Biodiversity, intellectual property rights and north-south trade

In this paper, we examine how biodiversity levels are affected by different regimes of trade-related intellectual property rights (IPRs) in a two-way trade framework where the North and South import and export to each other`s market. This approach incorporates domestic consumption (and hence consumer surplus) into the welfare maximization problem of the Southern government in a three-stage game under alternative IPR regimes. We find that for achieving a maximal level of biodiversity and socially optimal welfare in the South, the Southern government should protect farmers` rights. Further, we find that the Southern government has economic incentives to acknowledge international patents and protect biodiversity even in the absence of farmers''s rights.