Who enjoys 'TRIPs' abroad? An empirical analysis of intellectual property rights in the Uruguay Round

Analysis of the Uruguay Round is extended by quantifying the impact of the TRIPs agreement. The static costs of raising the standards of patent protection are captured by the transfers of income between countries, with the majority of countries estimated to make net payments abroad, the United States being a major beneficiary. To offset these transfers the model provides estimates of the dynamic benefits from the greater incentive to innovate, revealing that there is potential for all countries to benefit from the TRIPs agreement in the long run. However, the distribution of these benefits is highly skewed towards developed countries.