Date of Award
2017
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Graduate Group
Health Care Management & Economics
First Advisor
Matthew Grennan
Second Advisor
David Hsu
Abstract
This dissertation explores the costs and benefits of inducing innovation at the level of markets, individuals and knowledge. First, I examine the extent to which the National Institutes of Health can direct its resources and generate production in specific areas of science. I find that it can, and that science funded through these directed efforts is significantly more productive than average. Second, I identify how willing individual scientists are to adjust the trajectories of their research in exchange for additional resources - the elasticity of direction. Estimated magnitudes suggest that the directional adjustment costs of biomedical science are large enough to warrant policy attention. Finally, in joint work with Mark Pauly, we explore the growing costs of R\&D in the pharmaceutical industry in order to identify how much might be efficient cost growth in response to a larger market. Almost all of the growth in R\&D spending can be attributed to demand, with no evidence that marginal investments have become less productive over the past thirty years.
Recommended Citation
Myers, Kyle Roy, "Three Essays On The Costs Of Inducing Innovation" (2017). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 2493.
https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2493
Included in
Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons, Economics Commons, Health and Medical Administration Commons, Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods Commons