IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/iepoli/v65y2023ics0167624523000501.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The least developed countries' transitional exemption in the TRIPS agreement and the strength of intellectual property protection

Author

Listed:
  • Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm

Abstract

Has the transitional exemption granted to the least developed countries (LDCs) Members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the WTO's Trade-Related Intellectual Property (TRIPS) Agreement helped LDCs reduce the strength of their Intellectual Property Protection (IPR)? The present study addresses this question by using 24 LDCs (treatment group) and two control groups, over the period from 1970 to 2015. The empirical analysis has established that the LDC transitional exemption was instrumental in reducing the IPR levels in LDCs, and LDCs that had lower IPR levels (i.e., those located in the lower quantiles) enjoyed larger reductions in IPR levels, thanks to this transitional exemption. Moreover, the effect of the LDC transitional exemption on LDCs' IPR levels depended on LDCs' duration of the membership in the WTO, as well as on their level of export variety-driven innovation, measured by their level of export product concentration or alternatively their degree of economic complexity.

Suggested Citation

  • Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2023. "The least developed countries' transitional exemption in the TRIPS agreement and the strength of intellectual property protection," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:iepoli:v:65:y:2023:i:c:s0167624523000501
    DOI: 10.1016/j.infoecopol.2023.101065
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167624523000501
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.infoecopol.2023.101065?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christian Henn & Chris Papageorgiou & Jose Manuel Romero & Nikola Spatafora, 2020. "Export Quality in Advanced and Developing Economies: Evidence from a New Data Set," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 68(2), pages 421-451, June.
    2. Olivier Cadot & Céline Carrère & Vanessa Strauss-Kahn, 2011. "Export Diversification: What's behind the Hump?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(2), pages 590-605, May.
    3. Jakob B. Madsen & Md. Rabiul Islam & James B. Ang, 2010. "Catching up to the technology frontier: the dichotomy between innovation and imitation," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 43(4), pages 1389-1411, November.
    4. Cesar A. Hidalgo & Ricardo Hausmann, 2009. "The Building Blocks of Economic Complexity," Papers 0909.3890, arXiv.org.
    5. Dutt, Pushan, 2020. "The WTO is not passé," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    6. Cirera, Xavier & Marin, Anabel & Markwald, Ricardo, 2015. "Explaining export diversification through firm innovation decisions: The case of Brazil," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(10), pages 1962-1973.
    7. Kim, Yee Kyoung & Lee, Keun & Park, Walter G. & Choo, Kineung, 2012. "Appropriate intellectual property protection and economic growth in countries at different levels of development," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 358-375.
    8. Auriol, Emmanuelle & Biancini, Sara & Paillacar, Rodrigo, 2023. "Intellectual property rights protection and trade: An empirical analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    9. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2023. "Has the Least developed countries' TRIPS Waiver Delivered on its Promise of Creating a Viable Technological Base?," EconStor Preprints 275666, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    10. Sweet, Cassandra Mehlig & Eterovic Maggio, Dalibor Sacha, 2015. "Do Stronger Intellectual Property Rights Increase Innovation?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 665-677.
    11. Antony Taubman, 2022. "Solidarity As A Practical Craft: Cohesion And Cooperation In Leveraging Access To Medical Technologies Within And Beyond The Trips Agreement," Asia-Pacific Sustainable Development Journal, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), vol. 29(2), pages 19-45, November.
    12. Kanwar, Sunil & Evenson, Robert, 2009. "On the strength of intellectual property protection that nations provide," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 50-56, September.
    13. Mercedes Campi & Alessandro Nuvolari, 2021. "Intellectual Property Rights and Agricultural Development: Evidence from a Worldwide Index of IPRs in Agriculture (1961-2018)," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(4), pages 650-668, April.
    14. Chen, Yongmin & Puttitanun, Thitima, 2005. "Intellectual property rights and innovation in developing countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 474-493, December.
    15. James J. Heckman & Jeffrey Smith & Nancy Clements, 1997. "Making The Most Out Of Programme Evaluations and Social Experiments: Accounting For Heterogeneity in Programme Impacts," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 64(4), pages 487-535.
    16. Machado, José A.F. & Santos Silva, J.M.C., 2019. "Quantiles via moments," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 213(1), pages 145-173.
    17. Stephan Klasen & Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso & Felicitas Nowak-Lehmann & Matthias Bruckner, 2021. "Does the designation of least developed country status promote exports?," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(2), pages 157-177, February.
    18. Wei-Chih Chen, 2013. "The Extensive and Intensive Margins of Exports: The Role of Innovation," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5), pages 607-635, May.
    19. Rahman Mustafizur & Wirtz Veronika J. & Kaplan Warren A. & Thrasher Rachel Denae & Gallagher Kevin P., 2021. "Policy Space for Building Production Capabilities in the Pharmaceuticals Sector in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Evidence from Bangladesh," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 12(2), pages 221-261, December.
    20. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson, 2002. "Reversal of Fortune: Geography and Institutions in the Making of the Modern World Income Distribution," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(4), pages 1231-1294.
    21. Ivan A. Canay, 2011. "A simple approach to quantile regression for panel data," Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 14(3), pages 368-386, October.
    22. Koenker, Roger, 2004. "Quantile regression for longitudinal data," Journal of Multivariate Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 74-89, October.
    23. 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.
    24. Jeffrey James, 2006. "An Institutional Critique of Recent Attempts to Measure Technological Capabilities across Countries," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(3), pages 743-766, September.
    25. John C. Driscoll & Aart C. Kraay, 1998. "Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimation With Spatially Dependent Panel Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(4), pages 549-560, November.
    26. Josh Lerner, 2009. "The Empirical Impact of Intellectual Property Rights on Innovation: Puzzles and Clues," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(2), pages 343-348, May.
    27. Josh Lerner, 2002. "Patent Protection and Innovation Over 150 Years," NBER Working Papers 8977, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    28. Jushan Bai & Sung Hoon Choi & Yuan Liao, 2021. "Feasible generalized least squares for panel data with cross-sectional and serial correlations," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 309-326, January.
    29. Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg & Nina Pavcnik, 2007. "Distributional Effects of Globalization in Developing Countries," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 45(1), pages 39-82, March.
    30. Schneider, Patricia Higino, 2005. "International trade, economic growth and intellectual property rights: A panel data study of developed and developing countries," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 529-547, December.
    31. Mansfield, Edward D. & Reinhardt, Eric, 2003. "Multilateral Determinants of Regionalism: The Effects of GATT/WTO on the Formation of Preferential Trading Arrangements," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 57(4), pages 829-862, October.
    32. Keith E. Maskus, 1997. "Implications of regional and Multilateral Agreements for Intellectual Property Rights," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(5), pages 681-694, August.
    33. Josh Lerner, 2002. "150 Years of Patent Protection," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(2), pages 221-225, May.
    34. Hidalgo, César A., 2023. "The policy implications of economic complexity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(9).
    35. Anders Fredriksson & Gustavo Magalhães de Oliveira, 2019. "Impact evaluation using Difference-in-Differences," RAUSP Management Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 54(4), pages 519-532, September.
    36. Barro, Robert J. & Lee, Jong Wha, 2013. "A new data set of educational attainment in the world, 1950–2010," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 184-198.
    37. Allred, Brent B. & Park, Walter G., 2007. "The influence of patent protection on firm innovation investment in manufacturing industries," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 91-109, June.
    38. J.M. Finger & Philip Schuler, 2002. "Implementation of Uruguay Round Commitments: The Development Challenge," Chapters, in: Institutions and Trade Policy, chapter 17, pages 258-272, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    39. 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.
    40. Katharina Wick & Erwin Bulte, 2006. "Contesting resources – rent seeking, conflict and the natural resource curse," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 457-476, September.
    41. Rafael Di Tella & Alberto Ades, 1999. "Rents, Competition, and Corruption," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(4), pages 982-993, September.
    42. Keith E. Maskus, 2015. "Intellectual property in a globalizing world: issues for economic research," Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting & Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(3), pages 231-250, September.
    43. Parteka, Aleksandra, 2020. "What drives cross-country differences in export variety? A bilateral panel approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 48-56.
    44. Cook, Thomas R. & Liu, Amy H., 2016. "Using Linguistic Networks to Explain Strength of Intellectual Property Rights," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 128-138.
    45. Alberto Abadie, 2005. "Semiparametric Difference-in-Differences Estimators," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 72(1), pages 1-19.
    46. Chu, Angus C. & Cozzi, Guido & Galli, Silvia, 2014. "Stage-dependent intellectual property rights," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 239-249.
    47. Briggs, Kristie, 2013. "Does patent harmonization impact the decision and volume of high technology trade?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 35-51.
    48. James, M.J., 2006. "An institutional critique of recent attempts to measure technological capabilities across countries," Other publications TiSEM 05175942-7ecf-410c-9e17-b, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    49. Gmeiner, Robert & Gmeiner, Michael, 2021. "Encouraging domestic innovation by protecting foreign intellectual property," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    50. Ricardo Mora & Iliana Reggio, 2015. "didq: A command for treatment-effect estimation under alternative assumptions," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 15(3), pages 796-808, September.
    51. Park, Walter G., 2008. "International patent protection: 1960-2005," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 761-766, May.
    52. Greenhalgh, Christine, 1990. "Innovation and Trade Performance in the United Kingdom," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 100(400), pages 105-118, Supplemen.
    53. Jandhyala, Srividya, 2015. "International and domestic dynamics of intellectual property protection," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 284-293.
    54. Maurya, Garima & Sahu, Sohini, 2022. "Cross-country variations in economic complexity: The role of individualism," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    55. Archibugi, Daniele & Filippetti, Andrea, 2010. "The globalisation of intellectual property rights: four learned lessons and four theses," MPRA Paper 21930, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    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. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2023. "The Least developed countries' TRIPS Waiver and the Strength of Intellectual Property Protection," EconStor Preprints 271537, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    2. Auriol, Emmanuelle & Biancini, Sara & Paillacar, Rodrigo, 2023. "Intellectual property rights protection and trade: An empirical analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    3. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2024. "Effects of intellectual property rights protection on services export diversification in developing countries," KDI Journal of Economic Policy, Korea Development Institute (KDI), vol. 46(1), pages 53-89.
    4. Hudson, John & Minea, Alexandru, 2013. "Innovation, Intellectual Property Rights, and Economic Development: A Unified Empirical Investigation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 66-78.
    5. Neves, Pedro Cunha & Afonso, Oscar & Silva, Diana & Sochirca, Elena, 2021. "The link between intellectual property rights, innovation, and growth: A meta-analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 196-209.
    6. Yang, Wei & Wang, Xueke, 2024. "The impact of patent protection on technological innovation: A global value chain division of labor perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    7. Abdin, Joynal & Sharma, Abhijit & Trivedi, Rohit & Wang, Chengang, 2024. "Financing constraints, intellectual property rights protection and incremental innovation: Evidence from transition economy firms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    8. Sharma, Abhijit & Sousa, Cristina & Woodward, Richard, 2022. "Determinants of innovation outcomes: The role of institutional quality," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    9. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2023. "Has the Least developed countries' TRIPS Waiver Delivered on its Promise of Creating a Viable Technological Base?," EconStor Preprints 275666, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    10. Chen, Wantao & Yu, Xiang & Yang, Wei, 2024. "Is worldwide patent protection converging? A cross-country index of patent protection strength 1990–2020," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    11. Sweet, Cassandra & Eterovic, Dalibor, 2019. "Do patent rights matter? 40 years of innovation, complexity and productivity," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 78-93.
    12. Hu, Xiaotian & Yin, Xiaopeng, 2022. "Do stronger intellectual property rights protections raise productivity within the context of trade liberalization? Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    13. Arza, Valeria & López, Andrés & Montes-Rojas, Gabriel & Pascuini, Paulo, 2023. "In the name of TRIPS: The impact of IPR harmonisation on patent activity in Latin America," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(6).
    14. Sèna Kimm Gnangnon, 2024. "The quality of Aid for Trade flows and economic complexity," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 705-747, October.
    15. Su, Zhongfeng & Wang, Chenfeng & Peng, Mike W., 2022. "Intellectual property rights protection and total factor productivity," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(3).
    16. Anja, Breitwieser & Neil, Foster, 2012. "Intellectual property rights, innovation and technology transfer: a survey," MPRA Paper 36094, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Pamela J. Smith & Sebastian J. Anti, 2022. "How does TRIPs compliance affect the economic growth of developing countries? Application of the Synthetic Control method," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(12), pages 3873-3906, December.
    18. Ha Thi-Thu Le & Trang Thi-Dai Luong & Trang Thi Thu Nguyen & Duy Van Nguyen, 2023. "Determinants of Intellectual Property Rights Protection in Asian Developing Countries," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 14(4), pages 4780-4806, December.
    19. Demir, Caner, 2016. "Do Technology Transfer and IPR Spur Domestic Innovation?: An International Panel Data Analysis," MPRA Paper 76693, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2023. "Effect of the duration of membership in the GATT/WTO on economic growth volatility," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 448-467.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Least developed countries; LDC transitional exemption; World trade organization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital

    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:eee:iepoli:v:65:y:2023:i:c:s0167624523000501. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505549 .

    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.