The Impact of Software Piracy on Inclusive Human Development: Evidence from Africa

Asongu, Simplice and Andrés, Antonio R. (2015): The Impact of Software Piracy on Inclusive Human Development: Evidence from Africa.

Abstract

The study examines the effect of software piracy on inclusive human development in 11 African countries for which software piracy data is available for the period 2000-2010. The empirical evidence is based on instrumental variable panel Fixed Effects (FE) and Tobit models in order to control for the unobserved heterogeneity and limited range in the dependent variable. The modeling exercise is based on the inequality adjusted human development (IHDI) and its constituents. The following main findings are established. First, from the FE regressions, software piracy consistently improves the IHDI and its constituents. Within this framework, the positive relationship between inclusive human development and software piracy is driven by all its constituents. Second, for Tobit regressions, the positive relationship between software piracy and inclusive human development is confirmed exclusively in the IHDI and literacy specifications. Within the latter framework, the positive relationship between software piracy and inclusive human is driven fundamentally by the literacy rate. Policy implications are discussed.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Software piracy; Human development; Intellectual property rights; Panel data, Instrumental variables
• Subjects: K - Law and Economics > K4 - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior > K42 - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Innovation ; Research and Development ; Technological Change ; Intellectual Property Rights > O34 - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Innovation ; Research and Development ; Technological Change ; Intellectual Property Rights > O38 - Government Policy; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O4 - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity > O47 - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth ; Aggregate Productivity ; Cross-Country Output Convergence; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O5 - Economywide Country Studies > O57 - Comparative Studies of Countries

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