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Patent Reforms and Exporter Behaviour: Firm-Level Evidence from Developing Countries

In: Globalization and Welfare Impacts of International Trade

Author

Listed:
  • Olena Ivus
  • Walter Park

Abstract

Using product-level data from 1997 to 2014, this paper examines the impact of patent reforms on the microfoundations of developing countries’ export growth. In a difference-in-difference setting, we compare exporter characteristics in sectors intensive in intellectual property (IP) relative to non-IP-intensive sectors. We find that high-IP exports expanded along the extensive (firm-count) margin around the time of the reforms, but with the passage of time expansions along the intensive (firm size) margin took on more importance. Changes in the exporting behaviour of entrants were the key drivers, while incumbents were largely unaffected. Exporter entry and exit rates in IP-intensive sectors rose after the reforms, shifting the distribution of exporters towards larger and more IP-intensive firms. The first year survival rate of entrants was unaffected, but the destination entry rate of survivors fell. The findings signify that patent reforms did influence local productive and innovative capacity of developing countries.
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Suggested Citation

  • Olena Ivus & Walter Park, 2018. "Patent Reforms and Exporter Behaviour: Firm-Level Evidence from Developing Countries," NBER Chapters, in: Globalization and Welfare Impacts of International Trade, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberch:14336
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    Cited by:

    1. Ridwan Ah Sheikh & Sunil Kanwar, 2024. "Revisiting the Impact of TRIPS on IPR-intensive Export Flows: Evidence from Staggered Difference-in-Differences," Working papers 351, Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics.
    2. Olena Ivus & Walter G. Park, 2022. "All rights reserved: Copyright protection and multinational knowledge transfers," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(3), pages 1064-1091, July.
    3. R Ackrill & R Çetin, 2025. "Imitation or Innovation? The impacts of patents and R&D expenditures on the high-tech exports of Newly Industrialised Countries," Economic Issues Journal Articles, Economic Issues, vol. 30(1), pages 45-65, March.
    4. Willoughby, Kelvin W. & Mullina, Nadezhda, 2021. "Reverse innovation, international patenting and economic inertia: Constraints to appropriating the benefits of technological innovation," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    5. David Rodríguez-González & Elena Huergo & Mery Patricia Tamayo, 2025. "Intellectual Property Rights as a Driver of Offshoring Flows by Stage of Economic Development," Documentos de Trabajo del ICAE 2025-08, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Instituto Complutense de Análisis Económico.
    6. Gideon Ndubuisi, 2024. "Patent Enforcement and Quality Upgrading of Exported Products," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(3), pages 13979-14011, September.
    7. Ndubuisi, Gideon, 2019. "Domestic intellectual property rights protection and exports: Accessing the credit channel," MERIT Working Papers 2019-017, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    8. Claudia Canals & Michael A. Klein & Fuat Şener, 2023. "Intellectual property‐related preferential trade agreements and US offshoring to developing countries," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1442-1475, September.
    9. Olena Ivus & Alireza Naghavi & Larry D. Qiu, 2023. "Migration and Imitation," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 90(357), pages 212-239, January.
    10. Yan Liu & Walter G. Park & Dahai Fu, 2021. "Export quality and patent protection: Stage‐dependent effects in development," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 601-629, May.
    11. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2024. "Effects of intellectual property rights protection on services export diversification in developing countries," KDI Journal of Economic Policy, Korea Development Institute (KDI), vol. 46(1), pages 53-89.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade

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