Trade in counterfeit goods is a longstanding – and growing – socio-economic threat to
effective governance, efficient business and the well-being of consumers worldwide, and
is becoming a key source of income for organised criminal groups. It also damages the
engine of economic growth, by reducing firms’ revenues and undermining their
incentives to innovate.
Existing empirical studies, including the recent OECD-EUIPO studies Trade in
Counterfeit and Pirated Goods: Mapping the Economic Impact and Mapping the Real
Routes of Trade in Fake Goods, have found that counterfeit and pirated products originate
from virtually all economies on all continents, although their intensity of involvement
varies. Some tend to be important producers or transit points in trade in fake goods, while
their neighbours play only marginal roles.
This report seeks to answer the question of why some economies are more involved than
others. It draws on large datasets to quantify the various socio-economic conditions that
determine an economy’s propensity to become an active actor in the trade in fake goods.