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

Arbeitspapier

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.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Working Paper ; No. 221

Classification and Topics

• 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

Contributors, Places and Time

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

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.5167/uzh-123532
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/173409
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET