Intellectual property rights,FDI, and technological development

This paper presents two simultaneous trade-offs faced by a developing country in protecting intellectual property rights (IPRs), namely (1) between attracting foreign direct investment and deterring international technology spillovers, and (2) between encouraging domestic innovation and suppressing technology diffusion. The optimal level of IPR protection depends on the technological capability of the host country. In less developed countries, IPRs should be just strong enough to induce FDI since international technology spillovers are the dominant source of technological development. A stronger level of IPR protection is instead recommended for more advanced emerging economies as a tool to exploit the potential of their domestic innovators. The results cast doubt on the adequacy of globally harmonized IPR standards that do not consider the level of development.     

The characteristics of intellectual property rights regimes: How formal and informal institutions affect outward FDI location

This study examines the institutional arrangements that define the characteristics of national legal systems that are used to protect intellectual property (IP) assets embedded in outward FDI. The focus of the study is on how the institutional underpinnings of IPR regimes affect the costs and risk of using legal arenas to enable effective use of IP assets. Following a property rights approach it is postulated that formal and informal institutional arrangements influence how IP regimes affect the transaction costs and risk associated with converting ownership rights over IP into economic rights. Informal institutions are considered to affect the behaviour of agents involved in enforcing legal rights. This behaviour influences how IP law is implemented in legal arenas and thereby impacts on the efficacy of IPR regimes to help secure economic rights from the use of IP assets. Using data on outward FDI from the USA to 42 host countries the results find that the strength of informal institutions connected to the enforcement of IP in a country directly affects outcomes and positively moderates the effect of formal legal aspects of IP law on FDI flows. The results highlight the importance of informal institutional aspects connected to the behaviour of enforcement agents when using national legal systems to protect IP rights in cross-frontier transactions.     

Trade and the enforcement of environmental property rights

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between trade and the regulation of what are otherwise open-access resources when enforcement of property rights is costly. When enforcement costs are significant, environmental property rights are only adopted and enforced when the potential resource rents exceed the regulatory cost. Since trade affects the magnitude of these rents, trade can affect the willingness to regulate. One of the most striking consequences of the presence of an enforcement cost is that the decision to liberalize trade, even at autarkic prices, can result in a switch in the regulatory regime and potentially reduce economic welfare.     

Intrinsic limitations of property rights

Many people take for granted an absolute conception of property rights. According to this conception, if I own a piece of property I have a moral right to do with it as I please, irrespective of the needs of others.This paper articulates an argument against this conception of property rights. First, it shows that there are many possible conceptions of property rights, and that there are significant differences among the models of ownership which have prevailed in different societies. Then, it argues that there are decisive grounds to refuse to grant that property owners have a moral right to exercise absolute control over their property, and that ownership implies not only rights but also duties and limits.J. M. Elegido is Head of the Department of Business Ethics in the Lagos Business School. He has a doctorate in Law and has published numerous articles on social and legal philosophy and on legal issues in professional and academic journals. He has just published a book on Jurisprudence.     

Intellectual property rights and trade expansion

With the passing of the North American Free Trade Agreement, it is expected that there will be increasing interest in expanding this association throughout the Western hemisphere. One of the major obstacles to this expansion, however, is the relative lack of protection for patents, copyrights, and trademarks in some of the Caribbean and Latin American countries. By means of a survey of the Executive Directors of the American Chambers of Commerce in these countries, the study attempts to determine whether the countries would be willing to provide reasonable protection for intellectual property rights in return for acceptance into the enlarged free trade area. The response of the Executive Directors indicates that there is a reasonable probability that many of these countries would indeed strengthen their intellectual property protection for this trade opportunity.     

Older Americans' knowledge of consumer rights and legal protection

Consumer knowledge and legal protection were measured in a telephone survey of a stratified random national sample of 1,305 older adults in the United States. The sample was divided into five age groups: 25–49, 50–64, 65–74, 75–84 and 85 and older. Respondents were aksed eight questions dealing with knowledge of consumer rights and protection. Consumer knowledge was poor and was not gender specific. As the age of the respondents increased, their knowledge score decreased. Those who were married or who were previously married scored higher than other groups.     

De-internationalization through the lens of intellectual property rights

Many studies have focused on internationalization, with few shedding light on de-internationalization. In this article, we contended that de-internationalization is common in a world of matured globalization, yet it remains underexplored. We sought to build on the seminal articles on de-internationalization by extending our understanding of the concept from a voluntary to an involuntary perspective. In particular, we used intellectual property rights as an institutional coercive dimension and set theory as a discerning mechanism to enrich our understanding of de-internationalization. Our article, which demonstrates the multi-faceted conditions of de-internationalization, should benefit formal institutions and policy makers in developing a greater understanding of the relationship between public policies and focal firms' decisions to de-internationalize. We also hope that our article will contribute to greater visibility of de-internationalization and make the concept more approachable to our international business audience.     

Intellectual property rights and foreign direct investment

This paper develops a product cycle model with endogenous innovation, imitation, and foreign direct investment (FDI). We use this model to determine how stronger intellectual property rights (IPR) protection in the South affects innovation, imitation and FDI. We find that stronger IPR protection keeps multinationals safer from imitation, but no more so than Northern firms. Instead, the increased difficulty of imitation generates resource wasting and imitation disincentive effects that reduce both FDI and innovation. The greater resources absorbed in imitation crowd out FDI. Reduced FDI then transmits resource scarcity in the South back to the North and consequently contracts innovation.     

Transitory real‐time property rights and exchange intellectual property

American exchanges own the price quotations they generate. Access to real‐time price information is highly valued by most market participants. This enables exchanges to exact royalties from the sale of such market information. In this sense, an exchange's ownership of its price quotations is akin to owning a property right in a perishable commodity (i.e., fresh market price quotations) that is most valuable for only a transitory or limited period of time. The implications of exchange ownership of price data extend beyond financial markets. Recently, Woodard (2000) has noted that some internet auction operators have asserted ownership over the prices they generate. This study reviews the legal origin and nature of the property right to price quotations generated on U.S. futures exchanges and assesses whether exchange ownership should be transitory. The legal basis for transitory real‐time (real and personal) property rights is discussed and the economic implications are considered. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 23:891–913, 2003     

如何保护工艺品出口知识产权

近年来,我国外贸遭遇了一次又一次的知识产权争端。进出口企业在遇到知识产权纠纷时,普遍认为这是国际市场通过滥用知识产权保护规则,构筑起新的贸易壁垒。然而从自身角度看,     

论产权交易的证券化

20世纪80年代中期以来,我国产权交易迅速发展,在推动国有企业改革的过程中发挥了重要作用.然而,目前我国大量的产权交易仍表现为实物型交易,从而使得产权交易的许多功能难以发挥.由此,本文提出了产权交易证券化的问题,这对于深化国有企业改革、促进现代企业制度的建立以及优化社会资源配置,意义十分重要.     

Intellectual property rights,imitation, and development. The effect on cross-border mergers and acquisitions

In this paper, we analyze whether the recent global process of strengthening and harmonization of intellectual property rights (IPRs) affects decisions of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As). We investigate if IPRs have a differential effect across sectors of different technology content and for countries of different development level. Also, we study how imitation abilities of target countries interact with the tightening of IPRs. Using data for the post-TRIPS period (1995–2010), we estimate an extended gravity model to study the bilateral number of M&As, including a measure of the strength of IPRs systems on target countries and a set of control variables usually considered as determinants of M&As. The estimation results verify the gravity structure for M&As and show that IPRs –and enforcement– influence decisions of cross-border M&As in all sectors regardless of their technological content. However, IPRs are more important in countries with high imitation abilities and in sectors of high-technology content. Furthermore, a strengthening of IPRs leads to a larger increase of M&As in developing countries than in developed countries. These results call the attention on the possible implications for least developed economies and challenge the adequacy of a globally harmonized IPRs systems.     

Intellectual property rights protection and total factor productivity

This study examines the role of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection in total factor productivity (TFP) in countries developed at different levels. By undertaking two tests using data of 1,696 observations across 95 countries during 2001–2018 and data of 906 observations covering 87 countries in the 1965–2015 period, we find that the linkage of IPR protection to TFP is negative in least-developed countries while inverted U-shaped in developing and developed countries. In addition, developed countries have the strongest IPR protection and least-developed countries offer the weakest protection, and the optimal IPR protection level for TFP in developed countries is greater than that in developing countries. This study enriches our knowledge of both antecedents of TFP and implications of IPR protection. It provides empirical support for the institution-based view of IPR history and extends the view to the context of developed countries. This study also informs policymakers the proper level of IPR protection if the goal is to promote TFP.     

试论非正式制度与乡村法律秩序的建构

自文明时代以来,人类秩序,既因国家正式制度而成,亦藉民间非正式制度而就.乡村法律秩序的建构是一个整体化的进程,单一方向的法制变革如果缺乏相应的非正式制度的配合,将会提高制度的运行成本和监督成本,要充分发挥非正式制度的凝聚、保护、规范以及评价作用,实现非正式制度与正式制度的耦合,从而实现乡村法律秩序建构这一制度目标.     

产权和契约理论研究评述

产权的界定是契约的基本内容,契约效率体现为对产权的界定是否合理。经典的产权理论和契约理论对组织的形态和交易的边界进行了解释。产权之所以重要,在于它能给人们提供一个稳定的可预期的经济收益,剩余索取权成为其研究的出发点和归宿。契约理论研究产权,是从实际控制权出发,因为不管实际控制权来源于什么,它的配置结构会影响事后契约双方在争取剩余索取权上的谈判能力,特别是在契约不完备、第三方无法实施的条件下,它成为决定契约能否低成本实施的制度保障,从而特别强调事后治理机制的重要性。     

对我国中外金融机构合作情况的考察

中外金融机构合作是中国加入WTO之后金融领域出现的一个令人瞩目的现象,它标志着中国金融业的开放正在全方位展开.合作是各经济主体以利益相容为前提、以实力为基础进行的优势互补的经济活动,中外金融机构合作中存在许多值得研究的理论和实际问题.本文是在对上海、广东两地一些中外金融机构进行实地调研的基础上形成的,旨在对中外金融机构合作中存在的政策边界、合作目标、合作对象、合作范围、合作博弈等问题进行探讨.     

Entrepreneurship,economic development and institutions

This paper is an introduction to the special issue from the 3rd Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Research Conference held in Washington, D.C., in 2008. The paper has three objectives. First, to discuss the importance of the three stages of economic development, the factor-driven stage, the efficiency-driven stage and the innovation-driven stage. Second, to examine the empirical evidence on the relationship between stages of economic development and entrepreneurship. Third, to present a summary of the papers in the context of the theory.

Special drawing rights and development aid

The introduction of the Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) has not fulfilled the wishes of the LDCs. Whereas the industrialised countries look upon SDRs simply as international liquidity reserves, LDCs aim at the linking of SDRs with development aid. Is their concept really as out of place as the industrialised countries maintain it is?