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Academic Entrepreneurship: The Bayh-Dole Act versus the Professor’s Privilege

Authors :
Thomas B. Astebro
Serguey Braguinsky
Pontus Braunerhjelm
Anders Broström
Source :
ILR Review. 72:1094-1122
Publication Year :
2018
Publisher :
SAGE Publications, 2018.

Abstract

Is the Bayh-Dole intellectual property regime associated with more and better academic entrepreneurship than the Professor’s 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 for 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 supporting entrepreneurial decisions by younger, tenure-track academics may be more effective than are general incentives to increase academic entrepreneurship.

Details

ISSN :
2162271X and 00197939
Volume :
72
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
ILR Review
Accession number :
edsair.doi...........bffd00d2e532b9e678c064ee7518e972
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1177/0019793918819809