Though I often disagree with Dean Baker, it’s important to give credit where credit is due:

A recent study of wealthy countries by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) found that the number of patents per capita was the most important factor determining the extent to which income was redistributed upward from those at the middle and bottom to those at the top over the last three decades.

(Via Matt Yglesias.)

If patent critics like Michele Boldrin and David Levine are right that patents aren’t essential to growth-enhancing innovation, we should think seriously about revisiting strong forms of patent protection.