Implications of international harmonization of ipr on growth and competitiveness among the developing nations

Abstract

Enhancement of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and its implication on developing countries are discussed enormously during the last few decades. The main argument is that even after the mandate of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), it is not clear whether the developing countries are benefiting from the higher levels of IPR. On the assumption that international harmonization of IPR could make all nations better off, especially lower-income countries, we considered 99 countries from various income groups to test the hypothesis. The present study considers appreciation in the competitiveness of a country as an outcome of enhanced IPR, which encourages innovation in the first stage and competitiveness in the later stage. The study employs new indices, Global Competitiveness Index and IPR Index, respectively, for competition and IPR. We find that the role of IPR is different in different countries for promoting innovation and enhancing competitiveness and growth.