We consider policy issues regarding parallel imports (PIs) of brand-name pharmaceuticals in the European Union, where such trade is permitted. We develop a simple model in which an original manufacturer competes in its home market with PI firms. The model suggests that for small trade costs the original manufacturer will accommodate the import decisions of parallel traders and that the price in...

Globalization has drastically improved access of technological latecomers to advanced technologies and provides a unique opportunity for low-income countries to raise per capita income. This paper shows that low-income countries as a group have in fact substantially increased the GDP-ratio of technology imports over the past few years, but that there are large cross-country discrepancies in tec...

Imports of goods that embody foreign technology can raise a country’s output directly as inputs into production and indirectly through reverse engineering of these goods, contributing to domestic imitation and innovation. This paper quantifies spillovers from high technology imports to domestic imitation and innovation in both developed and developing countries. It then considers the contributi...