Modelling the impact of intellectual property protection and spillovers on attracting foreign direct investment

Abstract

Previous studies yield ambiguous results from using country-level indices of intellectual property rights (I.P.R.) protections to test their relation to foreign direct investment (F.D.I.). This study develops a simple model featuring vertically linked stages of production to show that country-level I.P.R. indices might cause the ambiguity by ignoring differences in I.P.R. protection strength across industries. We demonstrate that industry-level I.P.R. indices resolve ambiguity over the empirical nexus between I.P.R. protections and F.D.I.