When an Importer's Protection of IPR Interacts with an Exporter's level of Technology: Comparing the Impacts on the Exports of the North and South

Shin, Wpnkyu and Lee, Keun and Park, Walter (2015): When an Importer's Protection of IPR Interacts with an Exporter's level of Technology: Comparing the Impacts on the Exports of the North and South. Published in: World Economy , Vol. 39, No. 6 (2016): pp. 772-802.

Abstract

Using bilateral trade data of countries from 2000 to 2007, this paper contributes to the empirical literature on the role of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in global trade. The existing literature has focused on how IPRs in the destination country affect exports from a source country. In this paper, we add an additional dimension: the level of technology of the exporting country (LT). This is quite important for distinguishing the impact of IPRs on the exports of developed and developing countries, since the technology levels vary across countries at different stages of development and intellectual property rights better protect exports that are technologically advanced than exports that are imitative and potentially infringing. By factoring in the level of technology (LT), our empirical analysis makes the case that IPRs can act as barrier to exports from the South, especially the rapidly catching-up economies, and thus as one source for the middle-income trap phenomenon.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Bilateral Trade; WTO; TRIPs; Intellectual Property Rights; Innovation; Middle Income Trap
• Subjects: F - International Economics > F1 - Trade; F - International Economics > F1 - Trade > F14 - Empirical Studies of Trade; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O14 - Industrialization ; Manufacturing and Service Industries ; Choice of Technology; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Innovation ; Research and Development ; Technological Change ; Intellectual Property Rights > O34 - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital

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