General purpose technologies (GPTs) provide fundamental breakthroughs that transform industries and provide a platform for increased productivity. While a large theoretical literature describes GPT characteristics there has been little empirical work that measures the attributes of GPTs. Our analysis focuses on patents associated with the Cohen--Boyer rDNA patents, a credible GPT candidate. We empirically test our predictions about technological complementarity, applicability and discontinuity against a control group of patents with similar origins. Our results suggest that the characteristics of GPTs may be discernable through the analysis of patent data.
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Feldman et al. (2011) studied this question.
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