Do Stronger Intellectual Property Rights Increase International Technology Transfer? Empirical Evidence from U.S. Firm-Level Panel Data

The paper examines how technology transfer among U.S. multinational firms changes in response to a series of intellectual property rights reforms undertaken by 12 countries over the 1982-
1999 period. Analysis of detailed firm-level data reveals that royalty payments for intangibles transferred to affiliates increase at the time of reforms, as do affiliate research and development expenditures and total levels of foreign patent applications.