Economic Policy Research Center

Regulation Policy

Intellectual Property, and Competition

Given the strengths of the economics department and the region, the EPRC is committed to applied research in regulation policy.  The Center is sponsoring an  Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) seminar series to provide in-depth theoretical founded policy research. 

The Northwest has been a source of unparalleled innovation in the software, internet and communication area. It has been recognized as a major ICT hub, and its future fortunes are intrinsically tied to the performance of these sectors of the economy.  While the industry has always produced extraordinary technological breakthroughs, it now faces many economic and legal challenges such as the role of antitrust and competition policy, scarcities in skilled labor supply, as well as the design of appropriate intellectual property rights.  All these factors are detrimental to the development of key sectors of the Pacific Northwest through their impact on economic growth.

The Center sponsors conferences on the issues of intellectual property rights, and antitrust - always in conjunction in conjunction with the UW Law school.  EPRC invites world leading economists in the area, such as Joshua Lerner, Harvard Business School, Suzanne Scotchmer, UC Berkeley, Michael Whinston, Northwestern University, and Richard Gilbert, UC Berkeley to introduce key issues related to the optimal design and implementation of new IP legislation.  Economists are always paired with eminent legal IP scholars, such as Polk Wagner U. Penn Law, and Scott Kieff, Washington University School of Law and David Heiner, Microsoft to juxtapose legal and economic approaches.  Each conference concludes with a round table panel discussion that involves the audience, focusing issues that generate unique interest in the region.

For an additional conference that EPRC helped organize, see the conference on Standardization—the key for opening or closing doors on cooperation

Faculty Contact Theo Eicher, Director and Professor, Department of Economics Fahad Khalil, Professor, Department of Economics Jacques Lawarree, Professor, Department of Economics Current Projects Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Seminar Series Intellectual Property Rights And Innovation. (Conference) Antitrust in the New Economy. (Conference)

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