Patent Protection and the Structural Transformation of Import Trade in China

This paper explains the mechanism that intellectual property protection affects import trade, and investigates the impact of intellectual property right protection on import trade by using inter-provincial panel data in China. The empirical results show that the relationship between patent protection system and high-tech products imports is significant and positive, stronger patent protection system is conducive to optimize the trade structure of imports. But empirical analysis also suggests patent protection effects of high-tech products imports are significantly different by region.