The protection of intellectual property rights and transfer of technology through different technology transfer channels like patenting, trade, licensing and foreign direct investment have been considered as an integral component of economic growth. In this study, we analyze the impact of intellectual property rights and transfer of technology on economic growth for a balanced panel of 38 countries (11 from high income countries; 16 from middle income countries; and 11 from low income countries) over the period of 1975 – 2005. The empirical results reveal that the intellectual property rights contribute significantly to economic growth. The effect of intellectual property rights on economic growth is found to be more significant in high income countries as compared to middle and low income countries. Similarly, the effect of intellectual property rights on economic growth is stronger in case of upper middle income countries as compared to lower middle income and low income countries. For full sample countries, under analysis, it has been found, except for patenting, all other channels of the transfer of technology are significantly affecting the economic growth. Accordingly, in the sample countries, both licensing and foreign direct investment have positive while trade has negative impact on economic growth. In high income countries, due to protection of intellectual property rights, all channels of the transfer of technology are positively and significantly affecting the economic growth. In case of our sample of all middle income countries, licensing and foreign direct investment are found to be the most effective channels for the transfer of technology, which are positively and significantly affecting the economic growth. On classifying of these middle income countries, it has been found that in upper middle income countries patenting and licensing and in lower middle income countries licensing and foreign direct investment are found to be the effective channels for the transfer of technology. Finally, in low income countries, only foreign direct investment is an effective channel for the transfer of technology, which has positive and significant effect on economic growth. supervisors: Dr. Ejaz Ghani, Dean/Head Department of Economics, PIDE and Dr. Wasim Shahid Malik, Assistant Professor, School of Economics, Quaid-I-Azam University Islamabad