Plant Breeders’ Rights, Patents, and Incentives to Innovate

Adrien Hervouet () and Corinne Langinier

Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 2018, vol. 43, issue 01

Abstract: Both patents and Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBRs) can protect plant innovations. Unlike patents, PBRs allow farmers to save part of their harvest to replant. We analyze the impact of this exemption on prices and innovation in a monopoly setting. In a PBR regime, a monopolist might let farmers self-produce, and he over- or under-invests compared to socially optimal investments. Under a PBR and patent regime, large (small) innovations are more likely to be patented (protected with PBRs), but self-production is not completely prevented, private investments are often socially optimal, and incentives to innovate are boosted. However, overall effects on welfare are ambiguous.

Keywords: Agricultural and Food Policy; Crop Production/Industries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/267613/files/J ... rvouet%2C118-150.pdf (application/pdf)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/267613/files/J ... 0.pdf?subformat=pdfa (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Plant Breeders' Rights, Patents, and Incentives to Innovate (2018)
Working Paper: Plant Breeders’ Rights, Patents and Incentives to Innovate (2015)
Working Paper: Plant breeders' rights, patents and incentives to innovate (2014)
Working Paper: Plant breeders' rights, patents and incentives to innovate (2014)
Working Paper: Plant Breeders' Rights, Patents and Incentives to Innovate (2014)
Working Paper: Plant breeders' rights, patents and incentives to innovate (2013)
Working Paper: Plant breeders' rights, patents and incentives to innovate (2013)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:jlaare:267613

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.267613

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics from Western Agricultural Economics Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().