Technology Transfer and the Economic Implications of the Strengthening of Intellectual Property Rights in Developing Countries

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the influence of the strength of intellectual property rights(IPRs) on technology transfer to developing nations. The core contribution is to use regression analysis toexamine the relationship between various measures of technology transfer and a set of indexes thatquantify the strength of IPRs based on laws on the books, while controlling for other factors. For thispurpose, the authors have assembled a data set covering a broad international panel of countries for anexpanded time frame (1990-2005) in comparison with previous studies on IPRs by the Trade andAgriculture Directorate. Regression analysis is also used to assess the relationship between measures oflocal innovation and the IPR indexes. The study employs case study analysis of select countries - namelythe BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) - to complement the statistical analysis.