A new international index reveals how laws on physical and intellectual property stimulate growth while the weakest economies have the weakest laws. Today’s first annual International Property Rights Index (IPRI) measures seventy countries’ performance in the protection of land titles and copyrights, assets and patents showing the direct effect on economic well-being.
Lahore March 06, 2007: A new international index reveals how laws on physical and intellectual property stimulate growth while the weakest economies have the weakest laws. Today’s first annual International Property Rights Index (IPRI) measures seventy countries’ performance in the protection of land titles and copyrights, assets and patents showing the direct effect on economic well-being.
In the developing world these “essential legal mechanisms easily available to the elite entrepreneurs in their country and all business people in advanced nations” are what the poor need to “allow them to do business in markets outside the limited confines of family and acquaintances,” says world-leading economist Hernando de Soto in his introduction.
The 2007 IPRI analyses Legal and Political Environment (LP), Physical Property Rights (PPR), and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in 70 countries accounting for 95% of world GDP: the countries in the top quartile of the Index have an average GDP per capita more than seven times those in the bottom quartile. The final results show an 89 percent correlation between GDP per capita and the IPRI score for each country: the stronger the rights of ownership, the better off the people.
The report by Property Rights Alliance in Washington, DC and its Hernando de Soto Fellowship program is distributed by 38 organizations from six continents, including Alternate Solutions Institute Pakistan.
With regard to Pakistan, the protection of property rights continues to be a challenge. The IPR Index 2007 ranks Pakistan (along with Kenya, Guatemala and Ecuador) at 59th position out of 70 countries with a score of 3.3. The top country is Norway with a score of 8.3 out of 10, whereas the bottom country is Bangladesh with a score of 2.2. As to Gender Equality regarding the property rights, Pakistan has been assigned a score of 2.2 with ranking at 63. Here it is no better than Ethiopia and Kenya. In the area of Legal and Political Environment, Pakistan’s score is 1.9; in Physical Property Rights, it is 5.1; and, in Intellectual Property Rights, it is 2.8.
Secure property rights are the most effective incentive towards both domestic and foreign investment, and stimulate growth, says Dr. Khalil Ahmad of Alternate Solutions Institute.
The International Property Rights Index seeks to assist underperforming countries to develop robust economies through an emphasis on sound property law, creating social and economic stability and the freedom to trade in goods and ideas. The Index gives researchers, policymakers and the public around the globe a tool for comparative analysis and future research.
For more information, such as a country-by-country analysis, list of global partner organizations, visit www.InternationalPropertyRightsIndex.org
The 2007 IPRI partner organizations include:
Alternate Solutions Institute (Pakistan)
Asociación de Consumidores Libres (Costa Rica)
Centre for Free Enterprise (Korea)
Centro de Investigaciones Económicas Nacionales (Guatemala)
CEPOS (Denmark)
Competere (Italy)
Circulo Liberal (Uruguay)
CIVITA (Norway)
ESEADE University (Argentina)
Eudoxa (Sweden)
European Center for Economic Growth (Belgium/Austria)
FREE (Poland)
Friedrich A. v. Hayek Institut (Austria)
Friedrich Naumann Foundation (East and Southeast Asia Regional Office)
Fundación Atlas 1853 (Argentina)
Fundación IDEA (Mexico)
Fundación Libertad (Panama)
Fundación Libertad y Democracia (Bolivia)
IMANI: The Centre for Humane Education (Ghana)
Initiative for Public Policy Analysis (Nigeria)
Instituto de Libre Empresa (Peru)
Instituto Ecuatoriano de Economía Política (Ecuador)
Instituto Liberdade (Brazil)
Instituto Libertad y Progreso (Colombia)
Instituto Para La Libertad y el Analisis de Politicas (Costa Rica)
Institut Constant de Rebecque (Switzerland)
Institute for Free Enterprise (Germany)
Institute for Public Affairs (Australia)
Inter Region Economic Network (Kenya)
International Policy Network (United Kingdom)
Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies (Israel)
Libertad y Desarrollo (Chile)
Liberty Institute (India)
Property Rights Alliance (United States)
RSE – Centre for Social and Economic Research (Iceland)
The Center for Institutional Analysis and Development (Romania)
The Free Market Foundation (South Africa)
The Lion Rock Institute (Hong Kong)