|
|
Swati Saini and Meeta Keswani Mehra |
|
''Impact of strengthening Intellectual Property Rights Regime on income inequality: An Econometric Analysis'' |
( 2018, Vol. 38 No.4 ) |
|
|
The theory predicts that IPRs tend to raise income inequality by generating a more skewed distribution of wages. Stronger IPRs increase the demand for skilled labor force as it raises the return on R&D activities. This causes a relative increase in skilled labor wages, creating a wage bias in favor of skilled labor against unskilled labor, thus aggravating income inequality within a country. Using dynamic panel data techniques and a sample of 55 countries over 1980-2011, we examine the impact of strengthening Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) on income distribution of a country. Our results indicate that the impact of IPRs on income distribution is contingent upon level of development of a country.Strengthening of IPRs increases income inequality in countries with higher level of development having higher ability to innovate. |
|
|
Keywords: Developing countries, Globalization, Inequality, Intellectual Property Rights. |
JEL: O1 - Economic Development: General F5 - International Relations and International Political Economy: General |
|
Manuscript Received : Mar 18 2017 | | Manuscript Accepted : Oct 10 2018 |
|