Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T05:14:21.447Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Bioprospecting and biodiversity contracts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 June 2003

Denise M. Mulholland
Affiliation:
Office of Policy, Planning and Evaluation, US Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Economics, University of Calgary.
Elizabeth A. Wilman
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, T2N1N4, Canada. Tel: 403 220 6108. Fax: 403 282 5262. E-mail [email protected]

Abstract

A dynamic economic model for a biodiversity prospecting contract, between a host country and a pharmaceutical company, is developed and used to explain the structure of existing contracts. The host country's stocks of biodiversity and genetic information are crucial inputs to the production of high-quality samples. Even with compete property rights contracts will be second best; it is not possible to perfectly monitor host-country inputs to the drug discovery process. Contracts vary due to the different degrees of observability of host-country inputs, and incomplete or ineffective property rights.

Type
Theory and Applications
Copyright
© 2003 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)