As Danny Sokol already pointed out, On May 4 at George Mason Law School, Josh Wright and I will be putting on a conference. This is the inaugural conference in an expected annual series of conferences co-sponsored by George Mason Law School and Microsoft on the law and economics of innovation. Our first conference is on “The Regulation of Innovation and Economic Growth.”
Here’s a blurb describing the conference:
Our inaugural conference is organized around the fundamental question of how we identify the optimal regulation of innovation. It is fairly well-established that there is a relationship between innovation and economic growth. What we don’t really know is exactly how this relationship works, how to foster this relationship, and how this relationship can stimulate economic growth resulting in benefits to consumers and industry alike. Technology and innovation defy simple regulatory solutions because of the complex and ill-understood relationship between innovation and economic growth. Many have proposed, however, that bad (or good) regulation is certainly part of the answer.
Our primary regulatory tools for regulating innovation fall within the broad categories of intellectual property and antitrust. Through these twin regimes, nations seek to promote optimal incentives and to curtail inefficient dead weight loss. To this could also be added the broader regulation of property rights-the ability of entrepreneurs effectively to commercialize their innovations. And at root the question is: How should a jurisdiction-particularly an emerging or developing economy-approach its IP or its antitrust regime if it seeks to maximize economic growth?
The papers in this conference will address these questions.
We have a fantastic list of Presenters:
Robert D. Cooter, University of California at Berkeley School of Law (Keynote Address)
Keith N. Hylton, Boston University School of Law
Marco Iansiti, Harvard Business School
Douglas G. Lichtman, University of Chicago Law School
Stan J. Liebowitz, University of Texas/Dallas School of Management
Stephen E. Margolis, North Carolina State College of Management
Howard A. Shelanski, University of California at Berkeley School of Law
Daniel F. Spulber, Kellogg School of Management
Joshua D. Wright, George Mason University School of Law
As well as commenters/moderators:
Jonathan B. Baker, American University Washington College of Law
Ronald A. Cass, Dean Emeritus, Boston University School of Law
Bruce H. Kobayashi, George Mason School of Law
Randal Picker, University of Chicago Law School
We’ll also have an industry/regulator roundtable discussion of the papers presented. So far we have lined up Dave Heiner, Deputy General Counsel, Antitrust Group, at Microsoft and Gerald Masoudi, Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Antitrust Division. More to come.
The conference begins at 9 and runs until 4, with a reception following. Registration is free, but space is increasingly limited. Register here if you’d like to attend.
As they become available, the conference papers will be posted here; abstracts are already posted. Look for an edited volume some time in the future.