资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

Using cross-sectional analysis of a representative sample of firms operating in 42 developing economies, we investigate whether expanded and strengthened protection of intellectual property (IP) fosters technology transfer to developing countries. We find that going from no IP protection to maximum IP protection is associated with a 65% increase in the predicted probability of licensing foreign technology for affiliated firms, but not for unaffiliated firms. We also find evidence that the positive impact is limited to upper-middle-income countries, whereas there is at best no significant correlation for firms operating in lower-middle-income and low-income countries.