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Effects of Copyrights on Science. Evidence from the WWII Book Republication Program

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Barbara Biasi, Yale; Petra Moser, NYU

Version:  View help for Version V1

Name File Type Size Last Modified
amazon.dta application/x-stata 98.4 KB 03/21/2020 08:46:AM
appendix_figures.do text/x-stata-syntax 8.7 KB 03/24/2020 05:09:PM
appendix_tables.do text/x-stata-syntax 13.7 KB 03/24/2020 12:45:PM
brp_dataset.dta application/x-stata 13.5 MB 03/21/2020 08:54:AM
cit_noemigreMOS.dta application/x-stata 479.4 KB 03/24/2020 12:47:PM
cit_noemigrestud.dta application/x-stata 479.4 KB 03/21/2020 09:07:AM
cit_noemigreuni.dta application/x-stata 479.4 KB 03/21/2020 07:53:AM
coordinates.dta application/x-stata 232 KB 03/18/2020 11:05:AM
database.dta application/x-stata 6.5 KB 03/21/2020 08:04:AM
lib_phd_dataset.dta application/x-stata 794.4 KB 03/24/2020 11:18:AM

Project Citation: 

Biasi, Barbara , and Moser, Petra . Effects of Copyrights on Science. Evidence from the WWII Book Republication Program. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2020. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2020-03-25. https://doi.org/10.3886/E118468V1

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary Copyrights, which establish intellectual property in music, science, and other creative goods, are intended to encourage creativity. Yet, copyrights also raise the cost of accessing existing work - potentially discouraging future innovation. This paper uses an exogenous shift towards weak copyrights (and low access costs) during WWII to examine the potentially adverse effects of copyrights on science. Using two alternative identification strategies, we show that weaker copyrights encouraged the creation of follow-on science, measured by citations. This change is driven by a reduction in access costs, allowing scientists at less affluent institutions to use existing knowledge in new follow-on research. 
Funding Sources:  View help for Funding Sources National Science Foundation (1151180-Moser)

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms Copyright; Science
JEL Classification:  View help for JEL Classification
      O34 Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage United States, Germany
Time Period(s):  View help for Time Period(s) 1920 – 1970
Collection Date(s):  View help for Collection Date(s) 2014 – 2019
Universe:  View help for Universe Our main data include BRP books in chemistry and mathematics, a control group of Swiss books in the same fields, and all new articles and books that cite BRP and Swiss books between 1920 and 1970. Two alternative measures for scientific output capture new PhD theses in mathematics and US patents that use knowledge in BRP books.
Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) observational data


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Published Versions

V2 [2023-10-29]

V1 [2020-03-25]

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