The Welfare Effects of Monopoly Innovation

Abstract

In this paper we study the welfare effect of a monopoly innovation. Unlike many partial equilibrium models carried out in previous studies, general equilibrium models are constructed and analyzed in greater details. We discover that, technical innovation carried out by a monopolist could significantly increase the social welfare. We conclude that, in general, the criticism against monopoly innovation based on its increased dead weight loss is less accurate as previously postulated by many studies.