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Innovation Policies Under Economic Complexity
Economic Research Working Paper No.79
Recent geopolitical challenges have revived the implementation of industrial and innovation policies. Ongoing discussions focus on supporting cutting-edge industries and strategic technologies but hardly pay attention to their impact on economic growth. In light of this, we discuss the design of innovation policies to address current development challenges while considering the complex nature of productive activities. Our approach conceives economic development and technological progress as a process of accumulation and diversification of knowledge. This process is limited by the tacit nature of knowledge and by countries' binding constraints to growth. Consequently, effective innovation policies should be place-based and multidimensional, leveraging countries' existing capabilities and addressing countries' current problems. This contrasts policies that lead to economic efficiencies, such as copying other countries' solutions to problems that countries do not currently have.
Publication year: 2024
Are the best tunes played on the oldest fiddles? Distribution and digitization of recorded classical music
Economic Research Working Paper No.87
This research looks at the distributional effects of copyright when creative works are protected under multiple rights. It exploits a quasi-natural experiment and recent law changes introduced under EU Directive 77/2011 on the term of protection of copyright and related rights as well as variation in author death years. We examine the causal implications of copyright and related rights protection around music recordings vis-à-vis public domain status for the availability of classical music as physical and digital releases. Results suggest that public domain status of related rights favours the availability and re-releases of classical music in physical and digital formats. The emergence of music streaming services in EU member states and catalogue-wide licensing moderate effects over time. We however find little evidence that public domain status of author rights affects the distribution of classical music in digital or physical channels. We contemplate the implications of our results for intellectual property policy.
World Intellectual Property Indicators 2024
World Intellectual Property Indicators is the annual survey of intellectual property (IP) activity around the world carried out by WIPO, the United Nations specialized agency for innovation and IP. This authoritative report analyzes IP activity around the globe. Drawing on 2023 filing, registration and renewals statistics from national and regional IP offices and WIPO, World Intellectual Property Indicators covers patents, utility models, trademarks, industrial designs, microorganisms, plant variety protection and geographical indications.
Access to science and innovation in the developing world
Economic Research Working Paper No.78
We examine the implications of lowering barriers to online access to scientific publications for science and innovation in developing countries. We investigate whether and how free or low-cost access to scientific publications through the UN-led Research For Life (R4L) initiative leads to more scientific publications and clinical trials of authors affiliated with research institutions in developing countries. We find that free or reduced-fee access to the health science literature through Hinari (WHO-led subprogramme) increases the scientific publication output and clinical trials output of institutions in developing countries. In contrast, once we control for selection bias, we do not find empirical support for a positive Hinari effect on knowledge spillovers and local institutions' research input into global patenting, as measured by paper citations in patent documents. Main findings can be generalized to other R4L subprogrammes and are likely to also apply to the WIPO-led Access to Research for Development and Innovation (ARDI) programme.
Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property: An Economic Perspective
Economic Research Working Paper No.77
The emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has profound implications for intellectual property (IP) frameworks. While much of the discussion so far has focused on the legal implications, we focus on the economic dimension. We dissect AI's role as both a facilitator and disruptor of innovation and creativity. Recalling economic principles and reviewing relevant literature, we explore the evolving landscape of AI innovation incentives and the challenges it poses to existing IP frameworks. From patentability dilemmas to copyright conundrums, we find that there is a delicate balance between fostering innovation and safeguarding societal interests amidst rapid technological progress. We also point to areas where future economic research could offer valuable insights to policymakers.
The Global Publishing Industry in 2018
This study provides an overview of the global publishing industry in 2018, covering publishing revenue, the number of titles published and the number copies sold. The report presents the latest publishing statistics compiled from the following sources: (a) the IPA–WIPO publishing survey, (b) the Centro Regional para el Fomento del Libro en América Latina y el Caribe (CERLALC), (c) WIPO's legal deposits survey, (d) the Nielsen Company, (e) the International ISBN Agency, and (f) the Web of Science database.
Publication year: 2019
What is Intellectual Property?
Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind – everything from works of art to inventions, computer programs to trademarks and other commercial signs. This booklet introduces the main types of IP and explains how the law protects them. It also introduces the work of WIPO, the global forum for IP services, policy, information and cooperation.
Publication year: 2020
Exclusive content and platform competition in Latin America
Economic Research Working Paper No. 63
Platforms often compete over non-price strategies such as the exclusive distribution of products. But these strategies are not always welfare-enhancing. Using rich data on audiovisuals distributed on platforms in Brazil, we find that non-exclusive distribution and availability of titles across platforms is more effective in deterring online piracy than in the single homing case. Moreover, in certain markets (TVOD), it induces higher average investment in the production of new titles upstream. We discuss options of copyright and antitrust policies in the light of these findings.
Grand rights and opera reuse today
Economic Research Working Paper No. 62
This article studies the economic role of grand rights in the incentives to stage and reuse works from the opera canon. It complements previous research on the incentives to create new opera (Giorcelli and Moser, 2020) in the way it looks at copyright taxing availability and follow-on creativity around works. Based on a unique dataset of global opera performances, we find that changes in copyright status increase the number of total performances individual works receive on stage once copyright expires. Moreover, we provide preliminary evidence on chilling, long-term effects of status around premiering operas and revivals at the beginning of the copyright term. Based on these findings, we discuss limitations of the study and novel options for copyright policy frameworks.
Batman forever? The economics of overlapping rights
Economic Research Working Paper No. 61
When copyrighted comic characters are also protected under trademark laws, intellectual property (IP) rights can be overlapping. Arguably, registering a trademark can increase transaction costs for cross-media uses of characters, or it can help advertise across multiple sales channels. In an application to book, movie and video game publishing industries, we thus ask how creative reuse (innovation in uses) is affected in situations of overlapping rights, and whether ‘fuzzy boundaries' of right frameworks are in fact enhancing or decreasing content sales.