Institutions and Technological Innovation During the Early Economic Growth: Evidence from the Great Inventors of the United States, 1790-1930

Employing a sample of renowned U.S. inventors that combines biographical detail with information on the patents they received over their careers, we highlight the impact of early U.S. patent institutions in providing broad access to economic opportunity and in encouraging trade in new technological knowledge. Through setting low fees and establishing administrative procedures for application, the United States deliberately created a patent system that allowed a much wider range, in socioeconomic class terms, of technologically creative individuals to obtain property rights to their inventions than did European patent institutions. Moreover, by requiring that applications be examined for novelty by technical experts, and by enforcing patent rights strictly, the U.S. system reduced uncertainty about the validity of patent rights, and in that way lowered the cost of transacting in them. Creating secure assets in new technological knowledge and facilitating access to markets in technology in this way both stimulated specialization at invention and further enhanced the opportunities available to technologically creative individuals who would otherwise have lacked the capital to directly extract returns from their efforts. Indeed, we show that until the late 19th century, the 'great inventors' of the U.S. generally had backgrounds that permitted them only limited formal schooling, and made extensive use of their abilities under the patent system to extract returns from trading their patent rights. The usefulness of the 19th century U.S. patent system to inventors with humble origins may have implications for the design of intellectual property institutions in contemporary developing countries.

Institutions and Technological Innovation During Early Economic Growth: Evidence from the Great Inventors of the United States, 1790 – 1930

Biographical information on a sample of renowned U.S. inventors is combined with information on the patents they received over their careers, and employed to highlight the implications of patent institutions for markets in inventions and for democratization. The United States deliberately created a patent system that differed from existing European systems in ways that significantly affected the course of technological change. Patent rights in the U.S. helped to define and enforce tradable assets in new technological knowledge. By facilitating access to such markets in technology, patents enhanced the benefits to relatively disadvantaged individuals who might otherwise have been unable to directly extract returns from their technological creativity, and their response to such incentives increased overall technological progress. For this reason, despite the defects of patent monopolies, developing economies today may still advance technological progress and improve social welfare by providing broad access to property rights in inventions.

The perception of the body: the ethical dimension

В статье рассматривается проблема восприятия тела и телесности в контексте этических и политических реалий современной России.The article deals with the problem of the perception of the body and physicality in the context of the ethical and political realities of modern Russia

1H-Benzotriazol-1-yl 4-{(E)-[4-(dimethylamino) phenyl]diazenyl}benzoate

The title compound, C21H18N6O2, was obtained as a by-product of a reaction between (E)-4-(4-dimethyl­amino­phenyl­azo)benzoic acid and 2-amino-4-(2-pyrid­yl)-6-(6-pyrid­yl)-1,3,5-triazine, which has a very low solubility, under peptidic coupling conditions, using THF as solvent. The condensation reaction occurred between 1-hy­droxy­benzotriazole and (E)-4-(4-dimethyl­amino­phenyl­azo)benzoic acid. The dihedral angle between the benzene rings in the (E)-diphenyl­diazene fragment is 10.92 (13)° and that between the benzotriazole mean plane and the central benzene ring is 80.57 (7)°. In the crystal, [[pi]] - [[pi]] stacking [centroid-centroid distances = 3.823 (2) and 3.863 (2) Å] of similar fragments generates mol­ecular layers parallel to (0-12). The crystal packing also features weak C-H [...] N hydrogen bonds involving N atoms of the benzotriazole ring

Amino Acid Derivatives of Tetrathiafulvalene and Their N-H center dot center dot center dot O Peptide Bond Dipoles-Templated Solid State Assemblies

We report on a series of amino acid derivatives of tetrathiafulvalene as well as on the structure-directing abilities of their peptide residues in the crystalline solid state to stabilize patterns of interactions such as beta strands and sheet motifs. Characteristic hydrogen-bonding motifs are indeed identified within ethylenedithiotetrathiafulvalene (EDT-TTF) and dimethyltetrathiafulvalene (Me-2-TTF) based compounds 1-5. Esters 1-3 contain hydrogen-bond acceptors, namely carbonyl groups, as well as one strong (NH) and one weak (C-sp(2)-H) hydrogen-bond donor. In addition to the hydrogen-bonded sets of ester derivatives, acids 4 and 5 present the carboxylic acid moiety, which acts as both a hydrogen-bond donor and acceptor. EDT-TTF-CO-GlyOH has been previously used to afford a new type of hydrogen-bonded acid/zwitterion (1:1) hybrid admixture of redox peptidics

Magnetic Transformations in the Organic Conductor kappa-(BETS)2Mn[N(CN)2]3 at the Metal-Insulator Transition

A complex study of magnetic properties including dc magnetization, 1H NMR and magnetic torque measurements has been performed for the organic conductor kappa-(BETS)2Mn[N(CN)2]3 which undergoes a metal-insulator transition at T_MI~25K. NMR and the magnetization data indicate a transition in the manganese subsystem from paramagnetic to a frozen state at T_MI, which is, however, not a simple Neel type order. Further, a magnetic field induced transition resembling a spin flop has been detected in the torque measurements at temperatures below T_MI. This transition is most likely related to the spins of pi-electrons localized on the organic molecules BETS and coupled with the manganese 3d spins via exchange interaction.Comment: 6 pages, 5 Figures, 1 Table; Submitted to Phys.Rev.B (Nov.2010