Essays on the effects of intellectual property rights on economic growth and production fragmentation, and the effects of unions on workplace safety

The first essay entitled "What are the Effects of Intellectual Property Rights on Economic Growth? Empirical Analysis of East Asia, TRIPs and Development" estimates the effects of IPRs on economic growth in country level in four ways. First, I consider the growth effects of IPRs across all countries. Second, I consider whether the growth effects of IPRs are different for East Asia than for the rest of the world. Third, I consider whether the 1995 Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) altered the growth effects of IPRs. Fourth, I assess whether there is a tipping point in the relationship between IPRs and growth that is related to the development level of countries. I find that there is a (net) positive relationship between IPRs and economic growth across the countries of the world while the effect is ambiguous in East Asia. Also, the findings show evidence that growth in the post-TRIPs period deviates from that of the entire period in a positive way; yet these positive effects are more modest for East Asia. Finally I find there is a break point that alters the effects of IPRs before and after the TRIPs.;The second essay, "Effects of Strengthening Intellectual Property Rights on Global Value Chain", studies the effects of IPRs on exports especially, exports embodying exchange of intermediate inputs. First I consider how stronger IPRs affect exports in sectoral level in generalized factor-proportions framework. To consider an exchange of intermediate inputs, I construct a measure of value added contents of exports and gross exports using global input-output data from World Input-Output Database (WIOD). Second, I investigate how IPRs affect production fragmentation estimated as VAX ratio which represents production fragmentation. I employ the empirical approach in which exports at the industry level are explained as a function of country factor endowment and interactions with industry factor intensities. The evidence shows that a high level of patent protection is associated with high value added exports and gross exports in patent-intensive industries. Second, I find that higher patent protection leads less international fragmentation in patent-intensive industries.;In the third essay entitled "Effects of Unionization on Workplace-Safety Enforcement: Regression-Discontinuity Evidence", I study how union certification affects the enforcement of workplace-safety laws. To generate credible causal estimates of certification effects, I employ regression discontinuity. I compare changes in outcomes in establishments where unions barely won representation elections to changes in outcomes in establishments where union barely lost such elections. The study combines two main datasets: the census of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) representation elections and the Occupational Safety and Health Administrationâ??s (OSHA) enforcement database since 1985. From the results, I find evidence of positive effects of union certification on establishmentâ??s rate of OSHA inspection, the share of inspections carried out in the presence of a labor representative, violations cited, and penalties assessed.