Arbeitspapier

Growth and welfare effects of intellectual property rights when consumers differ in income

This paper analyzes how changing the expected length of intellectual property (IP) protection affects economic growth and the welfare of rich and poor consumers. The analysis is based on a product-variety model with non-homothetic preferences and endogenous markups in which, in accordance with empirical evidence, rich households consume a larger variety of goods than poorer ones. The effects of IP protection on growth can be either positive or negative, depending on the distribution of income and wealth. Given that increasing the length of IP protection increases growth, poorer households prefer a shorter length of protection than richer ones.

Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: Working Paper ; No. 221

Classification
Wirtschaft
Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital
Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
Industrial Organization and Macroeconomics: Industrial Structure and Structural Change; Industrial Price Indices
Distribution: General
Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
Subject
intellectual property rights
income distribution
endogenous growth
nonhomothetic preferences

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Kiedaisch, Christian
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
University of Zurich, Department of Economics
(where)
Zurich
(when)
2017

DOI
doi:10.5167/uzh-123532
Handle
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET

Data provider

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Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

  • Kiedaisch, Christian
  • University of Zurich, Department of Economics

Time of origin

  • 2017

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