Catching-up and falling behind: knowledge spillover from American to German machine tool makers

In our days, German machine tool makers accuse their Chinese competitors of violating patent rights and illegally imitating German technology. A century ago, however, German machine tool makers used exactly the same methods to imitate American technology. To understand the dynamics of this catching-up process we use patent statistics to analyze firms' activities between 1877 and 1932. We show that German machine tool makers successfully deployed imitating and counterfeiting activities in the late 19th century and the 1920s to catchup to their American competitors. The German administration supported this strategy by stipulating a patent law that discriminated against foreign patent holders and probably also by delaying the granting of patents to foreign applicants. Parallel to the growing international competitiveness of German firms, however, the willingness to guarantee intellectual property rights of foreigners was also increasing because German firms had now to fear retaliatory measures in their own export markets when violating foreign property rights within Germany. --

"Az Én, az ismert mérték hiányzik." Mednyánszky László jegyzetfüzeteiből

Forrásközlés Mednyánszky László a lőcsei és a pozsonyi levéltárakban található vázlatfüzeteiből

Incentives and Innovation? R&D Management in Germany’s High-Tech Industries During the Second Industrial Revolution

The allocation of intellectual property rights between firms and employed researchers causes a principal-agent problem between the two parties. We investigate the working contracts of inventors employed by German chemical, pharmaceutical, and electrical engineering firms at the turn of the 20th century and show that some firms were aware of the principal-agent problem and offered performance-related compensation schemes to their scientists. However, neither a higher total compensation nor a higher share of variable compensation in total compensation is correlated with a higher innovative output. Thus, incentives techniques were already used during the early history of industrial research laboratories, but their impact on innovative output was unsystematic.Compensation packages; incentives; innovation; economic history; Germany, pre-1913

"Mindenkinek igaza van." Levelek Mednyánszkytól, Mednyánszkynak, Mednyánszkyról

Mednyánszky László lőcsei és pozsonyi levéltárakban őrzött levelezéséből Feszty Árpáddal, Jászai Marival, Czóbel Istvánnal, Wolfner Józseffel, Lyka Károllyal és másokkal. Szövegközlés, görög betűs kéziratokból kiolvasva, lábjegyzetekkel ellátva

Catching-up and falling behind knowledge spillover from American to German machine tool makers

In our days, German machine tool makers accuse their Chinese competitors of violating patent rights and illegally imitating German technology. A century ago, however, German machine tool makers used exactly the same methods to imitate American technology. To understand the dynamics of this catching-up process we use patent statistics to analyze firms? activities between 1877 and 1932. We show that German machine tool makers successfully deployed imitating and counterfeiting activities in the late 19th century and the 1920s to catchup to their American competitors. The German administration supported this strategy by stipulating a patent law that discriminated against foreign patent holders and probably also by delaying the granting of patents to foreign applicants. Parallel to the growing international competitiveness of German firms, however, the willingness to guarantee intellectual property rights of foreigners was also increasing because German firms had now to fear retaliatory measures in their own export markets when violating foreign property rights within Germany

"Ezen tárgyak családi vonatkozása..." A Czóbel-Mednyánszky kör leveleiből (1888-1920)

Lábjegyzetekkel ellátott szövegközlés Mednyánszky baráti társasága, azaz Justh Zsigmond, Malonyay Dezső, Czóbel István, Pekár Gyula, Teleki Sándorné (Szikra) és mások leveleiből

Joan Poblet i Teixidó. La qüestió agrària com a qüestió nacional (Xavier Ferré Trill)

Joan Poblet i Teixidó. La qüestió agrària com a quüestió nacional (Xavier Ferré Trill