Do stronger intellectual property rights lead to more R&D-intensive imports?

There is much evidence that intellectual property rights (IPR) protection stimulates trade flows between countries. Yet less is known whether this effect is stronger for technology-intensive products. Using data for 119 countries over the period 1976-2010, this paper shows that the impact of IPR protection on manufacturing imports is significantly stronger for products with greater technology embodiment, as measured by their R&D intensity. An increase in the level of IPR protection leads to 22 per cent faster increase in the value of imports of products at the 90th percentile of R&D intensity than products at the 10th percentile.