A recent paper titled “Judicial Institution and Innovation: Evidence from China’s Intellectual Property Courts Reform”, completed by Researcher Wan Qian and Deputy Director Zhao Ying of the Center for International Cooperation and Disciplinary Innovation of Income Distribution and Public Finance at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law (ZUEL) and their collaborators, has been published online in the Journal of Development Economics, a leading journal in the field of development economics.
Highlights
This paper examines the impact of intellectual property judicial institutions on innovation, focusing on the intellectual property courts (IPCs) reform in China. Empirical studies find that IPCs reform leads to a significant 22.6% increase in the number of invention patents at the city level, equating to an average rise of 215 annually. This research rules out the possibility of inter-region and intra-conglomerate transfer of patents, indicating that the effect of the IPCs reform on innovation is not a zero-sum game among regions. Furthermore, the results show that the IPCs reform alters the patent structure, with the share of invention patents rising significantly. However, it does not appear to greatly improve individual invention patent quality. Mechanism analyses suggest that the IPCs reform increases social satisfaction with judicial protection of intellectual property, shortens case duration, and improves plaintiff winning rates in intellectual property cases.
About the Authors
Wan Qian is a lecturer at the School of Public Finance and Taxation, ZUEL, and a researcher at the Center for International Cooperation and Disciplinary Innovation of Income Distribution and Public Finance (111 Center) supported by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. His research areas include public education expenditure, economic and social inequality, China's economic issues and policy evaluation. Mr. Wan has published papers in academic journals such as The Journal of World Economy, Journal of Development Economics, China Economic Review, and Economic Modelling. He has presided over the young scientists fund projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and general programs of the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation.
Zhao Ying, professor and doctoral supervisor of the School of Public Finance and Taxation, ZUEL, as well as deputy director of the Center for International Cooperation and Disciplinary Innovation of Income Distribution and Public Finance (111 Center) supported by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. His research interest includes public sector economics and development economics. Mr. Zhao has been selected for the Xiangjiang Scholar Program, Hubei Provincial Key Talent Project (two programs), and as the Young Scholar of the Wenlan Scholar Program. He has published papers (including those to be published) in Economic Research Journal (3), Journal of Management World, The Journal of World Economy, China Economic Quarterly, China Industrial Economics, Journal of Financial Research, Journal of Development Economics, among other journals. He has presided over 10 projects, including two general programs and one young scientists fund project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, as well as projects of the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Program of the Ministry of Education. He has won the first prize of the Hubei Province Outstanding Research Award and the Wuhan Social Science Achievement Award. He is an anonymous reviewer for journals such as Economic Research Journal, Journal of Management World, The Journal of World Economy, China Economic Quarterly, Journal of Development Economics, and China Economic Review. He also serves as an Academic Committee member, a correspondence review expert for the projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, as well as a review expert for the Ministry of Science and Technology and the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs.