Intellectual property reform and productivity enhancement

For a broad sample of OECD countries, this chapter considers empirically the relationship between change in the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) between 1990 and 2000 and the evolution of technological achievement, as well as the relationship of such achievement to change in labour productivity. The core assessment proceeds via regression analysis using a two stage approach and national level data. The results point to a positive and statistically significant relationship between indicators for protection of patent and trademark rights and technological achievement. The relationship between such technological achievement and labour productivity was positive and significant in certain specifications.