Does the market for ideas influence the rate and direction of innovative activity? Evidence from the medical device industry
利用美国联邦调查对骨科大公司合作医生发明家的冲击，发现创意市场崩溃导致这些公司创新速度大幅下降，且创新方向转向低质量发明、远离依赖医生知识的产品类别。
Prior work argues that the “market for ideas” supports an open system of innovation, allowing for efficient development of technology across firms. Although this literature has described important features of this market, how it influences the rate and direction of innovation remains an open question. We exploit an exogenous shock to a subset of U.S. medical device firms to study this question. We first document the breakdown in the market for ideas after a federal investigation made it more difficult for the leading orthopedic firms to work with physician‐inventors. We then present evidence of a dramatic decline in the rate of innovation for these firms. Further, a marked shift in direction occurs toward lower‐quality inventions and away from product categories where physician knowledge is critical . Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.