The Impact of Standards and Patents on Economic Growth in Western Balkan Countries
The Impact of Standards and Patents on Economic Growth in Western Balkan Countries

Author(s): Edmira Cakrani, Enriko Ceko
Subject(s): Social Sciences
Published by: Udruženje ekonomista i menadžera Balkana
Keywords: Standards; Patents; Economic Growth; Panel data
Summary/Abstract: Standards are documents that determine the rules and establish conditions for the production of products, the offering of services, the management of processes, etc. Since the standards are formulated by consensus, the application of the standards by businesses and organizations is important because they are considered guarantors of quality. Businesses that apply international standards have a competitive advantage and offer greater value to their consumers. Patents are exclusive rights granted to an innovation, which provide investors with protection of their intellectual property. The number of patents in a country is an indicator of the technological development of that country. It can influence economic growth, by encouraging investments in research and development, promoting competition and innovations, facilitating knowledge spillovers, etc. The purpose of this research paper is to analyze the possible relationship between international ISO standards, patents, and economic growth in 5 Western Balkan countries. Panel data, for the period 2013-2021 is used to investigate this relationship. In addition to the number of standards, in the model are included other variables, such as gross capital formation, employment level, and innovation index as a proxy for the patents. The Hausman test suggests that the appropriate model is the fixed effects model. There is little research that investigates the impact of standards and patents on economic growth. This paper complements the literature on this topic.

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