1.[Related to the Economics in Practice ] In 2017, the United States filed 59,624 international patent applications, more than any other country. Do an Internet search and find a list for the most recent year of the 10 countries that filed the most international patent applications.

Since 2013, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has compiled an annual intellectual property (IP) index, called “Create”, which analyzes the IP climate in a growing number of world economies. As is stated on their Website, “The report ranks economies based on 40 unique indicators that benchmark activity critical to innovation development surrounding patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secrets protection.” Look up the most recent “Create” report and look at the IP index scores for those 10 countries that filed the most international patent applications. Where do the 10 countries rank on the IP index?

Explain whether you see a correlation between the number of patent applications filed and the IP index ranking, and if any of the countries seem out of place based on their IP index ranking.