IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/dae/daepap/09-02.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Reforming and Reinforcing the Revolution: The Post-TRIPS Politics of Patents in Latin America

Author

Listed:
  • Kenneth C. Shadlen

Abstract

National policies toward intellectual property (IP) were revolutionized in the 1990s, as countries adopted new systems to conform to the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs). TRIPS-style IP regimes make patents available for more types of knowledge, grant long periods of patent protection, and endow patent owners with strong rights of exclusion. This paper analyzes two contrasting patterns of political mobilization and pressures for change that newly-introduced, TRIPS-style regimes became subject to by the early 21st Century. Most governments faced pressures to address aspects of their IP systems regarding pharmaceutical patents; governments came under pressure to reform their new patent systems, calling into question the appropriateness and utility of broad and strong private rights of exclusion as tools for disseminating knowledge. Most governments also faced pressures to modify aspects of their patent systems more broadly related to science, technology, and indigenous innovation (STI); governments came under pressure to reinforce their new patent systems, buttressing the role of private rights of exclusion as mechanisms to incentivize the creation and distribution of knowledge and technology. I provide a political explanation for the contrasting trajectories of reform and reinforcement by examining how different policy arrangements generate and mobilize interests for continuity and discontinuity. The focus is on asymmetric patterns of interest mobilization: those actors who benefit from policy interventions tend to mobilize more than those who suffer; those actors who suffer retain the capacities for mobilization and resistance more in the area of health-drugs than STI.

Suggested Citation

  • Kenneth C. Shadlen, "undated". "Reforming and Reinforcing the Revolution: The Post-TRIPS Politics of Patents in Latin America," GDAE Working Papers 09-02, GDAE, Tufts University.
  • Handle: RePEc:dae:daepap:09-02
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.bu.edu/eci/files/2020/01/09-02PostTRIPSApril09.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ken Shadlen, 2008. "Globalisation, Power and Integration: The Political Economy of Regional and Bilateral Trade Agreements in the Americas," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(1), pages 1-20.
    2. Jonathan M. Harris & Neva R. Goodwin, "undated". "Reconciling Growth and Environment," GDAE Working Papers 03-03, GDAE, Tufts University.
    3. Jonathan M. Harris, "undated". "Macroeconomic Policy and Sustainability," GDAE Working Papers 01-09, GDAE, Tufts University.
    4. Anthony D So & Bhaven N Sampat & Arti K Rai & Robert Cook-Deegan & Jerome H Reichman & Robert Weissman & Amy Kapczynski, 2008. "Is Bayh-Dole Good for Developing Countries? Lessons from the US Experience," PLOS Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(10), pages 1-7, October.
    5. Sell,Susan K., 2003. "Private Power, Public Law," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521819145, October.
    6. Edwin Mansfield, 1986. "Patents and Innovation: An Empirical Study," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(2), pages 173-181, February.
    7. Neva R. Goodwin, "undated". "Five Kinds of Capital: Useful Concepts for Sustainable Development," GDAE Working Papers 03-07, GDAE, Tufts University.
    8. Frank Ackerman & Timothy A. Wise & Kevin P. Gallagher & Luke Ney & Regina Flores, "undated". "Free Trade, Corn, and the Environment: Environmental Impacts of US – Mexico Corn Trade Under NAFTA," GDAE Working Papers 03-06, GDAE, Tufts University.
    9. Gallagher, Kevin P. & Aguayo, Francisco, 2003. "Economic Reform, Energy, and Development: The Case of Mexican Manufacturing," Working Papers 15575, Tufts University, Global Development and Environment Institute.
    10. Aguayo, Francisco & Gallagher, Kevin P., 2005. "Economic reform, energy, and development: the case of Mexican manufacturing," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 829-837, May.
    11. Sell,Susan K., 2003. "Private Power, Public Law," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521525398, October.
    12. Goodwin, Neva R., 2003. "Macroeconomics for the 21st Century," Working Papers 15581, Tufts University, Global Development and Environment Institute.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zarsky, Lyuba, 2010. "Climate-Resilient Industrial Development Paths: Design Principles and Alternative Models," Working Papers 179080, Tufts University, Global Development and Environment Institute.
    2. Frank Ackerman, "undated". "The Unbearable Lightness of Regulatory Costs," GDAE Working Papers 06-02, GDAE, Tufts University.
    3. Timothy A. Wise, "undated". "Agricultural Dumping Under NAFTA: Estimating the Costs of U.S. Agricultural Policies to Mexican Producers," GDAE Working Papers 09-08, GDAE, Tufts University.
    4. Jonathan M. Harris, "undated". "The Macroeconomics of Development without Throughput Growth," GDAE Working Papers 10-05, GDAE, Tufts University.
    5. Timothy A. Wise, "undated". "Identifying the Real Winners from U.S. Agricultural Policies," GDAE Working Papers 05-07, GDAE, Tufts University.
    6. Julie A. Nelson, "undated". "Rationality and Humanity: A View from Feminist Economics," GDAE Working Papers 05-04, GDAE, Tufts University.
    7. Roach, Brian, 2008. "Policies for Funding a Response to Climate Change," Working Papers 179062, Tufts University, Global Development and Environment Institute.
    8. Frank Ackerman & Elizabeth Stanton & Rachel Massey, "undated". "European Chemical Policy and the United States: The Impacts of REACH," GDAE Working Papers 06-06, GDAE, Tufts University.
    9. Brian Roach, "undated". "Policies for Funding a Response to Climate Change," GDAE Working Papers 08-03, GDAE, Tufts University.
    10. Ackerman, Frank & Stanton, Elizabeth A., 2006. "Can Climate Change Save Lives? A comment on “Economy-wide estimates of the implications of climate change: Human health"," Working Papers 37240, Tufts University, Global Development and Environment Institute.
    11. Julie A. Nelson, "undated". "Getting Past "Rational Man/Emotional Woman": How Far Have Research Programs in Happiness and Interpersonal Relations Progressed?," GDAE Working Papers 09-07, GDAE, Tufts University.
    12. Timothy A. Wise, "undated". "Policy Space for Mexican Maize:Protecting Agro-biodiversity by Promoting Rural Livelihoods," GDAE Working Papers 07-01, GDAE, Tufts University.
    13. Helwege, Ann & Birch, Melissa B.L., 2007. "Declining Poverty in Latin America? A Critical Analysis of New Estimates by International Institutions," Working Papers 37279, Tufts University, Global Development and Environment Institute.
    14. Frank Ackerman, "undated". "The Shrinking Gains from Trade: A Critical Assessment of Doha Round Projections," GDAE Working Papers 05-01, GDAE, Tufts University.
    15. Frank Ackerman & Ian J. Finlayson, 2006. "The economics of inaction on climate change: a sensitivity analysis," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(5), pages 509-526, September.
    16. Nelson, Julie A., 2009. "Between a rock and a soft place: Ecological and feminist economics in policy debates," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 1-8, November.
    17. Elanor Starmer & Timothy A. Wise, "undated". "Living High on the Hog: Factory Farms, Federal Policy, and the Structural Transformation of Swine Production," GDAE Working Papers 07-04, GDAE, Tufts University.
    18. Maria del Carmen Vera-Diaz & Robert K. Kaufmann & Daniel C. Nepstad, "undated". "The Environmental Impacts of Soybean Expansion and Infrastructure Development in Brazil’s Amazon Basin," GDAE Working Papers 09-05, GDAE, Tufts University.
    19. Vera-Diaz, Maria del Carmen & Kaufmann, Robert K. & Nepstad, Daniel C., 2009. "The Environmental Impacts of Soybean Expansion and Infrastructure Development in Brazil’s Amazon Basin," Working Papers 179072, Tufts University, Global Development and Environment Institute.
    20. Shadlen, Ken, 2007. "The Politics of Patents and Drugs in Brazil and Mexico: The Industrial Bases of Health Activism," Working Papers 37710, Tufts University, Global Development and Environment Institute.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:dae:daepap:09-02. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Abdulshaheed Alqunber (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/gdtufus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.