Iain Cockburn

Iain M. Cockburn is the Richard C. Shipley Professor in the Questrom School of Business at Boston University, where he teaches and performs research in the areas of business strategy, intellectual property, economics of innovation, and management of high tech companies. Professor Cockburn graduated from the University of London in 1984, and completed his PhD in economics at Harvard University in 1990. Prior to joining the faculty of Boston University, he was the VanDusen Professor of Business Administration in the Faculty of Commerce at the University of British Columbia. He is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Professor Cockburn is an authority on the economics of intellectual property. He has published numerous papers in leading academic journals in economics and management. Among his most highly cited articles are “Generics and New Goods in Pharmaceutical Price Indexes” in American Economic Review, “Scale, Scope, and Spillovers: Determinants of Research Productivity in the Pharmaceutical Industry” in RAND Journal of Economics, “Absorptive Capacity, Coauthoring Behavior, and the Organization of Research in Drug Discovery” in Journal of Industrial Economics, “Is the Pharmaceutical Industry in a Productivity Crisis” in Innovation Policy and the Economy, “The Market for Follow-on Biologics: How Will It Evolve?” in Health Affairs, “Finding the Endless Frontier: Lessons from the Life Sciences Innovation System for Technology Policy” in Capitalism and Society, “Patents and the Global Diffusion of New Drugs” in American Economic Review, and “Deals Not Done: Sources of Failure in the Market for Ideas” in Strategic Management Journal.

Professor Cockburn has been a consultant on business strategy to variety of life sciences and technology companies, and on public policy to government agencies in the US, the UK, and Canada. He has provided expert testimony in numerous litigation and arbitration matters on issues such as licensing and collaboration agreements, patent damages, antitrust, class certification, brand-generic competition, Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement, off-label marketing, transfer pricing, and misappropriation of trade secrets.

Education

• PhD, Harvard University, 1990
• MA, Harvard University, 1987
• BS, Queen Mary College University of London, 1984

Selected Publications

• Cockburn, I., Henderson, R., Stern, S. (2019). The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Innovation: An Exploratory Analysis. In Ajay, Agrawal., Joshua, Gans., Avi, Goldfarb. (Eds.), "The Economics of Artificial Intelligence: An Agenda", University of Chicago Press
• Cockburn, I., Lanjouw, J., Schankerman, M. (2016). "Patents and the Global Diffusion of New Drugs.", Am Econ Rev, 106 (1), 136-164
• Agrawal, A., Cockburn, I., Zhang, L. (2015). "Deals not done: Sources of failure in the market for ideas", Strategic Management Journal, 36 (7), 976-986
• Freedman, L., Cockburn, I., Simcoe, T. (2015). "The Economics of Reproducibility in Preclinical Research", PLoS Biology, 13 (6)
• Berndt, E., Cockburn, I. (2014). "Price Indexes for Clinical Trial Research: A Feasibility Study", Monthly Labor Review
• Agrawal, A., Cockburn, I., Galasso, A., Oettl, A. (2014). "Why are some regions more innovative than others? The role of small firms in the presence of large labs", Journal of Urban Economics, 81 149-165
• Mueller, E., Cockburn, I., MacGarvie, M. (2013). "Access to intellectual property for innovation: Evidence on problems and coping strategies from German firms", Research Policy, 42 (2), 529-541
• Kleis, L., Chwelos, P., Ramirez, R., Cockburn, I. (2012). "Information Technology and Intangible Output: The Impact of IT Investment on Innovation Productivity", Information Systems Research, 23 (1), 42-59
• Berndt, E., Blalock, N., Cockburn, I. (2011). "Diffusion of New Drugs in the Post-TRIPS Era", International Journal of the Economics of Business, 18 (2), 203-224
• Cockburn, I., MacGarvie, M. (2011). "Entry and Patenting in the Software Industry", Management Science, 57 (5), 915-933
• Bollyky, T., Cockburn, I., Berndt, E. (2010). "Bridging the gap: improving clinical development and the regulatory pathways for health products for neglected diseases", Clinical Trials, 7 (6), 719-734
• Cockburn, I., MacGarvie, M., Mueller, E. (2010). "Patent thickets, licensing and innovative performance", Industrial and Corporate Change, 19 (3), 899-925
• Wagner, S., Cockburn, I. (2010). "Patents and the survival of Internet-related IPOs", Research Policy, 39 (2), 214-228
• Cockburn, I., Stern, S. (2010). "Finding the Endless Frontier: Lessons from the Life Sciences Innovation System for Technology Policy", Capitalism and Society, 5 (1)
• Agrawal, A., Cockburn, I., Rosell, C. (2010). "Not Invented Here? Innovation in company towns", Journal of Urban Economics, 67 (1), 78-89
• Cockburn, I., Slaughter, M. (2010). "The Global Location of Biopharmaceutical Knowledge Activity: New Findings, New Questions", Innovation Policy and the Economy, 10 129-157
• Cockburn, I., MacGarvie, M. (2009). "Patents, Thickets and the Financing of Early-Stage Firms: Evidence from the Software Industry", Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 18 (3), 729-773
• Cockburn, I. (2009). "US/Canadian Licensing in 2007/2008: Survey Results", les Nouvelles: Journal of the Licensing Executives Society, XLIV (1)
• (2008). "Innovation in Global Industries", National Academies Press
• Chwelos, P., Berndt, E., Cockburn, I. (2008). "Faster, smaller, cheaper: an hedonic price analysis of PDAs", Applied Economics, 40 (22), 2839-2856
• Grabowski, H., Cockburn, I., Long, G. (2006). "The market for follow-on biologics: How will it evolve?", Health Affairs, 25 (5), 1291-1301
• Cockburn, I. (2006). "Is the pharmaceutical industry in a productivity crisis?", Innovation Policy and the Economy 7, 7 1-32
• Cockburn, I., Henderson, R., Stern, S. (2000). "Untangling the origins of competitive advantage", Strategic Management Journal, 21 (10-11), 1123-1145
• Berndt, E., Cockburn, I., Cocks, D., Epstein, A., Griliches, Z. (1998). "Prescription drug prices for the elderly", Monthly Labor Review, 121 (9), 23-34
• Henderson, R., Cockburn, I. (1994). "Measuring Competence: Exploring Firm Effects in Pharmaceutical Research", Strategic Management Journal, 15 63-84
• Griliches, Z., Cockburn, I. (1994). "Generics and New Goods in Pharmaceutical Price Indexes", American Economic Review, 84 (5), 1213-1232
• Cockburn, I., Griliches, Z. (1988). "Industry Effects and Appropriability Measures in the Stock Market's Valuation of R&D and Patents", American Economic Review, 78 (2), 419-423

Awards And Honors

• 2022, SSRN Top 10% of Authors by All-time Downloads, SSRN
• 2022, IDEAs Top 4% of Economists Worldwide, IDEAS/RePec
• 2021, SSRN Top 10% of Authors by All-time Downloads, SSRN
• 2021, IDEAs Top 4% of Economists Worldwide, IDEAS/RePec
• 2020, IDEAs Top 4% of Economists Worldwide
• 2020, SSRN Top 10% of Authors by All-time Downloads
• 2019, IDEAS top 4% of economists worldwide
• 2019, SSRN Top 10% of authors by all-time downloads
• 2018, John R. Russell Excellence in Teaching Award, BU Executive MBA Program
• 2016, Molly McCombe and T.J. Callahan Faculty Research Award, Questrom School of Business
• 2011, Richard C. Shipley Professor of Management
• 2010, Dan & Mary Lou Schendel Best Paper Prize 2010, Strategic Management Journal