"A World Bank study fond that the strength or weakness of a country's system of intellectual property protection has a substantial effect, partily in high tech industries, on the kind of tehcnology that many US, German and Japanese firms transfer to that country. This strength or weakness also seems to influence the composition and extent of FDI in the country, although the effects seems to differ from industry to industry. "In chemicals and pharmaceuticals, at least 25 percent of firms survey in all three countries felt that protection in Argentina, Brazil, Chile India, Nigeria, and Thailand was too weak to allow them invest in joint ventures where they contributed advanced technology. In machinery and electrical equipment, the same was true of Brazil, India, Nigeria, Taiwan (China), and Thailand. "More than a quarter of chemical and pharmaceutical firms in the three source countries felt that IPR protection in Argentina, Chile and India were to weak to permit them to transfer their newest or most effective technology to a wholly owned subsidiary there. And more than 20 percent of machinery and electrical equipment firms in the source countries felt that this was the case in Brazil, Nigeria, and the Phillipines. HOng Kong (China) and Singapore were felt to have the strongest protection among the major economies considered." p. 34
Well, perhaps having struck down the $100 bn Asian Monetary Fund proposed by Japan for the "National" Monetary Fund's more stringent bail outs, the American economist statesmen will get tough IPR's as well as those tough bankruptcy laws that already appear as a conspiracy to beat down Asian asset values in order to provide bargains and control for western investors.
best, rakesh