WHO DEVELOPS INNOVATIONS IN MEDICINE FOR THE POOR? TRENDS IN PATENT APPLICATIONS RELATED TO MEDICINES FOR HIV/AIDS,TUBERCULOSIS, MALARIA,AND NEGLECTED DISEASES

This paper analyzes patent data of medicines and vaccines for diseases spreading in low‐income countries. The data were retrieved from a database of the Japan Patent Office. Who invents medicines for the poor of the world? This is the main question that the paper addresses. Results indicate that not only public institutions but also private firms have played an important role in developing innovations for fighting both global diseases such as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, and so‐called neglected diseases including malaria, which seem to spread almost exclusively in low‐income countries. Moreover, the basic mechanism of innovation is similar between the development of medicines for HIV/AIDS and those for neglected diseases. Finally, among firms, infectious disease fighting innovations are quite diverse. R&D stock and economies of scope are used to explain frequent patent applications by a high‐performing pharmaceutical firm.     

艾滋病、全球化和人的安全

艾滋病问题与全球化是互为因果的关系,它的泛滥源于当今社会存在的诸多不平等与不公正问题,虽然其紧迫性并未像气候变暖或金融危机等全球化问题那么显著,但艾滋病问题依然是理解全球化的多重含义以及当今世界政治、社会、经济和文化权力运作方式的一个重要视角。美国的艾滋病救助政策体现了艾滋病问题所具有的安全含义,但它到底在多大程度上是出于利他主义的考虑,令人值得怀疑。自2000年艾滋病问题成为联合国安理会的议题以来,人们开始重新思考它对传统安全观所带来的冲击,虽然没有经验证据表明艾滋病问题助长了一国国内的冲突,但艾滋病加速恶化与国内的冲突现状密切相关。作者认为,对于艾滋病疫情的预防与应对,国际援助固然重要,但各国政府必须把自身资源投放到艾滋病的综合性预防、护理以及支持项目当中。     

我国现行艾滋孤儿救助安置问题及对策研究

艾滋孤儿面临父母得病的痛苦、家庭结构缺失、经济贫困、歧视和排斥,给他们的身心造成了严重影响,艾滋孤儿由此成为多重弱势群体,这既是个新的社会问题,又是个亟待解决的社会难题。本文在分析我国现行对这一群体实施的救助政策、救助模式存在的问题的基础上,为孩子的生存与发展,提出针对孩子的职业技能培训、多部门联动互助及救助安置网的建立等相关对策与措施。     

中日食品消费结构及消费需求系统的比较研究

运用AIDS模型,对中日两国的消费需求系统进行计量经济分析后我们可以看出,从20世纪80年代开始,中日间的消费差距在不断缩小;根据30多年来日本的变化趋势可以预测,未来中国的粮食消费的支出弹性系数将会减少,肉类、水产品不会发生太大变化,但在外吃饭的支出弹性系数将呈增加趋势。     

Gradual Structural Changes of Meat Consumption in Taiwan

Abstract

This paper utilized a linear approximate version of the Almost Ideal Demand System to evaluate structural changes of meat consumption in Taiwan. Time transition paths for each product were identified, and the first-order autocorrelation was taken into consideration. Structural changes of beef consumption were completed before structural changes of other products had started. Shifts in consumption patterns of pork and poultry took about the same length of time. Structural changes of fishery products occurred toward the end of the time period. With the gradual switching time paths, estimated elasticities revealed that own-price elasticities for pork, beef, and fishery products became more responsive to their own-price changes.     

Implications of high food prices for poverty in Pakistan

The study estimates the impacts of rising world food prices on poverty in rural and urban areas of Pakistan. Household income and expenditure data for 2004/2005 is used to estimate compensated and uncompensated price and expenditure elasticities using the linear approximation of the almost ideal demand system. Taking the unexpected component of higher domestic food prices in 2007/2008, own and cross price compensated elasticities are used to derive the changes in the quantity consumed, food expenditure and impacts on poverty assuming the food crisis happened in 2004/2005. The results indicate that poverty increased by 34.8%, severely affecting the urban areas where poverty increased by 44.6% as compared to 32.5% in rural areas. The estimates show that 2.3 million people are unable to reach even one‐half of poverty line expenditures while another 13.7 million are just below and 23.9 million are just above the poverty line. In the short run, it is important to ensure food availability to these people. In the long run, the policy environment of subsidizing urban food consumers by keeping wheat prices lower than the international price, needs to be reconsidered to provide the right incentives to increase food availability.     

Urban Households’ Cooking Oil and Fat Consumption Patterns in Turkey: Quality Vs. Quantity

This article investigates households’ cooking oil and fat consumption patterns in Turkey using data from household budget surveys. The almost ideal demand system was employed to analyze demand parameters and elasticities for major five types of oil. Prices were adjusted for quality and the demographic translation method was used to incorporate to demographic variables. Finally, the two stage generalized demand model was used to take into account censory of the dependent variable. Results showed that higher-income and higher-educated consumers consume more quality and healthy oil such as olive oil than lower-income and less educated consumers. According to income elasticities, lower-income consumers are more sensitive to income changes compare to higher-income consumers. Moreover, lower-income consumers are more prices sensitive to olive oil and corn oil than are higher-income consumers.