Welfare effects of strengthening protection of intellectual property rights

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K03623
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Economic theory
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Iwaisako Tatsuro 大阪大学, 経済学研究科, 教授 (40351316)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 経済成長 / イノベーション / 知的財産権保護 / 特許保護 / R&D補助金

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The present research project examines effects of strengthening intellectual property rights protection and R&D subsidies. In particular, we examine the following two issues. (1) We examine welfare effects of strengthening patent protection with consideration of transition to the new steady state after the change of protection. (2) We construct the new R&D-based growth model where both incumbents and entrants conduct R&D activities and examine effects of R&D subsidy for new entrants on aggregate R&D of the incumbents and economic growth.
We obtain the following results. (1) We derive the welfare-maximizing degree of patent protection analytically by utilizing a linear approximation of the transition path. (2) We show that R&D subsidy for new entrants can increase aggregate R&D of the incumbents and raise economic growth.
One of the papers of the present research project is published on Journal of International Economics.

Free Research Field

マクロ経済学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

(1)TRIPS協定締結以来、多くの国で知財権保護の強化がなされ、マクロレベルでの厚生効果も分析されてきたが、従来の研究では移行過程（保護強化後の短期効果）を考慮できていなかった。本研究成果は数値例でなく一般的に移行過程を含めた全体的な厚生効果の分析を可能にし、今後の研究への応用も期待できる。(2)アメリカ・日本のSBIRなど、中小企業へのR&D補助が行われているが、このような政策がマクロレベルでどのような影響があるか理論的に分析されていなかった。本研究は新規企業へのR&D補助が既存企業の総R&Dを促進し経済成長を高める可能性があることを解析的に示しており、これらの政策の理論的根拠となり得る。