
James Bessen
Lecturer
Executive Director, Technology & Policy Research Initiative
Director and Founder, Research on Innovation
AB, Harvard College
Biography
James Bessen, an economist and technologist, serves as Executive Director of the Technology & Policy Research Initiative at Boston University. He has also been a successful innovator and CEO of a software company.
Bessen studies the major economic impacts of technology on society (see New York Times profile), writing academic papers, magazine articles, and books. His latest book, The New Goliaths (Yale 2022), argues that major firms’ investments in proprietary software systems have allowed them to increase their dominance of industries, slowing aggregate innovation and raising income inequality. Earlier work with Michael Meurer on patents identified the social costs of poorly defined property rights (see Patent Failure, Princeton 2008), including the first evidence of damage from patent trolls. Bessen’s work on automation (see Learning by Doing, Yale 2015), both historical and current, provides a distinct analysis of effects on employment, skills, and wage inequality. Bessen’s work has been widely cited in the press as well as by the US White House and Supreme Court, the European Parliament, and the Federal Trade Commission.
- Profile Types
- Faculty, JD Program, Lecturers & Adjunct Professors, and Part-Time Faculty
- Areas of Interest
- Economics & Law and Intellectual Property
- Profiles
- James Bessen
Publications
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James Bessen, The New Goliaths: How Corporations Use Software to Dominate Industries, Kill Innovation, and Undermine Regulation (2022)
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James Bessen, Stephen Michael Impink, Lydia Reichensperger & Robert Seamans, The Role of Data for AI Startup Growth 51 Research Policy (2022)
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James Bessen, Maarten Goos, Anna Salomons & Wiljan van den Berge, Firm-Level Automation: Evidence from the Netherlands 110 AEA Papers and Proceedings (2020)
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James Bessen, Maarten Goos, Anna Salomons & Wiljan van den Berge, Automation: A Guide for Policymakers (2019)
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James Bessen, The Policy Challenge of Artificial Intelligence Boston University School of Law Law & Economics Paper Series (2018)
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James Bessen, Can Public Policy Influence Private Innovation? Emerging Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences (2015)
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James Bessen, Learning by Doing: The Real Connection between Innovation, Wages, and Wealth (2015)
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James Bessen, Toil and Technology: Innovative Technology is Displacing Workers to New Jobs Rather Than Replacing Them Entirely 52 Finance & Development (2015)
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James Bessen, The Anti-Innovators: How Special Interests Undermine Entrepreneurship 94 Foreign Affairs (2015)
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James Bessen, Industry and Revolution: Social and Economic Change in the Orizaba Valley, Mexico. By Aurora Gómez-Galvarriato. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 2013. Pp. 351. $49.95, hardcover. 74 The Journal of Economic History (2014)
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James Bessen & Michael J. Meurer, The Patent Litigation Explosion 45 Loyola University Chicago Law Journal (2013)
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James Bessen & Brian Love, Make the Patent “Polluters” Pay: Using Pigovian Fees to Curb Patent Abuse 4 California Law Review Circuit (2013)
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Michael J. Meurer & James Bessen, The Direct Costs from NPE Disputes No. 12-34 Boston University School of Law, Law and Economics Research Paper Series (2012)
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Michael J. Meurer, James Bessen & Jennifer Ford, The Private and Social Costs of Patent Trolls 34 Regulation (2012)
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James Bessen, Knowledge Sharing Among Inventors: Some Historical Perspectives (2011)
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James Bessen, A Generation of Software Patents (2011)
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Michael J. Meurer & James Bessen, Patent Failure: How Judges, Bureaucrats, and Lawyers Put Innovators at Risk (2009)
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Michael J. Meurer & James Bessen, Of Patents and Property 31 Regulation (2009)
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James Bessen & Michael J. Meurer, What's Wrong with the Patent System? Fuzzy Boundaries and the Patent Tax 12 First Monday (2007)
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James Bessen & Michael J. Meurer, Patent Litigation with Endogenous Disputes 96 American Economic Review (2006)
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Michael J. Meurer & James Bessen, Lessons for Patent Policy from Empirical Research on Patent Litigation 9 Lewis and Clark Law Review (2005)
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In the Media
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The New York Times February 14, 2023
Beyond Silicon Valley, Spending on Technology Is Resilient
James Bessen's research is referenced.
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Forbes February 9, 2023
Three Reasons the ILWU Should Embrace Port Automation in LA/Long Beach
James Bessen's research is referenced.
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OECD Forum January 24, 2023
Technology Is Not Failing—It Is Transforming the Economy
James Bessen authors an opinion.
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New York Times November 17, 2022
Help! I Was Banned from Lyft and No One Will Tell Me Why.
James Bessen is quoted.
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Hubert Guillaud November 7, 2022
Can We Regulate Superstar Capitalism?
James Bessen is quoted.
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Detik News October 27, 2022
The Fragile Thesis Jockey Business and Innovation System
James Bessen's book is featured.
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MSN News October 23, 2022
Have No Fear, AI Is Here — White-collar Workers Can Dispel Employment Angst, Study Suggests
James Bessen is quoted.
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BU Today October 17, 2022
School of Law Expert: Software Enables Innovation, Except When It Doesn’t
James Bessen is quoted and book is featured.
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New Books Network September 29, 2022
James Bessen, “The New Goliaths: How Corporations Use Software to Dominate Industries, Kill Innovation, and Undermine Regulation” (Yale UP, 2022)
James Bessen is featured.
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Economic Principal September 25, 2022
The Newsprint Goliaths
James Bessen is quoted.
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KPCW September 19, 2022
Mountain Money Talks with James Bessen, Author of The New Goliaths:
James Bessen is invited to speak on podcast.
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The Software Report
Proprietary Software Could Be to Blame for Slowed Innovation, Dominance of Big Companies
James Bessen is featured.
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Chicago Booth Review
Capitalisn’t: Does Software Actually Slow Innovation?
James Bessen is featured on podcast.
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IP Watchdog
‘Software Ownership Is Killing Innovation’—Controversial Author Calls for a Reboot
James Bessen provides insight.
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The New York Times July 23, 2022
How Software Is Stifling Competition and Slowing Innovation
James Bessen is quoted.
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Stories from The Record


BU Law Professors Plan to Study Impact of Biopharmaceutical Funder CARB-X
September 21, 2018
Intellectual Property Scholars Examine Competition Policy, History of Patents
August 10, 2018
Visiting Scholars Enrich BU Law’s Technology & Policy Research Initiative
May 4, 2018
BU Law Technology & Policy Research Initiative Hosts Intellectual Property Conference
August 29, 2017
BU Law School Research Initiative to Focus on Technology’s Impact on Society’s Well Being
June 14, 2017Courses
Transaction Simulation: Auction and Sale of a Private Company : LAW JD 773
Practice Area: Mergers & Acquisitions This course is one of the semester-long transaction simulations offered as part of the Transactional Law Program. The simulated transaction is the acquisition in a merger transaction of a privately-held company in the single-cup coffee brewing industry (the "Company") through an auction process. The course will cover the key stages and lawyering tasks in the transaction, including reviewing and commenting on a financial advisor engagement letter, reviewing and revising confidentiality agreements with potential bidders, reviewing a first-round bid procedures letter and evaluating initial indications of interest from bidders, and conducting due diligence. As the auction process proceeds, the class will be divided into teams representing a potential purchaser or the Company for various additional steps in the transaction, including negotiating and revising the Company's "auction draft" merger agreement, preparing disclosure schedules, drafting materials relating to obtaining board approval, and preparing closing documents in connection with the closing of the transaction. Students will perform the key analytical, drafting and other legal tasks required to effectively represent their respective clients during these stages of the transaction. The course also addresses certain ethical issues that may arise in transactions of this kind and in transactional practice generally. The course grade will be based on individual class participation, drafting assignments and contributions to team efforts. CLASS SIZE: Limited to 12 students. PREREQUISITE OR COREQUISITE: Contract Drafting. NOTES: This course counts toward the 6-credit Experiential Learning requirement and also satisfies the Transaction Simulation requirement of the Transactional Practice Concentration. GRADING NOTICE: This course does not offer the CR/NC/H option. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: A student who fails to attend the first class or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar will be administratively dropped from the course. Students who are on the wait list are required to attend the first class to be considered for enrollment. Because the course involves regular in-class exercises, some of which are done in teams, and class participation is a significant component of a student's final grade, regular class attendance is essential and thus the course cannot accommodate flexibility in attendance.
SPRG 2023: LAW JD 773 A1 , Jan 18th to Apr 26th 2023Days | Start | End | Credits | Instructors | Bldg | Room |
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Wed | 2:10 pm | 4:10 pm | 3 | Kent A. CoitCarter | LAW | 418 |