In their recent book, Against Intellectual Monopoly, Michele Boldrin and David Levine conclude that patents and copyrights are not necessary to provide protection for either innovation or creative expression and should be eliminated. The authors note the many flaws of the U.S. system of intellectual property protection and argue that other means are available to appropriate the benefits of invention and creative expression. While the authors overlook important functions of intellectual property, they provide support for further reforms of intellectual property law. (JEL K11, O31, O34)

Journal Article Optimal Depletion of an Uncertain Stock Get access Richard J. Gilbert Richard J. Gilbert University of California Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Review of Economic Studies, Volume 46, Issue 1, January 1979, Pages 47–57, https://doi.org/10.2307/2297171 Published: 01 January 1979 Article history Received: 01 July 1976 Accepted: 01 May 1977 Published: 01 January 1979

The paper examines the question of whether land rents should be considered costs. The motivation for this paper arose from a study of a search model of resource exploration. The study showed that when no new information is revealed in the process of search, exploration can be completely characterized by a reservation cost rule. If probability distributions are known and firms are risk-neutral, the sequence of extraction would be efficient. The area with the lowest reservation cost would be and should be exploited first. It is implied that, for the purpose of resource allocations, unexplored land can be considered a commodity with essentially the same characteristics as known deposits. The author then examines a specific example which shows that, when the characteristics of nonreplenishable resources can be screened, it may not be desirable to screen all resources at the same intensity. He also examines the allocation of screening effort in a decentralized economy with complete futures markets. A final note concerns the general intuitive explanation of the differentiated screening equilibrium. (MCW)