Pharmaceuticals and intellectual property rights: A political economy of the recent policy changes across the developing world and in Turkey

Download
2007-12-1
Eren Vural, İpek
This paper explores the sources of the recent policy changes from weaker to stronger intellectual property regimes (IPRs) for pharmaceuticals across the developing world, and in Turkey. Analysing the policy change from a political economy approach, the paper argues that the increased structural power of the transnational capital in the 1980s had been the most important common factor in setting the ground for changes in the IPRs for pharmaceuticals across the developing world. Against the state-centric theories that interpret the policy change primarily as a matter between the nation states from developed and developing countries, the paper contends that the nature and scope of policy outcomes on pharmaceutical IPRs have been shaped by the dynamics of the class struggles across the developing world. The latter argument is supported through an analysis of the Turkish public policy processes and outcomes which resulted in strengthening the IPR for pharmaceuticals. The paper concludes that rather than a mere external imposition on the ‘’Turkish state’’ by the advanced capitalist countries or the European Union (EU), the policy change in favour of stronger IPRs for pharmaceuticals was sustained and shaped by the Turkish conglomerate capital which pursued reintegration with the transnational capital as a political strategy.

Suggestions

Patent applications/grants and their economic analysis for Turkey
Gökovalı, Ummuhan; Türel, Oktar; Department of Economics (2003)
The basic aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between patents and some economic variables at sectoral level for Turkish economy for the period 1985-98. In order to classify patent data into a sectoral classification system, we employed two concordances, namely, YTC and MERIT. The study includes three distinct empirical analyses. The first one analyzes the contribution of knowledge stock to industry-level productivity in Turkey. Our preferred method is GMM-System estimation, results of which...
Macroeconomic effects of information and communication technologies in Turkey and other OECD member countries
Karagöl, Burak; Erdil, Erkan; Department of Economics (2012)
This thesis investigates the effects of ICT on economic growth in Turkey and other OECD member countries. After discussing the theoretical relationships between ICT usage and economic growth, we test the positive impact of ICT revolution on economic growth econometrically. In the empirical part of the study, we perform panel data analyses by employing data sets that belong to 30 OECD member countries for 1999-2008 period as well as carrying out time series analyses for only Turkey by using data between 1980...
Macroeconomic Effects of Information and Communication Technologies in Turkey and Other OECD Member Countries
Karagöl, Burak; Erdil, Erkan (Science And Technology Policies Research Center, Middle East Technical University (Ankara, Turkey), 2012)
This paper investigates the effects of ICT on economic growth in Turkey and other OECD member countries. After discussing the theoretical relationships between ICT usage and economic growth, we test the positive impact of ICT revolution on economic growth econometrically. In the empirical part of the study, we perform panel data analyses by employing data sets that belong to 30 OECD member countries for 1999-2008 period as well as carrying out time series analyses for only Turkey by using data between 1980 ...
Knowledge and Economic Growth: A Dynamic Panel Data Analysis for OECD Countries
Utku İsmihan, Fatma M. (Science And Technology Policies Research Center, Middle East Technical University (Ankara, Turkey), 2018)
This paper aims to investigate the role of knowledge in the economic growth convergence of the OECD member countries during the 1995-2011 period, by utilizing production function approach. In our augmented production function framework, in addition to human capital, we consider other important channels of knowledge (R&D, trade and ICTs) to understand how knowledge contributes to the growth performance and growth convergence of the OECD countries. Furthermore, in contrast to most of the existing studies whic...
Institutional Environment, Economic Performance and Innovation in Turkey
Erdil, Erkan; Pamukcu, Mehmet Teoman (2015-01-01)
This paper investigates the relationship between economic performance and innovation in Turkey, while also taking into account the crucial mediating effect of the institutional environment. We carry out an in-depth analysis of the recent shifts in STI policy-making in Turkey. The emphasis is on the innovation support policy instruments, and their effectiveness, as well as on the formulation of national STI targets, sector priorities and targets in the field of human resources. A number of concerns are expre...
Citation Formats
İ. Eren Vural, “Pharmaceuticals and intellectual property rights: A political economy of the recent policy changes across the developing world and in Turkey,” ODTÜ Gelişme Dergisi, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 337–385, 2007, Accessed: 00, 2020. [Online]. Available: http://www2.feas.metu.edu.tr/metusd/ojs/index.php/metusd/article/view/168.