Quarterly Journal of Economics Vol. 121 No. 1 2006

Do Stronger Intellectual Property Rights Increase International Technology Transfer? Empirical Evidence from U. S. Firm-Level Panel Data

Lee Branstetter¹; Raymond Fisman¹; C. Fritz Foley²

¹ Columbia Business School and NBER · ² Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center

Abstract

This paper examines how technology transfer within U. S. multinational firms changes in response to a series of IPR reforms undertaken by sixteen countries over the 1982–1999 period. Analysis of detailed firm-level data reveals that royalty payments for technology transferred to affiliates increase at the time of reforms, as do affiliate R&D expenditures and total levels of foreign patent applications. Increases in royalty payments and R&D expenditures are concentrated among affiliates of parent companies that use U. S. patents extensively prior to reform and are therefore expected to value IPR reform most. For this set of affiliates, increases in royalty payments exceed 30 percent.

DOI

10.1093/qje/121.1.321

Volume

121

Issue

1

Pages

321-349

Sources

bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex

Cite

APA 7 MLA 9 Chicago (author–date) Harvard Elsevier Harvard (JFE, JBF…) The Accounting Review Academy of Management American Marketing Association INFORMS (Management Science) Copy citation Copied ✓