nep-ipr New Economics Papers
on Intellectual Property Rights
Issue of 2026–01–05
three papers chosen by
Giovanni Battista Ramello, Università di Turino


  1. Intellectual Property Rights as a Driver of Offshoring Flows by Stage of Economic Development By David Rodríguez-González; Elena Huergo; Mery Patricia Tamayo
  2. Multibrand price dispersion By Armstrong, Mark; Vickers, John
  3. Artificial Intelligence Innovation by Financial Innovators: Evidence from US Patents By Jean Xiao Timmerman

  1. By: David Rodríguez-González (Department of Economics, Universidad EAFIT (Colombia)); Elena Huergo (ICAE – Department of Economic Analysis, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain)); Mery Patricia Tamayo (Department of Economics, Universidad EAFIT (Colombia))
    Abstract: This paper examines how the strength of intellectual property rights (IPR) affects offshoring between countries at different development stages. Using a panel dataset covering offshoring flows between 60 origin and 76 destination countries from 2000–2011—measured through intra-industry trade in intermediate inputs—we estimate several econometric models addressing heterogeneity, zero flows, endogeneity, and trade persistence. We find that stronger IPR protection reduces a country’s outward offshoring, especially in developing economies, while it increases inward offshoring, particularly in high-tech industries and when the destination is developing. These results show the varied role of IPR in shaping global production networks and suggest that strengthening IPR—especially in developing countries—can enhance participation in global value chains and promote technology transfer.
    Keywords: Offshoring flows, IPR, Development, Technology transfer.
    JEL: F14 F23 O34 O38
    Date: 2025
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucm:doicae:2508
  2. By: Armstrong, Mark; Vickers, John
    Abstract: We study a market in which firms each might supply a number of variants, or "brands", of fundamentally the same product. Consumers differ in the sets of brands they consider, and firms compete using (multi-dimensional) mixed pricing strategies. We show when firms apply uniform pricing across their brands, and when they use segmented pricing so that one "discount" brand is priced below another "premium" brand. We study the case of symmetric brands in particular, and discuss the impact of a firm introducing a new brand, of imposing a requirement to set uniform prices across brands, and of mergers between firms.
    Keywords: Price dispersion, price discrimination, multiproduct firms, mixed strategies, oligopoly, multibranding, multi-channel selling.
    JEL: C72 D43 D83 L13 M31
    Date: 2025–11
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:127017
  3. By: Jean Xiao Timmerman
    Abstract: This paper examines the evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) patent rates (i.e., the number of AI patents/number of firms of the same type) and concentration metrics (i.e., the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) and Gini coefficient) among financial market participants from 2000 to 2020. It documents the historical trajectories of AI innovation for regulated banking entities and less-regulated firms, revealing that nonfinancial companies exhibit the highest baseline AI patent rate, while banks show the highest growth in AI patent rate over time. Banks have the highest HHI, and nonfinancial companies have the highest Gini coefficient, suggesting that a small number of banks dominate AI innovation and the distribution of AI innovation at nonfinancial firms � though higher in number � is highly skewed toward a subset of players. These findings indicate that the AI technological gap between small and large banks may be widening and the diversity of nonfinancial companies serving as third-party AI service providers may be limited.
    Keywords: Artificial intelligence; Banking; Financial innovation; Patents; Regulatory perimeter; Technological change
    JEL: G21 G23 G28 O31 O33
    Date: 2025–12–12
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2025-104

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