June 7, 2011
ONE WOULD HAVE MORE CONFIDENCE IN THE REPORT...:
China, Patents and U.S. Jobs: A new report suggests better intellectual property protection by Beijing could create 2.1 million American jobs. (MATTHEW J. SLAUGHTER , 6/06/11, WSJ)
Last month the U.S. government issued a remarkable report that details how one policy change could eventually create up to 2.1 million U.S. jobs. Oh, and it wouldn't cost taxpayers a dime in new government spending. Thanks to higher payroll tax receipts it would probably help close, not expand, America's massive fiscal deficit.The report? "China: Effects of Intellectual Property Infringement and Indigenous Innovation Policies on the U.S. Economy," by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). And the policy change? Getting China to better protect the intellectual-property rights of American companies.
The ITC surveyed 5,051 U.S. companies in industries such as high-tech manufacturing, publishing and software to gauge the incidence and extent of infringement of their copyright, trademark and other intellectual-property rights in China. Firms say infringement there is widespread, and it affects not just large multinational firms but many small and medium-sized U.S. companies as well. Extrapolating from survey responses, ITC estimates that all U.S. IP-intensive firms lost at least $48.2 billion in 2009 alone—perhaps even as much as $90.5 billion—from foregone sales, royalties and license fees.
The surveyed companies report that improved intellectual-property rights protection in China could boost their annual revenue there by as much as 20%—more than $100 billion a year—thanks to both higher U.S. exports and higher local-market sales by their Chinese affiliates. More revenue, in turn, would expand their U.S. labor demand by as much as 5%—which could mean over 900,000 new U.S. jobs.
And thanks to supplier linkages, expansion by IP-intensive firms would boost sales and hiring in dozens of U.S. industries.
...if it weren't bureaucrats blaming others for their own underperformance.
Posted by oj at June 7, 2011 6:06 AM
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