One of the main channels through which intellectual property rights (IPRs) influence a country's economy is through their impact on innovation. However, North-South models usually constrain the South to imitative activity which generates a detrimental effect of stronger IPRs on southern welfare...

Developing countries employ about two-fifth of the world's researchers, originate one quarter of world expenditures on R&D, and their inventions are subject to imitation. Nevertheless, the previous literature focuses on North–South setups in which the South is restricted to imitating northern...