Half full or half empty?

Mark J.Perry cites US patent data and marvels how creative Americans are: "5% of the world's population have received more than 22% of the world's patents."

I look at the growing gap between patent applications filed and patents granted and wonder how much inefficiency is built into the system. Especially, if we take into account that only a very small fraction of patents is useful. We ought to use better methods to invent.

tags: problem, efficiency, process, method, economics, technology