520 research outputs found
Intellectual Property Rights, Parallel Imports and Strategic Behavior
No full textThe existence of parallel imports (PI) raises a number of interesting policy and strategic questions, which are the subject of this survey article. For example, parallel trade is essentially arbitrage within policy-integrated markets of IPR-protected goods, which may have different prices across countries. Thus, we analyze fully two types of price differences that give rise to such arbitrage. First is simple retail-level trade in horizontal markets because consumer prices may differ. Second is the deeper, and more strategic, issue of vertical pricing within the common distribution organization of an original manufacturer selling its goods through wholesale distributors in different markets. This vertical price control problem presents the IPR-holding firm a menu of strategic choices regarding how to compete with PI. Another strategic question is how the existence of PI might affect incentives of IPR holders to invest in research and development (R&D). The global research-based pharmaceutical firms, for example, strongly oppose any relaxation of restrictions against PI of drugs into the United States, arguing that the potential reduction in profits would diminish their ability to innovate. There is a close linkage here with price controls for medicines, which are a key component of national health policies but can give rise to arbitrage through PI. We also discuss the complex economic relationships between PI and other forms of competition policy, or attempts to limit the abuse of market power offered by patents and copyrights. Finally, we review the emerging literature on how policies governing PI may affect international trade agreements.IPR; Parallel Imports; International Arbitrage; Research and Development
Intellectual Property and Development : Lessons from Recent Economic Research
No full textHow will developing countries fare in
this new international environment? This book brings
together empirical research that assesses the effects of
changing intellectual property regimes on various measures
of economic and social performance-ranging from
international trade, foreign investment and competition to
innovation and access to new technologies. The studies
presented point to an important development dimension to the
protection of intellectual property. But a one-size fits all
approach to intellectual property is unlikely to work. There
is need to adjust intellectual property norms to domestic
needs, taking into account developing countries'
capacity to innovate, technological needs, and institutional
capabilities. In addition, governments need to consider a
range of complementary policies to maximize the benefits and
reduce the costs of reformed intellectual property regulations
General-Equilibrium Approaches to the Multinational Firm: A Review of Theory and Evidence
No full textBeginning in the early 1980s, theoretical analyses have incorporated the multinational firm into the microeconomic, general-equilibrium theory of international trade. Recent advances indicate how vertical and horizontal multinationals arise endogenously as determined by country characteristics, including relative size and relative endowment differences, and trade and investment costs. Results also characterize the relationship between foreign affiliate production and international trade in goods and services. In this paper, we survey some of this recent work, and note the testable predictions generated in the theory. In the second part of the paper, we examine empirical results that relate foreign affiliate production to country characteristics and trade/investment cost factors. We also review findings from analyses of the pattern of substitutability or complementarity between trade and foreign production.
Intellectual Property Rights in the Global Economy
No full textOver the past 15 years, intellectual property rights (IPRs)-patents, copyrights, and trademarks-have moved from an arcane area of legal analysis and a policy backwater to the forefront of global economic policymaking. In the 1990s dozens of countries unilaterally strengthened their laws and regulations in this area, and many others are poised to do likewise. At the multilateral level, the successful conclusion of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) in the World Trade Organization elevates the protection and enforcement of IPRs to the level of solemn international commitment. The new global IPR system comes with both benefits and costs. Stronger IPRs protection should increase incentives for innovation and raise returns to international technology transfer. However, it also could raise the costs of acquiring new technology and products, shifting the global terms of trade in favor of technology producers and against technology consumers. In this context, the new regime raises international economic policy questions that evoke impassioned and exaggerated claims from both advocates and opponents of IPRs, particularly concerning sensitive issues such as patent protection of pharmaceuticals and biotechnological inventions, and copyright protection for internet transactions. In the first comprehensive economic assessment of the effects of stronger international IPRs, Keith E. Maskus examines these competing claims through an analysis of the economic effects of extended international protection and partial harmonization of IPRs. He presents findings on the potential effects of stronger global IPRs, including likely impacts on foreign direct investment, technology transfer, and pricing under enhanced market power. The results bear directly on several important policy questions, including the construction of complementary initiatives on market liberalization and competition rules, and Maskus discusses whether priority attention should be devoted to them in the upcoming next round of global trade talks.
Intellectual property, growth and trade
No full textIntroduction / Keith E. Maskus -- Patents and the market for technology / Ashish Arora, Andrea Fosfuri, Alfonso Gambardella -- Networks, standards and intellectual property rights / Johannes Moenius, Vitor Trindade -- The law and economics of international intellectual property : a primer / Jonathan Putnam -- Knowledge creation and diffusion of public science with intellectual property rights / Jerry Thursby, Marie Thursby -- Intellectual property rights and competition policy / Mattias Ganslandt -- Intellectual property rights, parallel imports and strategic behavior / Mattias Ganslandt, Keith E. Maskus -- Intellectual property rights and international innovation / Walter G. Park -- Intellectual property rights and international technology transfer via trade and foreign direct investment / Kamal Saggi -- The theory of international policy coordination in the protection of ideas / Edwin L.-C. Lai -- The theory of dispute resolution with application to intellectual property rights / Mostafa Beshkar, Eric W. Bond -- Patents and access to essential medicines / Sumner La Croix, Ming Liu -- The scientific origins of the green and gene revolutions / Robert E. Evenson -- Incorporating a globalized intellectual property rights regime into an economic development strategy / Keith E. Maskus -- Patents and information diffusion / Jonathan Eaton, Samuel KortumIn recent years intellectual property rights (IPR) took on major significance as an element of global trade regulation. The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) at the World Trade Organization (WTO) obliges member countries to protect patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets. This mandate has great impact in developing nations, which had generally weaker IPR standards prior to TRIPS and subsequent agreements. This emerging international regime for protecting IPR raises thorny questions about how the new rules of the game might affect fundamental economic processes, including innovation, trade and economic development.The governments of many developing countries see the new regime as excessively protectionist and an impediment to their development prospects. They perceive potential problems with abusive monopoly practices, high costs for new medicines, and limited access to scientific and educational materials.Indeed, it is ironic that during a time of significant global liberalization of trade and investment barriers, the IPR system may be raising restrictions on access to the very technology flows that could substantiate the gains from greater trading opportunities.However, expansion of the global IPR regime also bears potential for economic gains. It is possible that the new system will encourage additional investments in R&D and innovation. The ongoing internationalization of commercial R&D could be accelerated. Such investments might increasingly meet the medical, agricultural, and educational needs of people in poor countries. The regime could also improve the mechanisms under which new information goods are transferred across borders, expanding the possibilities for fruitful diffusion of technologies.The implications of these reforms will be far-reaching, complex and hard to predict
The cost of compliance with product standards for firms in developing countries: an econometric study
No full textStandards and technical regulations exist to protect consumer safety or to achieve other goals, such as ensuring the interoperability of telecommunications systems, for example. Standards and technical regulations can, however, raise substantially both start-up and production costs for firms. Maskus, Otsuki, and Wilson develop econometric models to provide the first estimates of the incremental production costs for firms in developing nations in conforming to standards imposed by major importing countries. They use firm-level data generated from 16 developing countries in the World Bank Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Survey Database. Their findings indicate that standards do increase short-run production costs by requiring additional inputs of labor and capital. A 1 percent increase in investment to meet compliance costs in importing countries raises variable production costs by between 0.06 and 0.13 percent, a statistically significant increase. The authors also find that the fixed costs of compliance are nontrivial-approximately $425,000 per firm, or about 4.7 percent of value added on average. The results may be interpreted as one indication of the extent to which standards and technical regulations might constitute barriers to trade. While the relative impact on costs of compliance is relatively small, these costs can be decisive factors driving export success for companies. In this context, there is scope for considering that the costs associated with more limited exports to countries with import regulations may not conform to World Trade Organization rules encouraging harmonization of regulations to international standards, for example. Policy solutions then might be sought by identifying the extent to which subsidies or public support programs are needed to offset the cost disadvantage that arises from nonharmonized technical regulations.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Health Economics&Finance,Administrative&Regulatory Law,Science Education
Intellectual Property Rights and Development
No full textEdited by Mario Cimoli, Giovanni Dosi, Keith E. Maskus, Ruth L. Okediji, Jerome H. Reichman, and Joseph E. Stiglitz:
+ Offers a comprehensive discussion of the role of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and their relation with innovative activities from a historical perspective
+ In-depth analysis of the current IPR regime and its impact on catching up countries
+ Proposes effective alternatives to the current IPR system heavily biased toward patents and copyright
Development-Related Biases in Factor Productivities and the HOV Model of Trade
No full textPast empirical failures of the basic Heckscher-Ohlin-Vanek (HOV) model related to the inability of data to meet its restrictive assumptions, particularly identical international technologies and factor price equalization. Trefler (1993) tried to resuscitate HOV by introducing a simple Hicks-neutral (HN) factor-productivity adjustment, an approach that was heavily criticized. In this paper, we re-examine the productivity question by estimating factor-specific productivities from the individual technology data of multiple countries. Using a dataset of 29 countries, both developed and developing, we find evidence of factor-augmenting technological differences. In particular, the factor-productivity adjustment works well for developed members of the OECD. Further, we find that the ratios of factor productivities are strongly correlated with corresponding factor endowments. This systematic bias implies that the ability of HOV to explain North-South factor trade depends both on relative factor abundance and factor-augmenting productivity gaps.Heckscher-Ohlin-Vanek, factor trade, productivity
Estimating the Knowledge-Capital Model of the Multinational Enterprise: Comment
No full textA recent American Economic Review article by David L. Carr, James R. Markusen, and Keith E. Maskus (CMM) estimates a regression specification based upon the 'knowledge-capital' model of the Multinational Enterprise (MNE). The knowledge-capital model combines 'horizontal' motivations for FDI -- the desire to place production close to customers and thereby avoid trade costs -- with 'vertical' motivations -- the desire to carry out unskilled-labor intensive production activities in locations with relatively abundant unskilled labor. The CMM estimates pool inward and outward U.S. affiliate sales data from 1986 through 1994 and appear to support the knowledge-capital model of the MNE. We show that CMM's empirical framework mis-specifies the terms measuring differences in skilled-labor abundance, key variables that identify vertical MNE motivations. After correcting this specification error estimates no longer reject the horizontal model in favor of the knowledge-capital model. Instead, the data strongly support the predictions of the horizontal model of MNEs: affiliate activity between countries decreases as absolute differences in skill-labor abundance widen. Qualitatively identical results are also found using data that include a wider variety of parent and host countries, including data for the OECD.
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