Intellectual property and development—narratives and their empirical validity

The article gives an overview of the relationship between intellectual property (IP) and development. The first section shows that the dominant assumption in the history of IP was that IP rights are generally favorable to socio‐economic progress. The second section explains that economic and historical research has proven this linear expansionist narrative to be untenable. In doing so, the article compares the arguments of IP optimists with counterarguments of IP pessimists in the light of empirical studies. The final section addresses the consequences of these findings for the future of the international IP system.