China developed gunpowder, paper, the compass, water-driven spinning machines, and many other inventions long before their European counterparts. Yet they did not adopt cannons, industrialization, and many other applications until after the West did.

a. Suppose you are an inventor in ancient China and suddenly realize that the fire­works used for celebration could be enlarged into a functioning weapon. It would take time and money to develop, but you could easily sell the cutting-edge result to the government. If there is a strong patent system, would you put a big invest­ment into developing this technology? Why or why not?

b. Suppose there were no patent system, but you could still sell your inventions to the government. Compared with a world with a good patent law, would you be more inclined, less inclined, or about equally inclined to invest in technological development? Why?