Intellectual Property Rights, Globalization and Growth

Abstract

This paper presents a model that combines the key features of a Schumpeterian growth model without scale effects and a North-South model of trade. All open economies converge to parallel growth paths because of costly technological transfer. The effects of intellectual property rights (IPR) regimes and trade policies on the growth rate is studied, as well as on a given country's economic performance. The requirement that trade be balanced neutralizes all potential effects of the tariff policy on the world's growth rate, and on the performance of a single country. By contrast, an improvement of a given country's IPR regime is growth neutral, but improves a country's position in the world's productivity rank. These findings are illustrated by simple empirical tests.