Do patent rights matter? 40 years of innovation, complexity and productivity

被引:97
作者
Sweet, Cassandra [1 ]
Eterovic, Dalibor [2 ,3 ]
机构
[1] Bard Coll, 30 Campus Rd, Annandale on Hudson, NY 12504 USA
[2] Columbia Business Sch, Finance Div, 3022 Broadway, New York, NY USA
[3] Rohatyn Grp, New York, NY USA
关键词
Productivity; Innovation; Development; Patents; Intellectual property rights; Economic complexity; INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY-RIGHTS; RESEARCH-AND-DEVELOPMENT; PANEL-DATA; ABSORPTIVE-CAPACITY; ECONOMIC-GROWTH; EMPIRICAL-EVIDENCE; PROTECTION; COUNTRIES; KNOWLEDGE; IMPACT;
D O I
10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.10.009
中图分类号
F0 [经济学]; F1 [世界各国经济概况、经济史、经济地理]; C [社会科学总论];
学科分类号
0201 ; 020105 ; 03 ; 0303 ;
摘要
Does the rigorous protection of patents advance or retard economic development? Two decades ago, a new global standard of intellectual property swept across developing and industrialized nations through the implementation of the WTO's TRIPS Agreement. Many years later, the issue of patent rights remains contentious. In this paper, we focus on the effects of patent rights systems on total factor productivity growth, using dynamic panel regression analysis for 70 countries from 1965 to 2009. We show that the effects of stronger or more rigorous patent systems are insignificant for productivity growth in both developing and industrialized countries. Why does the strength of patents appear to have no impact on productivity? Classic economic theory suggests that stronger patent systems incentive innovative output with important spill-over effects for productivity and growth. We offer an alternative explanation using data from the Economic Complexity Index. We find that while patents rights are increasingly irrelevant to productivity, the relationship between economic complexity and productivity is highly positive and significant. Our results are consistent with the contributions of the absorptive capacity theory in that they suggest it is not the discovery and ownership of novel products and processes at the innovative frontier that induces productive growth, but the ability to adapt, replicate and diffuse along the international productive chain. (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
引用
收藏
页码:78 / 93
页数:16
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