This is a Career Advancement Award which will allow the investigator to study game theory. The retooling will increase the investigator's ability to perform research in a wide variety of fields and substantially increase the methodological tools in her specific area of expertise - international research and development. The project she hopes to work on will focus on the differences between the U.S. and European patent systems, their respective effects on when corporations file for patent protection and ultimately whether one system induces greater research and development expenditures in the private system as well as higher social welfare. The major difference between the U.S. and European systems is the rule upon which a firm is awarded a patent when more than one firm is applying. The U.S. patent law awards the patent to the firm that can prove it conceived of the idea first, whereas in Europe and most of the work, the patent is awarded to the firm that applies for a patent first, independent of who conceived of the idea first.
