Bharat Bhole

Commercial Development of University Research: The Role of Patents

Abstract This paper analyzes how university patents encourage university-firm collaboration for technology transfer. Focusing on factors other than competition, I find that the two may not collaborate either because the firm finds in-house development cheaper, or because of a disagreement about the potential products profitability. In both cases, university patents can encourage collaboration by increasing the inventions diffusion time, and therefore play a role even in the absence of any competition. The model also suggests instances in which we can expect to see a greater impact of university patents on collaboration. Even when patents increase collaboration, they do not necessarily increase welfare. The findings are relevant for the debates on the Bayh-Dole Act, which gave universities a blanket right to patent and license inventions resulting from federally funded research.

The effectiveness of online reviews in the presence of self-selection bias

Abstract Online reviews suffer from self-selection biases. One of these is under-reporting bias: those who have an extreme experience, either positive or negative, are more likely to review a product than those who have a moderate experience, and consequently are overrepresented in the sample of reviews. In this paper we study whether under-reporting bias decreases the effectiveness of the mean star-rating as a criterion for choosing between competing products of different but unobservable qualities. We formulate a model of consumer choice and the decision to review, and simulate this model in a variety of scenarios. We find that if under-reporting bias decreases the effectiveness of the mean star-rating, this is usually only for products that are of either extremely poor or extremely good quality. Even in these cases, the effectiveness is reduced only when the extent of bias is extreme and the variance in quality is low. Otherwise, the presence of under-reporting bias generally does not decrease, and in fact, often enhances the effectiveness of the mean star-rating as a measure of relative quality.

A Multidisciplinary Predictive Model for Managing Critical Infrastructure Disruptions

When communities are subjected to disruptive events, their response structure is composed of two interconnected systems: (i) a formal professional system that includes emergency services and auxiliary services professionals; and (ii) an ad hoc system formed by community members when the professional response is delayed or is inadequate. The community system typically persists until the professional system is able to take over completely. As the role of the community as responder is not well understood, community systems are often underutilized or even discouraged; this reduces the overall response efficacy. Improved understanding of the interplay between these systems could help ensure an effective overall response to disruptions.