Group items tagged

Intellectual Property Rights And Concentration In Agricultural Biotechnology William Lesser Cornell University AgBioForum Fall98 v.1, n.2 The relationships between intellectual property rights (IPRs) and structural change are examined in this paper. Intellectual property rights are a complex, multifaceted area and one in which corporate strategies are poorly understood. Nevertheless, it is argued here that IPRs can affect firm entry, can make vertical integration in downstream industries more or less necessary, and can create financial incentives for downstream mergers and acquisitions. Hence, IPRs can have significant structural impacts. Key words: intellectual property rights; agrobiotechnology; industry structure; research and development (R&D) The later 1990s have been a tumultuous time for merger and acquisition activity among firms involved in agricultural biotechnology. By the end of the third quarter of 1998, Monsanto alone had been involved in 18 acquisitions and had itself agreed and then reneged on a merger with American Home Products. In addition, Monsanto completed overseas acquisitions worth a total of $7.3 billion over two years. Novartis was formed by the merging of Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy, while DuPont chose to enter the market through joint ventures; a total of 20 joint ventures valued at over $5 billion (Moore, 1998). These mergers have contributed greatly to a restructuring of the seed industry. Most notably, Monsanto controlled up to 40 percent of seed for the 1998 United States (U.S.) soybean crop and, if approved, full acquisition of Delta & Pine Land will give Monsanto ownership of at least 80 percent of the U.S. cotton seed industry (Kilman & Warren, 1998). This is not the only incidence of major acquisition activity, a previous one occurred about 20 years earlier. Butler and Marion (1985) list 27 mergers during the period 1978-80. The 1980 date is pivotal as it marks some strengthening amendments to the United States Plant Variety Prot

The social, economic, and political landscape of northern British Columbia (BC), Canada, has undergone considerable transformation since a recession in the early 1980s. From this, there is an emerging recognition of the need to move from an economy based upon comparative advantage to one embracing competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper, drawn from ongoing regional research, is twofold. First, we apply a rural lens to the regional planning and development literature, which highlights the significance of competitive advantage as a tool for regional rejuvenation. Second, we add to this dialogue by exploring the relevance and meaning of competitive advantage in the non-metropolitan setting of...

EU intellectual property law and policy Catherine Seville 0 Resenhas Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009 - 431 páginas Intellectual property (IP) is a crucial contributor to economic growth and competitiveness within the EU. This book offers a compact and accessible account of EU intellectual property law and policy, covering copyright, patents, designs, trademarks and the enforcement of rights. The author also addresses aspects of the free movement of goods and services, competition law, customs measures and anti-counterfeiting efforts. Setting EU intellectual property law in its wider international context, this work reveals the framework within which the national IP laws of member states operate. The book seeks to highlight the most important policy issues and arguments of relevance to the EU, both within the Union, and in its relations with the rest of the world. With its the detailed references, cross-referencing and suggestions for further readings, EU Intellectual Property Law and Policy is essential reading for postgraduate students and academic lawyers in IP and EU law. Practitioners seeking a broad account of the area will also appreciate this important contribution.

Innovation,competitiveness and Agro-industrial Development 0 Resenhas IICA Biblioteca Venezuela

Following up on recent debates about sectoral systems of innovation and production, the paper introduces a heuristic framework for analyzing and explaining distinct patterns of technology-based sectoral change. The concept is based on two interrelated influencing factors. The first is the sectoral-specific transformative capacity of new technologies themselves, that is, their substantial or incremental impact on socioeconomic and institutional change in a given sectoral system. The second is the sectoral adaptability of socioeconomic structures, institutions, and actors confronted with the opportunities presented by new technologies. The first factor-the sectoral transformative capacity of new technologies-enables us to identify the technology-based pressure to change and adjust the structural, institutional, and organizational architectures of the sectoral system. The second, complementary factor-sectoral adaptability-helps us to discern the distinct social patterns of anticipating and adopting this technology-based pressure. The specific interplay between the two influencing factors creates distinguishable modes of sectoral transformation, ranging from anticipative and smooth adjustments to reactive and crisis-ridden patterns of change. Even processes of radical sectoral change continue over longer periods of mismatch and are characterized by numerous and mostly gradual organizational, structural and institutional transformations. Article Outline 1. Technology-based socioeconomic and institutional change: starting points 2. Sociotechnical systems and periods of mismatch 3. New technologies and their transformative capacity 3.1. Specification I: endogenous vs. exogenous technology 3.2. Specification II: low vs. high transformative capacity 4. New technologies and sectoral adaptability 4.1. Specification I: low adaptability 4.2. Specification II: high adaptability 4.2.1. High intensity of innovation and market competition 4.2.2. Transformation-supporting in

Regulation and the Revolution in United States Farm Productivity Sally H. Clarke 0 Resenhas Cambridge University Press, 2002 - 328 páginas Since the 1930s when the government began active regulation, U.S. agriculture has undergone a revolution in productivity. Sally Clarke explains how government activity, from support for research to price supports and farm credit programs, created a climate favorable to rapid gains in productivity. Farmers in the Corn Belt delayed purchases of the tractor, the most important agricultural technology, despite the cost savings it promised. Tractor purchases required large sums of cash at a time when families faced unstable prices and unattractive credit markets. The New Deal inadvertently changed this investment climate. Regulation stabilized prices, introduced new sources of credit, and caused tool manufacturers and private creditors to revise their business strategies. Competitive farmers took advantage of these new conditions to invest in expensive technology and achieve new gains in productivity.

FAO provides free access to statistics treasure trove 12-Jul-10 World's largest database of food, hunger and agricultural information now fully accessible online  Free access to FAO database contributes to sustainable development   9 July 2010, Rome - FAO is granting free and open access to its central data repository, FAOSTAT, the world's largest and most comprehensive statistical database on food, agriculture, and hunger, the UN agency announced today.  Previously, it was possible to download without charge a limited amount of information from FAOSTAT - which contains over one million data points covering 210 countries and territories -- but access to larger batches of statistics required a paid annual subscription.  The power of numbers  "We are now providing totally free access to this immense pool of data," said Hafez Ghanem, FAO Assistant Director General for Economic and Social Development. "This information is an important tool in the fight to alleviate poverty, promote sustainable development and eliminate hunger. We're particularly keen on making sure that economists, planners, and policy-makers in the developing world, where that tool is needed most, can get at it and put it to good use."  Ghanem also noted that the move forms part of an ongoing FAO effort to provide easier and more direct access to its vast information assets, an initiative that came out of an independent external evaluation and strategic planning process initiated by FAO's Members in 2008.  "FAOSTAT is a powerful tool that can be used not just to see where hunger occurs, but to drill down and better understand why hunger occurs -- and what might be done to combat it," added Pietro Gennari, FAO Statistics Division Director. "It's especially designed to support monitoring, analysis and informed, evidence-based policy-making specifically related to rural and agricultural development and hunger reduction, the only tool of its kind."  In addition to aiding development

International public goods and transfer of technology under a globalized intellectual property regime Keith Eugene Maskus, Jerome H. Reichman 0 Resenhas Cambridge University Press, 2005 - 922 páginas Distinguished economists, political scientists, and legal experts discuss the implications of the increasingly globalized protection of intellectual property rights for the ability of countries to provide their citizens with such important public goods as basic research, education, public health, and environmental protection. Such items increasingly depend on the exercise of private rights over technical inputs and information goods, which could usher in a brave new world of accelerating technological innovation. However, higher and more harmonized levels of international intellectual property rights could also throw up high roadblocks in the path of follow-on innovation, competition and the attainment of social objectives. It is at best unclear who represents the public interest in negotiating forums dominated by powerful knowledge cartels. This is the first book to assess the public processes and inputs that an emerging transnational system of innovation will need to promote technical progress, economic growth and welfare for all participants.

Federal Rural Development Policy in the Twentieth Century Dennis Roth, Anne B. W. Effland, Douglas E. Bowers United States Department of Agriculture - Economic Research Service 2002 Links modified July, 2008 Contents Summary .pdf [20 KB] Introduction -- Douglas E. Bowers .pdf [47 KB] Section I. From the Country Life Movement Through Passage of the 1972 Rural Development Act -- Dennis Roth Chapter 1. The Country Life Movement .pdf [38 KB] Chapter 2. The New Deal .pdf [91 KB] Chapter 3. True D. Morse and the Beginnings of Postwar Rural Development Work .pdf [63 KB] Chapter 4. The Kennedy Administration Picks Up the Pace .pdf [57 KB] Chapter 5. The Johnson Administration and the Great Society .pdf [78 KB] Chapter 6. The Nixon Administration Through Passage of the Rural Development Act of 1972 .pdf [42 KB] Section II. From the Rural Development Act to the 21st Century Anne B. W. Effland Chapter 7. Shared Goals, Opposing Strategies: The Nixon and Ford Administrations and the Rural Development Act of 1972 .pdf [43 KB] Chapter 8. Rural Renaissance: New Policy Questions for the Carter Administration .pdf [60 KB] Chapter 9. Federalism in the 1980s: Fiscal and Policy Restraint by the Reagan Administration .pdf [73 KB] Chapter 10. Cooperation, Innovation, and Information: The Bush Administration Renews the Federal Commitment .pdf [51 KB] Chapter 11. Rural Amenities, Global Economy, and the Environment: The Clinton Administration Confronts the New Paradigms .pdf [97 KB] Conclusion: One Hundred Years of Rural Development Policy Anne B. W. Effland .pdf [42 KB] Appendix Table: 100 Years of Federal Programs for Rural Development Anne B. W. Effland .pdf [41 KB]   Media Help: To view PDF files you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. The report describes and assesses Federal rural development policy and programs during the 20th century, focusing on trends of change and continuity. Definitions of rurality and characteristics of rural populatio

The slowdown of growth in Western industrialized nations in the last twenty years, along with the rise of Japan as a major economic and technological power (and enhanced technical sophistication of Taiwan, Korea, and other NICs) has led to what the authors believe to be a "techno-nationalism." This combines a strong belief that technological capabilities of a nation's firms are a key source of their competitive process, with a belief that these capabilities are in a sense national, and can be built by national action. This book is about these national systems of technical innovation. The heart of the work contains studies of seventeen countries--from large market-oriented industrialized ones to several smaller high income ones, including a number of newly industrialized states as well. Clearly written, this work highlights institutions and mechanisms which support technical innovation, showing similarities, differences, and their sources across nations, making this work accessible to students as well as the scholars of innovation.

Ecological economics is a hot topic today as an alternative to 'neo-classical' environmental economics. It seeks to 'socially construct' a political economics that will deal with environmental problems and make the individual more visible in economic analysis. A leading authority in the field describes the principles, strategies and instruments of social change from the point of view of key players -- governmental agencies, business corporations, environmental and religious organizations and universities -- and underlines their responsibilities in the market economy. This critical text in the search for an interdisciplinary economics that facilitates social and environmental development offers a pluralistic and democratic approach to addressing environmental problems and balances the priorities of economic growth and international competitiveness with environmental sustainability. It emphasizes the need to articulate ideologies, worldviews, ethics and related scientific perspectives as part of economics. This illuminating account of the theories and means that will bring us closer to a sustainable society considers tools such as environmental impact assessment (EIA) and describes success indicators such as environmental labeling and environmental management systems (EMS). It highlights strategies and policies that facilitate social change and sets out future agendas for the individual actors in political economics.

This book explores the economic impact of supermarkets on food supply chains in developing countries, with particular emphasis on the generation/displacement of employment, the (re)-distribution of benefits along the food chain and the role of government is attracting, facilitating and regulating the growth of supermarkets in South America, Africa and Asia. Aimed primarily at academics but will appeal to practitioners in developing countries, civil servants, policy-makers and NGOs. The internationalization of food retailing and manufacturing that has swept through the agri-food system in industrialised countries is now moving into middle- and low-income countries with large rural populations, causing significant institutional changes that affect small producer agriculture and the livelihoods of rural communities the world over. Farmers and policy-makers are struggling to keep up with the wave of new demands being made on their supply chains by food manufacturers and retailers. In the process, new questions and challenges are arising: Can small-scale farmers organize to meet the demands of corporate giants? Should governments liberalize Foreign Direct Investment in the retail sector and expose numerous small shops to competition from multinationals? Can distribution systems be adapted to make markets work better for the poor? This book offers a contemporary look at what happens when the modernisation of food supply chains comes face to face with the livelihoods of rural and poor people. The authors are drawn from eighteen countries participating in the 'Regoverning Markets' programme, which aims to not only improve our understanding of the way modernization and re-structuring of food supply chains is affecting food production and distribution systems, but also identify best-practice in involving small-scale producers in supermarket supply chains, and ascertain the barriers to inclusion which need to be removed. Contents: Part One The Economic and Policy Context: The

Schumpeter, Joseph A (1883-1950)     R. Swedberga aStockholm University, Sweden Abstract Joseph A. Schumpeter (1883-1950) is generally considered one of the major economists of the twentieth century. His main effort was to develop a theory of economic change that could complement Walras' theory of general equilibrium. Schumpeter centered his theory of economic change around the entrepreneur, and in Theorie der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung (1912, tr. 1934) he defined entrepreneurship as 'the carrying out of new combinations.' The initial innovation, according to Schumpeter, attracted other entrepreneurs and eventually set off a business cycle. Schumpeter's best known work is Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy (1942), which is regarded as a classic not only in economics but also in political science. Several of Schumpeter's analyses in this work are still controversial in nature, such as his suggestion that monopolies can be healthy for the economy and that modern capitalism is digging its own grave and preparing the road for socialism. The most celebrated contribution of this work, however, is to be found in Schumpeter's discussion of democracy, more precisely in his critique of the traditional way of defining democracy as an attempt to realize the will of the people and in his own preference for a definition of democracy as competition among political leaders for the votes of the citizens.

Platforms, Markets and Innovation Annabelle Gawer 0 Resenhas Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010 - 396 páginas 'In her pioneering book Platform Leadership (with Michael Cusumano), Gawer gave us the strategy of building coalitions of customers, suppliers, and complementors. Now, she brings together a number of the leading researchers in the area of platform strategy to give us a book that will be a key reference for both practitioners and academics. Adam Brandenburger, New York University, US 'Annabelle Gawer's collected volume of research shows that a vibrant community of scholars has arisen around platforms and innovation. Each of the chapters is first rate, with top researchers offering some of their latest work. This will be an indispensable book for students of innovation and technology management everywhere. Henry Chesbrough, University of California, Berkeley, US 'Annabelle Gawer's Platforms, Markets and Innovation is the first serious exploration of the critical but subtle role that platforms play in business, society and our personal lives. As digital technologies penetrate every nook and cranny of the world around us, we rely on platforms to both help us use the new technologies, as well as to organize new markets of innovation that add applications on top of the platforms and make them far more valuable. Dr Gawer's excellent book is designed to help us understand the mysterious nature of platforms. It brings together the insights of twenty-four experts around the world who contributed to the fourteen chapters of the book. Dr Gawer's book is invaluable to anyone trying to understand the nuanced nature of platforms, and their implications for the evolution of innovation in the 21st century. Irving Wladawsky-Berger, IBM Academy of Technology, US The emergence of platforms is a novel phenomenon impacting most industries, from products to services. Industry platforms such as Microsoft Windows or Google, embedded within industrial ecosystems, have redesigned our in

Tragedy of the Commons by Garrett Hardin About the Author Search CEE Home | CEE | 2nd edition | Tragedy of the Commons In 1974 the general public got a graphic illustration of the "tragedy of the commons" in satellite photos of the earth. Pictures of northern Africa showed an irregular dark patch 390 square miles in area. Ground-level investigation revealed a fenced area inside of which there was plenty of grass. Outside, the ground cover had been devastated. The explanation was simple. The fenced area was private property, subdivided into five portions. Each year the owners moved their animals to a new section. Fallow periods of four years gave the pastures time to recover from the grazing. The owners did this because they had an incentive to take care of their land. But no one owned the land outside the ranch. It was open to nomads and their herds. Though knowing nothing of Karl Marx, the herdsmen followed his famous advice of 1875: "To each according to his needs." Their needs were uncontrolled and grew with the increase in the number of animals. But supply was governed by nature and decreased drastically during the drought of the early 1970s. The herds exceeded the natural "carrying capacity" of their environment, soil was compacted and eroded, and "weedy" plants, unfit for cattle consumption, replaced good plants. Many cattle died, and so did humans. The rational explanation for such ruin was given more than 170 years ago. In 1832 William Forster Lloyd, a political economist at Oxford University, looking at the recurring devastation of common (i.e., not privately owned) pastures in England, asked: "Why are the cattle on a common so puny and stunted? Why is the common itself so bare-worn, and cropped so differently from the adjoining inclosures?" Lloyd's answer assumed that each human exploiter of the common was guided by self-interest. At the point when the carrying capacity of the commons was fully reached, a herdsman might ask himsel

Freedom to Innovate: Biotechnology in Africa's Development Report of the High-Level African Panel on Modern Biotechnology Report, African Union and New Partnership for Africa's Development August 2007 Authors: Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa, Ismail Serageldin Belfer Center Programs or Projects: Science, Technology, and Globalization; Science, Technology, and Public Policy; Agricultural Innovation in Africa   This report is about the role of biotechnology in the transformation of African economies. The implications of its recommendations, however, need to be seen beyond the confines of biological innovations. They address critical issues related to Africa's place in a globalizing economy. Undertaken at the request of heads of state and government this report demonstrates what is needed to build the required capacity to harness and apply biotechnologies to improve agricultural productivity, public health, industrial development, economic competitiveness, and environmental sustainability (including biodiversity conservation) in Africa. It also shows that the measures needed to address biotechnology will strengthen Africa's capacity to adapt other technologies to economic development. In fact, previous inabilities to build capacity in fields such as information technology hamper the continent's efforts in biotechnology. This report has placed these systemic considerations in the context of the role of innovation in economic transformation. It challenges Africa's heads of state and government to take seriously the importance of a coordinated approach in promoting technological innovation in development. African governments have recognized the importance of regional cooperation to address possibilities and the range of issues associated with biotechnology. Within the framework of the New Partnership for Africa's De

The Gene Revolution: GM Crops and Unequal Development Book, Earthscan December 2006 Editor: Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, Former Research Fellow, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project/Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, 2005-2006 Ordering Information for this publication Belfer Center Programs or Projects: Science, Technology, and Globalization; Science, Technology, and Public Policy   OVERVIEW The high-yield selective breeding of "the Green Revolution" of the 1960s and '70s is now being overtaken by "the Gene Revolution" - the development and spread of GM crops across the world. With over 90 million hectares already under cultivation and 60 countries conducting research, GM is reviled by some as a vast Pandora's Box and corporate sell-out, while hailed by others as the necessary technological solution to stagnating agricultural output, ballooning populations, climate change and drought. Sandwiched in between are developing and transitional countries where the need to feed vast populations and to compete against the US in international markets are compelling reasons to get on the GM bandwagon. This is the first book to bridge the gap between the "naysayers" and "cheerleaders", and to provide a penetrating examination of the realities, complexities, benefits and pitfalls of GM adoption in developing countries that are desperately fighting poverty while trying to stay afloat in the hyper-competitive global economy. Sakiko Fukuda-Parr is a Visiting Professor at the New School University in New York. She was a Research Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. She was Director and chief author of UNDP's Human Development Report from 1995 to 2004 and a member of the UN Millennium Project Task Force on Technology. Chapters Introduction: Genetically Modified Crops and National Development Priorities Emergence and Global Spread of GM Crops: Explaining the Role of Institutional Change Institutional Changes in Argentina, Brazil,

By Yuriy Humber and Ichiro Suzuki Mitsui & Co. plans to buy 44.2 percent of Brazilian grain broker Multigrain SA from CHS Inc. of the U.S. for 40 billion yen ($482 million), the Nikkei newspaper reported. The deal will raise Mitsui's stake in Multigrain to 88.4 percent and the Japanese trading company has plans to make the broker wholly owned, the report said, citing unidentified Mitsui executives. Mitsui wants to become more competitive in the grains market, Nikkei said. A Tokyo-based Mitsui spokeswoman wouldn't confirm or deny the Nikkei report, declining to be identified in line with corporate policy. Calls to Sao Paulo-based Multigrain and Minnesota-based CHS went unanswered outside normal working hours. Mitsui paid $123.75 million to increase its stake in Multigrain to 39.35 percent, Japan's second-largest trading company said in October 2008. Multigrain in 2007 sold $200 million in new shares to Mitsui and CHS, Mitsui said. Multigrain owns in excess of 100,000 hectares of farm land, equal to 2 percent of the total cultivated land of Japan, Mitsui said in a 2007 statement. To contact the reporters on this story: Yuriy Humber in Tokyo at yhumber@bloomberg.net; Ichiro Suzuki in Tokyo at isuzuki@bloomberg.net

ARE 242 Spring 2005 Course Syllabus   Gordon Rausser Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:30-2:00 201 Giannini Hall     Class Date Reading Assignment Tuesday January 18 Rausser, G.C. and R.E. Goodhue. "Public Policy: Its Many Analytical Dimensions," in Handbook of Agricultural Economics, B. Gardner and G. Rausser (eds.). Volume 2, Chapter 39, Elsevier North Holland, 2002.   Thursday January 20 Alston, J.M. and J.S. James. "The Incidence of Agricultural Policy," in Handbook of Agricultural Economics, B. Gardner and G. Rausser (eds.). Volume 2, Chapter 33, Elsevier North Holland, 2002.   Chambers, R.G., "The incidence of agricultural policies," Journal of Public Economics 57, (1995) 317-335.   Floyd, J.E. "The Effects of Farm Price Supports on the Returns to Land and Labor in Agriculture." Journal of Political Economy 73 (1965), p. 148-158.   Tuesday January 25 Baylis, K., G. Rausser, and L. Simon, "Agri-Environmental Program in the United States and European Union," in Agricultural Policy Reform and the WTO: Where Are We Heading?," G. Anania, M.E. Bohman, C.A. Carter, and A.F. McCalla (eds.) Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2004.   Glebe, T.W. "Multifunctionality: How "Green" is the "European Model of Agriculture"? Environmental Economics, Resource Economics and Agricultural Policy Research Group, Discussion Paper 01-2003.   Swinbank, A. "Multifunctionality: A European Euphemism for Protection?" Presented at the FWAG Conference: Multifunctional Agriculture-A European Model, Stoneleigh, UK, November 29, 2001.   Thursday January 27 Hodge, I. "Agri-environmental Relationships and the Choice of Policy Mechanism," The World Economy, 26 (5), May, 2003, 705-725.   Blandford, D. and R.N. Boisvert, "Multifunctional Agriculture-A View from the United States," Plenary paper presented at the 90th EAAE Seminar: Multifunctional Agriculture, Policies and Markets: Understanding the Critical Linkage; Rennes, France, October 28-29, 200

Intellectual property rights, strategy and policy Economics of Innovation and New Technology Volume 13, Issue 5, 2004, Pages 399 - 415 Author: Lee Davis DOI: 10.1080/1043859042000188683 Online Sample       Subscribe Abstract This introductory essay to the special edition explores the changing role of intellectual property rights (IPRs), and the implications of these changes for firm strategy and industrial policy. Four recent, interrelated trends are important in this regard: (1) the growing prominence of intangible assets as sources of competitive advantage, (2) the globalization of business activities, (3) advances in digital technologies of replicability and transferability, and (4) changes in the legal framework governing the strength and scope of IPRs. We focus, in particular, on the impact of these trends on the importance and effectiveness of patents. We argue that while patents have become more valuable to firms, to fulfill a variety of strategic goals, they seem to have become less effective in actually motivating R&D. This distorts the 'bargain' implied by the patent system, increasing the social costs of patenting while decreasing the social benefits. To help restore this balance, various reforms may be implemented, including the use of alternative incentive systems.