# James Bessen

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American economist

James Bessen Born 1950 (age 75–76) Occupations Executive Director of the Technology & Policy Research Initiative, Lecturer Employer Boston University School of Law

**James Bessen** (born 1950) is an economist who has been a lecturer at [Boston University School of Law](/source/Boston_University_School_of_Law) since 2004.[1] He is presently best known for his data-led research concerning software and innovation.[2] He has also demonstrated the diverse impacts of automation on employment and wages.[3] In more recent work, he has established links between investment in software and [market dominance](/source/Market_dominance) in a number of sectors.[4] Before entering academia professionally, Bessen was previously a software developer and CEO of Bestinfo, a software company.[5] Bessen was also a Fellow at the [Berkman Center for Internet and Society](/source/Berkman_Center_for_Internet_and_Society).[6]

Bessen in 2010

Bessen researches the economics of innovation, including patents and economic history. He has written about [software patents](/source/Software_patent_debate) with [Eric Maskin](/source/Eric_Maskin), arguing that they might inhibit [innovation](/source/Innovation) rather than stimulate progress.[7] With Michael J. Meurer, he wrote *Patent Failure: How Judges, Bureaucrats, and Lawyers Put Innovators at Risk*[8] as well as papers on [patent trolls](/source/Patent_trolls).[9] His book *Learning by Doing: The Real Connection Between Innovation, Wages, and Wealth*[10] argues that major new technologies require new skills and knowledge that are slow and difficult to develop, affecting jobs and wages.

Bessen developed the first [WYSIWYG](/source/WYSIWYG) [desktop publishing](/source/Desktop_publishing) program at a community newspaper in [Philadelphia](/source/Philadelphia) in 1983.[11] He established and ran a company, Bestinfo, to sell that program commercially. In 1993, Bestinfo was sold to [Intergraph](/source/Intergraph).[12]

He graduated from [Harvard University](/source/Harvard_University) in 1972.[13]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["James Bessen | School of Law"](https://www.bu.edu/law/faculty/profiles/bios/part-time/bessen.shtml). *www.bu.edu*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["publication record"](https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2P-eWUUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao). *Google Scholar*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Bessen, James (December 2019). ["Automation and jobs: when technology boosts employment"](https://academic.oup.com/economicpolicy/article-abstract/34/100/589/5709812). *Economic Policy*. **34** (100): 589–626. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1093/epolic/eiaa001](https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fepolic%2Feiaa001).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Bessen, James (2022). [*The New Goliaths How Corporations Use Software to Dominate Industries, Kill Innovation, and Undermine Regulation*](https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.12987/9780300265026/html). Yale University Press. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.12987/9780300265026](https://doi.org/10.12987%2F9780300265026). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-300-26502-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-300-26502-6).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Admin (April 2, 2015). ["Barriers to innovations crush U.S. entrepreneurship"](http://asiatimes.com/2015/04/barriers-to-innovations-crush-us-entrepreneurship/). *Asia Times*. Retrieved October 17, 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** "Bestinfo: WYSIWYG on an IBM PC," Seybold Report on Publishing Systems, 14(4) pp. 15-23.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** [Sequential Innovation, Patents, and Imitation](http://www.researchoninnovation.org/patent.pdf), by James Bessen and Eric Maskin, Discussion paper, MIT (2000), published in *[The RAND Journal of Economics](/source/The_RAND_Journal_of_Economics)*, Volume 40, Issue 4, pages 611–635, Winter 2009

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** [Princeton University Press (2008)](https://press.princeton.edu/titles/8634.html)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["The Direct Costs from NPE Disputes," Cornell Law Review, v. 99 (2014)](https://ssrn.com/abstract=2091210) ["The Private and Social Costs of Patent Trolls," Regulation, 34(4), Winter 2011-12](https://ssrn.com/abstract=1982139)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** [Yale University Press (2015)](https://yalepress.yale.edu/book.asp?isbn=9780300195668)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** "What You See Is Pretty Close to What You Get: New h&j, pagination program for IBM PC," Seybold Report on Publishing Systems, 13(10), February 13, 1984, pp. 21-2.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** ["Test Story"](http://scripting.com/seybold/stories/970206.html). *scripting.com*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** ["James Bessen | School of Law"](https://www.bu.edu/law/profile/james-bessen/). *www.bu.edu*.

## External links

- ["Official website"](http://www.researchoninnovation.org/). *Research on Innovation*.

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