R&D Appropriability and Planned Obsolescence: Empirical Evidence from Wheat Breeding in the UK (1960-1995)

Dwijen Rangnekar

No 24904, 2002 International Congress, August 28-31, 2002, Zaragoza, Spain from European Association of Agricultural Economists

Abstract: Plant breeders face a unique appropriation problem - plants are reproducible, genetic information is heritable and seeds can be multiplied. The paper uses indicators of varietal age as a proxy for durability to examine strategies of planned obsolescence. Using wheat breeding in the UK, evidence of strategies of planned obsolescence is confirmed. This is then corroborated with evidence of tendencies towards increased proliferation of varieties on the market and breeding strategies that focus on incremental productivity improvements (i.e. increased efficiency) and narrow and limited disease resistance (i.e. reduced durability).

Keywords: Crop; Production/Industries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 18
Date: 2002
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Journal Article: R&D appropriability and planned obsolescence: empirical evidence from wheat breeding in the UK (1960--1995) (2002)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:eaae02:24904

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.24904

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