Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation: New Evidence from Developed and Developing Countries

摘要

This paper follows the controversy regarding the effects of stronger intellectual property rights (IPR) on technological innovation under the North-South analytical framework. Using panel data from 27 developed countries and 57 developing countries, this study systemically examines the relationship between IPR and technological innovation after controlling for a potential endogenous problem. Our empirical results support the optimal IPR hypothesis. We find that the threshold effects of stronger IPR on innovation depended on the initial IPR level. Neither very strong IPR nor very weak IPR are conducive to innovation. Furthermore, the optimal level of IPR in developed countries is higher than that of developing countries; this difference implies that adoption of IPR standard of developed countries may be inefficient for developing countries.