حقوق مالکیت معنوی و هزینه بدهی شرکت ها
Abstract
1- Introduction
2- Theory and hypotheses
3- Data and methods
4- Main results
5- Additional analysis
6- Conclusion, discussion and contribution
References
Abstract
This paper investigates the role of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection on the cost of bank loans for firms in 48 countries. Using substantial reforms of patent rights as a source of identifying variation, the paper provides strong evidence that borrowers from countries that underwent IPR reform experience significant reductions in the cost of bank debt. Importantly, the effects of IPR reform on loan rates are significantly larger in industries that are more IP-intensive. Additional analysis shows that in the wake of reforms borrowers obtain larger size loans, which indicates that improvements in IPR are associated with greater credit availability. IPR reform also increases foreign lenders participation in loan syndicates. Overall, these findings suggest that legal protection afforded to intellectual property has a significant impact on the cost of corporate borrowing and the ability of innovative firms to raise debt capital.
Introduction
Intellectual property rights (IP, IPR) increasingly play a crucial role in the knowledge-based global economy by shaping firms’ incentives to develop new technologies. Although there are certainly many factors that influence innovation, scholars and practitioners have long recognized that granting exclusive legal rights to IP holders can play a particularly powerful role in providing incentives for firms to develop proprietary knowledge (see, for example, Nelson (1959), Arrow (1962)). The main argument for such government intervention is that IP, that underpins innovation and knowledge, is largely intangible in nature and therefore hard for owners to protect from expropriation by competitors. Underscoring the importance of IP protection to business activity, the real effects of IPR is now one of the most active research areas in economics and finance (e.g., Branstetter et al., 2006; Bilir, 2014; Galasso and Schankerman, 2015; Lerner, 2002; Qian, 2007). While the literature has extensively examined the relation between IPR regimes and firm innovative and trade activities, we know relatively little about the effect of IPR protection on the supply and cost of external financing to corporations. This omission is surprising because a firm’s ability to obtain external financing is crucial for its operations and performance. Documenting such indirect effects of IPR is also crucial to our understanding of the costs and benefits of policy reforms. The contribution of this paper is to provide a novel evidence on whether and how legal reforms that strengthen IPR affect the cost of bank loans extended to corporate borrowers around the world. Understanding the effect of IPR protection on bank financing is important because bank credit is the most important source of external capital to firms around the world (e.g., Demirgüç-Kunt and Levine, 2001).