Time: 13:00-15:00 (UK Time), Wednesday, 19 January 2022
Presenter: Professor Christine Oughton, SOAS University of London
Co-author: Dr.Juana Bustamante, University of Rome "Tor Vergata"; Dr. Vanesa Pesque-Cela, Liverpool John Moores University; & Dr. Damian Tobin, University College Cork

Chair: Professor Victor Murinde, SOAS University of London
Online venue: Click here to join the seminar on Microsoft Teams (For any inquiry about how to join the online seminar, please contact Dr. Meng Xie: xm1@soas.ac.uk

Abstract
This paper revisits the patents debate and considers the role of intellectual property rights and their impact on society in the context of inventions designed to protect common pool resources (CPRs) such as public health and the environment. A review of the theoretical and empirical literature suggests that there has never been a clear consensus amongst researchers on the benefits of the patent system and intellectual property rights. As Robinson notes, “The patent system introduces some of the greatest of the complexities in the capitalist rules of the game and leads to many anomalies.”  We explore these anomalies by specifying a taxonomy of patents for different classes of inventions, including inventions to protect CPRs, such as public health and the environment. This class includes vaccines and inventions that reduce externalities, such as, greenhouse gas emissions and ozone depleting CFC gases.   In these instances, the effectiveness of inventions depends critically on rapid global diffusion. Our theoretical analysis utilises a game-theoretic approach to analyse the complexities surrounding inventions for the protection of CPRs. We find that the effectiveness of inventions to protect CPRs depends on the contextual and wider international regulatory environment.  Empirical evidence is brought to bear on these conclusions via 2 case studies that each embodies a natural experiment; the first comparing vaccines pre- and post-TRIPS, the second analysing environmental technologies to reduce CFC gases and CO2 emissions under different UN agreements – the legally binding Montréal Protocol to eradicate CFC gases and the Paris Agreement. The insights gained are explored in our policy section. Our analysis suggests the need for a more nuanced approach to patent policy that is embedded in the wider context of innovation systems and that takes account of the anomalies raised by CPRs.  For CPR inventions we advocate that policy should prioritise global diffusion over private incentives for R&D and use alternative policies to patents to stimulate investment in R&D. 

JEL Codes:  O3 Innovation, R&D, Technological Change, Intellectual Property Rights; I1 Health; I18 Public Health; Q5 Environmental Economics; Q55 Technological Innovation; Q58 Government Policy

Presenter

Prof. Christine Oughton is Professor of Management Economics at SOAS University of London and an elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. She received her PhD in Economics from the University of Cambridge. Before joining SOAS she held full Professorships at the University of Bolzano, Italy and Birkbeck, University of London. Previously she was Senior Lecturer and Director of the Research Centre for Industrial Strategy at the University of Birmingham. Christine’s research focuses on financial diversity, innovation, environmental management, corporate governance, financial inclusion and growth. She was co-investigator on the ESRC Research Seminar Series, Complexity Economics for Sustainability that brought together, academics, practitioners and policy makers on environmental issues, and on two ESRC projects on (i) Financial Inclusion and Growth in Low Income Countries and (ii) the Financial System in China. Christine has published widely on innovation, environmental sustainability, governance, financial diversity, competitiveness and growth. Between 2012-16 she was Head of the School of Finance and Management and served on the SOAS Board of Trustees. In 2017 she was appointed Research Fellow of the South African Reserve Bank. Christine currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Financial Inclusion Forum and the Academic Industry Research Network.