Comparative Invention Performance of Major Industrial Countries: Patterns and Explanations
分析六个主要工业国家过去20年在41个行业的专利活动，发现非美国国家在所有技术领域（包括高技术领域）的相对发明绩效提升，并检验了美国相对下降的原因，发现追赶效应是主因，政府干预影响不大。
The paper presents an analysis of invention performance, as measured by patenting activities, of six countries (France, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, USSR, West Germany) relative to the United States for 41 SIC industries over the past 20 years. It turns out that non-U.S. countries as a group have increased their (relative) invention performance in all fields of technology, including high technology fields. In a second step hypotheses which can be supposed to explain the relative decline of the United States' patenting activities are discussed and tested. There is strong evidence that catching up processes contributed most to the relative decrease of the United States; there is only little evidence that government interventions regarding research and development activities have had counterproductive effects on invention performance.