Paper #834

Title:

North-south trade and directed technical change

Author:

Gino Gancia

Date:

May 2003 (Revised: May 2006)

Abstract:

In a world where poor countries provide weak protection for intellectual property rights, market integration shifts technical change in favor of rich nations. Through this channel, free trade may amplify international income differences. At the same time, integration with countries where intellectual property rights are weakly protected can slow down the world growth rate. A crucial implication of these results is that protection of intellectual property is most beneficial in open countries. This prediction, which is novel in the literature, finds support in the data on a panel of 53 countries observed in the years 1965-1990.

Keywords:

Economic Growth, North-South Trade, Intellectual Property Rights, Cross-Country Income Differences

JEL codes:

F14, F43, O33, O34, O41

Area of Research:

Macroeconomics and International Economics

Published in:

Journal of International Economics, 76, 276-296, 2008

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