آیا هماهنگ سازی حق ثبت اختراع بر روی تصمیم گیری و حجم تجارت فن آوری پیشرفته تاثیر میگذارد؟

The World Intellectual Property Organization identified technology transfer as a key objective to their Development Agenda. Such transfer could be achieved if patent reform in developing countries aids these countries in attracting foreign high-technology exports. Encouragingly, the results of this paper suggest that patent reform in lower-middle income countries attracts new firms into the market, while reform in low income and upper middle income countries encourages existing trade partners to increase export volumes. These results suggest that policies to harmonize patent regimes are, in fact, useful in increasing high technology exports to developing countries.

This paper explores the impact of patent harmonization across countries on the extensive and intensive margins of high technology trade, paying particular attention to the effect on high technology exports to developing countries. Patent reform in a country can impact trade flows in two important ways: (1) these policies may provide incentives for firms to enter export markets (expansion of the extensive margin) and/or (2) the policies may cause current exporting firms to increase the export volume into a given market (expansion of the intensive margin). As Co (2010) points out, policy reform may influence each trade margin differently. This paper specifically examines how patent harmonization between trade partners influences the decision and volume of high technology exports to developing countries. Many proponents of intellectual property rights in developing countries argue that the implementation of strong national policies to protect intellectual property can stimulate technology transfer and economic growth, as these policies will attract new firms (and countries) to export high technology goods to developing country markets (Arora, 2009). In fact, in 2007, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a branch of the United Nations (UN), created a Development Agenda for which technology transfer and “access to knowledge” via intellectual property rights were key agenda items (WIPO, 2007). As WIPO's Committee on Development and Intellectual Property in holds its ninth session in May 2012, it is increasingly critical to understand how policies that strengthen patent regimes in developing countries impact high technology exports to these countries. The results in this paper indicate that the effectiveness of domestic patent reform in attracting high technology goods from abroad differs depending on the income level of the patent reforming country. Low income and upper middle income countries that reform their patent systems to become more similar to policies of their high technology trade partners do not see an increase in the number of firms exporting to their country, but do see an increase in the volume of high technology exports from existing trade partners (albeit at only the 10% significance level for low income countries). Patent reform in lower-middle income countries attracts new exporting firms into these countries, but does not impact the export volume of existing high technology trade partners. These results suggest that patent reform in developing countries can play a positive role in attracting high technology exports from abroad, suggesting that patent reform may be a good policy to encourage technology transfer via increased high technology trade. Past literature has focused on the effect of patent reform on total bilateral trade flows, regardless of the firm-level behavior (extensive and/or intensive margin changes) leading to this outcome. Previous research has found that strengthening patent protection in a country leads to an increase in manufactured imports (Fink and Primo Braga, 2005 and Maskus and Penubarti, 1995). The impact of patent reform on increasing high technology imports is less straightforward. Fink and Primo Braga (2005) find that the total volume of high technology imports is statistically unrelated to the strength of domestic patent protection, while Ivus (2010) contrastingly reports that developing countries with strong intellectual property protection have experienced relatively greater growth in high technology imports than did developing countries with weak intellectual property rights. When narrowly considering trade in certain high technology industries, the conclusions are also varied. Smith (2002) finds that stronger foreign patent protection encourages firms to increase pharmaceutical, medicinal, and biological manufacturing exports only if the patent reforming country has strong imitative capabilities; Yang and Woo (2006) find that patent reform has no significant impact on attracting foreign exports of planting seeds; while Liu and Lin (2005) find that such reforms have a positive impact on semiconductor and communication trade if the patent reforming country readily engages in R&D. Most of the above papers utilize traditional gravity models to estimate bilateral trade flows. However, as pointed out by Helpman, Melitz, and Rubinstein (2008)—henceforth HMR—traditional gravity model methods of examining bilateral trade flows often ignore potential biases that result from firms' selection into export markets and from the exclusion of the impact of the extensive margin (the number of exporting firms) on estimates of the intensive margin (the quantity of exports). HMR provide a two-stage, non-linear least squares approach to correcting for these biases, thereby theoretically enabling researches to discern a firm's binary decision to export into a given market from their continuous decision of how much to export. Another unique attribute of the bilateral trade methodology established by HMR is that it allows empiricists to determine firm-level decision making behavior while using aggregate country data. This is important as comprehensive firm-level data is often difficult to obtain, while country‐level bilateral trade data is more easily attainable. For these reasons, this paper utilizes the HMR methodology to explore how harmonization of patent policies across countries influences bilateral, high technology trade. Future research may wish to utilize the HMR methodology of distinguishing between the firm-level decision to export and export volume so to consider the impact on patent reform on specific high technology industries.

This paper uses the Helpman et al. (2008) estimation technique to explore the impact of patent reform on firms' decision to trade and the volume of trade, paying particular attention to the effect on high technology exports to developing countries. The results in this paper indicate that the effectiveness of domestic patent reform in attracting high technology goods from abroad differs depending on the income level of the patent reforming country. Low income and upper middle income countries that reform their patent systems to become more similar to policies of their high technology trade partners do not see an increase in the number of firms exporting to their country, but do see an increase in the volume of high technology exports from existing trade partners (albeit at only the 10% significance level for low income countries). Patent reform in lower-middle income countries attracts new exporting firms into these countries, but does not impact the export volume of existing high technology trade partners. There is some evidence, particularly for middle income countries, that patent reform acts first as a stimulus for attracting new high technology trade partners and later as a stimulus for expanding the export activity of firms that are already active in these markets. The attraction of new firms could bring with it new varieties of high technology goods and, subsequently, technology transfer, while expansion of trade volume could indicate more widespread technology diffusion.