This paper examines the preferences of a foreign firm and a welfare-maximizing host country government over two modes of foreign direct investment (FDI): de novo entry by the foreign firm and acquisition of the domestic incumbent. Two crucial features of the model are the presence of network...

Using a repeated game approach, this paper models a North-South trade agreement under which North offers South improved market access (via a tariff reduction) if South agrees to prevent local imitation by strengthening its protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs). We show that such an...

Foreign direct investment (FDI) can take place either through the direct entry of foreign firms or the acquisition of existing domestic firms. The preferences of a foreign firm and the host country government over these two modes of FDI are examined in the presence of costly technology transfer....

Developing countries now account for a significant fraction of world trade and two thirds of the membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO). However, many are still individually small and thus have a limited ability to bilaterally extract and enforce trade concessions from larger developed...

We analyze how a price control and the threat of compulsory licensing (CL) affect consumer access in a developing country (South) to a patented foreign product. In the model, the Southern government sets the level of the price control on a Northern patent-holder who chooses between entry and...

We evaluate the case for non-discrimination in the international protection of intellectual property. If trade is not subject to any frictions then requiring national treatment (NT) in patent protection does not have any consequences for innovation (and welfare) since unfavorable discrimination...

The authors find that the role foreign direct investment (FDI) plays in international technology transfer (ITT) hinges on whether substitute channels of ITT--such as imitation--exist for the host country. If FDI is the sole channel of ITT, a faster flow of FDI to the South increases the rates of...

We examine the preferences of a foreign firm and a local government over two modes of foreign direct investment: de novo entry and acquisition of the domestic incumbent. Two crucial features of the model are network externalities and partial incompatibility between the domestic and the foreign...