Bauer Business Focus

Legalized Marijuana and Innovation

Does it impact overall output?

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The U.S. has seen a growing trend in favor of marijuana legalization in the last three decades. Decision & Information Sciences Associate Professor Ricky Tan at the Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston discusses how that impacts other areas, such as innovation.

“One overlooked but very important perspective is that marijuana's increased use and related consequences can affect innovators' behavior and social environment during the innovation process, which in turn impacts regional innovation activities.”

“Our research has found that the quality of all patents deteriorates, leading to a negative impact on the overall innovation output.”

“The evidence suggests that legalizing medical marijuana has an adverse effect on regional innovation activity.”

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