IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/42466.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Harmonizing IPRs on Software Piracy: Empirics of Trajectories in Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Simplice A, Asongu

Abstract

In the current efforts of harmonizing the standards and enforcement of IPRs protection worldwide, this paper explores software piracy trajectories and dynamics in Africa. Using a battery of estimation techniques that ignore as well as integrate short-run disturbances in time-dynamic fashion, we answer the big questions policy makers are most likely to ask before harmonizing IPRs regimes in the battle against software piracy. Three main findings are established. (1) African countries with low software piracy rates are catching-up their counterparts with higher rates; implying despite existing divergent IPRs systems, convergence in piracy rate could be a genuine standard-setting platform. (2) Legal origins do not play a very significant role in the convergence process. (3) A genuine timeframe for standardizing IPRs laws in the fight against piracy is most likely between a horizon of 4 to 8 years. In other words, full (100%) convergence within the specified horizon will mean the enforcements of IPRs regimes without distinction of nationality and locality.

Suggested Citation

  • Simplice A, Asongu, 2012. "Harmonizing IPRs on Software Piracy: Empirics of Trajectories in Africa," MPRA Paper 42466, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:42466
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/42466/1/MPRA_paper_42466.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gould, David M. & Gruben, William C., 1996. "The role of intellectual property rights in economic growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 323-350, March.
    2. Guglielmo Maria Caporale & Burcu Erdogan & Vladimir Kuzin, 2009. "Testing for Convergence in Stock Markets: A Non-linear Factor Approach," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 932, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    3. Robert J. Barro, 2013. "Inflation and Economic Growth," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 14(1), pages 121-144, May.
    4. Narayan, Paresh Kumar & Mishra, Sagarika & Narayan, Seema, 2011. "Do market capitalization and stocks traded converge? New global evidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(10), pages 2771-2781, October.
    5. Robert M. Solow, 1956. "A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 70(1), pages 65-94.
    6. Maskus, Keith E. & Penubarti, Mohan, 1995. "How trade-related are intellectual property rights?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3-4), pages 227-248, November.
    7. Robert J. Barro, 1991. "Economic Growth in a Cross Section of Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 407-443.
    8. Linsu Kim, 2004. "The multifaceted evolution of Korean technological capabilities and its implications for contemporary policy," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(3), pages 341-363.
    9. T. W. Swan, 1956. "ECONOMIC GROWTH and CAPITAL ACCUMULATION," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 32(2), pages 334-361, November.
    10. Nelson, Richard R & Pack, Howard, 1999. "The Asian Miracle and Modern Growth Theory," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 109(457), pages 416-436, July.
    11. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December.
    12. Bruno, Giuseppe & De Bonis, Riccardo & Silvestrini, Andrea, 2012. "Do financial systems converge? New evidence from financial assets in OECD countries," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 141-155.
    13. Stephen Bond & Anke Hoeffler, 2001. "GMM Estimation of Empirical Growth Models," Economics Series Working Papers 2001-W21, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    14. Simplice A. Asongu, 2014. "African financial development dynamics: big time convergence," African Journal of Economic and Management Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 5(2), pages 160-194, July.
    15. Rajeev Goel & Michael Nelson, 2009. "Determinants of software piracy: economics, institutions, and technology," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 34(6), pages 637-658, December.
    16. Rod Falvey & Neil Foster & David Greenaway, 2006. "Intellectual Property Rights and Economic Growth," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(4), pages 700-719, November.
    17. van Kranenburg, H.L. & Hogenbirk, A.E., 2003. "Determinants of multimedia, entertainment, and business software copyright piracy: a cross-national study," Research Memorandum 020, Maastricht University, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization (METEOR).
    18. Dyuti Banerjee & Ahmed Khalid & Jan-Egbert Sturm, 2005. "Socio-economic development and software piracy. An empirical assessment," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(18), pages 2091-2097.
    19. Simplice A. Asongu, 2013. "African Stock Market Performance Dynamics: A Multidimensional Convergence Assessment," Journal of African Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(3), pages 186-201, December.
    20. Fung, Michael K., 2009. "Financial development and economic growth: Convergence or divergence?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 56-67, February.
    21. Baumol, William J, 1986. "Productivity Growth, Convergence, and Welfare: What the Long-run Data Show," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(5), pages 1072-1085, December.
    22. N. Gregory Mankiw & David Romer & David N. Weil, 1992. "A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(2), pages 407-437.
    23. Apergis, Nicholas & Christou, Christina & Miller, Stephen M., 2014. "Country and industry convergence of equity markets: International evidence from club convergence and clustering," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 36-58.
    24. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    25. Walter G. Park & Juan Carlos Ginarte, 1997. "Intellectual Property Rights And Economic Growth," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 15(3), pages 51-61, July.
    26. Stephen Bond & Anke Hoeffler & Jonathan Temple, 2001. "GMM Estimation of Empirical Growth Models," Economics Papers 2001-W21, Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford.
    27. Giuseppe Bruno & Riccardo De Bonis, 2009. "Do financial systems converge? New evidence from household financial assets in selected OECD countries," IFC Bulletins chapters, in: Bank for International Settlements (ed.), Proceedings of the IFC Conference on "Measuring financial innovation and its impact", Basel, 26-27 August 2008, volume 31, pages 383-401, Bank for International Settlements.
    28. North, Douglass C, 1994. "Economic Performance through Time," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(3), pages 359-368, June.
    29. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    30. Ginarte, Juan C. & Park, Walter G., 1997. "Determinants of patent rights: A cross-national study," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 283-301, October.
    31. Vendrik, M.C.M. & Hirata, J., 2003. "Experienced versus decision utility of income: relative or absolute happiness," Research Memorandum 039, Maastricht University, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization (METEOR).
    32. Peitz, Martin & Waelbroeck, Patrick, 2006. "Piracy of digital products: A critical review of the theoretical literature," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 449-476, November.
    33. Bezmen, Trisha L. & Depken II, Craig A., 2006. "Influences on software piracy: Evidence from the various United States," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 90(3), pages 356-361, March.
    34. Marron, Donald B & Steel, David G, 2000. "Which Countries Protect Intellectual Property? The Case of Software Piracy," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 38(2), pages 159-174, April.
    35. Lee, Jeong-Yeon & Mansfield, Edwin, 1996. "Intellectual Property Protection and U.S. Foreign Direct Investment," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(2), pages 181-186, May.
    36. Andrés, Antonio R. & Goel, Rajeev K., 2012. "Does software piracy affect economic growth? Evidence across countries," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 284-295.
    37. Mauro Costantini & Claudio Lupi, 2005. "Stochastic convergence among European economies," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 3(38), pages 1-17.
    38. C. A. Depken & L. C. Simmons, 2004. "Social construct and the propensity for software piracy," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 97-100.
    39. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    40. Yang, Guifang & Maskus, Keith E., 2001. "Intellectual property rights, licensing, and innovation in an endogenous product-cycle model," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 169-187, February.
    41. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:3:y:2005:i:38:p:1-17 is not listed on IDEAS
    42. Miller, Stephen M. & Upadhyay, Mukti P., 2002. "Total factor productivity and the convergence hypothesis," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 267-286, June.
    43. Nazrul Islam, 1995. "Growth Empirics: A Panel Data Approach," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(4), pages 1127-1170.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Asongu Simplice & Andrés Antonio, 2014. "Global trajectories, dynamics, and tendencies of business software piracy: benchmarking IPRs harmonization," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 14/011, African Governance and Development Institute..
    2. Simplice Asongu & Christelle Meniago, 2018. "Technology and persistence in global software piracy," Netnomics, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 43-63, October.
    3. Simplice A, Asongu, 2012. "Fighting software piracy: which IPRs laws (treaties) matter in Africa?," MPRA Paper 43590, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Simplice A. Asongu, 2014. "Fighting Software Piracy: Which IPRs Laws Matter in Africa?," Institutions and Economies (formerly known as International Journal of Institutions and Economies), Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya, vol. 6(2), pages 1-26, July.
    5. Asongu, Simplice & Andrés, Antonio R., 2015. "Trajectories in Knowledge Economy: Empirics from SSA and MENA countries," MPRA Paper 71786, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu, 2016. "Revolution empirics: predicting the Arab Spring," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 439-482, September.
    7. Simplice A. Asongu, 2017. "Knowledge Economy Gaps, Policy Syndromes, and Catch-Up Strategies: Fresh South Korean Lessons to Africa," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 8(1), pages 211-253, March.
    8. Simplice Asongu, 2014. "African Development: Beyond Income Convergence," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 82(3), pages 334-353, September.
    9. Simplice A. Asongu, 2013. "African Stock Market Performance Dynamics: A Multidimensional Convergence Assessment," Journal of African Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(3), pages 186-201, December.
    10. Simplice A. Asongu, 2014. "Fighting African Capital Flight: Empirics on Benchmarking Policy Harmonization," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 11(1), pages 93-122, June.
    11. Asongu Simplice, 2014. "Fresh Patterns of Liberalization, Bank Return and Return Uncertainty in Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 14/004, African Governance and Development Institute..
    12. Simplice A. Asongu, 2017. "The Comparative Economics of Knowledge Economy in Africa: Policy Benchmarks, Syndromes, and Implications," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 8(2), pages 596-637, June.
    13. Asongu, Simplice A. & Tchamyou, Vanessa S. & Minkoua N., Jules R. & Asongu, Ndemaze & Tchamyou, Nina P., 2018. "Fighting terrorism in Africa: Benchmarking policy harmonization," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 492(C), pages 1931-1957.
    14. Asongu, Simplice A. & Andrés, Antonio R., 2020. "Trajectories of knowledge economy in SSA and MENA countries," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    15. Simplice Asongu & Jacinta Nwachukwu, 2018. "Fighting Terrorism: Empirics on Policy Harmonisation," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 19(3), pages 237-259, August.
    16. Simplice A. Asongu, 2014. "African financial development dynamics: big time convergence," African Journal of Economic and Management Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 5(2), pages 160-194, July.
    17. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu, 2016. "A Brief Future of Time in the Monopoly of Scientific Knowledge," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 58(4), pages 638-671, December.
    18. Simplice A. Asongu, 2014. "Software Piracy and Scientific Publications: Knowledge Economy Evidence from Africa," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 26(4), pages 572-583, December.
    19. Simplice A. Asongu & Antonio R. Andrés, 2017. "The impact of software piracy on inclusive human development: evidence from Africa," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(5), pages 585-607, September.
    20. Simplice Asongu, 2014. "Software piracy, inequality and the poor: evidence from Africa," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 41(4), pages 526-553, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Software piracy; Intellectual property rights; Panel data; Convergence;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F42 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - International Policy Coordination and Transmission
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy
    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital
    • O57 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:42466. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.