Intellectual Property-Related Preferential Trade Agreements and the Composition of Trade

Keith Maskus and William Ridley

No 2016/35, RSCAS Working Papers from European University Institute

Abstract: We study the role of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) with complex chapters covering intellectual property rights (IPRs) in determining the magnitude and composition of countries’ trade. Changes in the global IPRs environment have increasingly been negotiated within the terms of PTAs. Despite the proliferation of PTAs with strong IPRs standards, little attention has been paid to their effects on the trade of member countries. Using a carefully designed empirical framework, we find that PTAs, where one partner is either the United States, the European Union, or the European Free Trade Assocation, with rigorous IPRs chapters have significant impacts on members’ aggregate trade. The results are further broken down by income groups and the composition of sectoral trade. The findings accord with predicted relationships from previous research on IPRs and trade and suggest that regulatory aspects of trade agreements have important cross-border impacts. This possibility has been little studied to date.

Keywords: China; intellectual property; IPRs; innovation policy; trade agreements (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-int and nep-ipr
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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