Download This PaperCross-Border Property Rights and the Globalization of Innovation
85 Pages Posted: 1 Jan 2020 Last revised: 5 Mar 2024
Date Written: March 2, 2024
Abstract
We identify strong cross-border property rights as a driver for the globalization of innovation. Using 67 million patents from over 100 patent offices, we construct novel measures of the three stages of innovation diffusion: adoption, sourcing, and collaboration. Exploiting staggered bilateral investment treaties (BITs) as shocks to cross-border property rights, we show that signatory countries increase technology adoption and sourcing from each other; they also increase R&D collaborations. The results are particularly strong for countries with weak domestic institutions and technologies with high imitation risks. Increases in R&D-related foreign investments explain most of the results.
Keywords: Innovation, technology diffusion, globalization, cross-border institutions, bilateral investment treaties
JEL Classification: F21, F61, G18, G38, K33, O31, O33
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Bo Bian
University of British Columbia ( email )
HA 865, UBC Sauder School of Business
2053 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2
Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z2
Canada
HOME PAGE: http://bo-bian.com/
Jean-Marie Meier
The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania ( email )
The Wharton School
3620 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104
United States
HOME PAGE: http://www.jean-mariemeier.com
Ting Xu (Contact Author)
University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management ( email )
105 St. George Street
Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E6 M5S1S4
Canada
HOME PAGE: http://https://sites.google.com/site/tingxu4