Information gathering, innovation and growth

Abstract

In this paper we study the economic implications of IPR protection on corporate intelligence, R&D investment and economic growth. To accomplish this objective, we introduce trade secret and information leakage into a standard quality-ladder growth model and study the long-run implications of improving the privacy of firms' data. We find that reducing the set of practices of information gathering is more effective in protecting firms' privacy than strengthening trade secrets.Quality-improvement, R&D, information leakages, corporate intelligence, growth.