Thesis ID: CBB001561514

Explorations into the Workings of Biological Innovations in the Absence of Secrecy or Intellectual Property Rights: United States Strawberry Varieties before 1930 (2007)

unapi

Barragan Arce, Mario Julio (Author)


University of Minnesota
Schuh, G. Edward
Boldrin, Michele


Publication Date: 2007
Edition Details: Advisor: Schuh, G. Edward; Michele Boldrin
Physical Details: 212 pp.
Language: English

There is a widespread conviction within the agricultural economics profession that US plant variety innovation during the nineteenth century was insignificant. My dissertation contributes to this literature in two respects. At the data level, it introduces previously untapped archival sources to challenge the above belief. With these data I attempt to answer, for a selected number of crops, how much biological innovation occurred during the nineteenth century. I take a fresh approach to this issue by directly counting innovations. To count innovations per year I use variety lists generated during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. I find that, in most cases, there is no strong evidence of proportionality between the number of plant variety and patented innovations. At the theoretical level, my dissertation challenges conventional wisdom on the motivations of private sector innovation. I begin by rioting that most innovations were made by the private sector under "harsh" conditions: patents for plants did not exist, plant innovations could be easily copied, and there was no way to rely on secrecy. This is taken to constitute evidence against the predictions of conventional theories on the economics of innovation. I then continue to explore whether predictions of "first mover" advantage models are compatible with the data. I do this at two levels. At the firm level I study the time paths of prices for newly introduced strawberry plant varieties. I constructed these time series from lists published by nursery and seeds men of the time. I find that new successful varieties start earning a premium, which slowly disappears over time. This is what the theory predicts. At the industry level, I study how the equilibrium number of firms in the industry is affected by upward shifts in demand. I find that, as demand increases, more breeders enter the market, and hence, more varieties are innovated. This is consistent with predictions of the theory. I conclude with a discussion on the implications of these new data and this new theoretical paradigm for two important policy instruments of twentieth century US agriculture: intellectual property rights and public sector innovation.

...More

Description Cited in Diss. Abstr. Int. A 68/06 (2007). Pub. no. AAT 3268971.


Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001561514/

Similar Citations

Book Hahn, Barbara; (2011)
Making Tobacco Bright: Creating an American Commodity, 1617--1937 (/isis/citation/CBB001220603/)

Book Joris Mercelis; (2020)
Beyond Bakelite: Leo Baekeland and the Business of Science and Invention (/isis/citation/CBB912550580/)

Chapter Kevles, Daniel J.; (2011)
New Blood, New Fruits: Protections for Breeders and Originators, 1789--1930 (/isis/citation/CBB001221559/)

Book Kingsbury, Noel; (2009)
Hybrid: The History and Science of Plant Breeding (/isis/citation/CBB001510343/)

Article Bonneuil, Christophe; (1999)
Penetrating the Natives: Peanut Breeding, Peasants and the Colonial State in Senegal (1900-1950) (/isis/citation/CBB000340241/)

Article Łuczaj, Łukasz; (2011)
Changes in Assumption Day Herbal Bouquets in Poland: A Nineteenth Century Study Revisited (/isis/citation/CBB001320675/)

Article Dangerfield, David W.; (2015)
Turning the Earth: Free Black Yeomanry in the Antebellum South Carolina Lowcountry (/isis/citation/CBB001422239/)

Article Tello, Enric; Garrabou, Ramon; Cussó, Xavier; Olarieta, José Ramón; Galán, Elena; (2012)
Fertilizing Methods and Nutrient Balance at the End of Traditional Organic Agriculture in the Mediterranean Bioregion: Catalonia (Spain) in the 1860s (/isis/citation/CBB001320673/)

Article Barbara Brandl; Leland L. Glenna; (July 2017)
Intellectual Property and Agricultural Science and Innovation in Germany and the United States (/isis/citation/CBB383496181/)

Article Garland E. Allen; (2017)
Mendelism and the Promise of A New Agriculture, 1900-1945 (/isis/citation/CBB500275953/)

Thesis Carlson, Laurie Winn; (2004)
William J. Spillman: Scientific Agriculture in the Progressive Era (/isis/citation/CBB001561750/)

Book Glover, Denise M.; Harrell, Stevan; McKhann, Charles F.; Swain, Margaret Byrne; (2011)
Explorers and Scientists in China's Borderlands, 1880--1950 (/isis/citation/CBB001214669/)

Authors & Contributors
Barbara Brandl
Swain, Margaret Byrne
Dangerfield, David W.
Łuczaj, Łukasz Jakub
Turner, R. Steven
Tello, Enric
Concepts
Agriculture
Botany
Plant cultivation
Economic botany; plant cultivation; horticulture
Intellectual property
Plant genetics
Time Periods
19th century
20th century, early
18th century
20th century, late
20th century
17th century
Places
United States
Europe
South Carolina (U.S.)
Belfast, Ireland
Michigan (U.S.)
Catalonia (Spain)
Institutions
Monsanto Corporation
United States. Dept. of Agriculture
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment