve this problem, FERC has the option to limit the information released to the public. It can also force the monitoring of contract negotiations in the industry.

A low-quality patent system threatens to slow the pace of technological progress. Concerns about low patent quality are supported by estimates from litigation studies suggesting that most US patents granted should not have been issued. We propose a new model for measuring patent quality, based on equivalent patent applications submitted to multiple offices. Our method allows us to distinguish whether low-quality patents are issued because an office implements a low standard or because it violates its own standard. The results suggest that quality in patent systems is higher than previously thought. Specifically, the percentage of granted patents that are below each office's own standard is under 10% for all offices. The Japanese patent office has a higher percentage of granted patents below its own standard than those from Europe, the USA, Korea, and China. This result arises from the fact that Japan has a higher standard than other offices. (JEL O34, K2, L4, F42) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Market failure and non-market failure explanations for the gradual diffusion of energy-efficient technologies need to be dissected and understood to define the optimal level of energy efficiency. Key issues underlying the various approaches to defining the energy-efficiency gap itself are identified and the relationships between the notions of optimality and concepts typically used in discussing such gap are examined. The analysis indicates two separate notions of economic potential and two separate notions of social optimum.

A conceptual framework is developed to help explain the 'paradox' of the very gradual diffusion of what appears to be cost-effective energy-conservation technologies. The study seeks to determine the factors that affect the rate of adoption of these technologies and the impact of economic incentives and conventional regulations in promoting such adoption. The analysis indicates why the technology-diffusion process is gradual and how alternative policy instruments can accelerate it.

INTRODUCTION The role new technologies can play in solving a wide range of environmental and natural resource problems is receiving increasing attention from policy makers.(1) Concern about carbon dioxide (C[O.sub.2]) [...]