Do stronger intellectual property rights lead to more R&D-intensive imports?

Abstract

There is much evidence that intellectual property rights (IPR) protection stimulates trade flows between countries. Yet less is known whether this effect is stronger for technology-intensive products. Using data for 119 countries over the period 1976–2010, this paper shows that the impact of IPR protection on manufacturing imports is significantly stronger for products with greater technology embodiment, as measured by their R&D intensity. An increase in the level of IPR protection leads to 22 per cent faster increase in the value of imports of products at the 90th percentile of R&D intensity than products at the 10th percentile.