The Role of Intellectual Property Rights in Economic Growth: Case Study of TRIPs

This paper studies the relationship between intellectual property rights (IPRs) and economic growth .Interest in links between protection of intellectual property and growth has been revived by developments in new growth theory and by the WTO’s TRIPS Agreement. The relationship between the strength of a country’s intellectual property rights (IPRs) regime and the rate of growth is ambiguous from a theoretical standpoint. This paper considers the impact of IPR protection on economic growth for 104 countries using the economic model through panel data method. The analysis focuses on effects of IPRs on growth using a quantitative index of IPRs. FDI, GDP Growth, GDP per capita, IPR indexes for these 104 countries were studied and it shows there is positive relationship between IPR protection and economic growth. The analysis indicates that a well developed IPR regime has a net positive effect on the transfer of technology, welfare and growth.