Cozzi, GuidoGuidoCozzi2023-04-132023-04-132001-03-01https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/7286210.1023/A:1009898011453An engineer graduates if she derives the obvious implications of her instructor's hints. But the patent system rewards only the first to present nonobvious advancements--ideas similarly skilled engineers are not expected to invent. If a fraction of the newly invented hints spill over before the technological advances they entail are completed and granted legal protection, the R&D workers will find it convenient to spend some time searching for each other's hints instead of creating their own. A simple modification of the basic Schumpeterian model shows that the larger the skilled population, the larger the relative incentive to spy.enjournal article