Will a Collectivistic Culture protect your Intellectual Property? Effect of Individualism on Intellectual Property Protection

摘要

This study is intended to explore the effect of individualism on intellectual property rights protection. Using data from 92 countries, we found out that individualism index has positive and significant effect on IPR protection. More specifically, a 10-point increase in individualism index is associated with 0.4-point increase in IPR index. Moreover, individualism alone seems to explain nearly 45% of cross-national variation in IPR index. The mentioned significant effect remains robust even after considering the role of economic development, democracy, ethnic diversity, economic freedom and legal heritage.