IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/inteco/v173y2023icp325-342.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Trade secret protection, multinational firms and international trade

Author

Listed:
  • Klein, Michael A.

Abstract

Multinational firms indicate that the threat of trade secret misappropriation by current and former employees remains a substantial impediment to conducting business in emerging markets. In this paper, I examine the economic implications of strengthening international standards in trade secret protection. I develop a general equilibrium model featuring heterogeneous firms that differ in the degree to which they must expose employees to trade secrets. To prevent employee misappropriation, firms offer incentive compatible wage premiums based on their individual exposure and the common level of legal protection. Entry selection into the international market generates an endogenous distribution of firm specific wages and positive unemployment in equilibrium. I find that stronger protection stimulates multinational investment and increases aggregate productivity. However, distributional effects leave many workers worse-off.

Suggested Citation

  • Klein, Michael A., 2023. "Trade secret protection, multinational firms and international trade," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 325-342.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:inteco:v:173:y:2023:i:c:p:325-342
    DOI: 10.1016/j.inteco.2023.01.007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2110701723000070
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.inteco.2023.01.007?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. Klein, Michael A., 2022. "Patents, trade secrets and international technology transfer," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    2. Alireza Naghavi & Julia Spies & Farid Toubal, 2015. "Intellectual property rights, product complexity and the organization of multinational firms," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 48(3), pages 881-902, August.
    3. Fosfuri, Andrea & Motta, Massimo & Ronde, Thomas, 2001. "Foreign direct investment and spillovers through workers' mobility," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 205-222, February.
    4. Amy Jocelyn Glass & Kamal Saggi, 2002. "Multinational Firms and Technology Transfer," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 104(4), pages 495-513, December.
    5. Marc J. Melitz, 2003. "The Impact of Trade on Intra-Industry Reallocations and Aggregate Industry Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(6), pages 1695-1725, November.
    6. Gregory Corcos & Massimo Del Gatto & Giordano Mion & Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano, 2012. "Productivity and Firm Selection: Quantifying the ‘New’ Gains from Trade," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 122(561), pages 754-798, June.
    7. Mercedes Delgado & Margaret Kyle & Anita M. McGahan, 2013. "Intellectual Property Protection and the Geography of Trade," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(3), pages 733-762, September.
    8. Hartmut Egger & Udo Kreickemeier, 2017. "Fairness, Trade, and Inequality," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: International Trade and Labor Markets Welfare, Inequality and Unemployment, chapter 12, pages 339-380, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    9. Olena Ivus & Walter G Park & Kamal Saggi, 2023. "Patent protection and the composition of multinational activity: Evidence from US multinational firms," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Kamal Saggi (ed.), Technology Transfer, Foreign Direct Investment, and the Protection of Intellectual Property in the Global Economy, chapter 14, pages 317-345, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    10. Dinopoulos, Elias & Segerstrom, Paul, 2010. "Intellectual property rights, multinational firms and economic growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(1), pages 13-27, May.
    11. Hartmut Egger & Udo Kreickemeier, 2017. "Why Foreign Ownership May be Good for You," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: International Trade and Labor Markets Welfare, Inequality and Unemployment, chapter 13, pages 381-421, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    12. Demidova, Svetlana & Rodríguez-Clare, Andrés, 2013. "The simple analytics of the Melitz model in a small economy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(2), pages 266-272.
    13. Lee Branstetter & Ray Fisman & C. Fritz Foley & Kamal Saggi, 2023. "Does intellectual property rights reform spur industrial development?," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Kamal Saggi (ed.), Technology Transfer, Foreign Direct Investment, and the Protection of Intellectual Property in the Global Economy, chapter 13, pages 307-316, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    14. Beata S. Javorcik, 2015. "Does FDI Bring Good Jobs to Host Countries?," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 30(1), pages 74-94.
    15. Chang-Tai Hsieh & Peter J. Klenow, 2009. "Misallocation and Manufacturing TFP in China and India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(4), pages 1403-1448.
    16. John M. Abowd & Francis Kramarz & David N. Margolis, 1999. "High Wage Workers and High Wage Firms," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 67(2), pages 251-334, March.
    17. Elhanan Helpman & Oleg Itskhoki & Stephen Redding, 2010. "Inequality and Unemployment in a Global Economy," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 78(4), pages 1239-1283, July.
    18. Maureen Lankhuizen & Henri L. F. de Groot & Gert‐Jan M. Linders, 2011. "The Trade‐Off between Foreign Direct Investments and Exports: The Role of Multiple Dimensions of Distance," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(8), pages 1395-1416, August.
    19. Elhanan Helpman & Marc J. Melitz & Stephen R. Yeaple, 2004. "Export Versus FDI with Heterogeneous Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(1), pages 300-316, March.
    20. Claudia Canals & Michael A. Klein & Fuat Şener, 2023. "Intellectual property‐related preferential trade agreements and US offshoring to developing countries," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1442-1475, September.
    21. Klein, Michael A., 2018. "Foreign direct investment and collective intellectual property protection in developing countries," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 389-412.
    22. Olena Ivus & Walter Park & Kamal Saggi, 2016. "Intellectual Property Protection And The Industrial Composition Of Multinational Activity," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 54(2), pages 1068-1085, April.
    23. Branstetter, Lee, 2006. "Is foreign direct investment a channel of knowledge spillovers? Evidence from Japan's FDI in the United States," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 325-344, March.
    24. Theresa M. Greaney & Yao Li, 2017. "Examining Determinants of Foreign Wage Premiums in China," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(10), pages 2056-2077, October.
    25. Lee Branstetter & Kamal Saggi, 2011. "Intellectual Property Rights, Foreign Direct Investment and Industrial Development," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 121(555), pages 1161-1191, September.
    26. Khadija Straaten & Niccolò Pisani & Ans Kolk, 2020. "Unraveling the MNE wage premium," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(9), pages 1355-1390, December.
    27. J·n Z·bojnÌk, 2002. "A Theory of Trade Secrets in Firms," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 43(3), pages 831-855, August.
    28. Davis, Donald R. & Harrigan, James, 2011. "Good jobs, bad jobs, and trade liberalization," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 26-36, May.
    29. Canals, Claudia & Şener, Fuat, 2014. "Offshoring and intellectual property rights reform," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 17-31.
    30. Keith E. Maskus, 2000. "Intellectual Property Rights in the Global Economy," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 99, April.
    31. Olena Ivus, 2011. "Trade‐related intellectual property rights: industry variation and technology diffusion," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(1), pages 201-226, February.
    32. Carliss Y. Baldwin & Joachim Henkel, 2015. "Modularity and intellectual property protection," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(11), pages 1637-1655, November.
    33. Hijzen, Alexander & Martins, Pedro S. & Schank, Thorsten & Upward, Richard, 2013. "Foreign-owned firms around the world: A comparative analysis of wages and employment at the micro-level," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 170-188.
    34. Dan Bernhardt & Vladimir Dvoracek, 2009. "Preservation Of Trade Secrets And Multinational Wage Premia," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 47(4), pages 726-738, October.
    35. Jennifer P. Poole, 2013. "Knowledge Transfers from Multinational to Domestic Firms: Evidence from Worker Mobility," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(2), pages 393-406, May.
    36. Ivus, Olena, 2010. "Do stronger patent rights raise high-tech exports to the developing world?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 38-47, May.
    37. Olena Ivus, 2015. "Does stronger patent protection increase export variety? Evidence from US product-level data," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 46(6), pages 724-731, August.
    38. Svetlana Demidova, 2008. "Productivity Improvements And Falling Trade Costs: Boon Or Bane?," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 49(4), pages 1437-1462, November.
    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. Klein, Michael A, 2020. "Trade Secret Protection in a Developing Economy," MPRA Paper 103360, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Biancini, Sara & Bombarda, Pamela, 2021. "Intellectual property rights, multinational firms and technology transfers," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 191-210.
    3. Hartmut Egger & Udo Kreickemeier, 2017. "Why Foreign Ownership May be Good for You," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: International Trade and Labor Markets Welfare, Inequality and Unemployment, chapter 13, pages 381-421, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    4. Claudia Canals & Michael A. Klein & Fuat Şener, 2023. "Intellectual property‐related preferential trade agreements and US offshoring to developing countries," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1442-1475, September.
    5. Lin, Jenny X. & Lincoln, William F., 2017. "Pirate's treasure," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 235-245.
    6. Elhanan Helpman & Oleg Itskhoki & Stephen Redding, 2010. "Inequality and Unemployment in a Global Economy," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 78(4), pages 1239-1283, July.
    7. Jenny X. Lin & William Lincoln, 2017. "Pirate’s Treasure," Working Papers 17-51, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    8. Klein, Michael A., 2022. "Patents, trade secrets and international technology transfer," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    9. Kamal Saggi, 2016. "Trade, Intellectual Property Rights, and the World Trade Organization," Vanderbilt University Department of Economics Working Papers 16-00014, Vanderbilt University Department of Economics.
    10. Haas, Levi & Schenk-Hoppé, Klaus R., 2019. "International Trade: Smarten up to talk the talk," MPRA Paper 99096, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Melitz, Marc J. & Redding, Stephen J., 2014. "Heterogeneous Firms and Trade," Handbook of International Economics, in: Gopinath, G. & Helpman, . & Rogoff, K. (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 1-54, Elsevier.
    12. Ivus, Olena & Park, Walter, 2019. "Patent reforms and exporter behaviour: Firm-level evidence from developing countries," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 129-147.
    13. David C Mare & Lynda Sanderson & Richard Fabling, 2014. "Earnings and Employment in Foreign-owned Firms," Treasury Working Paper Series 14/16, New Zealand Treasury.
    14. Olena Ivus & Walter Park & Kamal Saggi, 2015. "Patent Protection and the Industrial Composition of Multinational Activity: Evidence from U.S. Multinational Firms," Vanderbilt University Department of Economics Working Papers 15-00014, Vanderbilt University Department of Economics.
    15. Khadija Straaten & Niccolò Pisani & Ans Kolk, 2020. "Unraveling the MNE wage premium," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(9), pages 1355-1390, December.
    16. Becker, Dennis, 2014. "Heterogeneous Firms and Informality: The Effects of Trade Liberalization on Labor Markets," Working Papers 180124, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    17. Sourafel Girma & Holger Görg & Erasmus Kersting, 2019. "Which boats are lifted by a foreign tide? Direct and indirect wage effects of foreign ownership," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(6), pages 923-947, August.
    18. Araújo, Bruno César & Paz, Lourenço S., 2014. "The effects of exporting on wages: An evaluation using the 1999 Brazilian exchange rate devaluation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 1-16.
    19. Andrew B. Bernard & J. Bradford Jensen & Stephen J. Redding & Peter K. Schott, 2018. "Global Firms," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(2), pages 565-619, June.
    20. Fatten Gazzah & Jean Bonnet & Sana El Harbi, 2017. "Exploring the Relationship between Micro-Enterprises and Regional Development: Evidence from Tunisia," Post-Print halshs-01910346, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Trade secrets; Intellectual property rights; Multinational firms; Development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • 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:inteco:v:173:y:2023:i:c:p:325-342. 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.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/21107017 .

    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.