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Are Intellectual Property Rights Unfair?

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  • Saint-Paul, Gilles

    (Paris School of Economics)

Abstract

If redistribution is distortionary, and if the income of skilled workers is due to knowledgeintensive activities and depends positively on intellectual property, a social planner which cares about income distribution may in principle want to use a reduction in Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) rather than redistributive transfers. On the one hand, such a reduction reduces statis inefficiency. On the other hand, standard redistribution also reduces the level of R and D because it distorts occupational choice. We study this possibility in the context of a model with horizontal innovation, where the government, in addition to taxes and transfers, controls the fraction of innovations that are granted patents. The model predicts that standard redistribution always dominates limitations to IPRs.

Suggested Citation

  • Saint-Paul, Gilles, 2002. "Are Intellectual Property Rights Unfair?," IZA Discussion Papers 639, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp639
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Saint-Paul, Gilles, 2001. "Distribution and Growth in an Economy with Limited Needs," IZA Discussion Papers 273, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Dixit, Avinash K & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1977. "Monopolistic Competition and Optimum Product Diversity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(3), pages 297-308, June.
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    4. Foellmi, Reto & Josef Zweim¸ller, 2002. "Heterogeneous Mark-ups, Demand Composition, and the Inequality-Growth Relation," Royal Economic Society Annual Conference 2002 76, Royal Economic Society.
    5. Jean Tirole, 1988. "The Theory of Industrial Organization," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262200716, December.
    6. A. D. Roy, 1951. "Some Thoughts On The Distribution Of Earnings," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 3(2), pages 135-146.
    7. Atkinson, Anthony B., 1970. "On the measurement of inequality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 244-263, September.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Colin Davis, 2013. "Regional integration and innovation offshoring with occupational choice and endogenous growth," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 108(1), pages 59-79, January.
    2. Alireza Naghavi & Chiara Strozzi, 2011. "Intellectual Property Rights, Migration, and Diaspora," Working Papers 2011.60, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    3. Anupam B. Jena & Stéphane Mechoulan & Tomas J. Philipson, 2010. "Altruism and Innovation in Health Care," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(3), pages 497-518.
    4. Alireza Naghavi & Chiara Strozzi, "undated". "Intellectual Property Rights and Diaspora Knowledge Networks," Development Working Papers 380, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    5. Colin Davis & Yasunobu Tomoda, 2009. "Competing process and quality innovation in a model of occupational choice," Discussion Papers 0915, Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University.
    6. Koichiro Sano & Yasunobu Tomoda, 2019. "Persistent income gaps in an occupational choice model with multi‐goods," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(1), pages 1-20, March.
    7. Sercan Ozcan & Nazrul Islam, 2017. "Patent information retrieval: approaching a method and analysing nanotechnology patent collaborations," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 111(2), pages 941-970, May.
    8. Christian Kiedaisch, 2021. "Growth and welfare effects of intellectual property rights when consumers differ in income," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 72(4), pages 1121-1170, November.
    9. Colin R. Davis, 2009. "Interregional Knowledge Spillovers And Occupational Choice In A Model Of Free Trade And Endogenous Growth," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(5), pages 855-876, December.
    10. Sano, Koichiro & Tomoda, Yasunobu, 2010. "Optimal public education policy in a two sector model," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 991-995, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    redistribution; inequality; income distribution; innovation; intellectual property rights; welfare state; human capital;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D3 - Microeconomics - - Distribution
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital

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