Note: This is post #85 in a weekly video series on basic economics.

The last entry in this series considered how institutions can incentivize the creation of new ideas. Because of this connection, the Founding Fatherswrote a protection mechanism for new ideas into the U.S. Constitution in the form of patents.

But arepatents the only (or even best) way to reward good ideas?

In this video by Marginal Revolution University,Alex Tabarrok examinestwo more incentive options: prizes, and subsidies.

(If you find the pace of the videos too slow, I’d mend watching them at 1.5 to 2 times the speed. You can adjust the speed at which the video plays by clicking on “Settings” (the gear symbol) and changing “Speed” from normal to 1.25, 1.5 or 2.)

Clickhereto see other videos in the Introduction to Economics series.